This may sound like the most ridiculous criticism, but I was really disappointed that the iPhone still uses the lightning charger port and not USB-C. Every other device charges with it including Apple's own laptops. Though seeing how long they take to adopt some features that seem standard to android users (like 4G LTE and wireless charging) in their smartphones, I guess this is to be expected.
It's very valid criticism. I was hoping that with the move to Qi for wireless, Apple would also move to USB-C for wired charging. It's ridiculous that you can buy a new iPhone and a new Macbook pro and they need a USB to lightning adapter to connect to each other.
It's pretty silly, Apple used to pay attention to details like this. But, how often do people plug their phones into their computers these days? Speaking for myself, it's probably been a couple of years since I last did that.
> It's very valid criticism. I was hoping that with the move to Qi for wireless, Apple would also move to USB-C for wired charging.
I imagine they're hoping to get rid of the charging port altogether, so don't see the point of changing now. I would prefer one standard also though. That said, I imagine this is some time off, given Qi's charging speeds.
I would bet that a lot of it has to do with the outrage that occurred when Apple switched from the dock connector to lightning. People were up in arms about how apple switched 'just to make more money' blah blah blah.
I bet Apple will switch after they feel they've had the lightning connector out for long enough that they can say it was time.
the port is vestigial since they are moving towards wireless charging. Also, it allows for one last generation still compatible with current accessories.
I've had a new MacBook Pro for under a year and 3 of the USB-C ports are now super slack and have no click to them at all. I find it a horrible connector.
Neat, wireless charging, exactly like I had on my Nexus 5, around 5 years ago :) The best thing about the iPhone 8 is that it might finally make wireless chargers more commonplace, they are extremely convenient as Android users have been trying to tell for years.
Here's another one trick Apple might want to pick up on: I own both an iPhone 7 and a Nexus 6P, and the fingerprint sensor being in the middle of the back on 6P is unquestionably a better choice (Samsung messes up the placement). You can pick up the phone, unlock, and pull down the notification shade in one single natural motion. Maybe a few years from now...
I thought the fingerprint scanner on the back would be a good feature until I realized 90% of my phone usage involves me pulling it out of my pocket.
- On my iPhone, I just pinch it with my thumb on the home button while I pull it out.
- On my Pixel, I have to take it out and then unlock it.
Also, when the phone is resting on a table, I can just unlock my iPhone by touching the home button. With the Pixel, I have to turn it over first. When all I wanted to do was read a message I just received, possibly with dirty hands.
So putting the unlock on the back of the phone doesn't seem very well thought out at all.
That all depends on _where_ on the back of the phone. With my Nexus 6P, the fingerprint sensor is located right where my index finger naturally goes while holding the phone.
With a correctly located rear fingerprint sensor, it becomes an automatic motion without thinking rather than having to consciously find and press a button.
I have a pixel (and previously a Nexus 5x) and I easily and naturally unlock using the fingerprint sensor on the back as I remove the device from my pocket. The sensor is located within very close proximity to where my index finger naturally falls where doing so.
Which is to say, although the rear position may not work well for you personally, this may be a question of user preference with no generally superior solution.
Wait, they're just using Qi without any extra fluff? Did they at least up the power transfer rates so I don't have to wait forever in comparison to wired charging?
> Neat, wireless charging, exactly like I had on my Nexus 5, around 5 years ago :)
Wow and Google got rid of it probably because the iphone didn't have it. I wish the hardware team at google would stop trying to copy apple and just do the things that make sense. Wireless charging and a headphone jack makes sense.
It wasn't necessarily only because "the iPhone didn't have it". They chose to make the Nexus 6P and Pixel out of aluminum, and likely got rid of it because they valued that material choice over a glass or plastic back.
Starbucks has had wireless chargers for a long time in most Bay Area stores. However, these are usually PMA chargers -- not Qi.
I have never been able to charge my Nexus devices which only have Qi at Starbucks, however my new Galaxy S8 which supports both Qi and PMA work at Starbucks just fine!
This does unfortunately mean that new iPhone won't work at Starbucks locations unless they replace the hardware.
Many locations of both already have this and have for quite some time. But you're right; maybe this will speed up their deployment of wireless charging.
It was really cool to be able to go into a Starbucks and, while waiting for a drink, drop my Android on the table in front of me and let it charge. Now we just need to get laptops on board with this.
> the fingerprint sensor being in the middle of the back on 6P is unquestionably a better choice
I've been very happy with the fingerprint reader positioning on the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact: as a part of the power button, along the edge of the device.
It's exactly where my right thumb naturally rests when holding my phone. (And lines up nicely with my left middle finger rests, if I'm holding it in my left hand.)
It's slower than a wire, but it doesn't matter in practice. You put the phone down on your nightstand or desk as you would have done anyway, and it charges. There's nothing to think about.
It's like an electric car. Yes, it's slow to charge. But in practice it's always charged when you're ready to leave in the morning, so in daily use it's more convenient than spending 5 minutes at a fuel pump during your trip.
I think wireless charging slowness can be seen as a feature, not a bug.
Some EE major can correct me, but I think the slower you charge a battery, the better it is for its overall life. (So even for non wireless charging, if possible, it's better to use a 1 amp charger overnight than a 2 amp)
I had a Lumia phone that I charged wirelessly from 2012 to 2017, on its last day, the battery life was around 80% as good as its first day, much better than my friends' phones.
The only use case for me would be to put my phone at night when its battery was less than 20%.
Another thing I read about batteries is that it's better to charge them once a day[1] (so before nighttime) rather than many times during the day. Some people here comment that you always put your phone on the charging plate, I'm not sure this would be good for battery life.
Finally the best 'feature' I noticed is that it's really inconvenient to use your phone while it's charging on its plate, so you're less tempted to use it when going to sleep.
I had the same problem with my Nexus 4 and a nokia qi charger. The battery life got significantly worse in the months after I started using it. I have no way of knowing if that was the cause, but it seemed likely at the time.
That was my problem as well. The other problem that I had (which turned out to be a deal breaker) was that in order for the phone to charge, you had to place it just right on the charging pad. Otherwise it would show that it was charging (you'd see the lightning bolt on the battery icon), but the phone wouldn't actually charge. In practice, this meant that wireless charging was actually considerably less convenient than plugging a USB cable into the phone, since you had to check back on the phone after a few minutes to verify that the phone was actually charging.
> the fingerprint sensor being in the middle of the back on 6P is unquestionably a better choice
This is arguably not too relevant any more -- the current Apple flagship phone replaced TouchID with FaceID, and that's probably the direction they're headed in for future phones too.
The wireless charging is a gimmick. If you have a new iPhone, a new Apple Watch, and AirPods with apparently the proper case, then it could be compelling. I prefer to just have fewer things that need charging.
As you point out, it could have been done earlier but I'm guessing they waited because the utility is so small. Whereas Android manufacturers seem to want the most features, the most checks on the list, even if they don't necessarily work too well.
Wireless charging is not a gimmick. It's a category below Tivo for me in "things I never knew I needed but get really annoyed when without now".
I'm on a Pixel XL now, and I greatly miss the convenience of simply having a couple charging pads laying out throughout the house/office. It feels like a chore to remember to plug in the phone every night. I won't buy another phone w/o Qi charging support.
I'm ready for wireless charging. My current phone (Android) get's a USB socket full of pocket lint every couple of weeks. Once that happens the cable won't go in properly and I have to spend a couple of minutes with a sharp stick and pick fuzz out of my phone. Wireless charging would solve this problem neatly, and since I already have a standard place for my phone I wouldn't even have to change my habits. :)
It was interesting to see how Apple tried to market the fact that you have to look at the phone for FaceID to work. I see that as a hassle, not a feature.
I don't think it went far enough. Consider the circumstance where an office or agent wants your phone unlocked. Your passcode is protected, your thumbprint is currently in debate, but holding your phone to your face? If that just always unlocked your phone without any sort of interaction from you? That's an uncomfortable level of privacy loss.
iOS beta has a feature that lets you force passcode authentication without a reboot; I'm assuming this would disable Face ID as well but I don't think we'll know for sure until the new hardware and software are out in the wild.
A sufficiently motivated and legally-empowered government official will always be able to find a way to unlock your phone. If nothing else, plenty of governments would simply torture you until you gave up the passcode.
Biometric/facial ID/etc. are conveniences for the masses. They're not ever going to stop the secret police, and bringing up that they won't stop the secret police is not a useful objection, since nothing you can do will stop sufficiently-motivated secret police from being able to force you to access something you have access to.
I guess this can't be repeated enough: press the side button 5 times and it'll require a passcode. You can do this as you're handing it to the officer.
If you watched the demo, they explained you have to be looking at the phone and have your eyes open. Forcing someone's eyes to open isn't impossible but would be difficult.
Some friends and I have defeated a few other devices with face unlock features. It was the super technical task of finding and printing a photo found on social networking sites, then holding it up to the camera. I wonder if apple has hardened against this.
I said this in another thread, but it really doesn't seem unreasonable to require your attention to unlock your phone, since it requires your attention in order to use it!
It really is the speed that will make or break this feature. If it's slow, forget it, if it's quicker than it takes you to move your thumb to the screen, then it probably won't matter to most people.
Attention isn't the issue. The issue is holding your phone directly in front of your face while it unlocks, which is far different from TouchID. If I'm using Apple Pay, I double tap the home button while it's still in my pocket and then wave it past the reader. At no point do I look at my phone.
Likewise if I'm checking the time or a text message, I'll hit the button with my finger while the phone is laying flat on the table. But that use case doesn't exist anymore either.
Unlike a computer screen, phones are not always pointed directly at our faces all day. It'd work fine to unlock my Macbook, but not my iPhone.
Not always, but it's useful some times. Say you are in a meeting / class and want to discreetly check something. Or while driving, in which case you want to deviate as little attention as possible. Ahem, of course those are hypothetical examples.
This is a pretty phone -- but I really wish they'd make a smaller phone around the size of the 5S with the option to change the resolution (e.g. LittleBrother in Cydia).
My 5S is slowly dying -- but I can't find a good replacement (new or used) that can be jailbroken. For me its the perfect phone, but I'm an extremely light phone user (email, phone, imessage, Simon Tatham's Net and Galaxy puzzles).
I guess I was hoping that they'd update the SE.
Dear Google, please build a native desktop client for one of your many SMS apps. -
I'm happily using the iPhone SE. I switched from an iPhone 6 because I like the form factor of the iPhone 5. I too wish that they would update the SE, but in all honesty it is powerful enough with the right camera specs and it is a perfect traveler camera... For now, I'm staying put. I also still love using the headphone jack.
This is fantastic. I'm definitely going the SE route. It seems that with most new designs of Apple hardware there is a design choice I actively want to avoid -- e.g. lack of headphone jack with the new phones, the bar on the MBPs.
A week or two ago a few dead spots started happening with my 5S. I can do most things, but I can't use the delete button when entering a phone number, and a certain row in Net can't be moved (this is my main concern...)
Now, if I can only find one on 9.3.3 I will be in paradise.
They still may, I hope. The SE was first released in March (2016), and it has been selling like hot-cakes... or very well, at a minimum. Having a iPhone on an alternative release schedule seems smart as well.
Pushbullet is ok, but with OSX its only a browser add on. With the way that OSX switches windows, its kind of annoying when I'm working and need to send out a quick message. And yes, I know I'm being picky :)
I also tried MightyText, but they kept adding useless junk to the already bulky interface. The service itself also wasn't consistent.
Overall, I'm surprised that Google hasn't flat-out copied iMessage.
nah, with this I'm looking for a used SE on 9.3.3. If I can't have that, I can live without the tiny text I hold so dearly. The LittleBrother functionality is something I'm surprised Apple hasn't included with its stock OS.
Who wants an all-glass phone? I get that the designers want this, but do actual users really want something so fragile? I've only ever had phones with plastic or metal backs, and I've never bemoaned the fact that they weren't breakable enough.
Their glass is actually more scratch resistant than the metal. Of course metal doesn't usually shatter.
I'm pretty careful with my phone, but I've dropped it in a way that I'm sure would have done serious damage if I hadn't had a case. Three times that I recall off-hand. So there is no way I'd not have a case on this.
Which bugs me because my 6s+ is still awe inspiring when I take it out of the case... but my case is a bit rugged, and the feel and thinness of the phone are completely lost with it. Yet I feel compelled to use it... too much risk of serious damage otherwise.
I’ve dropped my bare iPhone 7 probably more than a dozen times, sometimes on hard surfaces, with apparently zero damage. Very impressive materials, though I do worry about the waterproofing.
Completely agree. It was the most beautiful of all iPhones. It was bound to get shit the next iteration. After all, gotta iterate right? Gotta do something different, "better"...
It's funny how Apple is calling this an all-new glass design when other phones on the market have a similar design and Apple themselves had this design five years ago.
No kidding, iPhone 4/4S was a paramount of iPhone design and it all went downhill from there. I was almost literally crying when I had to upgrade my iPhone 4 that got unbearably slow and dated, to monstrosity that is iPhone 6.
From what I recall hearing from Apple peeps 6+ years ago, it causes people to fetishize the phone more as a fragile object they have to protect and personalize.
I was in tech when iPhone came out, the original one. I thought that they might make money but to a tiny, tiny percent of people. Boy was I wrong...in some countries an iPhone costs like 6 months of net-salary, yet they buy it. Status symbol, you don't know I'm a "loser" making $150 a month, but you know that I have an iPhone.
So I'm willing to trust that Apple knows what they do. Of course they will know what they do....until they don't :)
> Status symbol, you don't know I'm a "loser" making $150 a month, but you know that I have an iPhone.
So very sad. Generally you see this with people that can afford it the least. $999 for the base model is just ridiculous. Next year Apple will offer the "first ever", "incredible" 10 year amortization on the iPhone XI. Soon they will reach price parity with the MBP and one could have apple gear or a down payment on a nice house Phoenix.
Why? It's not the "base model" it's the lowest capacity of the absolute highest end phone in the lineup, which now comprises five different phones at much more reasonable price points.
So your argument is basically that no phone should be that expensive? I can't speak for anyone else but I hate that. What is wrong with a super-premium phone? If anything phones are frustratingly constrained by their price point.
People use them in the way they used laptops 10 years ago, they're your central communication hub and for many people their secondary or even primary computer. What's wrong with having a high end option for those that use their phone more than everything else.
I'm buying the iPhone X day one. Why wouldn't I? I haven't upgraded my desktop, laptop, gaming PC, tablet, or smartwatch in 2-4 years, but that's because I don't use any of those things even close to as much as I use my phone.
If I'm spending multiple hours a day every day using something, you'd better believe it should be the best one available. If you don't feel that way, there are four other iPhone options and countless Android options at your disposal.
>All battery claims depend on network configuration and many other factors; actual results will vary.
They may not be the only offenders but it bugs me that the tech specs don't tell you the battery capacity in mAH. Instead they give a relative number of hours and compare to previous phones. Those aren't tech specs, they're claims-- which they can say in fine print are unreliable.
What would mAH tell you? Do you know the power consumption of the A11 chip, OLED screen, wireless stack, motion coprocessor, etc?
It's not like you can compare battery life between an iPhone and a JoJoMe $20 android phone based on mAH - that would be even less useful than an estimate of battery life.
On the other hand, a capacity in mAH is not the only spec about battery life they should provide. Each new phone tends to consume more battery, due to new processors, bigger screens, or other factors, so an indication of typical battery life is useful.
Readit News
I imagine they're hoping to get rid of the charging port altogether, so don't see the point of changing now. I would prefer one standard also though. That said, I imagine this is some time off, given Qi's charging speeds.
That said, they should give you a choice of cables.
I bet Apple will switch after they feel they've had the lightning connector out for long enough that they can say it was time.
Here's another one trick Apple might want to pick up on: I own both an iPhone 7 and a Nexus 6P, and the fingerprint sensor being in the middle of the back on 6P is unquestionably a better choice (Samsung messes up the placement). You can pick up the phone, unlock, and pull down the notification shade in one single natural motion. Maybe a few years from now...
- On my iPhone, I just pinch it with my thumb on the home button while I pull it out.
- On my Pixel, I have to take it out and then unlock it.
Also, when the phone is resting on a table, I can just unlock my iPhone by touching the home button. With the Pixel, I have to turn it over first. When all I wanted to do was read a message I just received, possibly with dirty hands.
So putting the unlock on the back of the phone doesn't seem very well thought out at all.
This isn't my experience at all. By the time it's out of my pocket, my index finger is right on the scanner and the phone is unlocked.
Might be a function of the size of the pocket or of the hand, though.
With a correctly located rear fingerprint sensor, it becomes an automatic motion without thinking rather than having to consciously find and press a button.
Which is to say, although the rear position may not work well for you personally, this may be a question of user preference with no generally superior solution.
And I think we can all be grateful Apple decided to go with the Qi standard here rather than roll their own! What a mess that would have been...
Wow and Google got rid of it probably because the iphone didn't have it. I wish the hardware team at google would stop trying to copy apple and just do the things that make sense. Wireless charging and a headphone jack makes sense.
McDonalds and Starbucks _will_ have Qi charging tables by the end of next year.
I have never been able to charge my Nexus devices which only have Qi at Starbucks, however my new Galaxy S8 which supports both Qi and PMA work at Starbucks just fine!
This does unfortunately mean that new iPhone won't work at Starbucks locations unless they replace the hardware.
It was really cool to be able to go into a Starbucks and, while waiting for a drink, drop my Android on the table in front of me and let it charge. Now we just need to get laptops on board with this.
Deleted Comment
I've been very happy with the fingerprint reader positioning on the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact: as a part of the power button, along the edge of the device.
It's exactly where my right thumb naturally rests when holding my phone. (And lines up nicely with my left middle finger rests, if I'm holding it in my left hand.)
Side view: https://www.androidcentral.com/sites/androidcentral.com/file...
I like that the charging bay is long so you can charge multiple devices. That's cool.
It's like an electric car. Yes, it's slow to charge. But in practice it's always charged when you're ready to leave in the morning, so in daily use it's more convenient than spending 5 minutes at a fuel pump during your trip.
There's some competing standards like AirFuel (nee A4WP), which might be better. Doesn't matter if nobody uses them.
Some EE major can correct me, but I think the slower you charge a battery, the better it is for its overall life. (So even for non wireless charging, if possible, it's better to use a 1 amp charger overnight than a 2 amp)
I had a Lumia phone that I charged wirelessly from 2012 to 2017, on its last day, the battery life was around 80% as good as its first day, much better than my friends' phones.
The only use case for me would be to put my phone at night when its battery was less than 20%.
Another thing I read about batteries is that it's better to charge them once a day[1] (so before nighttime) rather than many times during the day. Some people here comment that you always put your phone on the charging plate, I'm not sure this would be good for battery life.
Finally the best 'feature' I noticed is that it's really inconvenient to use your phone while it's charging on its plate, so you're less tempted to use it when going to sleep.
[1] http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/06/battery-charge-l...
This is arguably not too relevant any more -- the current Apple flagship phone replaced TouchID with FaceID, and that's probably the direction they're headed in for future phones too.
As you point out, it could have been done earlier but I'm guessing they waited because the utility is so small. Whereas Android manufacturers seem to want the most features, the most checks on the list, even if they don't necessarily work too well.
I'm on a Pixel XL now, and I greatly miss the convenience of simply having a couple charging pads laying out throughout the house/office. It feels like a chore to remember to plug in the phone every night. I won't buy another phone w/o Qi charging support.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/05/iphon...
iOS 11 has cop mode at least.
http://gizmodo.com/a-hidden-trick-in-the-ios-11-beta-lets-yo...
Biometric/facial ID/etc. are conveniences for the masses. They're not ever going to stop the secret police, and bringing up that they won't stop the secret police is not a useful objection, since nothing you can do will stop sufficiently-motivated secret police from being able to force you to access something you have access to.
I said this in another thread, but it really doesn't seem unreasonable to require your attention to unlock your phone, since it requires your attention in order to use it!
It really is the speed that will make or break this feature. If it's slow, forget it, if it's quicker than it takes you to move your thumb to the screen, then it probably won't matter to most people.
Likewise if I'm checking the time or a text message, I'll hit the button with my finger while the phone is laying flat on the table. But that use case doesn't exist anymore either.
Unlike a computer screen, phones are not always pointed directly at our faces all day. It'd work fine to unlock my Macbook, but not my iPhone.
Touchid is a killer feature for me.
My 5S is slowly dying -- but I can't find a good replacement (new or used) that can be jailbroken. For me its the perfect phone, but I'm an extremely light phone user (email, phone, imessage, Simon Tatham's Net and Galaxy puzzles).
I guess I was hoping that they'd update the SE.
Dear Google, please build a native desktop client for one of your many SMS apps. -
A week or two ago a few dead spots started happening with my 5S. I can do most things, but I can't use the delete button when entering a phone number, and a certain row in Net can't be moved (this is my main concern...)
Now, if I can only find one on 9.3.3 I will be in paradise.
edit: to add the date of release.
I also tried MightyText, but they kept adding useless junk to the already bulky interface. The service itself also wasn't consistent.
Overall, I'm surprised that Google hasn't flat-out copied iMessage.
I wish the SE was part of the regular refresh schedule.
Yeah, I think waiting for Apple to give you that is probably some misplaced hope.
I'm pretty careful with my phone, but I've dropped it in a way that I'm sure would have done serious damage if I hadn't had a case. Three times that I recall off-hand. So there is no way I'd not have a case on this.
Which bugs me because my 6s+ is still awe inspiring when I take it out of the case... but my case is a bit rugged, and the feel and thinness of the phone are completely lost with it. Yet I feel compelled to use it... too much risk of serious damage otherwise.
In my car I hate dealing with cables.
And even if they were somehow mutually exclusive, I'd still take a non-fragile back over the ability to wirelessly charge.
Deleted Comment
Back when phones were hand-sized they were a lot harder to drop.
It's funny how Apple is calling this an all-new glass design when other phones on the market have a similar design and Apple themselves had this design five years ago.
still does it really matter? how many phones are not in cases?
So I'm willing to trust that Apple knows what they do. Of course they will know what they do....until they don't :)
Coming from such a country(India). Its also treated as a sign of recklessness.
Heck its the same in US too. Remember that politician who chided people for having money for a $1000 iPhone every year but no money to buy insurance?
So very sad. Generally you see this with people that can afford it the least. $999 for the base model is just ridiculous. Next year Apple will offer the "first ever", "incredible" 10 year amortization on the iPhone XI. Soon they will reach price parity with the MBP and one could have apple gear or a down payment on a nice house Phoenix.
Why? It's not the "base model" it's the lowest capacity of the absolute highest end phone in the lineup, which now comprises five different phones at much more reasonable price points.
So your argument is basically that no phone should be that expensive? I can't speak for anyone else but I hate that. What is wrong with a super-premium phone? If anything phones are frustratingly constrained by their price point.
People use them in the way they used laptops 10 years ago, they're your central communication hub and for many people their secondary or even primary computer. What's wrong with having a high end option for those that use their phone more than everything else.
I'm buying the iPhone X day one. Why wouldn't I? I haven't upgraded my desktop, laptop, gaming PC, tablet, or smartwatch in 2-4 years, but that's because I don't use any of those things even close to as much as I use my phone.
If I'm spending multiple hours a day every day using something, you'd better believe it should be the best one available. If you don't feel that way, there are four other iPhone options and countless Android options at your disposal.
They may not be the only offenders but it bugs me that the tech specs don't tell you the battery capacity in mAH. Instead they give a relative number of hours and compare to previous phones. Those aren't tech specs, they're claims-- which they can say in fine print are unreliable.
It's not like you can compare battery life between an iPhone and a JoJoMe $20 android phone based on mAH - that would be even less useful than an estimate of battery life.
Switching to OLED (as Apple did) also increases battery life.