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With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

nytimes.com

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Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#171

Post by bb101 »

thrownblown wrote: post #136
thingerr wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, you aren't talking about the average consumer anymore. If we're talking flashing operating systems, sideloading kernel updates and boot loaders in order to feel secure about your mobile device, then an older, vertically supported iOS device is probably a better bet. Secondly, AOSP isn't forever. After your carrier/device-manufacturer drops support, Google isn't that far behind. If you're not getting AOSP drops…

Lineage OS is pretty easy on my nexus 6. Unlocking the bootloader was the hardest part, which is literally "fastboot OEM unlock" So yeah its hard. YMMV.

I agree, it's not hard. However, I know some people who just can't grasp how to set up a mail account or even use Dropbox. For them, unlocking a bootloader is nigh on impossible.

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#172

Post by flukus »

bambax wrote: post #164
dannysu wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That misses a key point I was making: OS updates. Yes, I too have a Nexus 4 (bought in 2012) and it still works fine. But no more updates. I don't consider that on par with say my previous work laptop, which was also 3 years before I upgraded. I also own a Moto E (2nd Gen, $60-ish) and bought a Moto G+ for my brother this year, but I can't count on them to receive OS updates for as long.

Okay, but why do we need "software updates"? If the phone still works and is able to do the job what difference does it make? I had a Moto G for over 3 years that cost $150 in 2014 and which continued to work perfectly with zero updates (Android 4.4) during that period. It finally died last month when I tried to recharge it on an USB cable that I wired backwards (on a motorcycle). Replaced it with a $120 Lenovo that'…

> Okay, but why do we need "software updates"? If the phone still works and is able to do the job what difference does it make?

Yes, maybe not updates as such but we certainly need security patches. Any network connected device does and phones are more connected than most, frequently sharing networks with strangers or friends that aren't tech savy enough to keep their environment secure..

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#173

Post by arjie »

dannysu wrote: post #51
Yetanfou wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see your 3 year young iPhone and raise my 6 year old Motorola Defy. I bought it new in 2011 for about 1/4 of what the then-current iPhone would have cost. It still works flawlessly, the battery is fine as well (~5 days of normal use on a single charge or ~7 hours of screen time). If the battery were to fail I could just replace it, no tools required. Oh, the thing is waterproof and 'shock-proof' (although the latte…

That misses a key point I was making: OS updates. Yes, I too have a Nexus 4 (bought in 2012) and it still works fine. But no more updates. I don't consider that on par with say my previous work laptop, which was also 3 years before I upgraded. I also own a Moto E (2nd Gen, $60-ish) and bought a Moto G+ for my brother this year, but I can't count on them to receive OS updates for as long.

AFAIK the Nexus 6P is still receiving updates.

I have one of those and an iPhone 7.

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#174

Post by adventured »

vacri wrote: post #42
jkaptur wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Andy Warhol: "What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drin…

This is different to soft drinks in other countries... how? Change the drink to whiskey, another popular one, and you can be sure that there's a difference between what the American rich and poor drink. > no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good And coke is not the same everywhere either. My guess is that the pre…

> This is different to soft drinks in other countries... how?

The US - along with a select few nations - was a pioneer when it comes to mass-consumer economics that leverage a relatively free market to deliver high quality goods to both rich and poor. It required a dramatic leap in productivity, manufacturing output, to get the scale necessary to drive prices down to such an extent. Ford's Model T was arguably the earliest, best example of that. Over eight years post introduction it went from $850 (6k unit sales) to $360 (577k unit sales), eventually bottoming out under $300 (and incomes climbed substantially over that ~16 year total period). Whether we're talking mass production soda, or cars, or radios, or kitchen appliances, the US was particularly a global pioneer at it from ~1880-1980.

> And, for the US with its HFCS coke, you can import the much better-tasting sucrose-coke

To be fair, that's a Warhol quote from 1975. At the time he said it, Coke was still using sugar in the US market. It was 1984 when Coke and Pepsi announced plans to switch to HFCS.

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#175

Post by nebabyte »

pilsetnieks wrote: post #91
StudentStuff wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much of this logic is why I stopped buying new computers or phones. I'd rather use a $70 T440 that I've upgraded and know how to repair most everything on than haul a MBP that I'll need to get a pro to service, that also happens to have terrible ventilation. I mean, my last MBP literally cooked itself, comparatively this T440 has a giant grill that it rapidly removes heat through (though its 15w i5 doesn't make much)…

You make it sound like the MBP is a weighty piece of burden compared to a dainty T440 (use a T440 vs. haul a MBP.) And the part about cooking itself sounds like a manufacturing defect for which you should have gotten a replacement - in normal conditions it should just shut down, if temperatures get high enough that ventilation and throttling don't help.

> You make it sound like the MBP is a weighty piece of burden compared to a dainty T440 (use a T440 vs. haul a MBP.)

I made the mistake of buying a MBP to see what all the fuss was about and fantasize regularly about destroying it Office-Space style, "weighty piece of burden" is just about the nicest way you could put it

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#176

Post by fehrm »

dannysu wrote: post #18

Nobody looks at a top of the line PC with the best graphics card(s) and say it's crossing a threshold. Everybody understands it's for a certain demographic. According to rumors, they're still going to have various models and price points. Also, iPhones are extremely economical because no other phones receive OS updates for as long. My iPhone 6, which cost $749 at the time, is coming up to 3 years old. It's still flaw…

You must be from the valley if you think that a 1000 phone is economical. That is laughable.

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#177

Post by alkonaut »

devwastaken wrote: post #90

After recently doing a bit of research into a new smartphone, I begun to understand why people buy Iphones, even if they're really really expensive. Firstly, you can explain it away financially with monthly payments, like any phone through a provider, but the biggest pain point I had is proven reliability. Take any popular Android phone, and you'll see a history of unsolved hardware problems from the manufacturer, su…

> proven reliability

This. I buy iPhones because I know that every released version will be bought by several tens of millions. I don't want a smartphone that only a couple of million bought. If something is wrong with it I don't want to find a few unhappy souls on some forum complaining about the same thing, and a manufacturer that's already pushing ten new models. The "Just works" feature is worth so much to people.

Obviously some of the the flagship android phones are also big sellers, and also tend to "just work" - but those also cost about the same as the iPhone.

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#178

Post by irishsultan »

bambax wrote: post #164
dannysu wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That misses a key point I was making: OS updates. Yes, I too have a Nexus 4 (bought in 2012) and it still works fine. But no more updates. I don't consider that on par with say my previous work laptop, which was also 3 years before I upgraded. I also own a Moto E (2nd Gen, $60-ish) and bought a Moto G+ for my brother this year, but I can't count on them to receive OS updates for as long.

Okay, but why do we need "software updates"? If the phone still works and is able to do the job what difference does it make? I had a Moto G for over 3 years that cost $150 in 2014 and which continued to work perfectly with zero updates (Android 4.4) during that period. It finally died last month when I tried to recharge it on an USB cable that I wired backwards (on a motorcycle). Replaced it with a $120 Lenovo that'…

> If the phone still works and is able to do the job what difference does it make?

Windows XP still works, but that doesn't mean I would accept my computer being locked to that version of Windows.

Security updates are important, but so is the fact that you might want to run software on it that doesn't work with an older Android version.

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#179

Post by cm2187 »

Razengan wrote: post #154
cm2187 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but there was a big jump in performance / new features between early iphone generations. Nowadays the difference is really marginal for every day use. You are only going to take better photos in marginal low light conditions, if you even take lots of photos, everything else will be pretty much the same experience. I'd argue that we are even in removal of features mode (audio jack, touch id) which is putting off…

> Yeah but there was a big jump in performance / new features between early iphone generations. Nowadays the difference is really marginal for every day use. You can say the exact same for PCs, which could have stopped getting any performance improvements about 5 years ago and the general populace wouldn’t have complained at all.

And you can see the effect on sales. The only reason to replace a laptop these days is if you spill some coffee on it.

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#180

Post by nebabyte »

visarga wrote: post #106
jononor wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Competition is a hell of a lot better these days. A phone at 1/5 the cost will cover the same needs.

I voted with my wallet since iPhone 4. I was an early enthusiast with iPhone and owned the first model, as soon as it came out, and the next 3 models after that. But at some point it started becoming so expensive I was put off. I can afford it but I was just disgusted. I have gone through 3 Android phones since and now use a Nexus 6P, which is a very nice phone.

"vote with your wallet". I'll never stop being amazed at how readily americans buy into the "democracy = consumerism" equation. Or the number of things they happily apply that formula to.

I suppose that 'we're here to change the world' soda commercial isn't nearly as absurd when you consider the audience.

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