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The iPhone Thread

Matt N

Matt N

TS Member
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Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Apple has just held a huge event in California where they unveiled 3 new iPhones; the iPhone 8, the iPhone 8 Plus and, most interestingly, the iPhone X. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are basically the same as the iPhone 7, but with better processors, better cameras and wireless charging. The iPhone X, on the other hand, has a whole myriad of new features. Here are some of the highlights:
  • Edge-to-edge 5.8-inch OLED True Tone display with what Apple is calling a "Super Retina" resolution. (My god, that was a lot of buzz words in one sentence!)
  • No home button or Touch ID. Apple is instead offering a new facial recognition method called by the very imaginative name of Face ID. This is basically a more secure method of unlocking your phone that, as the name suggests, uses your face. It uses a light so it can even see you in the dark. Or, if you don't want to use that, you can just swipe up to unlock.
  • This thing starts at an eye-watering £999! :eek:
  • It comes in storage configurations of 64GB and 256GB.
  • The new facial camera can now do something called Animojis, which is basically an Emoji that you can animate with your face.
  • Comes with a new A11 Bionic processor.
  • You can now use Face ID to pay for things and whatnot, as you could with Touch ID.
  • Both new iPhones support Qi wireless charging. (Not sure what that means!)
  • Both new iPhones have glass backing instead of the aluminium backing that iPhones have had for years.
I think that those are all the major details. If I missed any, please tell me and I will add them. So, what do you guys think of the new iPhones?
 
I don't think any of the announcements are particularly ground breaking but I guess I'll buy another iPhone when my contract runs out. They do market them very well though. I do wonder how much of a gimmick the wireless charging is, yes very clever, but will it make a difference. Also means you can't use your phone very easily whilst charging. Im suprised they bothered with the iPhone 8 - I would guess that will be my next one though :D
 
no fingerprint sensor? all done with face recognition, hows that work when you trying to beep your pay contacless payments
scan you face first them hold your phone to the machine,
lean face first over the terminal while it scans your face waiting for the four green bars to register the RFID

I dont think they have thought this through
 
There's absolutely no need to spend anything over a few hundred quid at most for a phone (I'm being generous there) unless you're rich and money is not really an issue. You can spend £150 nowadays and get a very capable phone. Most of that extra expense is pure vanity. Absolutely crazy.
 
To be honest with you I've always seen iPhones and most modern Apple products as being almost the definition of the word vanity. I think they're overpriced but well packaged and branded "bling" accessories that seem to attract the most bizarre cult like following.
 
matthewgcole said:
To be honest with you I've always seen iPhones and most modern Apple products as being almost the definition of the word vanity. I think they're overpriced but well packaged and branded "bling" accessories that seem to attract the most bizarre cult like following.
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I'm not sure I fully agree, but I know why people say that. That might be truer in the phone space than with laptops/desktops. Although Windows laptops are better than they were, I have had a OSX laptop for over a decade now, they represent better value in terms of how long they last and the performance I get out of it. That said, I have a Surface Pro for work, which is a great bit of kit and not too far behind my Macbook.

I had an iPhone 3GS, 4 and 5 but when it came to replacing the iPhone 5 I took a punt on Android and probably wouldn't buy another iPhone at this stage.

Brad97 said:
It'll be outclassed in about 6 months by an Android device for half the price. ;)
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Whilst I think that is true from a hardware point of view, I do think some people would consider anything that isn't iOS as inferior from a user experience angle. Rightly, or wrongly.

So many people love the simplicity of iOS devices - it's hard to get lost in the menus or change a setting without realising it - that's invaluable for a lot of people. While the nerdy folk among us love the flexibility than Android affords, it's a source of frustration for others, I think.
 
I am overdue an upgrade of my current iPhone 6 and it looks like I have a lot of choices now. Either a 7 which may end up being slightly better priced following these releases, a new 8 or the X.

I can't see myself going for the X though. Not yet looked at the contract prices but I would imagine they are ridiculous. I'll certainly be sticking with Apple though.

:)
 
Rick said:
I'm not sure I fully agree, but I know why people say that. That might be truer in the phone space than with laptops/desktops. Although Windows laptops are better than they were, I have had a OSX laptop for over a decade now, they represent better value in terms of how long they last and the performance I get out of it. That said, I have a Surface Pro for work, which is a great bit of kit and not too far behind my Macbook.
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I also understand why people say this too. I fully understand the attraction for Macs and Macbooks, it wasn't so long ago that they were the bread and butter for Apple in a word dominated by relatively poor quality Windows based PC's.

I also completely understand the quality argument and fully agree that Macbooks are at the high end of the quality scale, although I wouldn't argue that same point with iPhones and ipads.

But there is a very strange culture around Apple products and it's very clever how they've done this. I get your argument and completely accept the reasoning behind your purchase choice, but if I were to ask most people why they own an iPhone I would usually get an irrational/emotional response.

The real genius and innovation driving the modern Apple Inc isn't in the tech they sell at all in my view, it's the ability to create a brand that people feel an emotional loyalty to.
 
matthewgcole said:
The real genius and innovation driving the modern Apple Inc isn't in the tech they sell at all in my view, it's the ability to create a brand that people feel an emotional loyalty to.
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You make a very good point here, and it is key for almost any successful business or brand. Loyal customers help sustained success.

:)
 
matthewgcole said:
The real genius and innovation driving the modern Apple Inc isn't in the tech they sell at all in my view, it's the ability to create a brand that people feel an emotional loyalty to.
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Although I think there is an emotional loyalty to the brand (I guess there has to be as phones hit the £1000 mark...), I don't think the loyalty is blind. I think people 'love' the brand and it provides them with a product that works for them and that in turn makes them like it more.

When Apple makes a sucky/ill thought out product, people don't buy it for the sake of it. I know plenty of Apple fanboys/girls who didn't go for the Watch because they didn't feel a need for it. G4 Cube... no one bought it. iPhone 4 antenna problems - people kicked up a stink. I think there is some sensibility in the loyalty, but perhaps not in all cases.
 
Someone at work pointed out a flaw yesterday evening: If the only way to unlock this phone is with your face, then when you pass out drunk, your "mates" can simply point your phone at you and gain access to all your everythings. Ditto a suspicious parter who wants to snoop while you sleep.

And what if you get stung by a wasp and your face swells up? Will you have to remove sunglasses? Or what if you're wearing heavy makeup? Or grow a beard? Hell, what if it's halloween and you have extreme makeup or even prosthetics on?
 
matthewgcole said:
But there is a very strange culture around Apple products and it's very clever how they've done this. I get your argument and completely accept the reasoning behind your purchase choice, but if I were to ask most people why they own an iPhone I would usually get an irrational/emotional response.
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I have never owned an iPhone before, but I own an iPad. In fact, it's what this very message has been typed on. I personally prefer Apple's products to their (sometimes cheaper) Android equivalents just because I personally find iOS much easier to navigate and use than Android, and the operating system makes a big difference for me as to whether I like an electronic device or not. Of course, other features like hardware do come into play, but the software makes a real difference for me. I also usually prefer the looks and design language of Apple's devices to their Android equivalents.

But there's just something about the new iPhone that I'm not really a fan of that I can't quite put my finger on. I don't really dig Apple's decision to return to glass backing, as I really like the aluminium backs currently on Apple's devices (Although this is just me being picky, and most people put their phones into cases anyway.) Also, if you're just looking at the exterior of the phone; not the operating system, the hardware or anything else; I think the Samsung Galaxy S8 looks nicer. There's just something really off putting about that bulge at the top of the screen. Furthermore, this thing is expensive. Like, REALLY expensive. Even for Apple, it's expensive. For reference, I bought a Dell gaming laptop to play Planet Coaster on back in July with a 7th gen Intel i7 processor, 16GB RAM and an NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti graphics card and it only cost me £50 more than the base cost of the iPhone X (Bear in mind that this was reduced by £50 in PC World.) I don't really think a bezel-less phone with a bigger screen is worth the extra £300 you have to pay when compared with the other new iPhones; the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, which represent much better value for money in my opinion.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Someone at work pointed out a flaw yesterday evening: If the only way to unlock this phone is with your face, then when you pass out drunk, your "mates" can simply point your phone at you and gain access to all your everythings. Ditto a suspicious parter who wants to snoop while you sleep.

And what if you get stung by a wasp and your face swells up? Will you have to remove sunglasses? Or what if you're wearing heavy makeup? Or grow a beard? Hell, what if it's halloween and you have extreme makeup or even prosthetics on?
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That's all before we get into the conversation about evil twins :eek: One of the Samsungs could be opened with a photograph of said person. I wonder how the Apple technology distinguishes between you and a picture of you?

I believe there is a swipe up screen and you can enter a pin in case your face is deemed not worthy of entry.
 
You could buy yourself a perfectly good phone like this for £180 in different places (probably cheaper somewhere):
https://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-mobile-samsung-j5-gold-2016/104-4253.prd?source=others

(Edit - I meant to link to 2017 one) The storage could be better, but personally when I have anything decent on my phone, it gets transferred to my PC at home anyway. It has a very large screen and the internet is fast. The camera is very good, but if you want perfect, that's what actual dedicated cameras are for, I suspect.

So, let's suppose that you've saved that £800, and decide that you're not going to just save it for sensible reasons.....

You could treat yourself to one of these for that price difference in-between, and still have 100 quid left over to treat yourself to something: https://www.heliguy.com/dji-spark-fly-more-combo-p4524

Just putting it out there. Each to their own though. You're working hard for your cash, it's up to you what makes you happy and what you want to spend it on :)
 
What Barry said. I'm lucky enough to go to a private school with all the rich kids who all love Apple and the design blah blah. There was a heated discussion about which company and OS is better today after the release, all the apple fanboys became enraged when the Android/Samsung side pointed out why android is the better option for value for money and is (in my opinion) the better OS. The emotional attachment is strong with Apple.
EDIT: I forgot to add, although slightly warranty voiding, Androids can usually be rooted without bricking the phone, something useful for installing custom roms, with iphones now, its becoming much more difficult. I couldnt go without a rooted phone!
For me, the new iphone x is ridiculously overpriced and full of features which seem cool, but no one will use 6 months down the line. I honestly think money would have been better spent by Apple on true wireless charging, none of this charging pad rubbish. As it is possible to charge a battery using E.M waves, a little complex to avoid overheating though.
 
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