Dynamic island is a bit basic for my needs i never use it on my 15PM I much prefer a floating window that's continually live feed and auto rotates on my Fold 6 with far more options over widgets 🙂Widgets are great for scores too!
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The iPhone from an Android Perspective
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That is one of the things I find my 15PM lacks compared to my Android - live and scaleable widgets.
Tomorrow's event will be interesting. For the first year in what feels like forever, it isn't on a Tuesday. I play tennis Monday evenings when it starts, so I'll miss it, but that's no bad thing 😅.
We all know it'll be a lot of fluff before the actual phones get unveiled and it'll be the usual "our best ever..." Fill in the blank.
If the regular 16 wasn't gimped with a 60hz screen like phones from 15 years ago then I'd consider adding one into the mix with the 9 Pro.
However, from rumoured leaks it's just not justifiable and id be better grabbing a 15 if I wanted to do that.
The only thing the iPhone offers over the pixel for me is Dolby Atmos, but I don't want to pay for two music subs as I would go all in on Apple Music (even on android) if DA was supported. So Spotify it is.
Who knows, if a yellow iPhone appears I'll always be tempted. Unless it's like the absolutely diabolical shade they presented last year, in which case - keep it.
We all know it'll be a lot of fluff before the actual phones get unveiled and it'll be the usual "our best ever..." Fill in the blank.
If the regular 16 wasn't gimped with a 60hz screen like phones from 15 years ago then I'd consider adding one into the mix with the 9 Pro.
However, from rumoured leaks it's just not justifiable and id be better grabbing a 15 if I wanted to do that.
The only thing the iPhone offers over the pixel for me is Dolby Atmos, but I don't want to pay for two music subs as I would go all in on Apple Music (even on android) if DA was supported. So Spotify it is.
Who knows, if a yellow iPhone appears I'll always be tempted. Unless it's like the absolutely diabolical shade they presented last year, in which case - keep it.
A bit off topic but Arun is too big for Apple not to invite him even after the critical iPad review. Looking forward to his review.
We were talking about this in another thread, but it almost feels like manufacturers should start doing updates every 2 years. It’s not just an Apple thing either.
Now that my tech addiction has taken a backseat to my guitar addiction, I’m looking at things through a different lense. Watching the keynote yesterday was brutal. The only thing worth upgrading is the Watch Series 10. I’m still on a series 7 so I’ll probably upgrade to either the 10 or the black Ultra 2, but I’m not rushing to preorder by any means.
Now that my tech addiction has taken a backseat to my guitar addiction, I’m looking at things through a different lense. Watching the keynote yesterday was brutal. The only thing worth upgrading is the Watch Series 10. I’m still on a series 7 so I’ll probably upgrade to either the 10 or the black Ultra 2, but I’m not rushing to preorder by any means.
Totally agree. Nothing yesterday was a worthy upgrade. They could literally go software one year and hardware the next year. That would be interesting...
Yeah and obviously I don't know what that would do to their financial picture. They still sell a lot of iPhones every year obviously, but I wonder if they'd sell even more if they did every 2 years and really hyped it up as an upgrade. They could still do what they did with the Watch Ultra 2 and release new colors in the off year too.
I agree but it’s never going to happen. Investors and Wall Street dictate too much of a company’s strategy and they’ll never be happy with bi-annual iPhone releases, especially considering it still accounts for 50% of their profit and the iPhone release quarter is Apple’s biggest financially.
The can get away from annual release cycles with most of their other products because they account for a relative fraction of their revenue.
I think apple could just do themselves a huge favour if they just at the very least, introduced some new colour.
I know the regular 16 gets all of the 'fun' but the Pro line up is so sterile it's becoming completely off putting for me.
Every YT'er I have watched a video of so far has said "this colour is great! But sadly it's not on the Pro", and this is a theme that's happened for the last couple of years.
Apple need to start changing it up. They'd never do it, but I'd happily have them do away with titanium for a material that can colour up well and introduce some more vibrant, exciting hues, along with a new camera layout. Just make it look a bit different for a start.
Right now, this line up looks exactly the same as the iPhone 12 and it's so utterly boring it's verging on depressing.
The regular 16, though, I like.
I know the regular 16 gets all of the 'fun' but the Pro line up is so sterile it's becoming completely off putting for me.
Every YT'er I have watched a video of so far has said "this colour is great! But sadly it's not on the Pro", and this is a theme that's happened for the last couple of years.
Apple need to start changing it up. They'd never do it, but I'd happily have them do away with titanium for a material that can colour up well and introduce some more vibrant, exciting hues, along with a new camera layout. Just make it look a bit different for a start.
Right now, this line up looks exactly the same as the iPhone 12 and it's so utterly boring it's verging on depressing.
The regular 16, though, I like.
@Aneres11 yes I am in agreement with this, though wish they could do snazzy colors in Titanium as well. I have run my 15 pro without a case for nearly an entire year, and so far I have no regrets doing that. It is holding up really well, and I personally do enjoy directly holding a device over a case. Fully cased, the slight wear on my Pixel 8 Pro is a bit concerning.
Regarding your comment on design of 12 Pro, IMO the design language (ignoring the rounded edges, and dynamic island) looks no different as compared to the 11 pro! Though it isn't as bad as the iPhone SE whose design is legitimately 10 years old by now! Apple really likes to hang onto their hardware design, to a fault!
Despite the changes in cameras (which usually gets me), I just don't see a compelling to send my 15 pro away this year outside of (Maybe) the 5X zoom. Doing a recent photo walk between a 13 pro and my 15 pro, I have a hard time seeing much difference in base images, though image stability for video is far better on the 15 pro.
Like the Pixel 9 Pro, I am going to wait and test out the phones via friends before I take the plunge. I am glad I allocated some funds to a new MacBook Pro this year, that is actually earning it's keep for the funds spent on it!
Regarding your comment on design of 12 Pro, IMO the design language (ignoring the rounded edges, and dynamic island) looks no different as compared to the 11 pro! Though it isn't as bad as the iPhone SE whose design is legitimately 10 years old by now! Apple really likes to hang onto their hardware design, to a fault!
Despite the changes in cameras (which usually gets me), I just don't see a compelling to send my 15 pro away this year outside of (Maybe) the 5X zoom. Doing a recent photo walk between a 13 pro and my 15 pro, I have a hard time seeing much difference in base images, though image stability for video is far better on the 15 pro.
Like the Pixel 9 Pro, I am going to wait and test out the phones via friends before I take the plunge. I am glad I allocated some funds to a new MacBook Pro this year, that is actually earning it's keep for the funds spent on it!
I'm okay with iPhone just being small updates 
keeps me from upgrading yearly lol 
, and thank you Apple for finally adding T9 dialing and video pause ..
keeps me from upgrading yearly lol 
, and thank you Apple for finally adding T9 dialing and video pause ..
I've been with both operating systems (Android and iOS) for a while now, and after buying the Galaxy Fold 6 a few weeks ago and seeing the way... boring Apple is going, I'm increasingly feeling at a crossroads.
I've been on Apple... since I was practically born. My father had a Mac, I grew up with an iPod (in Spain and in Europe, in the early 2000's it was very uncommon to have a Mac). My father had the first iPhone that came out in Europe (the 3G) and my father and I have always changed the iPhone every 2 years (since the iPhone 6, every 3, with some exceptions). My mother is inheriting the older iPhones.
As with the iPhone, I have also grown up with the iPad and the Mac and the whole Apple ecosystem.
So, in the end I have a connection that goes beyond the purely objective with the brand, as it is a brand that I have grown up with and always liked. I liked its philosophy, its unique design, how different it looked from the other things that were sold in electronic
However, in recent years I feel that all that is being lost. Boring products, products that in my point of view do not bring anything new or revolutionary (sorry Apple Vision Pro) and that Apple is gradually losing what made it “special”, especially with the disappearance of the stickers, something silly, but that was differential and special.
The last Keynote was so boring for me that I didn't even finish watching it, when I always watch them live and then I usually replay them in more detail. The same thing happened to me with the presentation of the Vision Pro last year, the way of selling them generated such a rejection in me, as everything was so “isolated” from the person and made the presentation cold and impersonal... something strange from Apple.
In addition to certain policies, better or worse on the part of Europe (I am not going to be the one to defend everything the EU does), the lack of Appe Intelligence in Europe and in Spanish is also a glass of cold water, although Spanish will be one of the first languages to be available, which is to be welcomed (another thing is that it comes out before or after the EU authorizes it).
In the last two years I have had the Pixel 7 Pro and the Pixel 8 Pro and I have loved them, with their flaws, which they have, especially at the processor level. But they are devices that I like to use and their camera and editor are magnificent.
I really like the Galaxy Fold 6, a very capable device that would make it possible to get rid of the iPad mini as it is almost the size of it when you unfold it, with a stylus. Too bad about the cameras, but the truth is that I like the rest of the device so much that I forgive it. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 is a great device, but in this case I still prefer the quality of apps on the iPad, in addition to having Procreate and Pixelmator Photo, my favorite editing and drawing apps (and they are not subscription-based like... Adobe Ahem).
The Surface Pro 11th OLED with the Snapdragon And the truth is that this device, with this processor, makes using Windows "tolerable" for me, accustomed almost all my life to using Mac instead of Windows (something quite hostile here in Spain when I left home, since Mac even relatively recently it was rare to have it, since everyone outside my house had Windows and... I felt clumsy using it).
Little by little I'm breaking through that walled garden of Apple, and I like what I see too! There are fun devices, with unique shapes, and they work very well too.
I'm using the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Surface as work devices, while personally I'm still in the Apple ecosystem.
At the moment I am not considering going further and abandoning Apple, but doing so is increasingly coming to mind.
Everyone in my immediate environment uses Apple devices (my parents, family members, my in-laws), and when we go on a trip, making a shared album or airdropping photos is so common that not having it would be a big barrier to face. my relatives.
I'm not really unhappy with Apple, but I think I'm losing a bit of that emotional "connection" with the brand, perhaps because as an old fan I see that what made Apple "special" is disappearing, which doesn't mean they do worse. products, but everything seems to be absolutely designed for influencers and teenagers.
In fact, when I was a teenager, I was one of the "rare" ones to have an iPhone (I had the iPhone 3Gs/iPhone 4/iPhone 5 during that time). Most of them had BlackBerry Curve or entry-level Android phones (Samsung Galaxy Ace, Sony Xperia U...) or someone with a Galaxy S1 or SII. Now when I see teenagers on the street, the strange thing is that they don't have an iPhone, be it an iPhone 7 or an iPhone 13, but an iPhone. My relatives who are in the adolescent stage want an iPhone because it is an iPhone, going for refurbished models or old second-hand models. It seems that in this target Apple has managed to gain the loyalty of teenagers very well, but it seems that the "old dogs" are forgetting us.
I suppose that what is happening to me has happened to many people in other previous stages with Apple.
Maybe I'm maturing too.
I've been on Apple... since I was practically born. My father had a Mac, I grew up with an iPod (in Spain and in Europe, in the early 2000's it was very uncommon to have a Mac). My father had the first iPhone that came out in Europe (the 3G) and my father and I have always changed the iPhone every 2 years (since the iPhone 6, every 3, with some exceptions). My mother is inheriting the older iPhones.
As with the iPhone, I have also grown up with the iPad and the Mac and the whole Apple ecosystem.
So, in the end I have a connection that goes beyond the purely objective with the brand, as it is a brand that I have grown up with and always liked. I liked its philosophy, its unique design, how different it looked from the other things that were sold in electronic
However, in recent years I feel that all that is being lost. Boring products, products that in my point of view do not bring anything new or revolutionary (sorry Apple Vision Pro) and that Apple is gradually losing what made it “special”, especially with the disappearance of the stickers, something silly, but that was differential and special.
The last Keynote was so boring for me that I didn't even finish watching it, when I always watch them live and then I usually replay them in more detail. The same thing happened to me with the presentation of the Vision Pro last year, the way of selling them generated such a rejection in me, as everything was so “isolated” from the person and made the presentation cold and impersonal... something strange from Apple.
In addition to certain policies, better or worse on the part of Europe (I am not going to be the one to defend everything the EU does), the lack of Appe Intelligence in Europe and in Spanish is also a glass of cold water, although Spanish will be one of the first languages to be available, which is to be welcomed (another thing is that it comes out before or after the EU authorizes it).
In the last two years I have had the Pixel 7 Pro and the Pixel 8 Pro and I have loved them, with their flaws, which they have, especially at the processor level. But they are devices that I like to use and their camera and editor are magnificent.
I really like the Galaxy Fold 6, a very capable device that would make it possible to get rid of the iPad mini as it is almost the size of it when you unfold it, with a stylus. Too bad about the cameras, but the truth is that I like the rest of the device so much that I forgive it. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 is a great device, but in this case I still prefer the quality of apps on the iPad, in addition to having Procreate and Pixelmator Photo, my favorite editing and drawing apps (and they are not subscription-based like... Adobe Ahem).
The Surface Pro 11th OLED with the Snapdragon And the truth is that this device, with this processor, makes using Windows "tolerable" for me, accustomed almost all my life to using Mac instead of Windows (something quite hostile here in Spain when I left home, since Mac even relatively recently it was rare to have it, since everyone outside my house had Windows and... I felt clumsy using it).
Little by little I'm breaking through that walled garden of Apple, and I like what I see too! There are fun devices, with unique shapes, and they work very well too.
I'm using the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Surface as work devices, while personally I'm still in the Apple ecosystem.
At the moment I am not considering going further and abandoning Apple, but doing so is increasingly coming to mind.
Everyone in my immediate environment uses Apple devices (my parents, family members, my in-laws), and when we go on a trip, making a shared album or airdropping photos is so common that not having it would be a big barrier to face. my relatives.
I'm not really unhappy with Apple, but I think I'm losing a bit of that emotional "connection" with the brand, perhaps because as an old fan I see that what made Apple "special" is disappearing, which doesn't mean they do worse. products, but everything seems to be absolutely designed for influencers and teenagers.
In fact, when I was a teenager, I was one of the "rare" ones to have an iPhone (I had the iPhone 3Gs/iPhone 4/iPhone 5 during that time). Most of them had BlackBerry Curve or entry-level Android phones (Samsung Galaxy Ace, Sony Xperia U...) or someone with a Galaxy S1 or SII. Now when I see teenagers on the street, the strange thing is that they don't have an iPhone, be it an iPhone 7 or an iPhone 13, but an iPhone. My relatives who are in the adolescent stage want an iPhone because it is an iPhone, going for refurbished models or old second-hand models. It seems that in this target Apple has managed to gain the loyalty of teenagers very well, but it seems that the "old dogs" are forgetting us.
I suppose that what is happening to me has happened to many people in other previous stages with Apple.
Maybe I'm maturing too.
No disagreement with you here.
When it comes to the Galaxy Fold 6, it’s so many features added (anxiously awaiting on OneUI 7, supposedly animations are going to be iOS-like)… it’s my favorite device.
I gotta admit, that camera button on the latest iPhones is pretty special. I understand Sony was the first to do it, but the level of creativity that comes along with using that camera button… I like it.
If I was an iPhone user, I’d be excited about it. I can see other companies copying that… especially Samsung lol.
In principle, the camera capture button is pretty cool. Try using is though…it’s supper fiddly, hard to engage certain functions/gestures and easy to hit/press the wrong thing.
As a camera quick launch and shutter, it’s great. It’ll probably also be handy for Apple’s version of Google’s Lens search whenever that comes out. Beyond that, it’s borderline annoying and just easier to use the on screen options.
Super Fiddly? Hard to engage? Is it something that software can fix? Or could it be a situation where it takes time to adjust to it.
Annoying? I have seen a thread debating whether this camera button will experience the same demise as the touchbar, while it will be removed in the future.
Software can probably fix some of the issues. I didn't purchase an iPhone this year but played with the camera capture button for quite a while in store and came away with those impressions. I think Apple's trying to do too much with it. There are so many different ways you need to interact with it--single presses, double presses, spies, light taps and long holds and even tapping the screen or removing your finger briefly off the button to be able engage another function, etc. And if you don't get it just right, you're somewhere else in the UI than you intended or you inadvertently took a pic. I'm sure you can get more adept with a lot of practice but you shouldn't have to and it's just going to feel like too much work vs. just using the on screen controls.
The touchbar is actually a good analogy though I think the camera control will say around. Like I said, there are some things I think it will be great for, specifically quick launching and immediate capture of photos and videos as well as the future Visual Intelligence functionality. I just think trying to use that small little interface for more detailed menus and settings is far less elegant nor necessary.
Just out of curiosity (in case I ever decide to leave Apple's walled garden, the first thing I would leave behind is the iPhone), how do you sync everything from Fold to iPad?
Because thinking about it, the only Apple thing I would not give up would be the iPad and maybe the Mac, but the iPhone / watch / headphones, I don't care, although the AirPods seem to me a great product, I have headphones from other brands that go just as well, such as the Sony WF-XM5.
In watches the new generation Pixel Watch I like quite a bit, especially now that it has a large model. The Samsung ones don't quite convince me.
Have had the Fold and iPad combination for quite some time… syncing depends on the type of file it is.
For notes, I tend to use Google Keep... but I don’t use it solely. I like using Samsung Notes on the Fold and Apple Notes on the iPad. I try to keep notes that I need to reference or web links on Google Keep. I like what Google is doing with the Keep app… they are constantly improving on it.
Now when it comes to photos… I use iCloud Photos (2 TB storage plan), if I‘m taking tons of photos/videos with the Fold… I’d just copy them to the T7 and add it to the iPad. But if there’s a couple photos here and there… I’d sync it through Google Drive. Like Google Keep, Drive is regularly being improved upon. Reason I go with iCloud Photos over other alternatives… I‘m predominately among iPhone users.
There’s shared albums among us and I’m sending photos through iMessage… so iCloud Photos make sense for me. But I do use Google Drive quite a bit… from Photoshop projects or various images and designs that I want to store. And for web browsing. I use Safari on the iPad and Samsung Internet on the Fold.
I‘m more of bookmarks kind of guy (both Safari & Samsung Internet have my bookmarks added)… so, I don’t really rely on tab syncing. If I’m on Google Fold and need to access a web link on the iPad, I’d just add it to Google Keep.
Yeah, I use the iPad as an iPhone replacement… given it’s cellular. It travels with me anywhere and it gives me access to the Apple ecosystem. I do have a MBP that I use alongside the iPad… but the MBP is stationary, rarely leaves the desk.
I like the fact that Google introduced a larger Pixel Watch, but I like the integration that the GWU (Galaxy Watch Ultra) has with the Galaxy Fold. I‘m able to get battery information on either devices... There’s a Galaxy Buds widget on the GWU.. that I can get battery information along with ambient & noise cancellation control.
@RSB96
Same mostly - iPad Pro 11 M4, S24 Ultra, Pixel 9Pro, 15PM (work) MBP, Galaxy Book. I use all the above but also iMazing on the GBook and Proton Drive. Btw I also swapped to the GWU - awesome device.
Sharing info across OS’s is not hard if you give it a bit of thought. The only thing I recommend folks in the Apple World avoid is keychain.
As you said, not that hard with some work but usually not as seamless, especially if you’re interacting with others in the Apple ecosystem. So while there are some good third party cross platform options, my family isn’t switching from their Apple devices meaning we’re using iMessage, Apple Notes, Shared Photos and Apple Reminders to name a few. That means I can’t really ditch Apple entirely without making life significantly more inconvenient for myself.
And second the recommendation of not relying solely on Apple Keychain for password management. I use it but only as a redundant copy of everything I save in 1Password.
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Hopefully unlike the 13, when iOS 19 comes around it won’t kill the 16 battery life.