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Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

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Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#271

Post by sleepybrett »

toasterlovin wrote: post #204
Wavelets wrote: post #130

What a silly article. How someone could look at Apple's chip developments (A, T, S, W, etc. series of processors) and think they aren't innovative is mind-boggling. Apple developing key silicon in their devices is a major security benefit for their users and I consider that an innovative model. The Apple ecosystem itself is innovative and I don't think there's a single company that does it better. They still lead in…

And TouchId. And FaceID. And Apple Watch. And Airpods. And Apple Pencil. And TrueTone. And Swift. And the new file system. Anybody who thinks Apple isn’t innovating is an ignorant jackass.

All of these things are true but none of those have even come close to the way they moved the needle with the phone/pad.

Of course let's count the number of years it took them to get there from the newton. You can't just shit out a new groundbreaking ecosystem/product every year like clockwork. If you try 99% of those will be huge misses.

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#272

Post by MAGZine »

ar0 wrote: post #14
jfim wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Viruses: doesn't really apply if you just download non shady things from the play store OS fragmentation: doesn't apply if you're not a developer, just pick a phone that will have a reasonable amount of updates over its lifetime Privacy protection: really depends how you feel about Google on this one Presence of a secure element: this one really depends on your threat profile

> OS fragmentation: doesn't apply if you're not a developer, just pick a phone that will have a reasonable amount of updates over its lifetime Can you make a recommendation here? I am an iPhone user who might be inclined to switch to Android, but I still haven't found a phone that would satisfy this criterion. To clarify: "reasonable" for me means ~5 years, as this is how long I expect to keep using the same phone.

iPhones already don't get full updates. They get progressively trimmed updates as time goes on. Stock android does a similar thing. If you get a Pixel, you get 2 years of OS updates (my Pixel from 2016 is running the latest Android), at least 3 years of security updates, and many software updates in the meantime (most of Android's functionality can be upgraded without an OS update).

FWIW, phones aren't designed to last 5 years. The batteries aren't, the screens aren't, the casing isn't, and the hardware generally doesn't (newer software = more demanding).

That said, if you do require to use the same device for five years, and need the latest software on it, than Apple is probably your only option.

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#274

Post by lh7777 »

askafriend wrote: post #146
zeveb wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I still haven’t seen anything that has the size, battery life, functionality, range, and audio quality as AirPods at any price point Walmart has wired earbuds for under $5, which are quite small (they fit in your ears), have perpetual battery life (because they have no battery!), the same functionality (they play sound, in your ears), great range and great audio quality. And you won't have to replace them in two ye…

I'm sorry but to anyone who's actually tried and lived with AirPods, there's no going back and there's no comparison to anything on the market at any price (even at a higher price). It's so drastically better than anything on the market, that I'll immediately buy a new pair if I lose my current ones. I wouldn't even think twice about the price. There is no other headphones on the market where I can play 1:1 basketbal…

I'd never understood the appeal of wireless headphones, and I guess I kind of do now that I have AirPods. Mine fit fine and stay in while running, but that's the only use I've found for them. Anywhere else and I'd much rather use my 15 year old Sennheiser earbuds because I have so many problems with the AirPods:

* like pretty much all Apple earbuds, they don't seal to my ear so they're totally useless in loud places like airplanes (my #1 use case for headphones)

* audio frequently drops out, especially when outside (and there's nothing for the bluetooth signal to reflect off of)

* terrible mic quality for phone calls

* unreliable pairing to my Surface Pro

* one more thing for me to forget to charge

Some of this is anecdata and maybe I just have lemon AirPods, but my experience has been very far from "there's no going back and there's no comparison". I'd sell them without reservation if I didn't feel weird in general about selling earbuds.

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#275

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

wlesieutre wrote: post #265
scarface74 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The $499 Mac Mini came with 4GB of RAM, a 5400 rpm hard drive and had a 1.4Ghz CPU. A usable Mac Mini was at least $699.

That was 4 years ago, so that was probably as reasonable an amount of memory as 8 GB is today. And the Macbook Airs start at a 1.6 GHz dual core, so Apple isn't above using slower processors in new products. It'll work fine for some people. The SSD is non-negotiable today though, I'll give you that one.

4Gb is good for a media server and not much else.

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#276

Post by biglenny »

reacharavindh wrote: post #33

May be people are disappointed with innovation in iPhones compared to previous years' or for the last few years, but every time I use my AirPods, I can't but feel good about the innovation it took to make it as easy to use and comfortable. * If I open the case near my phone, it automatically pairs and shoes battery levels. * They sound decent for earbuds (not in-ear plugs which I hate) * Lasts reasonable amount of ti…

Anyone who wears "AirPods" is a massive cookie cutter. I lose respect for people the instant I see those things in their ears

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#277

Post by wtallis »

jandrese wrote: post #98
raverbashing wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. "Early 2014" is not a good model description

This drives me crazy with Mac products. Would it kill Apple to print the damn hardware revision on the case? It doesn't have to be big, just a tiny line of text in the back corner that tells you exactly what hardware you have.

My MBP says "Model A1502 EMC 2830" on the bottom. My iMac says Model A1207, EMC 2118. My old MBP is Model A1226, EMC 2136. These are short unique model identifiers and any web search will get you all the specs and spare parts you want.

Apple has stopped including strings like "2.4GHz Core 2 Duo/2GB/256MB VRAM/160GB 5400rpm", but then only half of that is accurate for the machine I just read that off of, because of upgrades. (And that label was only accessible by pulling out the battery.)

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#278

Post by vogon_laureate »

Green_man wrote: post #236
d35007 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think it's increasingly obvious that for everyone except osx stans, it's not the best choice available, and it hasn't been for a long time The problem with arguments like this is that they're self-reinforcing. If I try to refute it, you'll just peg me as an "osxistan" (is that a country?) and say I've proven you right.

thats a fair criticism, i'll consider rewording (stan is a reference to a superfan of eminems, from his song stan). alternatively, you could of course explain why you think apple laptops are the best choice still in 2018(if that's how you feel), its not as if i didn't have some reasoning in my comment that you are free to clash with.

I have a Macbook Pro with touch bar and a Dell XPS. Windows seems to have endless updates and little control over them. Drivers are a pain, bios updates seem to be really important. Blue screens. Unreliable Bluetooth. I've had dell support need to replace almost everything in that machine. And this is supposed to be one of the best Windows laptops.

After six months of struggle with the Dell, I got a MBP. I actually love the keyboard. The speakers are amazing. The trackpad is the industry best. Bluetooth works perfectly. The screen is gorgeous, the build quality is unmatched, and Mac OS is intuitive, clutter free, and stable.

Night and day difference between them.

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#279

Post by ForrestN »

asadkn wrote: post #252
ForrestN wrote: post #111

It's embarrassing that this doesn't include a massive, bold-faced disclaimer above the headline. Bloomberg is in the midst of a credibility-destroying fight with Apple over a sensational story that no other journalists can corroborate. Bloomberg has dug in, staking their reputation on Apple being wrong. Seemingly in response Bloomberg... publishes a hand-wavy piece of cultural criticism about the meaning of Apple doi…

That's definitely a shame. It's filed under "Bloomberg Opinion" though (with a disclaimer at end about it being opinion of the article author). P.S. it's even worse that the hypocrite fans don't callout when the paid-for praise happens without disclaimer. And that happens way more often.

I'm generally against the "opinion/news" distinction anyway, but the same disclosures should apply in the opinion section. For example, if a newspaper published an opinion piece arguing against a new health care law, shouldn't readers know that the writer is the head of an insurance company that would lose billions if the law were past?

I agree with you—if a company advertises with a given outlet and journalists write stories about that company, positive or negative, I'd like to know about it. Unlike in this case, there is the supposed "separation of church and state" that protects newsrooms from the advertising side of these businesses. But I'm skeptical that works perfectly in practice.

But this is something else entirely. There's no firewall between Bloomberg's editors and... Bloomberg's editors.

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#280

Post by criddell »

biglenny wrote: post #276
reacharavindh wrote: post #33

May be people are disappointed with innovation in iPhones compared to previous years' or for the last few years, but every time I use my AirPods, I can't but feel good about the innovation it took to make it as easy to use and comfortable. * If I open the case near my phone, it automatically pairs and shoes battery levels. * They sound decent for earbuds (not in-ear plugs which I hate) * Lasts reasonable amount of ti…

Anyone who wears "AirPods" is a massive cookie cutter. I lose respect for people the instant I see those things in their ears

Why? They're a good product.
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