iPhone 8/Plus I was WEAK! my story of how I cracked and upgraded from a 6s to 8+ [but loving the update so far]

[Hal~9000]

Sigh... I are weak:

Here I was being so good and resisting the temptations to upgrade. I had planned on staying with my 6s until it no longer worked, however many years that would be.

Then, the other day my GF had an issue with her phone and had to use my 6s at work while I fixed her 8+ at home. Of course once I fixed the issue I figured I would play around with the 8+ for the rest of the day until she got home... bad move

I ended up loving the:

1. Bigger, brighter screen
2. Loud stereo speakers
3. Much better camera, esp low-light
4. Crazy speed of the A11
5. Insane battery life
6. Minor, but nice: Wireless charging
7. Minor, but nice: Water resistance

Since I’m a minimalist by nature, I usually hate the idea of buying new things when I already have a perfectly capable device. I wrestled with the idea a lot and eventually said to myself:

“You know what? You worked your ass off this year with over 360 hours of overtime so why not treat yourself? Since the job has a lot of down time and your bosses don’t mind being on your phone as long as the work gets done... go ahead and upgrade to get the best smartphone / internet browsing / video viewing experience possible that helps to pass the time?”

In addition to the above conversation, I also saw the Ming-Chi Kuo’s rumor of Apples 2018 lineup (X, X+, and crappy low-end TFT iPhone) and really didn’t like the options compared to the 8+. The X+ might be nice but I really dislike the risk of amoled burn-in, the ugly notch design, and can’t stomach the idea at this time of paying $1,200 or more for a smartphone. I figure I’d get the 8 plus and keep it long term. This time I promise!

So I upgraded and am really happy with the decision of the 8+. At first I thought the size would be an issue, since I was used to the easy 1-handed mode of the 6s, but it’s truly amazing how quickly our brains can adapt to a new phone size. Now that I’m used to the bigger screen and how much nicer / less cramped it is when watching video I’m not sure I’d want to go back to a small screen. Also really appreciate the 16:9 aspect ratio without any wasted space, notch free design, and additional width compared to the thinner/taller X.

Only minor annoyance so far has been the software keyboard. The iPhone used to have additional software keys while in landscape that I liked to have... yet now there’s just blank wasted space on the sides. I know this is an iOS 11 issue but it would be really nice if Apple simply put the side software keys back in or allowed the keyboard to be split like they do with the iPads. Other than that, the phone has been absolutely perfect and all I could ask for in a phone

P.S. this was how I felt when walking down the isle of the Apple store to buy my 8+:

 

[Pseudo-Fed]

LOL. Try a Speck Presidio Sport case for the 8+. Only sold at Best Buy. Very grippy, covers charging port and mute switch, good screen lip, doesn't gather lint/dust much, very protective. Got one recently after going fro 7+ to X to 8+.....

 

[GomerBoy]

I upgraded about 2 weeks ago from an iPhone 6 to an 8+! Love it! I was ready for a bigger screen, with better camera, and the thing had amazing battery life! Lasts me all day with no worries, unlike my iPhone 6 I had to charge twice a day. I have not gotten below 50 percent yet on the battery!

Couple of annoyances is that my Yahoo email doesn’t work properly on the stock mail app, but this is an issue for everyone so it’s whatever. Also, when I have music playing through the speakers while I’m multitasking and typing on my phone, they will sometimes make a “popping” sound. I don’t know why that is...software issue? Do you notice that with your 8+!

All in all, an awesome phone! I’ll wait a few years before buying an X. Let a few more generations come out to refine it better first...

 

[gnortenjones]

Pretty much the same here. I was on the 6s, and was planning on skipping this generation, but my battery life was starting to get pretty bad, so I took the plunge with an 8+ a couple of weeks ago. My first "plus" sized phone. Took a few days to get used to it, but now I love it.

 

[ectospheno]

I also went from 6s to 8+. I now regret not going with a larger phone earlier. I picked up my wife's SE to lookup something in safari and just immediately put it down. It feels like a toy and is too tiny

 

[kre62]

Sigh... I are weak:

Here I was being so good and resisting the temptations to upgrade. I had planned on staying with my 6s until it no longer worked, however many years that would be.

Then, the other day my GF had an issue with her phone and had to use my 6s at work while I fixed her 8+ at home. Of course once I fixed the issue I figured I would play around with the 8+ for the rest of the day until she got home... bad move

I ended up loving the:

1. Bigger, brighter screen
2. Loud stereo speakers
3. Much better camera, esp low-light
4. Crazy speed of the A11
5. Insane battery life
6. Minor, but nice: Wireless charging
7. Minor, but nice: Water resistance

Since I’m a minimalist by nature, I usually hate the idea of buying new things when I already have a perfectly capable device. I wrestled with the idea a lot and eventually said to myself:


In addition to the above conversation, I also saw the Ming-Chi Kuo’s rumor of Apples 2018 lineup (X, X+, and crappy low-end TFT iPhone) and really didn’t like the options compared to the 8+. The X+ might be nice but I really dislike the risk of amoled burn-in, the ugly notch design, and can’t stomach the idea at this time of paying $1,200 or more for a smartphone. I figure I’d get the 8 plus and keep it long term. This time I promise!

So I upgraded and am really happy with the decision of the 8+. At first I thought the size would be an issue, since I was used to the easy 1-handed mode of the 6s, but it’s truly amazing how quickly our brains can adapt to a new phone size. Now that I’m used to the bigger screen and how much nicer / less cramped it is when watching video I’m not sure I’d want to go back to a small screen. Also really appreciate the 16:9 aspect ratio without any wasted space, notch free design, and additional width compared to the thinner/taller X.

Only minor annoyance so far has been the software keyboard. The iPhone used to have additional software keys while in landscape that I liked to have... yet now there’s just blank wasted space on the sides. I know this is an iOS 11 issue but it would be really nice if Apple simply put the side software keys back in or allowed the keyboard to be split like they do with the iPads. Other than that, the phone has been absolutely perfect and all I could ask for in a phone

P.S. this was how I felt when walking down the isle of the Apple store to buy my 8+:

Why do you think next years TFT phone will be low end? The current 8+ is also TFT. TFT is just a modern LCD panel, and under that there is IPS tech which Apple uses. The same securities analyst described this years LCDs as TFT-LCD as well (which they are). So I see no reason next years LCDs will be of lower quality than this years. They will be the exact same tech.

Not sure how this forum all got simultaneously convinced that TFT meant lower end than any other LCD, when it just means the same LCD tech we are all using now.

 

[GomerBoy]

I also went from 6s to 8+. I now regret not going with a larger phone earlier. I picked up my wife's SE to lookup something in safari and just immediately put it down. It feels like a toy and is too tiny

That’s how I feel as well! I haven’t sold my iPhone 6 yet and whenever I pick it back up...I think it’s like a Fisher’s Price toy haha! It’s so much smaller now and MUCH lighter. The iPhone 8 Plus definitely feels like the quality phone!

 

[Rayy42]

I love my 8 Plus and I’m going to also try to keep it for the long term

 

[hipsheik]

There's no going back to the 6s screen after using the 8 plus.

The higher resolution, bigger screen, and true tone on the 8 plus make a big difference.

And I never thought I would be carrying around a phone as big as the 8 plus.

 

[brgjoe]

Glad you like yours so well! I am still using my launch day iPhone 6. And while it still runs iOS 11 without *too* much difficulty (or Apple battery slowdown..ha!), it is showing it's age at times.

And since my 40+ aged eyes would appreciate a bigger screen, I am leaning towards getting the iPhone 8+ this time. Nice to read you are enjoying your phone so far. I probably will make that leap myself once I get out of the Christmas buying season and start working on buying stuff for myself then.

Thanks for the review!