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A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

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Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#211

Post by ceejayoz »

notJim wrote: post #103
alistairSH wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cable is a wear item. By the time I'm ready to swap phones (3 years or so), I'm also ready for a new cable. If I bought an iPhone 12 tomorrow, I would, at minimum, also have to buy another cable, because the one Apple included doesn't work with my existing charger. Not the end of the world, but still annoying.

I think you may be an outlier in owning only one lightning cable. I just looked in my desk drawer and counted 5, and I can think of 3 more in other areas of my house and car.

My kids fidget absentmindedly with the charger cords while they use their phones, so at this point we buy them in packs of ten off Amazon.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#212

Post by leptons »

dheera wrote: post #191
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)…

IMO the single biggest environmentally-unfriendly move Apple made is not allowing user serviceability. Even a simple ability to swap your phone's battery for a new one would reduce a lot of emissions. But they want you to spend $$$ on new stuff, so they make it hard for you to fix. And on laptops, soldered SSDs, soldered RAM, non-swappable batteries. You HAVE to buy a new PC even if you just want a little more hard d…

>Even a simple ability to swap your phone's battery for a new one would reduce a lot of emissions.

And add to that every other manufacturer that thinks they have to copy what Apple does (looking at you Samsung), and also removes ability to swap batteries and other things we used to be able to do every easily.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#213

Post by ntsplnkv2 »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #181
samatman wrote: post #38

Literally every one of the existing options still works. Ok with charging at 5w? Plug your lightning-to-A cable into the little tiny cube charger they've been selling since forever. Already have a faster USB charger? It works. Ok with Qi at 7W? Works Oh, you want the new shiny MagSafe puck system? Great. Buy it. This analysis completely ignores that the new shiny system is supposed to be a better experience . It's co…

> This analysis completely ignores that the new shiny system is supposed to be a better experience. It doesn't ignore it, it's explicitly about it. What the article is saying is that Apple is sending out conflicting marketing messages. On the one hand, they advertise the lack of charger in an iPhone box by their environmental consciousness. On the other hand, they advertise the "full experience", in order to get whic…

Every company ever has inconsistent or BS marketing. You can almost roll your eyes at the Exxon anti-global warming ads.

So what? Why do we focus so much on Apple?

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#214

Post by blackguardx »

petre wrote: post #73
Zak wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm disappointed Apple hasn't dropped Lightning and just made all their devices use standard USB-C. I could see their motivation for developing their own connector when everyone else was using micro-B, which has a number of disadvantages, but now USB-C is used to power virtually every other phone and tablet, and many laptops including Apple's own.

USB-C is great but the Lightning connector is still better designed. Oh and you can downvote me all you want, I'm an electrical engineer, not an Apple fanboy. Don't like the phone. Anyway, they should at least include a cable.

I disagree and think the USB-C connector is better designed.

Exposing electrical contacts to the environment like on the Lightning connector is bad for several reasons, including increased risk of static electricity damage and wear on the exposed electrical contacts. Apple has gone to great lengths to reduce or eliminate the static electricity risk by integrating a special IC into the cable. The contact wear issue has not been addressed by them. Many of the cables I have show signs of eroded contacts and I think that is the main reason why some cables of mine have failed.

The USB-C connector surrounds the contacts with a mechanical shield that protects them from fingers or anything else. This is a standard connector design that has been used on pretty much every connector. It is boring, but it works.

The Lightning is great engineering, but is ultimately let down by the radical design IMHO.

BTW, I am also an electrical engineer that has designed MFI accessories and uses iPhones.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#215

Post by r1nkgrl »

jen20 wrote: post #166
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?

Does anyone other than BMW have wireless CarPlay?

I have an aftermarket Pioneer head unit with wireless CarPlay

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#216

Post by Spooky23 »

dheera wrote: post #191
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)…

IMO the single biggest environmentally-unfriendly move Apple made is not allowing user serviceability. Even a simple ability to swap your phone's battery for a new one would reduce a lot of emissions. But they want you to spend $$$ on new stuff, so they make it hard for you to fix. And on laptops, soldered SSDs, soldered RAM, non-swappable batteries. You HAVE to buy a new PC even if you just want a little more hard d…

I think the sales aspect is a secondary consideration. IMO the primary is ensuring that there are minimal incidents of battery fires or other mishaps. Avoiding that hazard plus the bad PR is a major consideration... remember when the Galaxy Note was banished from planes?

For Samsung it’s a much bigger impact. They have a wider temperature operating range and advertise heavily to police, construction and similar outdoor roles. The phones work but chew batteries — replaceable batteries would move more units.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#217

Post by colejohnson66 »

joshl325 wrote: post #195
samatman wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Throwing away a billion devices worth of accessories isn't the environmentally friendly move. I'm always confused how people talk themselves into believing this. It is obviously not the case.

Unless Apple decides to ditch the port entirely in the near future, your argument doesn't make sense. Sure, there will be some minor pain during the transition, but the world did not end when Apple transitioned from the 30-pin to Lighting transition, nor did it end when phone manufacturers transitioned from micro-USB to USB-C. You can use USB-C to lightning adapter, like how they have 30-pin to lightning adapter earl…

Does no one remember the uproar when Apple first introduced Lightning? Everyone I talked to hated that their old 30-pin connector cables wouldn’t work anymore. With how much more popular the iPhone is now compared to over half a decade ago, it’d be even worse.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#219

Post by saalweachter »

WrtCdEvrydy wrote: post #207
TeMPOraL wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The BoA headquarters uses 8 million KW of electricity? Jesus Christ, the shareholders should sue everyone on the board.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#220

Post by diebeforei485 »

MBCook wrote: post #201
diebeforei485 wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If you don't have carplay, a new head unit is well worth the upgrade.

If you do, but want to switch to wireless carplay, there are adapters: https://cplay2air.com/products/cplaystreamer-wireless-adapte...

That said, I think Apple will offer both lightning and portless iPhones during the transition. They might make the "mini" phones be portless for example.

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