Other I think im getting old....

[corriewf]

I used to spend most of my day on my smart phone. I remember the 3GS days and just about any app was amazing and cool.. Beer glass that emptied as you tilted your phone? Amazing! Angry Birds? Fantastic! I couldn't believe what I could do on a small device that fit in my pocket. I got the 3GS, then the 4, then the iphone 5. I paid $299.99 on a two year contract and I remember the threads here wondering if ATT was going to let everyone upgrade early one year into their contract.

Fast forward 5 years or so.. Contracts for subsidized phones are gone. At first, plans got cheaper to rationalize paying for your phone over 20-24 months, but rate plans have gone back up. There is little incentive to stay with one carrier over the other. Rate plans have shot through the roof. Unlimited is 480p streaming land.

Games I used to enjoy playing on my phone were single charge purchase. Now everything is "free" with IAP to actually progress. The rare games I do find worth playing, I play on my ipad for a better experience. That is if I have the time or if I would not prefer playing on my gaming rig.

I find myself basically using my phone for texting, taking pictures, and light browsing...reading the news before bed. If I use my phone more than an hour a day, I would be surprised. I do really value taking pictures. It is quite important to me, so I do value getting a new device every couple years or so, but its getting WAY harder to justify the price.

Disposable income isn't an issue for me. It's value. I recently built a 1080ti gaming rig with all of the bells and whistles for $1,500...Everything top of the line in that build. I look at devices like the iPhone Xs Max, and I think about that gaming rig. I think about my recent 4k projector purchase that was cheaper. The dollars just dont add up for me, even on the Xr side.

I can't think of the last game on a mobile device that didnt seem to run well on the devices cpu. I get the new A12 is powerful, but is it even warranted for what is available in the app store? Is there anything there that an A11 or A10 couldn't handle? Then, I think most of us have ipads... If there is something that is truly powerful enough to need a heavy duty processor, wouldnt it be way better to play it on an iPad Pro?

So am I just getting old here or I am just simply no longer the demographic for Apple phones?

 

[akash.nu]

I think a bit of both to be honest. You’re getting older and you’ve started comparing items that are not directly competing with the iPhone.

The point of smartphones is to be able to do everything good enough that you’d not wanna buy separate devices. If you want a specialist device then that’ll be cheaper and of course will perform better for the purpose it’s built for. Eg your gaming rig or the projector.

 

[phillytim]

Is there anything/app that the A9 can't handle, in my iPhone 6s Plus? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[mrjoeyjiffy]

I also want to point out that the 2080 ti is launching in like a week as well lol, I dont know if that counts as irony but i got a chuckle out of it.

 

[corriewf]

I think a bit of both to be honest. You’re getting older and you’ve started comparing items that are not directly competing with the iPhone.

The point of smartphones is to be able to do everything good enough that you’d not wanna buy separate devices. If you want a specialist device then that’ll be cheaper and of course will perform better for the purpose it’s built for. Eg your gaming rig or the projector.

Yes, I am comparing what my money would buy right. So a 4k projector that throws up 110 inch movies and I watch daily regular tv on...type this message on currently from my computer. It's easy to see the value in that. A top of the line gaming computer that will last me 5-7 years (turning down settings of course) from gaming to everything else a computer can do, is easy to see the value in. $1,000+ for a device to snap some pictures and browse the internet briefly is very hard to justify. Does Apple make the best device and have the best customer service, sure. With that said technology has homogenized to the point that a lot of devices are comparable. In 5 years will the iPhone Xs even be usable?

Its hard to say the iphone is the catch all device it used to be. I have a smart home. I can tell alexa to turn off my tv and it turns off my projector, audio receiver, screen goes up, lights turn on. Everything in my house is automated down to my vacuum and it was programed on my 2 year old google pixel XL. It didn't need an A12 or Snapdragon 835. Don't get me wrong, mobile processing advancement are super cool... But you have to show me what exactly I will need that power for if you're going to charge me $1,000+ to access it.

Do the folks paying these prices for the latest and greatest have actual use cases for it? I am not judging anyone here, I am genuinely curious if there is something I am missing.

 

[keeper]

I’m with you, can’t understand why people have to create so many post about what is just a phone.

I surprised I’ve not seen one that says if I get the blue one will I have to change the colour of my car or loo roll?

It’s just a phone you buy the one you want or you don’t buy one.

In the real world it’s dead simple and not a life changing decision.

 

[corriewf]

I also want to point out that the 2080 ti is launching in like a week as well lol, I dont know if that counts as irony but i got a chuckle out of it.

Yeah and Nvidia kinda jumped the shark on that pricing as well. I'm happy with my 1080ti. I could use EVGA's step up program and pay $750 for the new 2080ti, but I am waiting to see if there is a value. I will say at least compared to the new iphone A12 that Nvidia showed a new use case in Ray Tracing technology. So there is a new way to play games for their cards. Again, im probably getting old, but I dont care much about ray tracing, but I at least can understand why folks do and will pay $1,200 for it.

 

[Nunyabinez]

I think most technology has reached a maturity point where everything that is introduced is incremental and the revolutionary changes don't happen anymore. So, we end up waiting sometimes several years before what is available is that much better than what we have.

I bought the very first Retina iMac with everything maxed out. Every year I cross my fingers and hope that Apple will make something that I have to have. But, that iMac is still more powerful than I actually even really need.

And it's not just Apple, like the OP, I have a gaming rig, but mine has a GTX 1080 (not TI) and even though the TI is faster, it's not enough faster to be worth it. Maybe the 2080 will be, but I doubt it.

Same is true with iPhone Xs. Not worth replacing my X. Not worth upgrading my Apple Watch 3 to a 4.

The only thing that has gotten me excited is VR gaming. I guess I should be happy that I don't need anything new, but I miss when every year there could be something incredible that I would lust after, even if it was stupid expensive.

Now, Apple stuff is just stupid expensive and not much better than my old gear.

 

[benjamintm]

As @Nunyabinez mentioned, phones are a mature product. The need to update every year is less and less. The only thing that really drives replacement purchases is the perception of something better. While the Xs might technically be superior to the X, there aren't any apps that really need the technology. If I owned an X (still rocking a 7+), I wouldn't notice a 5% boost in performance of my apps or an extra 30 minutes of usage during the day. As a result I don't need to update to the Xs for any technical reason. If I cared about how it looked to have a year old phone then sure I would update, but I don't, so I would keep using the my existing phone. I have a lot of other things in my life that I can spend a $1000 on before I decide to get a phone with incremental updates.

 

[Agent OrangeZ]

Is there anything/app that the A9 can't handle, in my iPhone 6s Plus? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Why yes. Yes there is. They demonstrated it on stage yesterday during the keynote.

 

[corriewf]

I think most technology has reached a maturity point where everything that is introduced is incremental and the revolutionary changes don't happen anymore. So, we end up waiting sometimes several years before what is available is that much better than what we have.

I bought the very first Retina iMac with everything maxed out. Every year I cross my fingers and hope that Apple will make something that I have to have. But, that iMac is still more powerful than I actually even really need.

And it's not just Apple, like the OP, I have a gaming rig, but mine has a GTX 1080 (not TI) and even though the TI is faster, it's not enough faster to be worth it. Maybe the 2080 will be, but I doubt it.

Same is true with iPhone Xs. Not worth replacing my X. Not worth upgrading my Apple Watch 3 to a 4.

The only thing that has gotten me excited is VR gaming. I guess I should be happy that I don't need anything new, but I miss when every year there could be something incredible that I would lust after, even if it was stupid expensive.

Now, Apple stuff is just stupid expensive and not much better than my old gear.

It's been 2 years since I upgraded my phone. I upgrade my ipad one year, and the phone the next. I was really hoping to hop back into the ios mobile universe this year. Their devices are fantastic and customer service is second to none. I have to ask myself though... is $1,500...or even $1,200 ( I have to get applecare on something this expensive ) worth this much money. That's when I started wondering is there something other folks are doing that I am not that is rationalizing their purchase?


I thought about buying an iPhone 8 discounted, but I am afraid the form factor is going the way of a dodo bird. In a short time, I will be in the minority for new app development as all new development will be geared towards a notch. It seems that would be just a stop gap purchase.
[doublepost=1536862034][/doublepost]

Why yes. Yes there is. They demonstrated it on stage yesterday during the keynote.

What is it? I watched the keynote and while Blades looked amazing, I am fairly positive it will most likely run on a A9 device. The AR gaming? Is that a software addition to IOS12 that will work on A9 or will it require A12?

 

[JWATT]

Congrats?

 

[benjamintm]

I thought about buying an iPhone 8 discounted, but I am afraid the form factor is going the way of a dodo bird

Save yourself some money and get a refurbish iPhone 7 directly from Apple. That's what I did last year instead of getting the iPhone 8.

 

[corriewf]

Save yourself some money and get a refurbish iPhone 7 directly from Apple. That's what I did last year instead of getting the iPhone 8.

The one thing that is really important to me is pictures. Does the iphone 7 compare to the original pixel? I would be looking at $469 for one device and $379 for the mrs. Would it be a value to switch from pixels to iphone 7s for $849?

 

[TedJustAdmitit]

What you do with a phone hasn't really changed and so boredom sets in. I haven't played a game on mine for years, but what I do enjoy now is using the camera. Though when the iPhone started I played games and was obsessed, but then kids. TLDR; So, yes I'm old.

 

[Velin]

I got the 3GS, then the 4, then the iphone 5. I paid $299.99 on a two year contract and I remember the threads here wondering if ATT was going to let everyone upgrade early one year into their contract. . . . .

So am I just getting old here or I am just simply no longer the demographic for Apple phones?

Old.

First, the iPhone "early years" required an AT&T contract, and those contracts were expensive. AT&T (and ultimately customers) were subsidizing the iPhone via those monthly payments, big-time. For a "no-commitment" 16GB iPhone 3GS, the price was $599, and the 32GB was $699. Adjusting for inflation, $699 in 2008 is equal to about $817 in late 2017.

So when you consider the price of the iPhone Xr, it seems right in line with historical prices plus inflation.

 

[ecschwarz]

As others have said, I think there's a bit of both. With the early subsidized phones and plans to go with, this was uncharted waters for AT&T and they eventually had to correct (by separating device payments from the service) and finding ways to adjust plans to both be competitive and use resources efficiently. There's a lot more devices and users on all the networks these days and streaming video is a big data hog. As others carriers have joined in, they've added their own pricing structures and changes, too (IIRC, T-Mobile never subsidized iPhones).

Plans themselves tend to favor families/groups and almost always have (add-a-line was always something like $10, family texting was only a bit more than adding texting to one line), but I suspect even with a device payment plan an individual is looking at around $90/month for a postpaid service on a recent iPhone. If you included the initial $299 down payment, that ends up adding about $12 to the "good old days" plan prices if you strictly wanted to do 24 months of phone/service with no money down out of the gate. Those prices are fairly close, even if the carriers have tweaked features (unlimited texting and calls, unlimited data with throttled video instead). It's different, but I remember not that much further back when $50/month only got you some voice minutes. Fortunately, the iPhone is available on all the big carriers, MVNO resellers like Xfinity Mobile, prepaid MVNOs, and so you can have a really nice device and get some sort of cheap service if you're not picky.

I think in the early days, we were thrilled with just about everything on our phones because things that used the gyroscope and accelerometer just seemed cool. Since there's so much money to be made in games, in-app purchases and pay-to-play games took over. For me, I still have a few timeless favorites and have added some new ones, but mine tend to be single purchases.

On the other hand, I really have no issue with software developers who have moved to subscriptions for productivity software, as a few bucks every year to ensure quality products continue is much better than a pay-$5-initially and in two years the company is out of business because everyone bought a copy.

I have moments where I feel like the tech world is less exciting than it was maybe ten years ago, but I also appreciate the fact that things have matured at an amazing pace and I can do just about anything that I need with my iPhone or iPad that still seem a bit insane compared to where we were ten years ago.

 

[puma1552]

Disposable income isn't an issue for me. It's value. I recently built a 1080ti gaming rig with all of the bells and whistles for $1,500...Everything top of the line in that build. I look at devices like the iPhone Xs Max, and I think about that gaming rig. I think about my recent 4k projector purchase that was cheaper. The dollars just dont add up for me, even on the Xr side.

It's funny you mention this, I did something similar. End of June I picked up a really, really nice carbon fiber Italian road bike (Colnago) for $1200 (granted, I negotiated it all the way down from its $2400 MSRP but still). Less than a mid tier Xs Max, which really shows just how absurd Apple's prices have got.

I like my iPhones, but I'll have that Colnago for years and years.

EDIT: iPhones have always been enjoyment purchases for me - all my other Apple stuff is decade old junk that unfortunately keeps working (see sig) so it's been easy to justify spending money on a phone just as an unnecessary want, knowing my MBP I'm typing this on and the display it's projected onto are 8 and 10 years old, respectively, but at this point the pricing has gotten ridiculous and it's really hard for me to justify an upgrade, especially if even laying out close to a grand doesn't even get you the flagship, but rather the "budget/low end" model, which is a turn off.

 

[Velin]

but at this point the pricing has gotten ridiculous and it's really hard for me to justify an upgrade

Has it really? Look what I posted about the iPhone 3GS 64GB, the no-contract price was $699. Adjusting for inflation, a 64GB iPhone XR at $749 is cheaper than the 2008 iPhone 3GS. The Xr may not be the flagship, but it's a tremendous pocket computer.

 

[eyoungren]

There is little incentive to stay with one carrier over the other. Rate plans have shot through the roof. Unlimited is 480p streaming land.

I'm quite happy with my carrier (T-Mobile). It's only the second carrier I have ever been on. The first being Sprint from late 1999 to September 2015. This month marks three years with T-Mobile.

I have a Simple Choice plan. I pay $240/month for 8 lines between three people. T-Mobile gives me in-car WiFi through two of those lines. No other carrier offers that. With Simple Choice, my streaming is not limited to 480p - if I were to stream, which I don't except on rare occasions.

Games I used to enjoy playing on my phone were single charge purchase. Now everything is "free" with IAP to actually progress. The rare games I do find worth playing, I play on my ipad for a better experience. That is if I have the time or if I would not prefer playing on my gaming rig.

I don't play games on my devices. Between home and work there are multiple computers available 24/7. These computers have much LARGER displays than the dinky screen on my 6s+. If I am going to play a game, I am going to play it on the largest screen possible.

My phone is for calls, texts, email and light browsing - not games.

I find myself basically using my phone for texting, taking pictures, and light browsing...reading the news before bed. If I use my phone more than an hour a day, I would be surprised. I do really value taking pictures. It is quite important to me, so I do value getting a new device every couple years or so, but its getting WAY harder to justify the price.

Well…it's always been this way for me, except that I use my iPad for news in bed at night not my iPhone. As far as justifying a price I've never needed to do that. If there is something I want and the price is set I pay it. I may wait, sometimes decades, but I get what I want and screw justifying it.

That's how I end up having a PowerMac G5 Quad with 16GB ram, a 4TB secondary drive and three high-end video cards driving six monitors. Maybe it took me 11 years, but I got it.

Disposable income isn't an issue for me. It's value. I recently built a 1080ti gaming rig with all of the bells and whistles for $1,500...Everything top of the line in that build. I look at devices like the iPhone Xs Max, and I think about that gaming rig. I think about my recent 4k projector purchase that was cheaper. The dollars just dont add up for me, even on the Xr side.

You say disposable income isn't an issue for you. Yet you have to justify the price and the dollars don't add up. Value matters, but it's got to be justified?

Doesn't make sense.

I can't think of the last game on a mobile device that didnt seem to run well on the devices cpu. I get the new A12 is powerful, but is it even warranted for what is available in the app store? Is there anything there that an A11 or A10 couldn't handle? Then, I think most of us have ipads... If there is something that is truly powerful enough to need a heavy duty processor, wouldnt it be way better to play it on an iPad Pro?

Currently, I am unaware of any device out there that will allow attaching 3 or more displays, run the desktop version of Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Acrobat and Suitcase Fusion with over 3000 fonts and be able to access files on a Windows 2012 server (or home server for that matter).

Until Apple makes that possible, my Macs (both at home and at work) will continue to fill this role.

So am I just getting old here or I am just simply no longer the demographic for Apple phones?

I will be 48 on September 19th. You can call me old if you like, but everything I do with a phone or device hasn't changed since 1999 when I got my first phone - and I was 29 then.

I use my phone as a phone with extended abilities. Not as a computer, TV or DVR. I have those things already and they work really well for those purposes. I'm going to watch TV or a movie at home on my 55" 4K TV and not on my phone. So on and so on.

 

[benjamintm]

The one thing that is really important to me is pictures. Does the iphone 7 compare to the original pixel? I would be looking at $469 for one device and $379 for the mrs. Would it be a value to switch from pixels to iphone 7s for $849?

Apple sells a refurbished iPhone 7 plus with 128GB costs $569 while a new iPhone 8+ with 256mb goes for $669. If you need the extra 128MB, then the $100 difference is worth it. I have about 50GB of photos, so I don't need the 128GB version (yet). Most of those photos are JPG (I don't do RAW). With iOS 11 (?) it shoots in HIEC, resulting in smaller image files, so I don't see myself needing above 256GB for a couple of years.

From a camera perspective, they've made improvements to the camera, but not huge leaps. My skills with taking a picture don't come close to using the full capability of the camera so I don't need the latest technology. Your situation might be different.

In the end try out the different phones. Apple has a generous return policy, so if you don't like a particular camera you can always return it.

Ben

 

[eyoungren]

The point of smartphones is to be able to do everything good enough that you’d not wanna buy separate devices.

For once I have to disagree. I see a smartphone as being able to let me do something on the go that I ordinarily would have to wait to do otherwise.

As a phone it lets me make calls anywhere I have service. I don't have to find a payphone or use my home or office phone. This is the only service my phone has ever replaced entirely. We dropped a home phone over a decade ago.

But other than this, I use the devices that are purpose built for those things. I'm not using my iPhone to send important documents to my realtor or loan administrator - I'm using a computer.

The fact that my device can allow me to do some of this on the go does not make me want to replace everything with my device. I WANT my computers, TVs, etc. Because they are all better at doing those things that my phone is only middling at.

Just my opinion.

 

[ecschwarz]

I also think there's some angst with Apple's pricing. The Xs Max 512GB is not the modern-day version of the 3GS, so comparing the two and pricing is a bit disingenuous. Sure the Xr may be a "cheaper" model in comparison with the Xs, but it also seems to be the model most people will be buying. Also, unlike in the not-too-distant past, the two-year-old iPhones being sold at lower prices (and presumably discounted further by carrier deals) are actually going to be useful devices much longer than.

Basically, Apple's single model (and maybe one prior model for a little less) has expanded a bit so there's lots of choices for everyone, despite the $1500 price point being easy to write headlines about.

The iPad range is also worth comparing - $500 was the minimum in the door on the original, maxing out around $1000 for a 64GB 3G model, now they start at $329 for a pretty nice base one and $1600 gets you a big cellular Pro with all the fixins.

 

[Gathomblipoob]

Beer glass that emptied as you tilted your phone?

I still have an old YouTube video of me drinking beer out of my newly-jailbroken iPhone 2g.

 

[Gaprofitt]

I used to spend most of my day on my smart phone. I remember the 3GS days and just about any app was amazing and cool.. Beer glass that emptied as you tilted your phone? Amazing! Angry Birds? Fantastic! I couldn't believe what I could do on a small device that fit in my pocket. I got the 3GS, then the 4, then the iphone 5. I paid $299.99 on a two year contract and I remember the threads here wondering if ATT was going to let everyone upgrade early one year into their contract.

Fast forward 5 years or so.. Contracts for subsidized phones are gone. At first, plans got cheaper to rationalize paying for your phone over 20-24 months, but rate plans have gone back up. There is little incentive to stay with one carrier over the other. Rate plans have shot through the roof. Unlimited is 480p streaming land.

Games I used to enjoy playing on my phone were single charge purchase. Now everything is "free" with IAP to actually progress. The rare games I do find worth playing, I play on my ipad for a better experience. That is if I have the time or if I would not prefer playing on my gaming rig.

I find myself basically using my phone for texting, taking pictures, and light browsing...reading the news before bed. If I use my phone more than an hour a day, I would be surprised. I do really value taking pictures. It is quite important to me, so I do value getting a new device every couple years or so, but its getting WAY harder to justify the price.

Disposable income isn't an issue for me. It's value. I recently built a 1080ti gaming rig with all of the bells and whistles for $1,500...Everything top of the line in that build. I look at devices like the iPhone Xs Max, and I think about that gaming rig. I think about my recent 4k projector purchase that was cheaper. The dollars just dont add up for me, even on the Xr side.

I can't think of the last game on a mobile device that didnt seem to run well on the devices cpu. I get the new A12 is powerful, but is it even warranted for what is available in the app store? Is there anything there that an A11 or A10 couldn't handle? Then, I think most of us have ipads... If there is something that is truly powerful enough to need a heavy duty processor, wouldnt it be way better to play it on an iPad Pro?

So am I just getting old here or I am just simply no longer the demographic for Apple phones?

Problem time to get out of that box they have you trapped in, try Android..