My first salaried job came with a Blackberry. I got a Moto Droid when that was released. I went pretty deep down the Android rabbit hole, flashing roms and enabling hotspots and customizing the OS. Then I got sick of tinkering with my phone and got an iPhone 5S in 2013. I upgraded to the SE when it was released in March of 2016. I didn't get AppleCare because I never broke a smartphone and the SE was relatively inexpensive. (I did get AppleCare on Macs and iPads because I'm clumsy with those, but I digress).
I broke the iPhone SE today. I briefly considered the Pixel 2. The 'ette has a Moto Z Force and swears by it. The Pixel 2 is a really compelling phone, but ultimately I need access to some iOS-specific features for work, most of my friends are on Messages, and Apple's done right with Touch ID.
I should've done the fiscally responsible thing and replaced my screen on the perfectly cromulent SE, but the Moto Z Force has similar dimensions to the iPhone Plus line, and after playing with her phone for an hour I was sold on the larger form factor.
I ended up getting the iPhone 8 Plus (because I use Touch ID and the home button a hundred times a day and I just didn't want to consider the iPhone X), but even then I didn't see a really compelling case to get the iPhone 8 Plus over the 7 Plus or even the 6S plus. I justified it to myself with the 8 being capable of Fast Charging (after a $20 charger from Anker and a $25 lightning-to-USB cable from Apple), but there's no good reason to pick an iPhone 8 Plus over the 7 or even the 6, right? I've never used Qi wireless charging, but the fact that Apple hasn't released a charger for it and the fact that the 6 and 7 have metal backs to shatter-happy glass backs of the old iPhone 4 make a decent argument for picking the cheaper 6 and 7 over the 8... to say nothing of the X.
Apple's narrative is kind of a mess, isn't it? How are others out there handling smartphone upgrade drama, either for yourselves or for family?
I broke the iPhone SE today. I briefly considered the Pixel 2. The 'ette has a Moto Z Force and swears by it. The Pixel 2 is a really compelling phone, but ultimately I need access to some iOS-specific features for work, most of my friends are on Messages, and Apple's done right with Touch ID.
I should've done the fiscally responsible thing and replaced my screen on the perfectly cromulent SE, but the Moto Z Force has similar dimensions to the iPhone Plus line, and after playing with her phone for an hour I was sold on the larger form factor.
I ended up getting the iPhone 8 Plus (because I use Touch ID and the home button a hundred times a day and I just didn't want to consider the iPhone X), but even then I didn't see a really compelling case to get the iPhone 8 Plus over the 7 Plus or even the 6S plus. I justified it to myself with the 8 being capable of Fast Charging (after a $20 charger from Anker and a $25 lightning-to-USB cable from Apple), but there's no good reason to pick an iPhone 8 Plus over the 7 or even the 6, right? I've never used Qi wireless charging, but the fact that Apple hasn't released a charger for it and the fact that the 6 and 7 have metal backs to shatter-happy glass backs of the old iPhone 4 make a decent argument for picking the cheaper 6 and 7 over the 8... to say nothing of the X.
Apple's narrative is kind of a mess, isn't it? How are others out there handling smartphone upgrade drama, either for yourselves or for family?