ON Topic: New iPhone 7 - water resistant!

[weisan]

A victim of their own success.

[adub]

A Ziploc bag makes my iPhone water resistant.

[djg21]

Originally Posted by christian

Wireless headphones don't work for me - sometimes I work from home and use my headphones 9 hours in a row.

And using the wired connection, it looks like you can't use headphones and charge the phone simultaneously without a (likely expensive) accessory.

This seems like bad industrial design to me.

Belkin is making an adapter to allow you to charge while listening to music.

http://qz.com/778294/itll-cost-you-4...the-same-time/

http://www.belkin.com/us/pressreleases/8804088579132/

[MikeD]

I have a 6S and don't think the new 7 is that much better to be worth upgrading to; especially with the lack of a headphone jack. The camera is better, but doesn't beat a standalone camera anyway, if you desire good photo quality.

[Bradford]

Originally Posted by MikeD

I have a 6S and don't think the new 7 is that much better to be worth upgrading to...

From a technology standpoint, I agree. I have a 6 which is in perfectly good shape and functions perfectly well. I really have no need for a new phone, accept for one reason. My phone was bought under the old plan, which means I pay $20 a month for as long as I use it. However, if I trade in this perfectly good phone for a new iphone 7, I get a $650 credit against a $650 phone. So, get a new phone, and my $20 a month fee goes to $0 a month, plus I have a phone that is two years newer, faster, has a better screen, and a better camera. So I just pre-ordered the 7 and will be saving $240 a year for doing so.

I went with the 128 GBs, so it will actually cost me $100 over two years (or $4 and change a month), but that still means my monthly payments are over $15 a month less and at the end of two years I own the phone outright and can go as long as I want with $0 per month after that.

So, advancements and technology aside, if you have a 6 under the old style pay forever plan, then it makes sense to get the 7. The current trade in for an iphone 5 is $200 less, so waiting a year for a similar deal is likely to cost at least $200 for an iphone 6. (Or, if you add it together, the $240 in fees plus the $200 in lost trade in value means it would have cost me $450 to wait a year to trade in if they offer a similar deal next September). Also, since I already use Bluetooth headphones, I'm completely indifferent to losing the jack. Since I ski, fish, hike, and ride with this thing all the time, I'm very excited about water resistance. It was an easy decision to make.

[ftf]

Originally Posted by verticaldoug

What feature over Android does the iphone have which people prefer?

I was on android for years, and a huge proponent of it, I had the original droid, galaxy 3, note 3, note 4, and then switched to my current 6 plus.

Things that are better:

The apps are better, since apple has a more stringent app application process they seem superior in function and usability.

The ability to choose which apps can use data, one at a time is better, more security and more control over what gets sent in to the cloud. With android it's just blanket yes you can do whatever you want when you agree to the app.

More robust hardware, I used to go through phones at a rate of one every 6 months, my current iPhone is 2 years old and like new. Some of this has to do with the lightening port, with USB-C this might be taken care of on android, I don't know, plus if you used Qi charging, it would help.

More stable, I've never had my iPhone crash, android used to crash, well more than never.

The fingerprint reader is better than the ones on android.



The reality is, it's not really that there are better features, it's that the ones that are there are superior to their android counterparts, also known as refinement. Android certainly has more features, how well they work, or is one needs them is a separate issue. I don't foresee going back to android anytime soon.

Since it only cost 120 dollars to upgrade to a new phone, that is paid off, I'm switching to the new 7 plus, hopefully the lack of headphone jack isn't a bummer, which I'm a little worried about.

[tuxbailey]

Originally Posted by mistermo

How/where do you sell used iphones for more than new? When did they begin appreciating?

I usually just sell it on Craigslist. Meet locally. Cash. And I bring a third carrier SIM to prove that it is unlocked. (ATT vs T-Mobile) etc.

[Nooch]

Just throwing this out there, if anyone has a 6, 6 plus, 6s, or 6s plus and is upgrading and wants to unload their phone (verizon), please please please let me know!

My 16gb 5 is covered in packing tape to protect my fingers from a twice shattered screen, is out of memory, and is in need of replacement.

Thanks!!

[weisan]

I am a cheapskate when it comes to smartphones and mobile phone usage/plans.

Found a deal at Best Buy two years ago with Unlocked Sprint-compatible Moto E selling at $30 a piece, bought five of them, distributed them all to family members and activated them on the "cheapest possible" phone plans (Ringplus, Ting).
Neither my wife or I consider ourselves "powerusers" at the time, so we were fine with not having the latest and the greatest, and having usage restrictions on our phone plans. My older kids (college, high schoolers) on the other hand, as most of you know with the younger generations, they are a whole different matter....well, since the old man is paying for their phone usage, they kinda have to put up with whatever restrictions we imposed on them. And we like imposing restrictions on our children to acclimatize them early to the real world - life is about compromises, you have to make certain choices, you can''t have everything. Our oldest daughter who is now in college, and started working and paying for her own rent/food, we still take care of tuition. She just recently upgraded to a Galaxy S7 refurbished and signed up for her own plan - all with her own money.

Fast forward to today....

My wife made a simple request to me yesterday that she would like a phone that comes with a much better camera. I know her, she doesn't make a request like this lightly. So with that, I have been shopping around and doing some research. I narrowed it down to the 64GB Moto G5 Plus which costs $269, almost pulled the trigger a couple of times on Amazon, Best Buy, eBay, still looking for the best price. Last night, I was at Costco and thought I would visit their wireless stand to see what is on offer. As it turns out, because of the number of lines (5) we have within the family and an average monthly bill of about $100, it makes sense to switch to Sprint Unlimited $20 a month for 5 lines.

As far as the phone upgrade goes...starting tomorrow, they have a buy one, get one free offer on the iPhone 7 for $550.

So, conceivably, I can walk back into Costco tommorrow and walk out with 2 brand new iPhone 7s, one for my wife and one for myself. As far as our kids go, we are still undecided whether all that upgrade (unlimited usage, new phones) is actually a "good thing" for them.

Should we do it?

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by weisan

I am a cheapskate when it comes to smartphones and mobile phone usage/plans.

Found a deal at Best Buy two years ago with Unlocked Sprint-compatible Moto E selling at $30 a piece, bought five of them, distributed them all to family members and activated them on the "cheapest possible" phone plans (Ringplus, Ting).
Neither my wife or I consider ourselves "powerusers" at the time, so we were fine with not having the latest and the greatest, and having usage restrictions on our phone plans. My older kids (college, high schoolers) on the other hand, as most of you know with the younger generations, they are a whole different matter....well, since the old man is paying for their phone usage, they kinda have to put up with whatever restrictions we imposed on them. And we like imposing restrictions on our children to acclimatize them early to the real world - life is about compromises, you have to make certain choices, you can''t have everything. Our oldest daughter who is now in college, and started working and paying for her own rent/food, we still take care of tuition. She just recently upgraded to a Galaxy S7 refurbished and signed up for her own plan - all with her own money.

Fast forward to today....

My wife made a simple request to me yesterday that she would like a phone that comes with a much better camera. I know her, she doesn't make a request like this lightly. So with that, I have been shopping around and doing some research. I narrowed it down to the 64GB Moto G5 Plus which costs $269, almost pulled the trigger a couple of times on Amazon, Best Buy, eBay, still looking for the best price. Last night, I was at Costco and thought I would visit their wireless stand to see what is on offer. As it turns out, because of the number of lines (5) we have within the family and an average monthly bill of about $100, it makes sense to switch to Sprint Unlimited $20 a month for 5 lines.

As far as the phone upgrade goes...starting tomorrow, they have a buy one, get one free offer on the iPhone 7 for $550.

So, conceivably, I can walk back into Costco tommorrow and walk out with 2 brand new iPhone 7s, one for my wife and one for myself. As far as our kids go, we are still undecided whether all that upgrade (unlimited usage, new phones) is actually a "good thing" for them.

Should we do it?

yes

[cmbicycles]

Upgrade the plan, but don't tell the kids it is now unlimited

[b3pkay]

$20/month with an unlimited data plan? That sounds too good to be true...

[Ray]

Originally Posted by weisan

I am a cheapskate when it comes to smartphones and mobile phone usage/plans.

Found a deal at Best Buy two years ago with Unlocked Sprint-compatible Moto E selling at $30 a piece, bought five of them, distributed them all to family members and activated them on the "cheapest possible" phone plans (Ringplus, Ting).
Neither my wife or I consider ourselves "powerusers" at the time, so we were fine with not having the latest and the greatest, and having usage restrictions on our phone plans. My older kids (college, high schoolers) on the other hand, as most of you know with the younger generations, they are a whole different matter....well, since the old man is paying for their phone usage, they kinda have to put up with whatever restrictions we imposed on them. And we like imposing restrictions on our children to acclimatize them early to the real world - life is about compromises, you have to make certain choices, you can''t have everything. Our oldest daughter who is now in college, and started working and paying for her own rent/food, we still take care of tuition. She just recently upgraded to a Galaxy S7 refurbished and signed up for her own plan - all with her own money.

Fast forward to today....

My wife made a simple request to me yesterday that she would like a phone that comes with a much better camera. I know her, she doesn't make a request like this lightly. So with that, I have been shopping around and doing some research. I narrowed it down to the 64GB Moto G5 Plus which costs $269, almost pulled the trigger a couple of times on Amazon, Best Buy, eBay, still looking for the best price. Last night, I was at Costco and thought I would visit their wireless stand to see what is on offer. As it turns out, because of the number of lines (5) we have within the family and an average monthly bill of about $100, it makes sense to switch to Sprint Unlimited $20 a month for 5 lines.

As far as the phone upgrade goes...starting tomorrow, they have a buy one, get one free offer on the iPhone 7 for $550.

So, conceivably, I can walk back into Costco tommorrow and walk out with 2 brand new iPhone 7s, one for my wife and one for myself. As far as our kids go, we are still undecided whether all that upgrade (unlimited usage, new phones) is actually a "good thing" for them.

Should we do it?

What about the iPhone 7+... If her primary interest is in the camera, the 7+ is a notable improvement on the 7 because they use the extra real estate to stick an extra lens in it. The first one is the typical smart phone wide-isa angle lens - around 28-30 mm field of view. The second one is a near portrait length 60mm equivalent, so it's much better for certain types of shooting. And they do a little digital trick, which I have to admit is pretty effective, of taking two shots when you're in portrait mode, one with each lens. The longer lens gets the subject and nails focus, while the second, wider lens, shoots the background and throws it out of focus. So you get a soft out of focus background in your portraits, which is what most portrait photographers do using lenses with much narrower depth of field. Because of the tiny sensor and short actual focal length, smartphone cameras can't do this the natural way, but this digital trickery that Apple uses works quite well, I have to say. The 7 and 7+ are largely the same phone otherwise, but the camera in the 7+ has one big advantage. So if it's the camera she's after, think about that possibility. Probably a bit more $$ than the regular 7, but less than it's ever been, now that the 8 is available...

-Ray

[weisan]

Thanks Ray pal for the insight!

[ceolwulf]

Concur with Ray, I bought the 7+ specifically for the dual camera - I didn't think I would like the larger size but either I'm just used to it or it's actually better for me but either way I wouldn't go back. And I use the 60mm equivalent camera all the time, probably more than the regular wide angle camera. Very useful. The one slightly annoying part is the wide angle camera has image stabilization but the 60mm doesn't - really ought to be the other way around, if anything. But mostly it works fine. Colours are good, built-in editing tools are useful and if you want more then install Camera+ app which you can access directly from the photo library, and that's a pretty powerful photo editor. You can also shoot RAW with the 7+; I think with the 7 also? pretty sure. I never have but I could see that being very handy for a serious iPhone photographer (... is that an oxymoron? I think there are people like that.).