next iPhone priced at $999, reportedly
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
That's one of the downsides of budget phones.
It is described as being compatible with all 4 of the U.S.'s major networks.
Currently, it's on a fairly recent version of 7.0 . Interesting that the E4 is ahead of it, on 7.1 . Typical Motorola/Android inconsistency.
The 2/32 version has an ad-free price on Amazon of $230, and an ad-full price (Amazon ads, like they've had on Kindle and Fire phones) of $180. However, a week+ ago, Amazon was putting the ad-free version on sale for $180, in typical Amazon fashion: On again, off again, on again... Until their inventory of the ad-free version sold out.
The 4/64 version has been consistently holding at $300, for the ad-free version. I've read a comment or two about someone getting the ad-free version on sale for $40 or $50 off, but I haven't seen such a sale. The ad-full version has the Amazon discount price, but that wasn't of interest to me.
I've also read comments stating that the 2/32 ad-free version has been at CostCo for $180, but I don't have a CostCo membership.
Oh, and that if you want to root the thing, you should get the version free of Amazon's ad platform.
My Nexus 5x bootlooped, and I ended up getting the 4/64 version of the G5+. Supposedly, there is a G5S+ version coming soon, with an upgraded camera package -- dual 13 megapixel cameras that enable some depth-of-field trickery and whatever else. The G5+ has a single 12 megapixel camera (as well as the "selfie" camera).
The G5S+ is supposedly launching in Europe this August, and in the U.S. at some unannounced time in the fall. Pricing's also not known, but some think both models will be offered concurrently, with the S's pricing a bit higher.
As for me, I needed something now, so I bought the G5+. I got frustrated with Amazon's pricing dance, and I figured 4/64 would provide a longer life as a second phone or experimental device. My purpose was/is to tide me over until the Pixel 2 launches, although I'm hesitant after my 5X experience. Thereafter, to have a backup device as well as one I can root and play with.
The G5+ is a decent phone. Decent IPS screen. Battery can go all day with moderate use, plus perhaps a bit more. Has a fingerprint sensor, making having a locked device more convenient (the whole unlocking "coercion" concern, aside).
The processor/GPU combination is not high end, but it's enough for email, browsing, Facebook, watching video, and the like.
The camera's ok. The Nexus 5X's takes more attractive pictures. The G5+'s gets rid of the momentary lag that both the 5X and the 6P exhibit when the "shutter" is triggered.
The Motorola camera app has a professional mode with significant control (ISO-equivalency, exposure control, etc.). One thing it doesn't seem to have is the ability to turn off taking photos at the screen's proportions. Essentially, it is discarding the top and bottom pixel lines built into the sensor, in order to match the screen's dimensions. I installed the open source, well-regarded app Open Camera to get around this. (Which it does, but I've been running into some typical single guy / small team project bugginess as I use it more.) Some of the Motorola app's pictures also exhibited some significant JPG-type low-quality distortion. (Perhaps it was lower light and/or moderate zoom, contributing.) I'm not sure, but maybe Open Camera does a bit better, in this regard.
So, I got into a pretty good ramble, here.
I'll be damned if I'm going to pay a grand for a phone. And if I did, it would have to be with a good warranty and some decent loss/damage/failure insurance (if affordable). And I'd need a guarantee of support. At least Apple devices tend to get good support for 3 - 4 years, unlike Android's crapshoot of too-often abaondon-ware.
I'll see where the Pixel 2 prices come in. Although, no SD card... And now no headphone jack...
(Thanks for the recommendation -- it's a huge improvement.)
iOS has had Swiftkey and any custom keyboard you want since iOS 8.
are we really going to have a semantical argument about how this idiom works?
I never want to plug in an iOS device. But, after you accept the iTunes thing if did plug it in as mass storage, you'll see that you can move arbitrary files to the app that can open them. Do you really want the extra storage or is there another particular use case you want that requires it as a mounted drive?
> is there another particular use case you want that requires it as a mounted drive
I don't want files to be per-application. I have various audiobook reading apps, music players, video playing apps, etc. I don't want to copy my music once per app, I want to put it on my phone and choose which app I want to play stuff with later on.
Maybe they will have better success with $10,000 iphones.
The problem is, there is only so much you can do to differentiate $10,000 iphone and $1,000 iphone from feature perspective, other than capacity, materials, and service.
IF you're driving $120,000 Mercedes, people know you drive a $120,000 Mercedes. It's not 3 times better than $40,000 Mercedes, but it is substantially better AND different in all aspects.
If Apple wants to charge $3,000-$5,000 for an iphone, they'll need to create a separate line, new name, new design, and new everything. And convince developers that it's worth their time developing software with functions exclusive to them.
If iOS isn't really any more featureful, why is Android a clunky piece of crap compared to it?
People often forget you can still buy what a normal upgrade cycle iPhone 7s. Assuming the leaks and rumours are correct, you still get the normal "S" upgrade, Faster SoC, better LTE Baseband, WiFi and Bluetooth improvement, likely a slightly better screen, glass Back, Better Front and Back Camera, along with Capacity bump, double the Storage for same price.
And the iPhone 8 is Apple's price discovery, how much will people paid for the best Apple could make, with limited capacity and volume. Personally I dont think $999 is that expensive considering an iPhone 7s Plus Mid tier would cost $869.
That is what Apple, and likely what the media is going to spin the story. Its ONLY $140 difference. And it is actually the wrong way to compare it to because even though it has a 5.8" screen, it has the size of an iPhone 7, which goes for $769 mid tier. We already knew from the firmware hacks there is likely a iPhone 8 Plus NEXT YEAR, same size with iPhone 7 Plus but with 6.x" Screen, likely starting at $1099.
Say the MBP cost $2k.
A $1.7k MBP and a $300 watch = $2k revenue.
What's the difference? Are you saying watch margins may be higher?
Compared to now, where as soon as the MBP will die, the GP would be free to switch to another platform
I'm feeling backed into a corner--Microsoft sucks, Apple sucks, Google has become untrustworthy and thus sucks. It's like all these tech companies are breaking it off you know where and we have no choice but to accept that.
For these phones, price signals quality in some sense, so if they want to claim their phone is best, they have to be at least in that range.
Besides, Apple probably has plans of its own for self-driving designer luggage.
No more vulgar than Beats.
The gold ones were definitely for sale both online, in the shops, and in department stores (one of the big London department stores has an Apple Watch counter).
Personally, I think it was more of a marketing gimmick: send a few out to celebrities for some buzz in the fashion press, and get the tech press to write about how Apple are "going after the Rolex end of the watch market"... even if they don't sell many, it was good PR for the first series of watches.
And for consumers, they could try the gold one on in the shop, sigh that they don't have $10,000 and then buy the $300-$500 one.
And it wasn't really the headphones they were after - it was the people and music.