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A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

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Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#201

Post by MBCook »

diebeforei485 wrote: post #175
jbombadil wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My concern with them removing the port is what what would happen to everyone whose car's entertainment unit supports CarPlay but not wireless CarPlay?

You use the last phone that does have a port for a 2-3 years (get its battery replaced so it lasts longer), and eventually you get a new head unit that does support Wireless CarPlay.

I should have to replace the head unit in my car because Apple wanted to change the port on the phone?

I’d rather they stick with lightning.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#202

Post by ashtonkem »

californical wrote: post #172
ashtonkem wrote: post #143

I really hate arguments about how much electricity wireless phone charging wastes because it makes people feel like they’re doing something when in fact they aren’t. Charging a cell phone every day for a year consumes about 1-2 kWh per phone. The average American household consumes 10,399 kWh per year, meaning that a typical smart phone consumes one 5000th, (0.02%) of a typical home’s electricity (excl. natural gas)…

2-3kWh seemed impossibly low to me, so I checked, and yup, that’s amazing. A phone battery at 5V and 2500mAh (probably about the average) is approximately 12.5Wh of energy storage. Even if you used the entire battery every day, we’re talking 4kW per year, costing ~60¢ in the US. Your phone battery could only power a standard 60W incandescent lightbulb for 12 minutes, but powers your phone for hours. That’s amazing!

Incandescent light bulbs should really be understood as space heaters that happen to emit light.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#203

Post by PopeDotNinja »

RandallBrown wrote: post #102
henriquez wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like literally just a trademark Apple had laying around. I also don't see how it's better or more convenient than just plugging in a cord. From what I understand it wastes a lot of electricity.

It wastes less electricity than normal Qi wireless charging because it can line up the coils more perfectly. It also opens up a whole ecosystem of MagSafe accessories like wallets, car mounts, tripods, etc.

I’d also guess that MagSafe won’t wear out the phone socket as quickly, as one isn’t wearing down the socket with the friction of inserting cables. I’ve had to replace at least a couple phones from the socket being too “jiggly” to trust that the charging cable would retain contact. Nothing sucks more than waking up to a phone at 5% charge on a day when you need your phone.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#204

Post by fastball »

joshl325 wrote: post #196
fastball wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The theory I've heard is that they're planning to remove the charge port entirely in the iPhone 13, and therefore it would be a massive engineering waste to make only a single generation of phones with USB-C. But yeah, I really wanted USB-C. Bought the phone anyway though.

I can see that happen. Which will suck if you use your phones for camping trips or vacation where you need to charge on the fly. Maybe in a few years wireless charging will be efficient enough that you don't have to bring a larger power bank to compensate for power loss.

My own addendum to the theory is that this is why they've introduced MagSafe charging – if you have a power bank in your bag that is supposed to be charging your phone, but its wireless charging its just gonna fall off / come away from the charger. With magnetic attachment that is still more likely than an actual cable, but much less so.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#205

Post by Eric_WVGG »

jlengrand wrote: post #126

It's funny, because I bought my first apple watch last month. The website mentioned -> sustainability efforts, no cable. Ok, I bought a cable and a watch. Sat with my useless cable home for 4 days. Cable delivered after 3 days, watch after 5 weeks. Watch came with a cable. No matter how happy I am with my watch, I really feel like they were making fun of me. . .

I was puzzling over how you could have been misled — I am really, really positive they’ve never advertised "no cable" with the watches — and realized that you probably read "no charger."

Is the puck a cable, dongle, or charger? I suppose all those labels make sense. But anyway — yeah, power bricks are common and Apple doesn't ship them by default anymore; Watch pucks are niche and it would be pretty dumb for Apple to ship Watches without them.

advice: put your extra puck in your suitcase; if you accidentally travel without one you'll have a bad time

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#206

Post by nilay »

jbombadil wrote: post #119
samatman wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm indifferent. On the one hand, yeah, USB-C works great, and everything else I own takes it. On the other hand, Lightning also works great, USB-C isn't an improvement on the merits, and iPhone users have a bunch of accessories for it. Like in my car, I have a 12v charger with one USB-A port and a built-in Lightning cable, and I'd have to either junk it or just ignore the built in cable if they went USB-C. I'm prett…

My concern with them removing the port is what what would happen to everyone whose car's entertainment unit supports CarPlay but not wireless CarPlay?

Maybe Apple or someone could release a wireless data adapter or dongle for wired CarPlay in the future to overcome this problem.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#207

Post by WrtCdEvrydy »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #173
MengerSponge wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol at your false dichotomy with bitcoin. Bitcoin mining uses a mind-boggling amount of power, and we don't get anything useful for all those emissions. I agree that we're quick to look at other people's small wastes with condescension, but bitcoin is not a small waste.

Yup. Also, the shape of the growth curve matters. It's superlinear with the number of participants, and even with no new participants, the amount of waste grows over time by design . If an evil overlord wanted to exacerbate our climate and energy problems, pushing Bitcoin to mainstream use is probably the ideal way to do it.

> It's superlinear with the number of participants, and even with no new participants, the amount of waste grows over time by design.

Incorrect, growth curve is driven by mining power and forces innovation in lower cost of electricity. The worldwide cost of Bitcoin usage in KW has been compared to the headquarters of Bank of America's usage.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#208

Post by toast0 »

mynameisvlad wrote: post #100
toast0 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a not Apple user, I've got way more usb As than usb Cs. All of the laptops I have have at least two usb As, and may only have one C, which is often the charging port. My desktops currently have one usb C each, but since they're mostly useless, my next round will have all As and no Cs. The couple of devices I have with C plugs have attached dongles to A plugs, so I'm not losing anything by preferring A.

> but since they're mostly useless, my next round will have all As and no Cs Doubtful. I'm pretty sure every single motherboard has at least one USB-C port in the back, and most will come with the new USB-C header as a lot of the latest cases have a front USB-C port.

I'm building it today. I picked a motherboard with no usb-c. Gigabyte a520i AC. Came out like two months ago. No rear usb-c, no front usb-c (it does have a usb 3 header, but my case puts that to usb-a)

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#209

Post by leetcrew »

ashtonkem wrote: post #143

I really hate arguments about how much electricity wireless phone charging wastes because it makes people feel like they’re doing something when in fact they aren’t. Charging a cell phone every day for a year consumes about 1-2 kWh per phone. The average American household consumes 10,399 kWh per year, meaning that a typical smart phone consumes one 5000th, (0.02%) of a typical home’s electricity (excl. natural gas)…

the wasted energy doesn't itself matter. where it goes kinda does though. most of the waste is delivered as excess heat in the phone chassis at the worst possible time. subjecting a non-user-replaceable lipo battery to unnecessary heat while charging is antithetical to the goal of keeping a phone for a long time.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#210

Post by ntsplnkv2 »

macintux wrote: post #90
ntsplnkv2 wrote: post #50

These "bitch and moan about Apple" posts on here are so tiresome. They're not smart, they're not funny, and serve zero purpose, except to cater to the echo chamber. Meanwhile Apple's phones continue to be extremely profitable. Lots of downvotes - I get it, I hit you where it hurts. But tell me where I'm wrong, discuss with me?

Even as an Apple fan I found this post to be useful perspective. It is indeed an awkward change for new iPhone users, and those who don’t have USB-C chargers lying around. Apple ameliorated that by lowering the price on the auxiliary components, and I think it’s a good change overall, but the post still has merit.

What merit does it have? Beyond - "company's marketing isn't accurate." We could do this for any company, yet we don't have countless snarky articles about their marketing departments.

I can't imagine a company doing anything that will occupy my time as much as Apple lives rent free in the minds of some of these people on here.

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