The iPhones 7
daringfireball.net
daringfireball.net
Well, that's just wrong. Android phones had this years ago. The near ubiquitous Snapdragon 810 uses a Big.Little architecture.
Besides, Using 2 instead of 4 cores isn't really a notable difference. It's certainly not enough of a differentiator to make his claim meaningfully true. But that's beside the point because dual 2-core chips exist.
It is not a technique about which I believe I am unaware or have not employed on the interwebs to dampen the apparent appeal of argumentative replies, and I suspect that I am probably not mistaken about that belief. YMMV, but I feel it is probably sometimes advantageous to write in such a way.
Second, the hate he gets on every comments thread is very fun and entertaining to read, but I think it is often misplaced, and always ad-hominem.
Yes, one third of the 'review' is about the finish, and yes one third of the review is about home button usage patterns from Asia, but personally, that is why I read them, that is why they are unique, because they are not cultural reviews from The Verge, or technical reviews from Ars Technica, or node process reviews from Anandtech, which I also read. That is also why I don't read Engadget's review, or Gizmodo's one (are they still online?); their reviews are a subset of the others.
This is clearly a case of niche focus, he writes stuff others won't. And I'm glad I get to read his writing because, and this is the important part, I get to make my own mind, I don't have to agree with him.
EDIT: Downvoted by abnormals ;-)
People would buy beautiful laptops, with glossy finishes, interesting detail. Yet, people would never pull the original plastic off the surrounding covers or back cover. They would bring in their computers to be worked on and have this hideous, dirt crusted, half pulled up, sheet of plastic flapping in the breeze on their computer. I would ask them why they did this and they always said the same thing: "Because I don't want to scratch the laptop."
I would then go through my speal about how, if their entire purpose for keeping the plastic on was to keep it looking pristine, why did they put up with it looking like shit for years. By the time they get sick of dealing with said plastic, they will pull it off only to realize that the dirt and grime that has accumulated under that plastic causes tiny scratches in the surface of their laptop.
In summary: Laptops with plastic on them looked like shit to begin with, once removed the laptop still looked like shit from leaving the original plastic on. Take the plastic off, enjoy how beautiful your laptop is and try to take care of it to the best of your ability. Nothing lasts forever.
When my wife replaced her 1st gen macbook air she brought it to the shop to have the data transferred. She's a painter and it was covered with drips and smears of paint and had various nicks and other blemishes -- it was plainly a working tool. All the staff at the Palo Alto Apple store came to take a look at it because they were not used to seeing a machine not treated with kid gloves.
What about it is extremely complex?
We think one of the most important questions now, when you buy a computer is gonna be what’s your favourite color. And this is more important in our surveys, in our consumer surveys this is far more important than most of the mumbo jumbo associated with buying a consumer computer…megabytes, megahertz, gigabytes…people don't care about that stuff, they wanna trust us to give ’em a really great computer, what they care about is ‘I wanna express myself and pick the color I want’.
- Steve Jobs, 1999.
On the positive side, even with a three year extended warranty, you can now—whenever your macbook wears out—go to an Apple store and buy the same model with the same tech inside for the same price that you paid years ago for the original model. It creates more stability and reliability of expectation than any computer buyer has ever had before.
I stopped reading about a third of the way down because my attention span timer expired. It gets reset for dense and interesting content, but 1500 words about a metal finish is... counterproductive.
Perhaps it's easier to slide into your pocket?
Or maybe it's more about letting everyone know that you have the latest phone? Who knows.
I have a leather wallet case that the phone slides into easily for when its in my pocket, as I wouldn't want it to get damaged being jostled around, but it's quick to take out when I want to use it.
I use the Miami that's at the top of that page. It was 20-someodd US dollars on Amazon, and has held up well for the year I've had it.
It's actually quite liberating.
Also, it feels wrong setting the iPhone down on a bar table or whatever. Either the touchscreen lays against the table or it's seesawing on its protruding camera lens.
Putting it in a minimal rubber case took an $800 load off my mind for $15.
The big/little thing is embarrassing, but he doesn't pretend to be Anandtech.
I actually received a phone call while just to about to get on a NYC subway, 1 story below ground and the person couldn't wait until I took my subway trip, so we chatted for awhile while several subways passed both uptown and downtown (they come every 3 - 5 minutes in each direction). She claimed she could here me speaking just fine even when the subway is arriving :-)
But sometimes, people have trouble hearing me on the iPhone and on the Apple $80 in-hear microphone.
I'm curious if there are any upgrade to the iPhone 7 that improves the voice quality and I wish at least one reviewer would test this out.
Also, as an aside, I'm disappointed that the iPhone 7 doesn't cover band 66 (AWS-3) spectrum. I guess there aren't any modem chips out yet (at least not from Qualcomm which is what the Verizon and Sprint CDMA phones use).
Still in dense markets like NYC, even though Verizon has far more spectrum than AT&T, I expect that in the next year or two the existing spectrum will be filling up.
I've been using the iPhone leather case since the 5s (when it first came out) and I've only had one screen break.
Of course psychology and human nature doesn't work that way (I too feel weird buying something when a feature I don't need is broken), but it's still funny.
I don't think it's a misconception at all. I've had to use the AssistiveTouch solution with both my 2 previous iPhones because either the home or power button stopped working. It's still enabled on my current iPhone and I still use it out of habit. I don't resell my phones, so I'm not worried about that aspect of things. I've only had 3 iPhones, 2 of them had the issue and I feel my current hasn't gotten it because I still use AssistiveTouch.
I'm also guessing that the amount of dust in certain geographies may play a bigger part in the home buttons not working well after sometime, since there is a gap for dust to get in in all the iPhone models (AFAIK) till the iPhone 6s series. The iPhone 7 series is the first one to eliminate the press button and replace it with a haptic one, which helps in water resistance and also eliminates dust getting in at that point.
I don't know if Apple finally fixed that in the iPhone 6, but it was everything but a misconception, I had the problem in my iPhone 3G and iPhone 4s my girlfriend in her 5s. Many friends in different versions of the iPhone.
The home button did break after some use.
It is downright weird how everyone frets about the resale value of Apple products. Almost like they treat them more like art or similar than a device to use to get their life done.
-Jet black is the grippiest iPhone finish ever -no OIS on the telephoto lens, making it much less useful than the default lens for night photos and video
The only reason I use a case on my iPhone is because without one, when I'm holding it, I feel like I am constantly on the verge of a rapid unplanned jettison. The thing is so slick and thin that I can't grip it very well.
I'm a-ok with micro-abrasions and treat my phone well, so maybe I'll spring for the jet black version.
I may be a bit unusual in this, but I actually want a smaller screen. Like everyone else, I want the phone to be thinner and lighter too, but I miss the days of being able to take my phone with my in my pocket when I go out running. a 4" screen at current iPhone thicknesses would be amazing. I'm not going to watch movies or write long HN comments on a phone. I just need something small that works for checking email, texting and playing me music.
Also on the topic of size, as my screen resolution keeps increasing over the years it feels like John is writing in smaller and smaller text! By changing literally nothing, he's been offering a worse and worse UX.
Came up on HN the day of the event I think.
But first, the Jet Black one is going to scuff and nick like hell. But because of feelings Gruber thinks it's both better and a demonstration of materials mastery and engineering.
Thanks Gruber, 12 paragraphs defining why a poor materials choice that requires a case (which counters the thinness of the phone which was the justification for why the headphone jack is gone) is a demonstration of mastery.
Here's the tl;dr of any Gruber review of an Apple product, he loves it. All the issues are examples of courage, and all the real problems don't get talked about ("where the whatchamacallit jack used to go"). He'll point out a token "problem" but, just like in this example, he then goes on at length about why it's actually some bold solution to a problem that's not actually a problem but is really about how dumb some users are (so dumb that the thing they're doing wrong even gets an entire paragraph of a footnote about how Apple is even helping them through the hopeless superstitious morass of their lives).
Even points that might be interesting to read about (the camera) can't be trusted because he's such a compromised reviewer.
A much better, and still favorable, review is the other one on the front page today by the Verge. There's issues with that review as well, but at least the information in the review is well balanced and considered and not thousands of words of apologia and user blaming.
Er, at what point did Apple justify the removal of the headphone jack with thinness? The 7 has the same thickness as the 6/6S. They've put many justifications out there, but to my knowledge "thinness" has never been one of them.
The way I view it, Gruber reviews Apple products for people who already love Apple products. He has a broad understanding of Apple and brings a well-thought perspective to many things without getting stuck on comparing products to those in competing ecosystems. Personally I put a lot of value in Gruber's reviews, because he has a similar perspective to the products that I do. But that's going to be a important part of any review - matching perspectives.
This is just factually incorrect. Apple gave a lot of reasons why the headphone jack was removed but thinness was never one of them. And it would make no sense for it to be one of them because the iPhone 7 is the same thickness as the iPhone 6 and 6S which have a headphone jack.
I agree Gruber is biased and loves Apple to the point where he will take ridiculous positions (see the EU tax issue) but if you're going to argue, do it from a factually correct point.
I just ordered a 7 and will begrudgingly order a case along with it. I felt like the 5 was the pinnacle for exterior design, and I considered buying the new 5 SE version of that, but I really need/want the latest internals given the amount these devices cost.
Edit: cleaned up some writing in the last paragraph
I'm empathetic. I upgraded a Samsung S5 to an S7 and I'm mostly extremely happy. The phone is astounding, the weight, speed and battery life are brilliant.
Unfortunately, they've done something to the design and finish. It's much more slippery than the S5. I never dropped my S5, and in the 2 months I've had my S7 I've fumbled and dropped it multiple times. No damage yet, but I feel like it's a matter of time. I usually use phones without a case, but I feel like I should buy one for this phone!
EDIT: The S5 has "rubberized" textured back panel and grooved edges. The S7 has a mirror-smooth back panel and shine edges. I feel that they've sacrificed function for form here.
All of the talk of the different color options ends up being kind of moot when you have to put a case on the thing anyway.
Completely anecdotal, of course, but I'd guess something like 20% of phones I see have a cracked screen. I suppose there's little incentive for the manufacturers to make their devices more robust.
They'd be shorter reading at least.
Haha, probably so.