Does iPhone X grab you?

[JaySeeDoubleYou]

Part 1 of 4 (broken into 4 parts to defeat the spam blocker system…..um…..take that, spam blocker….have at thee!)

[SORRY FOR THE TL;DR!!!!]

So, Richard, I am kinda heading in the opposite direction of your posted question. What do I mean? This:

Assuming that the alleged "Surface Phone"....well.......surfaces, which, along with Jason Ward, I'm all but 100% convinced that it will. Now, whether it succeeds or not is a separate question, and one for which I can't be anywhere nearly so confident, but I AT LEAST think it's coming, I at least think we're gonna see it. Anyway, assuming that Jason and I are right at least that far, and assuming it's viable, then hell, if it's even half the product that it's supposed to be, I'm gonna want on-board, and am hoping to make the leap onto Windows in fall 2019 when whatever new phone I buy this fall is paid off.

I know, I know, it's just like that scene in Independence Day where Jeff Goldblum's character and his dad are the only ones driving into New York City when everyone else is driving out, but in fall 2019, I hope, in my best "Zelda get Item" pose, doing my best "Zelda get Item" jingle impersonation, to thrust aloft in my hands a shining rectangle which catches a glimmer in the sun, and in that glimmer is briefly revealed in sublimely subtle, simple, elegant font the word "Surface".

But that's 2019, and that's only if that's the version of 2018/2019 we end up getting. What about fall 2017? What about in the meanwhile? What about now? Well, sadly, Windows is not on the table for me at all in 2017. So that leaves just Android and Apple - each of which put precisely two phones on my radar, for a total, of course, of four (cause, you know, 2+2=4, right?). Those four phones that are "in the running" for me are the iPhone 8 plus, the Galaxy Note 8, the upcoming Pixel XL 2 (working title), and of course.......the iPhone X. It'll be one of those four, or my name's not JaySeeDoubleYou. :-D

(continued)

 

[JaySeeDoubleYou]

(part 2 of 4)

So, I say the Note 8 is by far the least likely option. It's inches away from being out of the running completely, but fair is fair, I am AT LEAST considering it. It's an AMAZING piece of hardware. I love everything about the hardware. The heft, the size, the look, the specs, the elegance, and oh my stars and garters, THAT SCREEN! What a hit piece of kit! Plus, if memory serves, it also supports DeX, which I'm more than a little curious about, having come from a RemixOS device as a distant tertiary device behind my "gaming DIY Windows 10 PC" and my "podcasting Mac" (which this is being typed on, incidentally) before that folded! ------------BUUUUUUUUUUUUUT------------- I hate - and I mean I -LOATHE-, I -DETEST- [formerly known as] "touchwiz", the insufferable, interminable waits for software and OS, or hell, even security updates, only to have the finished product arrive barely recognizable from the "vanilla-ish" Android that I so prefer.

I mean, I know I could just root the phone, but that voids warranty, and it'll fall straight into the bog the instant I do that, or land in the road right as a Sherman Tank parade passes by. No dice. The reason I refuse to root a phone is the same reason my wife and I each drive a Kia* instead of something more flashy - the "Akuna Matada" of Warranty is worth sooooo much more than anything that would take me away from it. If I have to worry myself about the money management concerns of two car payments and installments on a cell phone, I at least want to not have to worry about anything else besides theft, misplacement, hackers, or brake pads. So no, no root! No way, no how!

I know an added software layer, such as the Google Now Launcher is another alternative that would get me something fairly close to "vanilla", and all while preserving that supremely precious warranty. It's an option. But it's not an option I particularly relish, because adding a software layer is so inelegant, and just adds more fat to thing's operations, something which will already be more of an issue on the Sammy than on any of the other three phones in the running for me. Plus, it doesn't get rid of "every last 'touch' of 'wiz'" anyway (see what I did there?). So, while the hardware is just too damned compelling to let me really get away with saying "absolutely not" right off hand, the Note 8 just has simply monumental hurdles to overcome (and oh so many of them) for me before I could ever feel okay "taking it home to meet mother". It's HIGHLY unlikely that this is the way I'll go.

(continued)

 

[JaySeeDoubleYou]

(part 3 of 4)

If I'm going to be on Android, then on a Google phone is where I really want to be. It's as "vanilla" as you get without rooting, it's as close to Apple as you get on Android for "instant updates" / "lifespan of support", and it seems like at least "codename: Taimen" is gonna be a really nice piece of hardware as well. But fact of the matter is that we still don't know EXACTLY what we're gonna get, or how much it's gonna cost. So we're still talking largely in hypotheticals at this point. And just how much do I want to bank on hypotheticals when I'm on a rapidly floundering iPhone 6 plus that is quickly "going the way of the Ellcrys" and on a network that is painfully "deprioritizing" me for being "a data hog", and I want to get off the sinking ships of both this phone and this network just as quickly as possible?

The Note 8 and even more so, the iPhone 8 plus have huge advantages here, as the Note 8 I could walk into my [hopefully] future carrier (T-Mobile, coming from Verizon) and buy right off the shelf tomorrow, and the iPhone 8 plus, I could walk in and pre-order tomorrow for receipt one week later on launch day (and make it the only phone I've ever owned right on Launch Day).

The iPhone 8 plus (over the river, and through the woods, to the point I finally get), also has a few other advantages over the iPhone X for me besides semi-instant-gratification that are salient: 1) it's less expensive. My wife sternly warned me that if the monthly installments on the iPhone X increase our monthly bill too much, then the balance has to come out of my personal "toys and fun money", and I REALLY don't want that! There's too much toys and fun to be had to waste it on a cell phone bill! 2) The 8 plus is a really nice iterative improvement over the 7 plus, which in turn is a really nice iterative improvement over the 6s plus, which itself in turn is a nice iterative improvement over my current 6 plus. So, while at a glance (especially in a case), the new phone wouldn't look or feel any different than what I presently have, the performance differences would be immediately noticeable, I'm sure. 3) It's instant gratification, or at least, pretty damned close to it. 4) The iPhone X is undeniably the cooler phone, with the more advanced features, and the better everything. But it's bleeding edge technology, some of it, and living on the bleeding edge can be......well......bloody. Perhaps I'm better off to go the 8 plus this round, and next year, or the year after, when the features found in the X are more "standard issue", leap for the "new and improved" versions of them at that time, 5) While I VASTLY prefer the look of an OLED screen to its LCD counterparts, LCD is so much more practical, not only in terms of battery in a world of OSes overwhelmingly "white", but even more important to me: because I'm very wary of the whole burn-in / fade problem inherent in OLEDs - a problem the admittedly blander LCDs don't suffer from. I'm sure that the iPhone X SUPER-RETINA (1440p?) OLED 5.8" display is ABSOLUTELY STUNNING - WAY BETTER than the iPhone 8 plus, and my gosh, I LOVE the bezel-less look, but with all the new goodies going into even the 5.5" 1080p RETINA LCD in the iPhone 8 plus, I'm sure even it would seem quite the spectacular upgrade over the already perfectly decent and satisfactory LCD in my current iPhone 6 plus.

There are a LOT of reasons to skip the X this round, and just go for the 8 plus.

(concluded)

 

[JaySeeDoubleYou]

(part 4 of 4)

But still, I can't deny that I absolutely LOVE what I saw in the iPhone X, and price, wait, burn-in, and potentially buggy new tech aside, I just worry very much that I'm gonna get the 8 plus, and it's gonna feel like "last year's phone" the instance Nov 3rd rolls around, and that with as very nice a phone as the 8 plus will undeniably be, that I'll still experience deep dissatisfaction spending the next two years or so "living in the shadow" of the X. So I -REALLY- might just wait out the X anyway, and hope and pray that it doesn't cut into my mad money. Plus, I'm super curious to see what the Pixel 2 (Taimen) will offer, so my instincts are that I'm waaaaaaaaaaaaay better off waiting til Nov (or at least, October), just suffering through throttled Verizon and a dying 6 plus (and making my wife do the same) so that all four of my "theoretically in the running" phones are actually available and, you know, "in the running for realsies". But the temptation to "act now" is just sooooooooooo strong that fact of the matter is: just as the Note 8 is BY FAR the least likely of the four for my pick this round, the iPhone 8 plus is equally BY FAR the MOST likely way I'll go this round.

This is extra important to me this time as if (and I said -IF-) 2018/2019 brings us a Surface Phone that can withstand the test of time, and is even vaguely reminiscent of what's being bandied about now about what it looks like, 2017's phone may very well be the last non-Windows phone that I ever buy. And with that being even the remotest of chances, and my pedigree being a slightly Android-heavy mix of iPhones and Androids, I want to make damn sure that I make the absolute best, most holistically satisfying decision that I can.

I generally am of a mind that whichever operating system between Android and iOS that I'm -NOT- on at the moment is the one that I REALLY want to be on (aka: the "the grass is always greener" effect), and being an iPhone user currently, that would steer me towards Android. But I'm just so pleased with the 2017 Apple offerings that at the moment at the very least, I'm feeling a lot more likely to just suck it up and stay with Apple at least one more round.

Know what I mean?

Cheers, and sorry once again for the massively "TL;DR" post! :-D

*=Our Kias: 2013 Soul that we bought in 2015, and 2014 Sportage that we bought....just this past Saturday, actually. The Mrs. and I will carpool in the 44k odometer Sportage for as long as possible to take the load off the 74k odometer Soul (which only had 39k when we started), and then just trade off driving each after we can no longer carpool, doing what all evening and weekend driving we can in the Sportage until we reach relative equilibrium in the odometers. Since they both have 10yr / 100k bumper-to-bumper warranties, we'll keep them till we hit 100k, then trade them in for another Kia or Hyundai, and just plan on riding that wave forever (or as "forever" as possible).

Interesting observation: We have a Sportage and a Soul...but the Soul is more "sporty" than the Sportage, and the Sportage has more "soul" than the Soul. Alternately, the Sportage has everything we could ever want in it - besides "sportiness", and the Soul has everything we could want - besides "soul". Curious, no? :-D

(FIN)

 

[prateek sadhana]

The iPhone does nothing for me.. Nothing new and way too expensive. I'll wait for a new mobile experience from M/S who seem to be ahead of the curve..

 

[istina]

This does not appeal to me at all. The idea that you can make an emoji move seems so stupid to me unless you have hard time displaying your emotions like people effected with Autism. Do we really need an eye scan? Isn't the finger scan good enough? I really really want the Google Pixel 2 (excited to see what it offers, hopefully no bad batches like the first one) or if that is too expensive then I'll do something Samsung. My heart is really set on the Pixel 2. R.I.P my beloved 735 & 928.

 

[JasonH81]

Nope, the reveal was so asinine that it made sure that Apple is the one product i won't ever buy. I don't like android, but at least they don't pull the nonsense that Apple does.

Besides newer chipsets, my Lumia 950XL has a 2K AMOLED screen with 60fps refresh rate, NFC, 3340 mAh removable battery, Iris scanner, Qi wireless charging w/ quick charging, 20mp camera, expandable storage, dual simm, and no physical home button.

Apple Store, animojis, and AR games can't justify that nonsense price and been there done that tech.

 

[Infamy79]

I had no intention of giving up my Windows Mobile (Lumia 950 currently), but the way that Microsoft has just ignored the platform recently means that they've lost me as a customer.
I'll be switching to either a Note 8 or an iPhone X, however I want to wait to see what the monthly cost is for the iPhone X before I decide. Generally I'm not a fan of Android phones, so I'd prefer the iPhone X if I can justify it.

The problem is I'm well aware of the faults of both phones, neither of them are that compelling to me, but I can't persist with Windows Mobile any more so its going to be one or the other.

 

[fatclue_98]

What's up fatclue? Long time.

Just chillin' and waiting for my power to come back on. I'm so over hurricanes.

Sent from my Acer Liquid Jade Primo on mTalk

 

[Gdevo]

There needs to be another option besides ios and Android. My old windows phone was great, missing apps is the only reason I switched. I'd get another windows phone if the app selection was improved and a iphoneX comparable device was created.

 

[JasonH81]

There needs to be another option besides ios and Android. My old windows phone was great, missing apps is the only reason I switched. I'd get another windows phone if the app selection was improved and a iphoneX comparable device was created.

IPhone X is just catching up to last years phones. The only "new" things it does is the animoji, um Snapchat with animal emojis and, maybe AR; which is capable on current iPhones

 

[anon(10261377)]

I don't think Windows phone users should buy iPhones; they should get Androids.

 

[apocacrux]

i had never really considered the switch to iOS until the iPhone X was announced. I have been happily using my Moto Z since I moved away from my 950XL. I'll hop back to MS camp once they show they care about their phones again.
my only issues with the X are the price point and lack of fingerprint sensor. people don't really seem to grasp that the face ID is not just an iris scanner or even facial recognition like Samsung has. Its more similar to a phone sized Kinect, which is definitely a first on phones and far more impressive, if it actually worked 100% of the time. still far less effective than a fingerprint.
secondly, the price, despite the great tech that's gone into it (true AR, Impressive cameras) I still couldn't justify spending $1500 CAD on a phone.
Another thing I'd like to point out is though it's not new on a phone, AR (true AR) has not yet been implemented in a mainstream phone. Don't confuse putting objects in your photos as what the new AR tech that the X has. it relies on actual depth sensing the environment so objects can now be placed on surfaces or even under them in real time. Only Android phones that supported Tango can currently do this. there's only like three in existence and you probably haven't heard of them. so for apple to bring real AR to the masses is actually a big deal, because if done right it can be a ton of fun.
the edge to edge screen is nothing new. the Xiaomi Mi Mix came out over a year ago and it was a fantastic phone with no bezel.
wireless charging is really the only old tech that was touting as being exciting with this launch. all the rest are fairly new or exclusive to the iPhone X.
so in the end, I am seriously considering it.

 

[digitaldd]

After playing with the Essential phone in a local best Buy a couple weeks ago for like 10minutes I can say its very small compared to iPhone X indention at the top of screen was annoying when watching videos. Perhaps Apple could have put a little more bezel up top to make it more consistent then they could have taken all the space they needed for the Kinect cameras. Will FaceID work who knows it is much more cumbersome than using your finger to unlock (which can be done in a single motion). Do I need talking animated emojis? hell no..

 

[apocacrux]

I wonder how people say 500$ for the most advanced gaming console (One X) is a lot but everyone goes crazy when a 1000$ iPhone with a fancy oled plus more of the same is announced.

You don't seem to read the internet everyone is saying both are expensive... And people are going crazy for both as well. Fans like what they like and they'll pay anything for it. People who aren't super fans will wait till it drops in price.

 

[hamphlet]

It bothers me that people are prepared to pay this amount of money for a phone. There's no way it costs anywhere near this much to make and it's basically brazen profiteering from Apple and as usual all the 'Aspirationals' will put themselves in even more hock to get one. The problem is this has the effect of pushing up the price for all flagships. If we just sat back and said no to these prices they would soon drop.

 

[camaroz1985]

I don't have a problem with them charging that much, or any other phone manufacturer. I look at it as the piece of technology that most people use the most, and most people will update every two years. Even then the phone isn't worthless at that point, and can be sold or traded in to recover some of the cost (of course the same goes if you upgrade after one year). So if you look at it as a per day cost, it is less than $1 a day, and to me a phone is worth that.

I'm not buying an X or even an 8, but I can't fault them for charging what they do. They keep offering products that people want so they can set their price to anything and people will buy it.

 

[Wlctttrue]

No. Even my daughter who likes apple, doesn't like the X.

 

[eugarps]

Dear Apple,

I've been with you ever since you hyped out the original iPhone but now it's time to say good bye. I upgraded from iPhone 5S to SE and this is where it ends. Other phones have out innovated you for years while you claim every year to be rolling out the best ever. That's simply not true. I could upgrade by buying a Nokia 930! I have invested in your apps. Some work, some don't. As for cameras Nokia blew you away with their 1020 and that phone hasn't been bested yet, in my opinion. And an $1,100 phone? I can buy a Surface Pro for that. That's nuts!

Dear Microsoft, if you get off your bums and give the world a Surface Phone with a Lumia 1020 Zeiss camera, I for one will jump off the Apple pirate ship Billy won't be bobbing for Apples the fall.

YMMV. Feel free to disagree.

Bill

 

[ASUS Zenfone 2E]

Honestly it's just too expensive and i will NEVER abandon WP bc of that lumia camera interface!!! Until of course Nokia implements it in their phones, then maybe I'll get a Nokia. That was one of the real advantages the platform has to this day. But the Iphone x's face scanning technology is creepy and not good for my security; they now have my face, the most unique thing about you, and who knows how that could be used against you?