Nope. It's 2016 these are mandatory standards that should be in everyones iPhone.
Maybe not so much 3D Touch but definitely a barometric pressure sensor which is in 95% of all android devices by the way.
Last edited:
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone SE and the missing barometer
- Thread starter blinkie
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
Nope. It's 2016 these are mandatory standards that should be in everyones iPhone.
Maybe not so much 3D Touch but definitely a barometric pressure sensor which is in 95% of all android devices by the way.
So not anywhere even close to unusable (and not even missed by most typical users).
What benefit does the sensor give the average user? This is a serious question. I have no idea why I should or would want it to be there.
Maybe I'm missing something. My son has an SE and the rest of the family 6s and 6s plus devices. What are the rest of the family's phones doing better that his does not?
[doublepost=1464541448][/doublepost]
I missed this post. I guess the litmus test, in your opinion ", is to have a standard in place whether it's actually ever going to be used by the end user or not (debatable whether we can call this a standard, strictly speaking, but I understand your meaning, I think). I can respect that, but I also respectfully disagree. If I don't benefit from the hardware I couldn't care less about its omission.
As an aside, I do agree that 3D Touch is a wonderful addition, and when using the SE, I find myself trying to 3D Touch only to realize it's not there. I wouldn't call it a necessity still, but it's a very big convenience much in the same way the fingerprint sensor is. I could get by without either, but I don't want to.
Last edited:
I have no idea how I was able to cope without a barometric pressure sensor in my Motorola Razr V3 back when that mobile was all the go.
I had 6 then a 6s before I recently changed to my SE.
Never found either handset's baro sensors to be as accurate as a couple of Casio Protreks I have. Waste of time really.
Not missed on my SE.
I had 6 then a 6s before I recently changed to my SE.
Never found either handset's baro sensors to be as accurate as a couple of Casio Protreks I have. Waste of time really.
Not missed on my SE.
so by your definition, the 6s/6s+ are the only "usable" iPhones out there?
I've been watching this thread with amusement. It seemed clear you had some weird attachment to a feature most people don't know exists, but it's hard to see your latest variation on that position (need barometer and 3D Touch to be "usable") as anything but trolling. You're intentionally conflating "usable" with "having every feature I want," and I'm sure you don't really believe that's true.
They care enough to look for certain features. These are kids. Not avid joggers. Not drivers using the GPS. They want to take photos for Instagram and take Live Photos to point and giggle at. They text and do some FaceTime. They call their parents to check in during sporting events when they are on the road with coaches and chaperones. That's about the extent of it. The SE lets them do that at a price the parents are willing to pay.
You can't make use of pretty much everything on the device without those two features? That's a rhetorical question, by the way. As a sidenote, pretty much almost all the devices today don't even have 3D Touch, including the latest and arguably more advanced Android flagships, and that's 2017 technology in many of those.
Anyway, thanks for the laughs.
Kids do sports. They bike and run etc. They are heavy users of location-based apps.
Also if money is a matter there are dirt cheap and very competent options on Android and Windows Phone.
Serious question: About how old is your son?
And as for average user. I have no way of answering that since our two opinions of average user could be very different.
IMHO, They are the only usable currently still being sold and supported by apple.
It's not a question for me about what's useful or whats not useful. Just because something has a use doesn't mean you or me are going to use it; Or use it for what its intended for.
I don't just blindly purchase things based on other peoples opinions alone. I do actual testing and research on products I buy right down to the last nut and bolt. If you don't make your purchases the same way I don't know what to tell you.
@All
I'm sorry if anything i've said in here is taken personally. I realize some of my comments could have been a little misdirected, sharp and awfully harsh. I just feel like apple having billions upon billions in assets they could have afforded more considerations.
Last edited:
So, once again, lack of those two features do not make a smartphone unusable. It's really that simple.
Why is his age relevant? I mentioned it because we have that phone in our arsenal of phones and I haven't noticed anything, for better or for worse, in terms of lack of barometer. I use it for running because it's much more convenient to slip into a flip belt than is my giant (for fitness purposes) 6s plus.
Having looked it up, all I can really see a use for is potentially hiking? I just felt you made it sound like this was some necessary standard that every SE owner is sorely missing out on.
My feeling is you could certainly have answered my question regarding average users in your own opinion, but I'll ask it a different way. What do you use the barometer for? You mentioned a few times that a phone without it might be unusable. So I can only assume that there is some crucial benefit the barameter provides you that makes you feel so passionate about its need to be on any phone you purchase from here on out.
Last edited:
For me it is unusable IRL. We can go back and forth like this all day long bud. I have plenty of time.
His age is very relevant. If he's some 20-30 or 40 something yr old or 4 to 5 or 6 year old would completely change the bearing of my answer. And i'm far from clairvoyant so i don't know how old your son is.
I didn't ask you for his birthdate i asked you to give me a approximation.
I could randomly go around forums saying I just bought my daughter a iPhone. For all you know i'm a 69 year old gramma and my daughter is in her 30's 40's or even 50's.
I think many of you are really missing the fact it's 2 0 1 6.
Or you're just in denial.
As mentioned, I am the one that uses the phone During my runs. My son does nothing but stream videos in it and I wasn't asking for him. I guess mentioning the fact that we initially bought it for him was a mistake since you've fixated on that. So you can feel free to tell me what use a 30 year old might get from it. But anyway, I'm leaning towards this just being a clever troll. I've asked now very clearly what you use it for. You've omitted that and keep repeating that this should be a standard that all phones should adhere to and refrain from mentioning why. I don't even disagree that all other phones might have this feature. I just don't see why it's useful. And it doesn't sound like, based on your plethora of replies, in going to find out, unfortunately.
No one is trying to troll you bud. I genuinely wanted to know the approximate age of your son. I tried to help you out.
We are past that now. Do a little research about how locations services and GPS work on cell phones.
Your avatar is misleading, and welcome to /ignore.
I have a picture of my dog in my avatar. What is misleading about this?
As expected, you still couldn't answer the simple question of what you use the barometer for, let alone what others might use it for. If that puts me in your ignore list, so be it. I was neither hostile or impolite. You simply continued dancing around a question and I called you on it.
[doublepost=1464562836][/doublepost]
So these things make a difference? Is gps better on my 6s plus? Are my runs tracked better?
I asked the guy that was incredibly passionate about it multiple times but it seems I made him mad.
[doublepost=1464562934][/doublepost]
At this point the only possible thing I can conclude, barring the guy just wanting to take us for a ride, is that he feels removing something, anything, from a phones arsenal is unacceptable. It doesn't matter if that thing will ever be utilized by him, his previous phone had it and, by golly, the next one will to.
Last edited:
A GPS with a barometric altimeter works better for tracking elevation gain than GPS alone. It was incorporated into the iPhone 6 for health data elevation tracking (stairs). Indoor flights of stairs can not be tracked by GPS.
http://gpstracklog.com/2012/12/all-about-barometric-altimeters.html
http://gpstracklog.com/2012/12/all-about-barometric-altimeters.html
I appreciate the link! I hadn't read that specific article, but did read similar articles. So, safe to say, this is really only useful in terms of a specific bullet point in fitness tracking?
This article is just some small tea leaves. You really need to read about doppler shift and environment tear down.
Nokia actually took things one step further and used FM Radio dead reckoning for additional teardown starting with the N900.
If a mobile phone is unusable to you in real life without 3D Touch and a barometer it sounds like you never even had one until late last year and even then only had just one single one for just a matter of months. Nothing to really go on. And nothing to show what it is about those features that makes a mobile phone unusable.
[doublepost=1464567989][/doublepost]
Certainly either just some sort of really heavy sarcasm and/or just pure misuse/misunderstanding of "unsusbale".
My first device with a barometer was the CA-201-L-**J** in 2013 on special order from japan. I did my research and THIS to this day is still one of the best devices you can buy for a full featured device. Its LTE services won't work in the united states but i don't need LTE speeds since i have a good wifi footprint where i am.
It has full POGO docking, all environmental sensors RX/TX IRDA, and fast enough CPU to run the work applications i use.
Only thing i haven't been able to access on it yet is ANT+, and it doesn't have FM TX (which can be achieved with any run of the mill fm transmitter).
Last edited:
So lack of LTE support that is much more important for a mobile device and expected even by the most typical users who don't know or care much about technology that's all good, but a barometer now that makes the rest unusable. Yeah, that paints a clear picture. Must have been interesting to be without a mobile phone until 2013 in this world of ours.
It doesn't lack LTE technology. Its LTE radios won't work in the united states. Thats fine for me since i globe trot to europe enough for the device to work for me.
I'm fine using 3G when i'm stateside over GSM.
So if a phone had a barometer that only worked in some places where you were but not in others where you were a good amount of time then that would a be perfectly usable phone?
No. While wireless network technology is constantly changing ...barometric pressure is a cosmological constant and will always provide me with some use one way or another.
Don't forget what happened to AMPS and iDen.
Last edited:
- Status