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The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

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Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#221

Post by bshoemaker »

simonh wrote: post #181
interlocutor wrote: post #173

Apple's problem is that their rate of innovation has slowed down. iPhone generates over a 100 Billion dollars in revenue. Per year. If any company has the resources to innovate it is Apple. Apple, here are some free ideas. Some of these ideas go beyond the phone and into cell networks. If Google can do that ( https://fi.google.com ) why can't Apple? - Improve cellular reception. We are now heavily reliant on our cell…

Yep, apart from the latest iPhones having the best screens ever, the quickest most convenient and most secure unlock mechanism ever, the best computational photography ever, the fastest mobile CPUs ever released and overall being 2+ years ahead of their nearest competition, that was all a few months ago. Old news. What have Apple done for us just now?

Oh wow, the best unlock mechanism. What a feature!

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#222

Post by ajb257 »

I would argue that the change that happened was the realistic rise in price based on:

1) In 2017, the iPhone 8 was the 'standard', and the iPhone X was the 'premium above', adding new features for those willing to pay the extra 2) In 2018, the iPhone XS is effectively the standard, because the XR has the impression of being a hobbled version of the XS

Since noone would rather buy the 'hobbled' one, the base price jumps to $1000

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#223

Post by tabs_masterrace »

interlocutor wrote: post #173

Apple's problem is that their rate of innovation has slowed down. iPhone generates over a 100 Billion dollars in revenue. Per year. If any company has the resources to innovate it is Apple. Apple, here are some free ideas. Some of these ideas go beyond the phone and into cell networks. If Google can do that ( https://fi.google.com ) why can't Apple? - Improve cellular reception. We are now heavily reliant on our cell…

How about some more sensors. No phone can tell me the temperature, without checking weather online. What if I want to know the room temperature. Could put humidity, atmospheric pressure sensors in there too, IR cameras, all kinds of cool stuff. Think of the software applications, right know my "smart" phone has no way of knowing if I'm outside or inside.

Then, voice mail. Why doesn't this still not work locally? There is no reason the phone shouldn't be able of answering and recording messages by itself.

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#224

Post by de4np »

m0zg wrote: post #201
geocar wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. I keep trying Android; I have a few Android devices (around the $600 point) and it just seems too much of a hassle. A lot of it can probably be chalked up to be how fragmented Android has, and how the handset vendors block/break things like updates, but I'm not interested in trying to research my best fit, or fight my way through online resources. There's a handful of features that I'd definitely love s…

That's what's so attractive about this Nokia model in particular (and about other phones under the Android One designation): it has pure Android Pie, without crapware or half-assed vendor customizations, with guaranteed security and OS updates.

This is one of the reasons I bought a Nokia 8 when my Nexus 5X started to boot-loop. However, still no Pie update, kind of feels like they are not as fast as Nexus/Pixel updates used to be.

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#225

Post by lsc »

interlocutor wrote: post #214
lsc wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>- Improve cellular reception. We are now heavily reliant on our cell phones, yet half the time our cell phones don't work because we are inside a building or not close to a tower and so on. This needs to be fixed ASAP. Everyone wants to buy the cheapest cellphone plan, then they complain when it doesn't work in buildings. Your location matters here, but at least in the more enclosed bars in san jose, AT&T and T-mobi…

Facebook is launching their own satellites to beam down high-speed internet. (See https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/21/17598418/facebook-athena-... ) Why isn't Apple doing that? More than anyone else Apple needs it.

People have been talking about LEO internet for as long as I've been working; It didn't work in the '90s, mostly due to launch costs

(you see, for decent network performance, the satellites need to be low - that means you need a lot of satellites, because each one can't be seen from much of the earth's surface, and because they are so low, there is enough atmospheric drag that you have to replace the things every few years. If you use satellites at a regular orbit, you use fewer of them, sure, but you also then have the problem of really looong ping times.)

I mean, I'm sure someone will eventually get it, but we probably need to lower launch costs, and we need to do a lot of engineering on the rest of it. It's not an easy problem.

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#226

Post by rhn_mk1 »

tabs_masterrace wrote: post #223
interlocutor wrote: post #173

Apple's problem is that their rate of innovation has slowed down. iPhone generates over a 100 Billion dollars in revenue. Per year. If any company has the resources to innovate it is Apple. Apple, here are some free ideas. Some of these ideas go beyond the phone and into cell networks. If Google can do that ( https://fi.google.com ) why can't Apple? - Improve cellular reception. We are now heavily reliant on our cell…

How about some more sensors. No phone can tell me the temperature, without checking weather online. What if I want to know the room temperature. Could put humidity, atmospheric pressure sensors in there too, IR cameras, all kinds of cool stuff. Think of the software applications, right know my "smart" phone has no way of knowing if I'm outside or inside. Then, voice mail. Why doesn't this still not work locally? Ther…

> How about some more sensors. No phone can tell me the temperature

Electronics get hot when operating, and even more so when they are sitting in the pocket. Typical temp sensors are attached to 30cm long cables.

Nevertheless, I'm sure phones can do that already if you install a weather station in your house.

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#227

Post by glitchc »

lostlogin wrote: post #17
glitchc wrote: post #10

I bought the XS recently, but what I really wanted was the SE form factor with the XS internals (sans Face ID). Indeed, ignoring the SE market is Apple’s biggest flaw.

Do you want no Face ID or are you just happy to forgo it?

I don’t use it at all.

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#228

Post by londons_explore »

I recently got a Umidigi A3 Pro [1] as my main phone. It's an iPhone X clone for $85.

Is it as good? No. But it's nearly as good, and has the flexibility of Android (tethering when the carrier doesn't allow it, side loading 'dodgy' apps, multi-sim so I can always get coverage even indoors, hackable headphone volume, call recording without hassle).

Overall, I'd value the iPhone and fake iPhone the same for my uses. And that's a problem for Apple when the real one is subpar in many respects and costs 15x as much.

[1]: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/c6vyrTdJ

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#229

Post by vbezhenar »

londons_explore wrote: post #228

I recently got a Umidigi A3 Pro [1] as my main phone. It's an iPhone X clone for $85. Is it as good? No. But it's nearly as good, and has the flexibility of Android (tethering when the carrier doesn't allow it, side loading 'dodgy' apps, multi-sim so I can always get coverage even indoors, hackable headphone volume, call recording without hassle). Overall, I'd value the iPhone and fake iPhone the same for my uses. An…

Honestly I'm shocked that my phone could disallow me tethering just because some third-party operator told him so, without any technical reasons. I paid my money to Apple, they got their salary from my money, yet they don't respect my freedom. The same with recording the calls. It's an extremely basic feature which is present in almost any Android phone AFAIK. That's what I don't like about iPhones, they have no respect for their owner. It's like a car with built-in limiter to 140 KM/h just because there are no roads where I can drive faster. It's my business, my liability.

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#230

Post by rigidglobe »

interlocutor wrote: post #173

Apple's problem is that their rate of innovation has slowed down. iPhone generates over a 100 Billion dollars in revenue. Per year. If any company has the resources to innovate it is Apple. Apple, here are some free ideas. Some of these ideas go beyond the phone and into cell networks. If Google can do that ( https://fi.google.com ) why can't Apple? - Improve cellular reception. We are now heavily reliant on our cell…

I would have switched to android this year due to high iPhone XS price had it not been the “need” to stay in iMessages. When most of your friends are having a blue chat bubble, you don’t want to be “that guy”.

iMessages is apples secret weapon and I’m surprised android hasn’t done their own iMessages api where all android can interoperable. Or at the very least why hasnt Samsung done their own?

Finally, other secret sauces apple has that keeps their customers in place: iCloud Keychain (very handy when switching between multiple iPads, MacBook, iPhone) without the need to pay a third party password vendor (whose security is not backed by a one trillion dollar market cap).

iCloud sync: easy way for app devs to sync and for customers to have automated syncing between multiple devices that “just works”. I don’t know if android has such easy syncing between different android manufacturers (ie Samsung phone to asus tablet to chrome book, for example). I doubt it.

Finally really nice features like Handoff where my safari tabs are all synced automatically between multiple iPads, iPhone, and MacBook.

And final finally: part of the high price I pay for using apple evosystem is security: I know that safari (unlike chrome) isn’t bent in tracking my every move in order to sell me more ads; or that my cloud password manager is safe (even safety in numbers in terms of security by obsurity (one in many iOS users) backed by a trillion dollar company: pretty sure nobody wants to f with that); my os isn’t bent on tracking my every move or file to analyze later (chromeos, google calendar, google docs); apple has hard stops in place on apps from over snooping (android apps such as fb tracking your calls and sms data); you pay once for your apps and then you can reuse them on the next iphone (app devs are free to release new versions or discontinue support in some reasonable timeframe); and finally all of the above is in apples interest to do for you as long as you pay more for hardware.

Heck even windows 10 tracks your every move and tried to serve you ads. Office has become a yearly subscription model (ewww!). Google offers you free products but you know your every move is tracked and stored into some obscure database only to be analyzed and used some years down the line.

I have been tempted for a while now to switch to android due to cheaper phones but the above benefits are just too strong right now for me to give up over the worry of being labeled some kind of apple fan boy (I’m not; my first smartphone was a galaxy s1 and I prefers thinkpads).

At this point, apple is a service company which offers a lifetime subscription model with free upgrades in exchange for high hardware prices. I’ll take that over security issues, data tracking, and highly convenient features that all “just work”.

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