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Comment by Retric | Hacker News Reader

Many people spend more time on their phone than their PC. So, 1,000$ is not an unreasonable price if it's noticeably better. It's like spending 200+$ on a pair of shoes, they don't need to be that much better fit to be worth it.

I mean 1,000$ seems bad, but that can translate to under 30 cents an hour if you're spending 4 hours a day on your phone.

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But unlike a PC - though they’re getting there - phones and the ecosystems on them are becoming more fine-tuned to extract more money from you. App suggestions, Apple Pay, IAPs and who knows what they will come up with in the next few years.

You may look at spending $$$ on a keyboard or chair that you use a lot as a similar purchase, but they are far less likely to dangle carrots in-front of you to take more of your money and give you questionable value in return.

Plus a phone has a much shorter life, batteries you can't change on your own, accidental destruction, a laptop will last longer than a phone.

Except it's really easy to accidentally destroy or lose a phone. That's the reason I don't buy expensive phones anymore, because I'll probably just drop it.

Can't you buy an insurance for that?

Or search for "military grade phone cover".

It's easier to buy a reasonably priced smartphone and a cheap cover then insuring a very pricey one

Same for the car, many people even leave theirs on public sidewalks!

You can buy insurance, assuming your not losing several phones a year that should not be an issue.

PS: Dropping a phone should not destroy it. Over the last 20 years I have never used a case and shattered exactly one screen when fumbling it onto concrete. The new screen was not that expensive.

I've used a case with almost every phone and shattered 4 screens in the last 4 years.

Not to be rude, but it'd likely be prudent for you to learn to be more careful.

That's some pretty worthless advice you've got there.

Worth every penny you paid me for it!

Pretty Rude!

You're not wrong!

That's another cost. So on top of the thousand dollar phone I now have to buy ~$150+ in cases (which are dubiously effective) and insurance.

Instead I buy a ~$200 phone (which is just as good to me than a $1,000 phone) and when that one breaks I get another ~$200 phone.

I don't care about a broken screen though, if the screen cracks then I'll just use it until the phone isn't functional anymore.

How can you spend $150+ in cases?

It was an off the cuff guess on what the average person would spend on a "military grade case"+insurance. I based it on the fact that I know the high end cases can sell for upward of $100. Apparently there are cheaper options [1] though.

[1] https://www.thrillist.com/tech/best-military-grade-iphone-ca...

Realistically you can just wait like 3-5 months until the price goes down a bit. Got this 128gb iPhone 7 (free unlock from att) for $570 + $10 otterbox deal from amazon + $3 screen protector + sprint 1 year "free" service for $4/mo. So that's 631$ for an iPhone and a year of service..

These phones really aren't that expensive if you look for a deal.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Apple-iPhone-7-128GB-AT-T-Refurbi...

> Except it's really easy to accidentally destroy or lose a phone.

In 20 years of owning different mobile phones, I've never accidentally destroyed or lost one. Maybe you are just clumsy or careless.

If you bought your phone with a credit card, check to see if it offers any kind of purchase protection. I dropped my phone about a month after I had, called the credit card company and they refunded me almost instantly. No forms to fill out, nothing to mail in.

Purchase protection usually only lasts 30-90 days.

> So, 1,000$ is not an unreasonable price if it's noticeably better.

But if $500 gets you 90% of the way there, is that last $500 really worth it? Same with shoes - I regularly spend less than $100 on my shoes and find that they are perfectly comfortable, last a long time, and fit all my needs. 0 complaints. Spending another $100 might give me a better experience (at the very least it might make me feel happier when I put them on the first time), but the returns are so low that it isn't worth it.

These days, the money bar for a "good enough" smartphone is very very low.

so you spend also excessive amount of money on water because you drink it several times a day?

there is objectively no reason to spend more than 200 Euro on a smartphone - except for attempting to inflate one's ego.

> so you spend also excessive amount of money on water because you drink it several times a day?

I sure do, because I prefer the quality control and availability of municipally-supplied mains rather than sinking a well in my back yard.

Your point about conspicuous consumption is pretty unfocused. Should everyone use the same laptop, do the same job, be paid the same rate, lest be accused of propertarian tendencies?

> municipally-supplied mains

I don't know where you live but here in Germany this water source is pretty cheap while of high quality. So this would rather be an example of pragmatic spending behaviour.

A $1000 smartphone would rather correspond to vanilla-flavored water filtered in a space ship using a high-tech-crystal-structure ...

> Should everyone use the same laptop, do the same job, be paid the same rate, lest be accused of propertarians tendencies?

Exactly - you are identifying yourself with those possessions. In my experience people with such materialist life philosophy are tedious and annoying.

Your water example is ill conceived because bottled water often considered a reasonable purchase in bulk yet it is also a vastly larger price increase vs just a 5x on a phone.

Bottled water is basically the same thing just in slightly more convenient form yet it's ~1000x as expensive. Because it's not the relative price that's important it's the price relative to the benifit.

Bad example. People usually drill wells because there isn't a municipal source available. Municipal water is not a luxury good that you pay a premium for. Indeed, wells are likely to end up higher cost because of drilling, failures, etc.

Better example is drinking bottled water rather than tap water. Which many people do but is IMO a total waste of money. To say nothing of environmentally wasteful.

> Bad example

I work with the material I get given.

I work at a keyboard 8h per day, so I happily pay $100 for a keyboard that is nice, even though I could get one for $20. Same with the phone. Even if it's just some minor improvement I use it so much that it's worth it.

Also it depends on what you use it for. If you use it for web browsing/messaging/email/phone calls then most phones will do. But other features such as the camera might be very dependent on price. Adding $100 to the price doesn't add much to the ability to make calls, but photos actually get noticably better with each dollar still.

Except a good keyboard really makes the difference, an iPhone is worse in many ways from my Xiaomi Mi5, that costed 200 euros.

For example you can't use the iPhone as an usb disk.

This is not limited to iPhones, you can buy very nice Android phones that are meaningful upgrades vs a Xiaomi Mi5.

Sure!

I tend to buy top of the line devices given a price range.

Mi5 was the flagship phone for Xiaomi when I bought it

I also was a owner of previous Xiaomi products and I wanted to test the new one

My point is that iPhone is a very limited platform

And its value for money is very low

What makes a keyboard better in your opinion? I once bought a 100$ mechanical keynoard and ended up going back to my 10$ keyboard because it was familiar

I am not sure if the difference between keyboards is that price dependant

Better is mostly subjective. Even with mechanical keyboards, people like different types of switches so some will say their brown keys are better than blue keys or their white keys are better than red keys. Most of it is feeling. Different key types require different amounts of force and give different amounts of feedback.

Your $10 keyboard was better for you because you were more comfortable on it. My tenkeyless blue switch keyboard at home is nice, but I don't think it has much of an effect compared the Apple keyboard that I use at work.

Disclaimer: In the world of mechanical keyboards there are certainly keyboards that are better than others. That can't be said when comparing switch types, but within a certain switch type there are switches that are manufactured better than others. Here's a blog post with gifs that show the different switches: http://www.keyboardco.com/blog/index.php/2012/12/an-introduc...

A lot of people (including myself) like long-throw clicky keyboards given the choice. However, especially with the wholesale shift to laptops, they're far less familiar to people than they once were. I do like my mechanical keyboards but I admit that I use other keyboards so much of the time that I don't feel I "have" to use them like I once did. (And, indeed, I may have to adjust a little if I haven't used them in a while.)

There are multiple laptop models on the narket with mechanical keyboards, from Razer, Acer, Asus, etc.

Mechanical keyboards are objectively bettet in that all top competative touch typists use them.

> What makes a keyboard better in your opinion?

In my case it reduces wrist fatigue

I'm 40, being using computers for 35 years now

A good keyboard literally makes my life better

My point is that a good keyboard can make the difference, while an "iPhone only" feature most probably won't

I don't know about you, but I most certainly can use my iPhone as a USB disk.

To clarify, he means he can both use it as a mass storage device on any platform, as well as it can be used boot an ISO if needed.

An iPhone can do neither of those things.

> An iPhone can do neither of those things.

That's simply not true, an "iPhone" most certainly can, just not with "stock iOS". Google "roqyUSB7" if you don't believe me.

Right, and an iPhone can get you to the grocery store once you plug a car into it's charging port.

There are tons of advantages to an Android phone (I know, as I own a bunch of them), why do you and the previous posters resort to childish antics rather than sticking to the actual facts which are more the sufficient here to make your point?

> but I most certainly can use my iPhone as a USB disk.

No, you can't.

Try to connect your iPhone to the USB port of your smart TV and see what happens.

HINT: nothing

But a nice keyboard will last more than a decade. A smartphone will not.

> so you spend also excessive amount of money on water because you drink it several times a day?

That's literally the mineral water industry. So yes, lots of people do!

It's not like your phone vanishes after a new model comes out. A year old iPhone can be sold for a shockingly high amount of money (in no small part because--unlike 200 Euro smartphones--they are provided software updates for years to come). You can buy a new iPhone every year while selling your previous one and stay cutting edge for not too much money.

for apps/general phone use 200 Euro phone is fine, but it will have quite a mediocre camera. For many camera on the phone is really important (let's say it's the only camera you have on you most of the time you spend with your little kids), and so you have to avoid cheapo phones that perfectly satisfactory for any other needs (texting/emails/maps/web etc (and phone calls if someone still doing it))

You are confusing price insensitivity. If the iPhone is a better phone, I'll just buy it and save myself the hassle of dealing with the stupid android one.

But getting to the water point: Yes, people spend too little on the water they drink. They should be more careful but generally speaking it is not that serious. (ie: Focusing on quitting smoking will have more significant health improvement)

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