by "Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
Published 09/23/2017 at 18:42
by "Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
Published 09/23/2017 at 18:42
Tags: iPhone
STARS: 2
I got my new iPhone 8 Plus yesterday! So far, I’m very happy with the experience. It’s the iPhone I’ve always dreamed of having. The iPhone 8 combines my two favourite iPhone generations as one. It takes the glass of the 4 and mixes it into the body of a 6. It then gets the water resistance and dual cameras of the 7 for good measure.
Earlier this week, I also picked up a Rose Gold 6S that needs a new screen but is otherwise fine. However, not long after picking up that phone I learned that I also could get any new iPhone I want too. This opened a whole new door..
I bet you’re going to ask why didn’t I wait to get the X? Well, the answer to that question is part of the reason I daily drove Android for the past two years.
My two favourite features on the X are the edge to edge screen and the lack of a virtual home button. To me, the rest of the phone just seems like a rushed design. It’s less “all new” and more “we didn’t know what to do”.
They seemingly spent so much time on the screen that they forgot to design the rest of the phone. In a world where Androids are having fun with dazzling glass colours and effects, Apple decides to go backwards to only white or black. Some Androids even use ceramic or Sapphire, again, missing from the X. I would have loved a wine red, or a metallic dark orange, maybe a vibrant blue...but nope.
My other issue is the entire deletion of the home button and Touch ID. More security options are always better. The iPhone 7 home button was basically just a touch pad. I feel they could have turned the Apple logo on the back of the phone into a fingerprint scanner/home button. Or maybe the power button could have been a scanner, like with the Nextbit Robin.
At any rate, I do like how they fixed the biggest issue I have with big screen Androids, soft keys. To me, soft keys are cheating. A screen may be advertised as a 5.5" or larger, but comes with a nearly half inch thick permanent soft key bar. Apple’s gesture home button fixes this, provided it actually works in practice.
Ultimately, what swayed me towards the 8 Plus was the peachy gold colour. Call me superficial, but I like some colour in my life.
Bonus: Here’s a MagSafe mod that I’ve done to the lightning port.
"Steve in Manhattan" (blogenfreude01)
09/23/2017 at 19:00, STARS: 2
Why magsafe?
And here is my 6S Plus (w/ Lifeproof battery case) shot by itself w/ a paired Sony/Zeiss DSC QX-100 lens. I want this phone to last forever.
"CB" (jrcb)
09/23/2017 at 19:01, STARS: 2
To me, for the last few generations, iPhones haven’t been that innovative and the innovations they do have seem to be more half-thought out than anything. I see nothing in the iPhone X that makes me go “that’s it, that’s the phone for me”, and in all honestly I probably would never consider one.
"victor" (victor)
09/23/2017 at 20:32, STARS: 1
If the iPhone (any variant) had dual sim, I would switch ba k. My galaxy s8 dual sim works quite well for now.
"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
09/23/2017 at 20:34, STARS: 1
MagSafe is my favourite style of charger ever. No need to plug anything in, just magnet on and magnet off. Saves wear on the lightning port too.
"mazda616" (mazda616)
09/23/2017 at 21:28, STARS: 0
I’m rocking my 128 GB iPhone 7 Plus in Matte Black. Got it a year ago as of the 27th. Verizon has texted me twice wanting me to trade up to the 8 Plus. They’re offering me $350.00 trade-in and another $300.00 off the 8 Plus. But I just can’t justify it. Mine and my wife’s 7 Pluses are doing fine and the 8 Plus just isn’t enough of an upgrade to justify the cost (as low as it may be with Verizon’s discounts) and trouble of switching phones.
"TrickJos" (trickjos)
09/24/2017 at 07:36, STARS: 0
I got a good look at the 8 on Friday at Best Buy. It’s a beautiful phone. Easily the best looking since the 4/4S. I’m holding out for the X though. It’s time to upgrade from my 6 and I really want that pretty screen and dual cameras.
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
09/25/2017 at 10:08, STARS: 0
Link?
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
09/25/2017 at 10:09, STARS: 0
“I learned that I also could get any new iPhone I want”
???
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
09/27/2017 at 17:14, STARS: 1
I actually kinda agree with you about on-screen buttons. My 5.5” Galaxy S7 Edge with its physical buttons below the screen maintains almost the same amount of screen real estate as the 5.7” Moto X Pure it replaced.
The Moto G5 series lets you disable the on-screen navigation buttons in favor of gestures on the fingerprint sensor. It’s called One Button Nav . I haven’t tried enabling it on my wife’s G5 Plus but maybe I’ll play with it when she’s not looking. For other phones there appear to be apps you can try to replicate this functionality but I have no idea how well they work.
Huawei has something similar with the P10 series and I’m sure there are others as well. The only issue with this idea is it’s not a standard Android function so everybody does it a little differently.
I personally hate the iPhone X. The decision-making that went into it is deeply flawed. It’s like they wanted to make a phone that was “all screen,” so they knew they had to get rid of the home button and the fingerprint sensor that had become a part of it.
But nooo, instead of just putting the fingerprint sensor on the back like so many other phones (sure it’s not as good as on the front but it at least still exists which is better than nothing) they came up with an overly complicated mini Xbox Kinect to put at the top of the front of the phone, and then they said, “no, this will not be part of the bezel, it’s going to eat up most of the top of the screen.”
It’s not as if the little corners that remain are all that useful. You can’t even see notification icons and the clock at the same time.
Yes, picking up the phone off a desk or table it’s sitting on to unlock it with a rear fingerprint sensor is a usability compromise. But you know what’s a bigger usability compromise? Having to pick up the phone, point it at your face, and look directly at it to unlock it.
What a stupid, stupid phone.
"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
09/27/2017 at 17:49, STARS: 0
Oh man you make me feel so much better for not getting the X lol. I agree on so many points.
One of the things I liked most about the Galaxy S7 I had was the physical home button and the glowing keys. This meant the screen was just that, all screen. Yet at the same time, I didn’t have to do anything special to navigate the phone.
Now, both my Honor 5X and the Nexus 6P had a lot of gestures built into the fingerprint scanner, which is awesome. The not awesome part about it was the fact that my finger always naturally gravitated towards the scanner...So then I’d be reading Oppo, accidentally slip my finger into the scanner, then either trigger the back button or the home button gesture. For both phones I just ended up turning off those gestures and living with the on-screen keys.
The Galaxy S8 does things a little differently. The phone sucks the softkeys away while you’re on whatever page you’re on. To get the home button back, swipe up from the bottom bezel then hit the back/menu/home button. I imagine this is how the iPhone X will work, except that bottom swipe will take you straight to the home screen, no on-screen keys. I suppose it’ll work okay.
But, like you I also know why these features were nixed. Apple spent so much time trying to develop a fingerprint scanner into the screen and they didn’t plan for the event in which they couldn’t succeed. I would have been fine with a Touch ID scanner built into the Apple logo on the back of the phone. I mean shoot, they could have even made the logo glow too...But nope, Xbox Kinect.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
09/27/2017 at 21:05, STARS: 0
The iPhone X doesn’t have any disappearing on-screen buttons. It’s totally swipe-based for home, app switcher, notifications, and control center.
I think fingerprint sensor navigation works best on phones like the Moto G5 and Huawei P10 series I mentioned that have fingerprint sensors on the front. Because it’s generally pretty similar to tapping a below-screen button with your thumb. Twiddling a rear fingerprint sensor with your index finger is more awkward.
My Moto X Pure didn’t have a fingerprint sensor, but it did have a dimple on the back where most rear fingerprint sensors are. It’s got the M logo on it and it’s this piece of plastic that extends down from the camera.
Most cases have a big opening for this whole plastic thing even though you just need to leave an opening for the camera and flash, which gives you a nice natural place to rest your index finger, and makes the phone easier to hold.