New Apple Lust Objects for 2010 and onward

what makes the 8+ much better than 6+? that's what i've been sitting on, probably just gonna wait for iphone 9.. whatever

Good to hear. What do you like about the watch?

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Saturday, 21 October 2017 20:31 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is what i do with it every day:

• replying to messages (pre-selected response, speech-to-text, writing letters on the screen like a palm pilot)
• controlling music and podcasts playing on my phone (jump back 10 seconds, pause, change volume)
• public transport times, delays &c.
• weather
• all the usual fitbit-type stuff (steps, kilojoules/calories, stairs climbed) but with some coaching
• setting timers while my hands are covered in food (until we get a google home mini for the kitchen)

• sat nav (yelling at siri works after the third or fourth attempt)
• paying for stuff when my hands are full, which happens surprisingly often
• dictating quick notes (i use onenote for this)
• it's an apple tv remote
• some of my music's on it (there's no sound equaliser but it's still convenient)

really it's all about convenience, but i won't be sticking this in a drawer like others did in the past. the series 3 is so quick to respond that it's completely painless for doing everything, even just checking the time.

what makes the 8+ much better than 6+? that's what i've been sitting on, probably just gonna wait for iphone 9.. whatever

― Nhex, Sunday, 22 October 2017 05:03 (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

• vastly better camera (and two cameras!)
• waterproofing (which means dustproofing, which i hope means no crap on my camera sensor this time)
• much better build quality (no chance of bendgate, this thing is rock solid)
• no mechanical home button to break down after 14 months
• remarkably good speakers
• wireless charging, if that's your thing
• more ram (3 gb), which iirc translates to faster camera operation (the camera in the 6 & 6+ got sluggish under ios 10 & 11)
• fast as hell
• a few small things that are really nice: instant touch id, raise to wake, "hey siri" without being plugged in
• a few small things i don't really care about but are sort of nice: live photos, 3d touch as a nifty shortcut in apps like music

waiting another year probably makes sense though, if you can wait long enough for a 9+ (or x+?) with an edge-to-edge screen, and if you can endure ios 11/10 on your 6+ for another 11 (or 23, or 35) months. the 8+ does look dated up against the pixel 2 xl, galaxy s8 etc etc.

One other biggie is much faster wired charging, though you'll need to buy a USB-C to Lightning cable and charger (or use the charger that came with your recent Macbook) to take advantage of it. Up to 50% charge in 30 minutes, Apple says.

Speed and better camera are the best reasons. Almost always the best reasons to upgrade your phone.

tbh those are the progressive generational bits that make buying every other or every few phones worthwhile, other studr takes a while to trickle in as necessities

Apple Pay is nice

thx for the input, aa

any time!

jeff & mh otm, 2017 phones are so insanely useful and powerful that you can hang on to one for a long time. i expect i'll be using this 8+ until at least 2020 if it doesn't die.

One other biggie is much faster wired charging, though you'll need to buy a USB-C to Lightning cable and charger (or use the charger that came with your recent Macbook) to take advantage of it. Up to 50% charge in 30 minutes, Apple says.

― Lee626, Sunday, 22 October 2017 10:52 (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that explains why i couldn't find a compatible fast charger today. i had no idea usb-c was required. 10w ipad chargers (usb) seem to be quicker at charging these than the usual 5w ones, so that'll do for now.

Yeah thanks AA for taking the time. Still not convinced the watch is really for me but I’m always curious to hear how people use theirs irl

yeah, if fitbits lasted longer than nine months i probably wouldn't have got an apple watch. i could probably go without it but it's nice to have.

We just got an Apple TV 4K and the screensavers are a thing of beauty. Apple are really pushing this Live Photo thing and they are using it an 4K to great effect. There’s a fantastic swoop through Hong Kong harbour, but the amazing one is a fly over LAX, planes move during the slow sweep, as do cars and busses, you can even see the fans on top of the cooling plant move. It’s a minor thing but I spend five minutes this evening watching a screen saver.

on my apple tv I used to use a collection of mid-century graphic design as my screensaver. Then I used a folder of William Eggleston photos. But my baby kept staring at the screen and getting distracted so I made a black jpg my screensaver so I can keep playing music but immediately black out the screen.

that explains why i couldn't find a compatible fast charger today. i had no idea usb-c was required. 10w ipad chargers (usb) seem to be quicker at charging these than the usual 5w ones, so that'll do for now.

― rove mcmanus island (Autumn Almanac), Sunday, 22 October 2017 07:39 (yesterday) Permalink

Yes, iPad chargers (or any reputable-brand 2.1A or 2.4A chargers, which are inexpensive) will juice up your 6 or later iPhone noticeably faster than the wimpy 1.0A (5w) charger that Apple supplies with your phone.

Apple issued these guidelines for 8/8+/X fast charging; thusfar it seems only Apple makes the needed USB-C to Lightning cables, but Anker and Aukey both have suitable 29w USB-C charging blocks that sell for about USD $25 which is half of what Apple's own charger costs. I expect both of these items will become much more widely available & less expensive in the next few months, but it's still ridiculous that Apple doesn't supply the needed hardware to fast-charge their newest and most expensive phones in the box given that their Android competition does (and has for years). At least third parties have confirmed Apple's charging speed claims - it actually recharges slightly faster than claimed and about 50% faster than a Samsung S8.

my baby kept staring at the screen and getting distracted

man u got yr baby doin homework or what

you know, distracted from things like nursing!

lee626: thanks for the detail. 2.1a is probably fast enough for most people, especially considering how light the new phones are on battery (and might get better still once apple sorts out ios 11).

jeff & mh otm, 2017 phones are so insanely useful and powerful that you can hang on to one for a long time. i expect i'll be using this 8+ until at least 2020 if it doesn't die.

― rove mcmanus island (Autumn Almanac), Sunday, October 22, 2017 3:39 AM (yesterday) Bookmark

i mean this is how i felt about my iphone 6 back when i got it but now it's been borked by ios 10 and 11.

you'll notice that nobody talks about how new ios or macos updates makes their older machines feel 'snappier' anymore

i like the "battery life is better/worse" chicken entrails stuff we still go through every ios update

it's not as much as fun as "DEFRAG BEFORE UPDATING" back in the day but yeah I enjoy it too

new macOS is definitely snappier at file copying!

removing bookmark before someone explains the file copying change I know

lol

you can no longer exclude time machine drives from spotlight in high sierra

that's not new
https://eclecticlight.co/2016/06/20/you-cannot-turn-off-spotlight-indexing-on-your-time-machine-backup/

ah, fair enough

"This indexing is necessary for Time Machine to function properly and can’t be disabled."

lol what if time machine doesn't function properly. can i disable it then?

Did the iPhone Upgrade Plan pre-approval thing, so I should be ready to roll on Friday.

which one jeff?

i mean this is how i felt about my iphone 6 back when i got it but now it's been borked by ios 10 and 11.

― 龜, Tuesday, 24 October 2017 03:08 (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah true, but that had 1 gb of ram, so even at the time it felt like it was on the verge of being superseded. the 8 has 2 gb ram (which is still not heaps) and the a11 chip which benchmarks like crazy.

now that apple apparently sees its future in whatever the X becomes, i'm wondering if the 8/8+ will continue as an SE-type midrange device and remain fine for most things, and whether ios has reached a point of maturity and will settle down as well. (totally prepared to eat my words though.)

iOS a littler too mature iyam

LITTLE, a LITTLE too goddamn it

okay maybe not the keyboard

yeah, in some ways it feels like they ran out of mature and are just fiddling with things

X 256 GB, space gray

nice! looking forward to your impressions

app switching without a home button looks sweet. hope all the new gestures work this well...

App switching on iPhone X looks pretty smooth. (via https://t.co/mXpNJhOwzw) pic.twitter.com/Lf9X3twx58

— Webastiaan the Sith (@sdw) October 25, 2017

(sry about it being so hueg, thought it was just going to be a link)

oddly satisfying

looks cool. not $1000 cool, but cool.

otm, simply can’t justify that price tag

I was curious so I ran the numbers

Original iPhone in 2007 was $599 but required a two year contract to be signed, so roughly $750 - $800, translating to somewhere between $875 - $950 in 2017 dollars

They dropped the original's price significantly to $399 (plus the carrier subsidy) only three months later, though.

I totally had a "oh that's neat, too bad I will never pay that much for it" reaction, too

yeah, and i don't think i'll regret buying an 8+, mainly because i won't be paying a premium to beta test a load of apple's new tech. also i think everyone knows there'll be an x+ along in a year or two, by which time supply chains will be keeping up and the price might drop to a reasonable amount.

i mean here the difference between the 8 and the 8+ is ~$150 (for which you get better screen/battery/camera/speakers), but the jump to an x is ~$350 for face id and an oled panel that's longer but slightly narrower. that's kind of insane.

better battery life too

Price to me is only $11 more a month since I am on the iPhone upgrade plan. Which will only last a year when I get whatever is brand new next year. So the whole $1000 phone doesn’t really bother me, since I just lease.

you've nailed it there, imo most x purchases will be on plans which will find ways to absorb the cost.

spottie: cheers, i forgot battery life. pretty significant tbh.

SE battery life remains incredible, I’ve gone two days wo charging, w normal city usage

i just backdated to a new SE, i'm so happy about it (from a 6+)

my reasoning was that they will never make a small phone again

backdated? whatever the opposite of updated is.

jumped consumer tiers sideways

into a frontside 360 ollie

downgraded