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Comment by basseq | Hacker News Reader

  A lot of people out there have been asking me who the 
  iPhone 8 is for, other than people who can’t or don’t 
  want to spend $999 or more on an iPhone X.

Well... Jesus. "Only cheapskates buy the 8", apparently.

I pre-ordered the 8 Plus, because:

- It was available a month sooner and I need a new phone.

- The 8 Plus has all the same internals and features. I really just wanted the camera.

- Face unlock seems gimmicky. Maybe next generation.

- $200+ for what amounts to a "better" screen and "cooler" form factor: not worth it.

So I guess I do fall into the "don't want to spend $999" category. Look down on me, pedants!

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Don’t take it personally, nobody call you cheapskate.

What I actually think that he means is that there is pretty much no difference between the two, other than the price and the form factor.

But I will give you one more reason to not stick with 8: it’s a safer bet, it’s the fourth iteration of a well tested design, so I don’t expect to have any problems. On the other hand I am afraid the usual first Apple product generation problems will be there in X.

How about people who don't want a giant phone?

iPhone 8? All those points apply (I think?) and you save even more money over the X. Or the SE, if you want to go smaller but the internals there are a bit older now.

I meant that it is said as if the iPhone X is the best phone, if you are willing to pay for it. But some people are only willing to deal with non-Plus sized phone, at most.

The X is very close in size to the non-Plus phones. (As someone who doesn't mind big phones, I'm really hoping for an X Plus next year.)

The main distinction is the dual camera on the Plus, which let's you do the portrait modes they demonstrated. The other difference is battery life. As someone that went from 7 to 7 Plus, it is a considerable improvement. Portrait mode really is amazing, too, it would be hard to go back to a normal sized iPhone now.

The main advantage of the X, that I see, other than OLED screen, is that you get a display closer to the Plus in a much more reasonable form factor. For some, the Plus is still too large.

For some, the non-plus is still too large.

The iPhone 8 is roughly the same size as the iPhone X.

The iPhone 8 Plus is roughly the same size as the X, not the iPhone 8.

No. The iPhone 8 Plus screen size is roughly comparable to the iPhone X, but since the bezels are gone, the iPhone X is significantly smaller in physical size.

You can see size comparisons here: https://www.imore.com/iphone-8-vs-iphone-x-which-should-you-...

ah, my mistake, i was just looking at the numbers on apple's comparison tool. thanks for the correction.

Real answer: the X (5.65" x 2.79") is a little bigger than the 8 (5.45" x 2.65"), but smaller than the 8 Plus (6.24" x 3.07").

ah, my mistake, i was just looking at the numbers on apple's comparison tool. thanks for the correction.

Nope: the body of the iPhone 8 & iPhone X are almost the same size.

https://www.cnet.com/news/iphone-x-iphone-8-size-comparison/

ah, my mistake, i was just looking at the numbers on apple's comparison tool. thanks for the correction.

The iPhone 8 does not have dual cameras, which for some people is the key reason for going with a Plus-sized model. I hate how big my 7 Plus is, but I bought it for the cameras. I look forward to having a smaller dual-camera phone — either the X or a subsequent model.

They're roughly the same size although the X does have a much larger screen. However they're removing the reachability feature which means that a good chunk of that larger screen will be difficult to use one handed, which won't be true of the 8.

Ha! You'll probably be texting like a caveman. At least you'll probably still be able to view the Animojis we send you.

I have yet to see how FaceID pans out, but the extra $200 may be worth the smaller form factor yet bigger screen and weight reduction. I'm definitely waiting to see.

I find the price arguments mostly moot since many people will see the 8 for ~$40/month and the X for ~$50/month.

On top of that, people who upgrade all of the time will resell their device in a year so again they will not ever see the full $1k price.

I think the 8/8plus may just be a better phone because it's using refined technology at this point. Apple 1st gen stuff can be very hit/miss, so I'm a little skeptical of the X.

with regards to face unlock, will it always try to unlock when just viewing notifications or text? I would not mind facial if it also had finger unlock; use the side if you have too; because there is so much usage with the form of id unlock I don't want to give up.

and finally I still cannot get past the notch, it is atrocious to me and from a UI perspective the contortions they must have went through to sign off on it have to be astounding.

> will it always try to unlock when just viewing notifications or text?

I believe you have to swipe also, so it won't automatically unlock just because you look at it. That would be annoying because it would move notifications off the screen just when you're starting to look at them.

The telephoto camera in the X is a little better. f2/4 vs f2.8. Do they both have optical image stabilization? Any other differences?

On the X, both rear cameras have optical image stabilization. On the 8 Plus, only the wide angle camera has optical image stabilization.

Why not order a 7?

The 8 has a better camera.

Inductive charging!

I do like inductive charging, but I often find myself futzing about on my phone in bed at the end of the day, and my phone's on 5%. So I plug it in and keep using it. Hard to do that with inductive charging.

Granted, my current iPhone is literally dying a protracted death[1], so YMMV.

[1] Battery jumps around, screen doesn't work half the time, etc.

The LCD on the iPhone 8 is extremely good. It's still a substantial upgrade over an iPhone 7.

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