Don't forget that 4G / LTE wavelengths have more than 50x the range of 5G towers. They're rock-solid in terms of technology, especially with the VoLTE concept included.
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iPhone 16 Pro 8 to 16 Pro: Honest review and heartbreaking reality
- Thread starter SteveJawbs
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Get a 13 mini. You’ll thank me laterI’ve been putting off upgrading forever. I was always seduced by the mini but my 8 has been so incredibly flawless. Hats off to Apple. You did well. Such incredibly reliable hardware and software.
This post is not meant as a flame throwing attack. I’m just stating my experience and sadness that this device just doesn’t replace my 8 with ease and sufficiency.
My father has the newest SE and I’ve flirted with going there. Then the articles about an impending SE 4 got my juices warm.
I always stopped in the Apple stores the past year and held the 15 and wow what a gorgeous device.
But my 8 is so perfect, why leave? Security. iOS. EOL.
All Correct.
Last week I thought now was the time to get in the game with a modern iPhone. The upgraded camera and features were worth the $ so I justified it.
So I have had the 16 Pro for less than 24 hours and I’m already Googling how to return and go back to an old iPhone with big red.
I have small hands. The effort to hold the pro and navigate one handed is just too cumbersome. I tried it without the beater case I bought and it’s still just too big.
The Dynamic Island and notch is still an eyesore for me. The lack of Bluetooth status and alarm status hurts. Sure, down swipe and get the status. But I loved the ability to see it at all times.
My small hands make it too difficult to navigate apps. Even when texting the inability to click the emoji chooser is just too difficult.
FID is fine. Even though I believe our photos will be compromised by it at some point. The single greatest pieces of data nefarious sources want is IP, location and our facial imagery. All the big chain retail stores are taking our pics and selling them. Conspiracy? Nope.
I don’t know how Apple thinks the world population can use such large phones. I don’t know how women with tiny hands can use a max comfortably, but that is not something I need to worry about. Everyone has their preferences and perceived user experience. I am envious of people that can use these one handed.
For some reason, karma police slapped the cuffs on me as I type this as my 8 seems bricked. Not powering on and doesn’t appear to be charging. I’ll take it to the mall and have them reseat the battery.
My plan now is to return the 16 Pro and get a SE 3 and then hope for the SE 4.
I am a one handed iPhone user. It’s just the way I use it. Hats off to those with big hands and are not bothered by these big iPhones. God I wish I could.
It’s an amazing testament to Apple that they made this 8 that performed so perfectly for 7 years and still works so well.
I’ll miss this beautiful 16 pro screen. I’ll miss not having the latest and greatest but it’s too much of a downgrade for me.
The 8 is my GOAT.
I hope the SE4 is my new GOAT.
I’ll be heartbroken if the SE4 is just a AI generated rumor.
I am amazed at how flawlessly my data transferred over. Imagine doing that with Windows. Incredible that all my settings, MP3 song library, passwords and apps perfectly migrated in 1.5 hours. The only hiccup was carrier contact was needed to help with activation. Took 10 minute call to big red. Thanks Megan.
My 8 took amazing pics the other day. How much better can it be?
You.. can?
Reachability by default works by swiping down on the bottom middle.
What you must have done is to assign additional Reachability gesture to double back tap...
Amazing really…reading this thread was hilarious.
So you don’t want to use Face ID? I guess you didn’t use Touch ID then?
Also, you now fit this category:
Second, we all go through periods of times that we don’t like changes or wished something was different. Complaining about things the new devices have won’t get you anywhere.
However the fact that you don’t honestly appreciate the vastly superior 16p over the 8 tells me the lack of necessity or requirement that you have of phones. However much I loved my iPhone 7, the 14P was vastly superior in everything, anything I could say against it really would be in bad faith unless you want to nitpick on useless things, (it’s too heavy omg!!)
Also “My 8 took amazing pics the other day. How much better” Lmaooooo? As if you can compare the pictures between both.
Sure iPhone 8 made great pictures for its day and it’s competition, but please don’t come here with 7 year old device and try to pass camera improvements as if they didn’t do anything for 7 years, imagine the outrage had Apple said, meh iPhone 8 camera it is for the next decade lol.
You should have done better research and gotten a 13 mini or the normal 16 over the 16p.
For that matter you should have gotten the SE! Still on sale! SAME form factor with the same lovely camera as you spout from your amazing pics and running current iOS, without the annoying modern control centre location, size, weight and actually does not have anything else the newer phones have, which I guess it’s negative in your book anyways.
So you don’t want to use Face ID? I guess you didn’t use Touch ID then?
Also, you now fit this category:
Second, we all go through periods of times that we don’t like changes or wished something was different. Complaining about things the new devices have won’t get you anywhere.
However the fact that you don’t honestly appreciate the vastly superior 16p over the 8 tells me the lack of necessity or requirement that you have of phones. However much I loved my iPhone 7, the 14P was vastly superior in everything, anything I could say against it really would be in bad faith unless you want to nitpick on useless things, (it’s too heavy omg!!)
Also “My 8 took amazing pics the other day. How much better” Lmaooooo? As if you can compare the pictures between both.
Sure iPhone 8 made great pictures for its day and it’s competition, but please don’t come here with 7 year old device and try to pass camera improvements as if they didn’t do anything for 7 years, imagine the outrage had Apple said, meh iPhone 8 camera it is for the next decade lol.
You should have done better research and gotten a 13 mini or the normal 16 over the 16p.
For that matter you should have gotten the SE! Still on sale! SAME form factor with the same lovely camera as you spout from your amazing pics and running current iOS, without the annoying modern control centre location, size, weight and actually does not have anything else the newer phones have, which I guess it’s negative in your book anyways.
Unfortunately for you no remap incoming anytime soon or ever.
As someone else has stated the best way to reach control centre easily and within lower edge reach is turning on assistive touch. This will allow you to reach the control centre in 2 taps quickly and have the access anywhere you want in the screen. See video:
I want to double tap the home bar instead of swiping down I meant.
Swiping down leads to unwanted effects like switching tabs in Safari etc. very often and is just not very reliable in general. A quick double tap on the home bar (or area where the home bar would sit on the home screen) would be soooo much easier and more reliable. But no, that is where type-to-Siri will go which I will never use anyway. Great!
Also, I don‘t like assistive touch because I don‘t like babying the position of that little nub all the time.
I know this is a big-fat me-problem but arggghhh lol it would be so easy to implement. 😭😅
Or just the accessibility shortcut (triple click side button) directly to reachability, but nope also not possible.
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You have made some good points and suggestions.
Yes assistive touch is not the best solution. And the home bar swipe down (reachability) is not the best feature either due to easily swiping in an angle rendering the gesture useless.
Although I’m sure others have done this before, I’m in the beta program and will make the suggestion for a triple click side button and triple/double/long tap for home bar.👍🏻
awesome, I wrote Apple a feedback note as well, fingers crossed! 🥰
5G, like LTE, is basically an air interface and protocol, not a specific wavelength or band. LTE and NR (5G) are often deployed on the same bands, and have the same range. n2 has the same effective range as B2, same for B66 and n66, B5 and n5, etc.
The upper mid-bands (typically n77 and n41 in the US) that have often been falsely conflated with "5G" in the media are in the 2.5 and 3.7-3.9 GHz ranges, and on paper should have slightly lower propagation at the same power and tilt as their lower mid-band equivalents in the PCS and AWS bands. In practice, advancements in beamforming and MIMO combined with integrated radio-antennas (as opposed to RRUs with coax connections to antennas) have largely bridged that gap. There are also other technologies, like HPUE, that will benefit coverage and performance at the edge once more widely deployed.
Now don't get me wrong, there are absolutely areas where n77 and n41 don't reach while B5/12/13/14 do, due to the natural characteristics of lower frequencies at the same ERP. But once providers shift enough of their "layer cake" of low- and mid-band spectrum to 5G and enable Standalone mode, the perceived 5G coverage gap will disappear. Of course, the coverage limits of wider mid-bands that supply the bulk of the capacity will remain the same without operators densifying their networks by adding more macros and small cells, but 5G coverage in some form will extend to match LTE once we get a little farther along in this transition.
I bought 4 OGSE for different members of my family in the last couple of months. Some of used as emergency phones for my kids or just a luxury music player that syncs perfectly with macOS. Just love the look and feel. Fits in my pocket perfectly and, as a minimal user, I don't need more screen real estate...or ProMotion or something fancy.
I still use the original SE as my daily driver.
No case. Love the feel of it. Screen and other parts of the phone (back and sides) doing well all things considered.
It's just the battery, it's poor now. I'm not skilled enough it change the battery myself and I don't trust 3rd shops here in the UK to replace with a genuine Apple battery.
However, I would prefer a larger screen and better camera, so I'm looking at an Apple 13 mini refurbished. Failing that may consider 16 or even 16 pro (though not sure I'll like the weight).
Regardless to say I will keep the SE when I move onto something else.
I keep thinking I need an SE3 but after 4 days of the 16 Pro I’m finally accepting the phablet reality.
I will say the camera button is a joke. No big deal.
And the battery is nowhere near lasting as long as Apple specs state.
Typing issues mentioned before are a total nuisance. Cursor placement in Safari text boxes is totally broken for me. It sucks.
Spending $1300 doesn’t show extraordinary earth shattering value at all for me. My 8 did everything this phone does for the most part.
I will say the speaker and audio is way better. Crystal clear and loud. Nice.
I was expecting the leap from 8 to 16 to be way more noticeable. It just isn’t. But I’ll live. It will be ok.
🎻🍭🎻
All this SE love here has me a little sad now. I sent my SE 2 to the trade-in facility this morning. Going to miss the little guy. What was supposed to be a stopgap turned into a nice little phone for me for three years. Gave serious thought to hanging on to it as a backup/iPod Touch, but hopefully it finds a new home and is treated well.
Sounds like its not for you then, if so, you have clarity now -- good thing in my book.
How long is left before you can return it?
Awesome story. So much love for small iPhones. 🍰
Keeping the 16. I’ll live with the nuances.
It’s just a wonderful thing to know Apple gave me total nirvana perfection with the 8 and it cannot be matched.
Hats off to Apple for GOAT small iPhones. They rocked for many of us with baby hands. 🫶🏻
Just curious, was there a reason you went with the Pro over the base model 16? Maybe the slightly smaller size of the base model would have worked better? Part of the reason I went with the base was for the smaller form factor. It's not quite as easy to hold for me as the SE was, but it's not a huge difference either.
You are still in the period where you can return and get an SE3. From all your comments, you keep saying "I'll live with it", but then also citing your frustrations.
I do think the SE3 would be a much better phone for you, and given how much you used/loved the 8, you'll probably enjoy it far more for the next 5-10 years. Don't forget that it's lighter too.
Also there is 29 grams difference between the base iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 pro ... that 17%. I certainly noticed the difference.
Oh! thx!You just stick them to the back of the phone and it makes them easier to use with one hand:
PopSockets | The Original Phone Grip | MagSafe Grips, Wallets, Cases
Phone grips, stands, cases, mounts, wallets, and wireless chargers. Take better photos, text with one hand, and prop your phone for videos and video chat.www.popsockets.com
Takes 'table-wobble' to a new level....
I'm surprised about your comment on the battery. I have found the battery on the 16 pro unbelievably good.
Granted, I'm coming from a 12 mini, but for my usage when the 12 mini would be dead, the 16 pro is still at 70%.