I wouldn't say this is specific to this year of phones, but there's always a slew of negativity and disappointed customers every year none of which I take personal or am surprised by. Sometimes justifiably, other times not - coming from a perfectly working phone of the previous year, upgrading without thinking through what they want out of the new phone from the old (I think this tactic is so often avoided, where it's critical when I make the leap weighing out what I'm going for - hype train aside), expecting it to perform miracles, or cure the pandemic hellscape year we're in, boredom without having specific interests for using one's phone, or even personal problems haha.
Soooo I thought a happy thread would be good because we are out there!
- so far, 5G in my area seems no different. I think I've seen 5G plenty vs. what they're dressing up as 5Ge which is really LTE (on AT&T) in a major metro area...
but I didn't expect any less as an educated consumer who doesn't fall for 10 minutes of 5G marketing bait on stage, and with Chris Rock skits (albeit both Verizon, haha) and got the phone for design, battery life, screen and cameras.
Haven't been disappointed in frankly ANYTHING! outside of the airwaves so far which is more a reflection of the rollout coverage and carriers and less the device itself. LTE I've always found to be performant enough for casual tasks too. I'll be delighted when it's even better down the road.
+ I'm in a fringe signal area in my apartment from the material of the walls (the area itself gets excellent coverage, just not my apartment unit and the hallways, etc), and the Qualcomm X55 seems better with signal than my SE2 was with Intel radio. That's a MAJOR plus. and a graceful pick up of reception when there's a signal loss,
+ I won the panel lottery. I could stare at this device's screen with admiration for years, and might be doing just that (possibly holding on 2+ years, especially since I got the $800 off in credits over 30 months slam dunk ATT deal as someone who isn't motivated to move and been with them for 15 years - no change in habits, just a reduction in cost for swapping out an ebay procured iPhone 8 to hold onto my SE2, which made diving into this device totally guilt free and doubt free). Even at low brightness, my eyes don't seem tired like they were with X. I think even with PWM, its now at a threshold that isn't bothersome to my eyes personally. A great concern to me in past years. The best way I could describe it was like making my eyes hunt harder to absorb information when I was just reading basic articles at a decent text size. Like reading a book in dim lighting, level fatigue. It doesn't seem there anymore (for me)
+ FaceID seems better than my XR was, which was the last X style phone I had before selling it this past spring and getting an SE2 as the intended holdover device for these releases. I cant get the 'alternative scan' to work covering up my face half with a mask to see if it will detect my face with a mask on, maybe glasses and a beard just throw the whole thing off. its ok though, I have a short passcode + iOS at least now detects mask and pops up passcode quicker than it did. TouchID still has preferable elements but I wouldn't not get this phone for that omission after test driving its overall utility (nor for 120hz, personally. Nor would I be 'excited' to enter panel lottery next year and whatever battery concessions would come with that for A14+battery size+X55 combo as it's presented this year as the sum of parts if they met their alleged 'goal' for shipping this years devices with it)
+ the weight and feel is crazy premium to me. It's going to be in a case most of the time, my silicone or maybe a cheap clear that's not Apple's since I find the MagSafe landing pad atrocious to my eyes. But still, it looks fanatastic. I think the Pacific Blue may be the nicest iPhone I have ever seen, ever, for its time or even period. I don't say that every release too haha
+ battery life seems great, coming from an SE2 which wasn't great despite that phone overall rocking imo. And from memory of XR on iOS 12 for the most part but iOS 13 for a good period of time too. I didnt have an 11P or PM, but it seems in the realm of fantastic after just a day of hammering the device. if I want even more, I'll turn off 5G all together instead of smart 5G where I dont even really get the benefits with lack of coverage as it stands
+ The screen size is perfect, if anything even bigger than I need. Glad I didnt get the Pro Max personally, something I was debating in addition to mini. I can scale Safari sites % wise for more on screen for specific sites, and the rest of the phone use seems perfectly fine scaled. a concern of mine in which I raised the point its scaled like X/XS/11Pro not Xr/11/Max devices. Doesnt matter turns out for me ! I'd be worried about mini battery life a bit, and my SE2 is a great device when I wanna feel something small. Good middle ground
+ Boxy edges rock. Have a nicer grip on the phone, and its playing with my head of being futuristic but a throwback too
+ watched intense drop tests. Seems the back and especially the front with its ceramic embedded screen really will hold up well. But I have a case + screen protector for scratches for peace of mind
+ triple cameras. I've only really had one camera except 7 Plus and X. Since then, XR and SE2. It's really nice to have for all occasions.
+ 128GB base for Pro. Wish it were so for the non pro too, as the $50 increase narrowed the price gap between non pro and pro, but the pacific blue and 6gb and 3 camera's and LiDAR and brighter screen sealed the value prop for me. And Since I got the ATT deal, I feel Apple and ATT just keep giving me reason after reason to upgrade where I might've been a bit shy to, otherwise, and for pro no less. They did it in my view because they want high adoption rates of 5G capable devices, I did it for many reasons that being one of the least compelling but a nice to have. For later.
+ 14.1 so far seems super duper smooth. It's a blessing in disguise the phone was delayed and released with an updated version of iOS 14 instead of .0, though its been fine on my SE1 from limited wifi testing only on an A9 device
Maybe this is the way their cycles should be moving forward, so people don't conflate a buggy OS experience with the hardware itself.
maybe + one day I'll taste mmWave just to rock my socks and see 2gbit down on a friggin phone as a future proofed radio. Where my home connection is 1gbit but AC doesn't give it full throughput justice. Would even consider a Wifi 6 router just cuz, but my 2020 MBAir and 2017 iPad Pro don't support it so would feel like a waste.
Soooo I thought a happy thread would be good because we are out there!
- so far, 5G in my area seems no different. I think I've seen 5G plenty vs. what they're dressing up as 5Ge which is really LTE (on AT&T) in a major metro area...
but I didn't expect any less as an educated consumer who doesn't fall for 10 minutes of 5G marketing bait on stage, and with Chris Rock skits (albeit both Verizon, haha) and got the phone for design, battery life, screen and cameras.
Haven't been disappointed in frankly ANYTHING! outside of the airwaves so far which is more a reflection of the rollout coverage and carriers and less the device itself. LTE I've always found to be performant enough for casual tasks too. I'll be delighted when it's even better down the road.
+ I'm in a fringe signal area in my apartment from the material of the walls (the area itself gets excellent coverage, just not my apartment unit and the hallways, etc), and the Qualcomm X55 seems better with signal than my SE2 was with Intel radio. That's a MAJOR plus. and a graceful pick up of reception when there's a signal loss,
+ I won the panel lottery. I could stare at this device's screen with admiration for years, and might be doing just that (possibly holding on 2+ years, especially since I got the $800 off in credits over 30 months slam dunk ATT deal as someone who isn't motivated to move and been with them for 15 years - no change in habits, just a reduction in cost for swapping out an ebay procured iPhone 8 to hold onto my SE2, which made diving into this device totally guilt free and doubt free). Even at low brightness, my eyes don't seem tired like they were with X. I think even with PWM, its now at a threshold that isn't bothersome to my eyes personally. A great concern to me in past years. The best way I could describe it was like making my eyes hunt harder to absorb information when I was just reading basic articles at a decent text size. Like reading a book in dim lighting, level fatigue. It doesn't seem there anymore (for me)
+ FaceID seems better than my XR was, which was the last X style phone I had before selling it this past spring and getting an SE2 as the intended holdover device for these releases. I cant get the 'alternative scan' to work covering up my face half with a mask to see if it will detect my face with a mask on, maybe glasses and a beard just throw the whole thing off. its ok though, I have a short passcode + iOS at least now detects mask and pops up passcode quicker than it did. TouchID still has preferable elements but I wouldn't not get this phone for that omission after test driving its overall utility (nor for 120hz, personally. Nor would I be 'excited' to enter panel lottery next year and whatever battery concessions would come with that for A14+battery size+X55 combo as it's presented this year as the sum of parts if they met their alleged 'goal' for shipping this years devices with it)
+ the weight and feel is crazy premium to me. It's going to be in a case most of the time, my silicone or maybe a cheap clear that's not Apple's since I find the MagSafe landing pad atrocious to my eyes. But still, it looks fanatastic. I think the Pacific Blue may be the nicest iPhone I have ever seen, ever, for its time or even period. I don't say that every release too haha
+ battery life seems great, coming from an SE2 which wasn't great despite that phone overall rocking imo. And from memory of XR on iOS 12 for the most part but iOS 13 for a good period of time too. I didnt have an 11P or PM, but it seems in the realm of fantastic after just a day of hammering the device. if I want even more, I'll turn off 5G all together instead of smart 5G where I dont even really get the benefits with lack of coverage as it stands
+ The screen size is perfect, if anything even bigger than I need. Glad I didnt get the Pro Max personally, something I was debating in addition to mini. I can scale Safari sites % wise for more on screen for specific sites, and the rest of the phone use seems perfectly fine scaled. a concern of mine in which I raised the point its scaled like X/XS/11Pro not Xr/11/Max devices. Doesnt matter turns out for me ! I'd be worried about mini battery life a bit, and my SE2 is a great device when I wanna feel something small. Good middle ground
+ Boxy edges rock. Have a nicer grip on the phone, and its playing with my head of being futuristic but a throwback too
+ watched intense drop tests. Seems the back and especially the front with its ceramic embedded screen really will hold up well. But I have a case + screen protector for scratches for peace of mind
+ triple cameras. I've only really had one camera except 7 Plus and X. Since then, XR and SE2. It's really nice to have for all occasions.
+ 128GB base for Pro. Wish it were so for the non pro too, as the $50 increase narrowed the price gap between non pro and pro, but the pacific blue and 6gb and 3 camera's and LiDAR and brighter screen sealed the value prop for me. And Since I got the ATT deal, I feel Apple and ATT just keep giving me reason after reason to upgrade where I might've been a bit shy to, otherwise, and for pro no less. They did it in my view because they want high adoption rates of 5G capable devices, I did it for many reasons that being one of the least compelling but a nice to have. For later.
+ 14.1 so far seems super duper smooth. It's a blessing in disguise the phone was delayed and released with an updated version of iOS 14 instead of .0, though its been fine on my SE1 from limited wifi testing only on an A9 device
Maybe this is the way their cycles should be moving forward, so people don't conflate a buggy OS experience with the hardware itself.maybe + one day I'll taste mmWave just to rock my socks and see 2gbit down on a friggin phone as a future proofed radio. Where my home connection is 1gbit but AC doesn't give it full throughput justice. Would even consider a Wifi 6 router just cuz, but my 2020 MBAir and 2017 iPad Pro don't support it so would feel like a waste.
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f I will miss something. Are you enjoying this swap?
