Other Need to decide asap: iphone 7 or 8?

[Julienne]

The question shouldn't be whether you notice the difference between the 7 and the 8. Of course, coming from a 6 you will notice a difference. The question is, does the difference between the 7 and the 8 justify the increased price.

I came from a 5 and decided that I can now get a 7 cheaper, and the difference to the 8 is not worth the money. For others the new features will be worth it.

 

[aakshey]

Go for 8.

 

[44267547]

All the reviews of the 8 talk about the increased likelyhood of breaking it, but has that borne out in the real world? Are people breaking a lot more 8's compared to 7's and 6's? Especially if one uses a case, as I would?

There is no way to answer those questions. I mean there are so many variables how a phone breaks based on angle, impact and surface type if it’s dropped, was a case used, ect. There is no guarantee for a phone will survive or not based off a drop, regardless of its glass or aluminum. If you’re concerned about the phone breaking, then your best suggestion is to find a durable case.

 

[Newtons Apple]

For someone who needed to decide quickly, we are on our second day.

You need to make up your OWN mind.

Enjoy!

 

[bluecoast]

If you can’t live without 64GB of storage, the 64GB iPhone 8 sounds the one for you.

The iPhone 7 only comes in 32, 128 & 256 and the 128 version is pretty much the same price as the 64 8.

So if more storage isn’t key for you, I’d pay for the:

• Faster more efficient processor (better battery life)
• Better camera
• Better screen
• Wireless charging

EDIT: whether it’s the 8 or 7 I’d get a case. I shudder whenever my 7 is out of its case as you just know it’s not going to survive a drop onto a hard floor without some sort of damage.

 

[psac]

I have an 8 for personal use and a 7 for work. I really can't tell the difference in weight when you put both in a case. I can't tell you how many times I've dropped my in-case 8 already, with no problems with the glass at all. For someone who likes to keep a phone for a while, I would go with the 8 so it's more future-proof as others have said. I like my 8 a lot.

Also, you might be surprised at the wireless charging. I just thought it was a gimmick as well. And yes, it is. But it's a convenient gimmick!!

 

[ericwn]

Buy from a vendor with a good return policy and test the device out yourself. Also: read reviews. Asking strangers on the internet on what you should buy may not be a reliable source of advice. Make sure you do your homework and understand the difference between devices before considering a purchase.

 

[darngooddesign]

8 has a better camera, noticible in low light esp with flash.

8 is faster

8 has wireless charging which isn’t necessary but nice.

8 might break so put it in a case

8 is slightly heavier, if this is an issue you really should get some exercise.

 

[heycal]

The question shouldn't be whether you notice the difference between the 7 and the 8. Of course, coming from a 6 you will notice a difference. The question is, does the difference between the 7 and the 8 justify the increased price.

The price difference between the phones I'm deciding between is only 50 dollars. On that count alone, going for the 8 seems smarter.

There is no way to answer those questions. I mean there are so many variables how a phone breaks based on angle, impact and surface type if it’s dropped, was a case used, ect. There is no guarantee for a phone will survive or not based off a drop, regardless of its glass or aluminum. If you’re concerned about the phone breaking, then your best suggestion is to find a durable case.

I would think there might indeed be some way to answer those questions. Are users or stores reporting a higher percentage of broken 8's than previous models? for example.

For someone who needed to decide quickly, we are on our second day.

You need to make up your OWN mind.

Enjoy!

I've got about 24 more hours to decide at the latest. Time is ticking!

If you can’t live without 64GB of storage, the 64GB iPhone 8 sounds the one for you.

The iPhone 7 only comes in 32, 128 & 256 and the 128 version is pretty much the same price as the 64 8.

So if more storage isn’t key for you, I’d pay for the:

• Faster more efficient processor (better battery life)
• Better camera
• Better screen
• Wireless charging

EDIT: whether it’s the 8 or 7 I’d get a case. I shudder whenever my 7 is out of its case as you just know it’s not going to survive a drop onto a hard floor without some sort of damage.

I'm definitely getting a case. Your reasons for getting an 8 are sound. But the 7 does have some things I like better.

What are folks thoughts on storage? How much do you have, how much do you need? etc.

I have an 8 for personal use and a 7 for work. I really can't tell the difference in weight when you put both in a case. I can't tell you how many times I've dropped my in-case 8 already, with no problems with the glass at all. For someone who likes to keep a phone for a while, I would go with the 8 so it's more future-proof as others have said. I like my 8 a lot.

Also, you might be surprised at the wireless charging. I just thought it was a gimmick as well. And yes, it is. But it's a convenient gimmick!!

I wouldn't mind wireless charging, but it's not worth 150 bucks, if that is what it costs. Also, can you charge it wirelesly with the case on?

Buy from a vendor with a good return policy and test the device out yourself. Also: read reviews. Asking strangers on the internet on what you should buy may not be a reliable source of advice. Make sure you do your homework and understand the difference between devices before considering a purchase.

I've read a number or reviews already, with mixed opinions on which to buy. Hearing here from actual users is helpful as well.

8 is slightly heavier, if this is an issue you really should get some exercise.

I hit the weight room pretty hard twice a week, so I'm thinking I can probably lift 5.22 ounces (plus case weight!) without ending up in the ER. Hell, maybe even 6.22 ounces if I drink a protein shake every morning! But lighter is better in phones.

 

[TechJunk1e]

I don’t know why anyone would willingly spend hundreds of dollars on old tech. If I wasn’t planning on upgrading for several years I’d want the best device on the market within my chosen ecosystem.

 

[ActionableMango]

If you are seeing only a $50 difference, it's kind of a no-brainer.

Also, only the iPhone 8 comes in black and red. A great combo, IMHO.

All the other red iPhones have white front.

 

[heycal]

If you are seeing only a $50 difference, it's kind of a no-brainer.

Also, only the iPhone 8 comes in black and red. A great combo, IMHO.

All the other red iPhones have white front.

Sold!

I don’t know why anyone would willingly spend hundreds of dollars on old tech. If I wasn’t planning on upgrading for several years I’d want the best device on the market within my chosen ecosystem.

Yes, it's a pretty compelling reason to get the 8.

What do you folks think about storage? How much do you all use or need? Coming from 16 gb, 64 sounds like a lot. But 16 seemed plenty too when I first got my phone. How wrong I was...

 

[TechJunk1e]

Sold!

Yes, it's a pretty compelling reason to get the 8.

What do you folks think about storage? How much do you all use or need? Coming from 16 gb, 64 sounds like a lot. But 16 seemed plenty too when I first got my phone. How wrong I was...

Got the 256 myself always had the 16gb and was frequently deleting apps or old videos. I guess that’s just personal preference whatever you think you need. 64 gb is indeed a nice upgrade from 16gb by itself.

 

[ActionableMango]

What do you folks think about storage? How much do you all use or need? Coming from 16 gb, 64 sounds like a lot. But 16 seemed plenty too when I first got my phone. How wrong I was...

I came from a 16GB iPhone 6S, and I admit that was tight, but it was usable.

Now, without trying to be frugal at all, I am currently using only 16.9GB of my 64GB. I have about 85 applications. I stream everything, I don't keep big libraries of local media. Photos/videos are configured to go to cloud storage, because frankly they are safer there. iPhones can break, get stolen, dropped in the lake, whatever.



I'm not trying to say 64GB will be fine for you or anyone else specifically. It REALLY depends on how you use your phone. The way I use my phone (everything in the cloud), 64GB is almost embarrassingly large.

 

[tonybarnaby]

The 8 is hands down the better phone. This isn’t even up for debate. If both the 8 and 7 cost $599, the 8 would outsell the 7 by a landslide. I admit the metal back is more appealing to me (no desire for wireless charging) but what other pros does the 7 have besides being a bit cheaper and a bit harder to crack (allegedly)

If money was no option, most people would own an X. If you’re considering a 7 or an 8, don’t let $100 be the tipping point.

I see 7/7+ owners on here constantly saying “I have no reason to get the 8/8+, the 7/7+ is already super fast and just as good. I admit it’s a great phone in 2017, but the 8/8+ is just better in every single way besides being a bit heavier, a bit more breakable and a bit more expensive. Long story short, it’s a no brainer unless the price hike for the 8 is huge over the 7. They ARE fairly comparable phones, but the 8 is a bit better in every way. Surely not worth saving $100 if you’re gonna use the 7 for 2-3 years.

 

[rui no onna]

The 8 is hands down the better phone. This isn’t even up for debate. If both the 8 and 7 cost $599, the 8 would outsell the 7 by a landslide. I admit the metal back is more appealing to me (no desire for wireless charging) but what other pros does the 7 have besides being a bit cheaper and a bit harder to crack (allegedly)

If money was no option, most people would own an X. If you’re considering a 7 or an 8, don’t let $100 be the tipping point.

I see 7/7+ owners on here constantly saying “I have no reason to get the 8/8+, the 7/7+ is already super fast and just as good. I admit it’s a great phone in 2017, but the 8/8+ is just better in every single way besides being a bit heavier, a bit more breakable and a bit more expensive. Long story short, it’s a no brainer unless the price hike for the 8 is huge over the 7. They ARE fairly comparable phones, but the 8 is a bit better in every way. Surely not worth saving $100 if you’re gonna use the 7 for 2-3 years.

I own an iPhone 7 but I actually do agree for new purchases. Given the $600+ price range, $100-150 just isn't significant enough savings to opt for the 7 instead of the 8 particularly if one is buying on installment. If one has a marked preference for the metal backing though, the iPhone 7 is likely still gonna perform quite decently in ~3 years.

As for not upgrading to 8/8+ from 7/7+, that's usually a different equation. Personally, I don't sell my phones since I find selling a hassle. I also find keeping older iPhones useful as unlocked travel phones instead of buying cheapie Androids. Hence, upgrade cost for me is full cost of device + 10% tax. Also, family of 4 so if upgrading all lines, that's $3,050+tax or $127.33/mo just on device payment + ~$300 upfront sales tax. That's the math for me, hence, we're inclined to keep our devices as long as they're functional. Ultimately, for our family the 8/8+ doesn't really do anything that our current devices don't to justify the cost. Plenty of other things to spend that on.

 

[tonybarnaby]

I own an iPhone 7 but I actually do agree for new purchases. Given the $600+ price range, $100-150 just isn't significant enough savings to opt for the 7 instead of the 8 particularly if one is buying on installment. If one has a marked preference for the metal backing though, the iPhone 7 is likely still gonna perform quite decently in ~3 years.

As for not upgrading to 8/8+ from 7/7+, that's usually a different equation. Personally, I don't sell my phones since I find selling a hassle. I also find keeping older iPhones useful as unlocked travel phones instead of buying cheapie Androids. Hence, upgrade cost for me is full cost of device + 10% tax. Also, family of 4 so if upgrading all lines, that's $3,050+tax or $127.33/mo just on device payment + ~$300 upfront sales tax. That's the math for me, hence, we're inclined to keep our devices as long as they're functional.

I agree that an 8 isn’t a massive upgrade for a 7 owner. For someone coming from a 6,6s or even Android I would recommend the 8 all day.

 

[heycal]

I own an iPhone 7 but I actually do agree for new purchases. Given the $600+ price range, $100-150 just isn't significant enough savings to opt for the 7 instead of the 8 particularly if one is buying on installment. If one has a marked preference for the metal backing though, the iPhone 7 is likely still gonna perform quite decently in ~3 years.

I definitely have a preference for the metal backing of the 7, its lighter weight, and 128 gb of storage over 64 gb. But 8 has all the rest going for it....

Got the 256 myself always had the 16gb and was frequently deleting apps or old videos. I guess that’s just personal preference whatever you think you need. 64 gb is indeed a nice upgrade from 16gb by itself.

How much storage of that 256 gb are you using, and how?

I came from a 16GB iPhone 6S, and I admit that was tight, but it was usable.

Now, without trying to be frugal at all, I am currently using only 16.9GB of my 64GB. I have about 85 applications. I stream everything, I don't keep big libraries of local media. Photos/videos are configured to go to cloud storage, because frankly they are safer there. iPhones can break, get stolen, dropped in the lake, whatever.

View attachment 762591

I'm not trying to say 64GB will be fine for you or anyone else specifically. It REALLY depends on how you use your phone. The way I use my phone (everything in the cloud), 64GB is almost embarrassingly large.

Does it require work or diligence to keep at 16.9? I'm the sort who doesn't like to do that kind of maintainence. And since I was hitting max on my 16 gb phone starting about 2 years ago, I'm guessing I'd be far beyond 16.9 gb now one way or another. Below is a screenshot of my usage.

Who does need more than 64 gb storage in your opinion and why?

Also, how do you configure your photos to go directly to cloud storage? I thought I once asked some Apple employee how I could get the approx. 1000 photos I have on my phone off my phone and into the cloud only, and I thought she said it couldn't be done. IF I'm understanding things right, right now my photos are both on my phone and in the cloud as well. But maybe it's only really on the cloud? If I could easily access them from the cloud wherever I happen to be, I certainly don't need to have them on my phone. (Half of 'em I frankly don't need anywhere, ever, but too lazy to go through each one deciding.)

 

[rui no onna]

I agree that an 8 isn’t a massive upgrade for a 7 owner. For someone coming from a 6,6s or even Android I would recommend the 8 all day.

Solely based on tech, I agree. If I needed a phone asap, I'd opt for the 8, too (256GB Red).

That said, if one wants the 7 for other reasons (e.g. Rose Gold chassis), I feel they're at the level that they would still perform quite decently in 3 years' time. I don't think there was a RAM increase from 7 to 8, either, so at least that part's not a consideration.

Of course, if the need is not immediate, I'd be inclined to wait for the September keynote.

 

[jpn]

8
will be supported for 1 year longer than 7.

 

[rui no onna]

How much storage of that 256 gb are you using, and how?

Also, how do you configure your photos to go directly to cloud storage? I thought I once asked some Apple employee how I could get the approx. 1000 photos I have on my phone off my phone and into the cloud only, and I thought she said it couldn't be done. IF I'm understanding things right, right now my photos are both on my phone and in the cloud as well. Both places. If I could easily access them from the cloud wherever I happen to be, I certainly don't need to have them on my phone as well. (Half of 'em I frankly don't need anywhere, ever, but too lazy to go through each one deciding.)

Currently have a 256GB iPhone 7. Usage is at 88GB but a huge portion of that is just system/others/cache. I estimate actual user data at just 40GB and that's with full quality iCloud Photo Library downloaded to device. Honestly, I reckon I would've been fine with just 64GB (had there been a 64GB iPhone 7) but given the device was practically free ($650 credit with iPhone 6 trade-in), opted to pay the extra $8 per month for max capacity.

As for iCloud photos, it's somewhat variable (based on available storage). If you enable "Optimize Storage", it doesn't keep full quality versions of all your photos and videos on device. It stores highly compressed, low quality versions on your device and just downloads the full quality version from iCloud when you actually view/open the image.

 

[ActionableMango]

Does it require work or diligence to keep at 16.9? I'm the sort who doesn't like to do that kind of maintainence.

Who does need more than 64 gb storage in your opinion and why?

Also, how do you configure your photos to go directly to cloud storage?

1) No, I don't do any storage maintenance on the iPhone 8. That's just naturally how little I use.

2) People who keep media locally (videos, pictures, movies, TV, music) instead of cloud storage and streaming. People with lots of very large applications, like maybe games with lots of graphical assets.

3) Enable iCloud Photo Library. This copies files to the cloud (when on WiFi) and also keeps local copies too. A second option Optimize iPhone Storage will free up space automatically as needed by uploading videos and photos to the cloud and only keeping thumbnails locally.*

* If you space is already chock full on your 6, that option can't work when first enabled unless you free up about 300MB of space temporarily to let it get started. So you could delete a large app, enable the setting, let it do its work on WiFi for a couple of days, then you'll have quite a bit of space free and can reinstall that app.

I also do Upload to My Photo Stream, which puts all photos and videos on all my iOS devices. For example I take pictures with the iPhone because it's what I have at the time, but I prefer to view/show them on my iPad for the bigger screen, but I don't want the hassle of manual transfer--I just want them to be there. Likewise, I might take pictures with the iPad at home, but then I want to show them off when out and about with my iPhone.

 

[darngooddesign]

How much storage of that 256 gb are you using, and how?

I had a 128GB 6 and went for the 256GB 7+ because the 128 was getting tight for me.

Currently on my phone is:
90GB music, 7GB photos, several 1GB+ games, etc.

I have plenty of space to offload photos from my camera using the SD card reader.

So I doubt I'd go less than 256GB in the future.

 

[heycal]

I had a 128GB 6 and went for the 256GB 7+ because the 128 was getting tight for me.

Currently on my phone is:
90GB music, 7GB photos, several 1GB+ games, etc.

I have plenty of space to offload photos from my camera using the SD card reader.

So I doubt I'd go less than 256GB in the future.

Whoa, 128 getting tight. That's scary.

Currently have a 256GB iPhone 7. Usage is at 88GB but a huge portion of that is just system/others/cache. I estimate actual user data at just 40GB and that's with full quality iCloud Photo Library downloaded to device. Honestly, I reckon I would've been fine with just 64GB (had there been a 64GB iPhone 7) but given the device was practically free ($650 credit with iPhone 6 trade-in), opted to pay the extra $8 per month for max capacity.

I'm not sure I follow. Why is system/others/cache at 88GB? Does that mean if I get a 64GB I'll start off minus 22GB?

1) No, I don't do any storage maintenance on the iPhone 8. That's just naturally how little I use.

2) People who keep media locally (videos, pictures, movies, TV, music) instead of cloud storage and streaming. People with lots of very large applications, like maybe games with lots of graphical assets.

3) Enable iCloud Photo Library. This copies files to the cloud (when on WiFi) and also keeps local copies too. A second option Optimize iPhone Storage will free up space automatically as needed by uploading videos and photos to the cloud and only keeping thumbnails locally.*

* If you space is already chock full on your 6, that option can't work when first enabled unless you free up about 300MB of space temporarily to let it get started. So you could delete a large app, enable the setting, let it do its work on WiFi for a couple of days, then you'll have quite a bit of space free and can reinstall that app.

I also do Upload to My Photo Stream, which puts all photos and videos on all my iOS devices. For example I take pictures with the iPhone because it's what I have at the time, but I prefer to view/show them on my iPad for the bigger screen, but I don't want the hassle of manual transfer--I just want them to be there. Likewise, I might take pictures with the iPad at home, but then I want to show them off when out and about with my iPhone.

Thanks, I'll investigate these options. I'd be happy to get even thumbnails off my phone. I don't need to see any evidence of most of them again, nor do I want to scroll through 1000 pictures looking for the one I want each time I open photos. (If I'm following correctly).

As for storage, I'm getting a tad spooked that 64GB may not be enough now that 3 people are saying they are are happy they went with 256GB... Another plus in the 7 column!

I plan to decide by 12 noon Eastern time tomorrow...

 

[LoveToMacRumors]

I'm coming from iphone 6, and need to get a new phone asap. Any opinions on whether to get a 7 or 8 and why? (Not interested in plusses or X). I've heard 8 is heavier and the glass is more prone to breaking, and the wireless charging isn't necessary and you'll need to pay for it too. On the other hand, if the 8 is faster and better in meaningiful ways, I can do that too. And I guess the latest phone is often the smartest choice?

Are there any significant differences in features or performance? I believe both offer "hey siri" without being connected to power, which my iphone 6 doesn't have and which sounds nice. Anything else? I'd like something that holds me for three years or so.

iPhone 8 of course.