Who else has replaced all their modern Apple devices with vintage ones?

[nickdalzell1]

Especially in the era of en********ation? I tried modern devices, an M3 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, AirPods Pro 3s, iPad 10th Gen, even HomePod Minis. Ya know what? They sucked! What did I do with the iPad? Watched YouTube, played Angry Birds, and used iMessage. I can do that with an iPad 2 and with a far better UI (at least in my view) known as iOS 6.1.3.

I got sick of everything in life needing an app or a QR Code, so I opted out. I traded out all my 'modern' Apple products for vintage versions. The 17 Pro is now an iPhone 3GS (and yes, it works! Tons of WiFi and handoff/continuity means I don't need cellular service) and my iPad 10 is now an iPad 2, my Mac is now a 2009 MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard.

What am I missing? The phone works, it makes/receives calls, does iMessage, plays music, takes notes, takes photos, has Maps, I love the small size. I love iOS 6.1.3. I love skeuomorphism. My Mac works with the modern web thanks to PowerFox. iTunes still works/syncs. App Store, iBooks, Podcasts, everything 'just works'.

Wish I had known of this before I spent tons for the so-called 'newer' ones. The Mac ws $68, the iPhone $49, and the iPad $60. The iPhone 3GS was my first smartphone that I replaced a Nokia 5185i with in early 2010. Has anyone else just gotten to the point of saying 'Stop the train I want off!' and decided that the older devices serves their needs perfectly well and allows a sense of freedom that's lost in a world of smartphone zombies?

There are no working social media apps for iOS 6. I'm fine with that. I haven't used Facebook since 2016. I never got into Instagram or Snapchat, and never understood Twitter/X. The 3GS has a 3.5 inch screen. I ain't watchin' YouTube on that! What does make me happy is the UI. I missed it. I can just expect everything to work and make sense. No subscriptions. No 'you'll own nothing and be happy' crap. Tap the 'Music' icon and all my music is there, subscription-free! Doesn't matter if I have service or not. It just works. Tap 'Messages' and iMessage works 100%. Need directions? Maps works! What was everyone's hangup and why did Scott Forstall get fired over it? It's not broken! Heck, it was my first experience with navigation back then too. Worked fine for me? I get to enjoy CoverFlow. Why did they remove that again? The EarPods (which I held onto since my iPad 3/iPhone 4) seem to play louder than AirPods Pro 3. I mean the volume is at 3/4 on the iPhone 3GS and the music is LOUD! Even at 100% volume on the 17 Pro, the AirPods seemed to be too quiet for me. Idiot proofing? Notes is, well, a notepad. It does what it's supposed to. Mail does email. I mean what are they even doing with modern devices other than sell subscriptions or your data?

Who else has gone vintage? Maybe I'm the only one, but I'm better for it. The world still works, my life hasn't changed worse or anything, if anything it's gotten better. I touch grass more, am less distracted, and feel happier. The UI makes me want to interact with it instead of making me want to put it away.

 

[Basic75]

Call me when your desktop is an 80486 with 16MB RAM running Linux. Jokes aside, while most people can agree that there is too much ******tification around, there's much less agreement on when the "golden age" was. A 2009 MacBook Pro is not that ancient, heck, it's 64bit capable. For some that's vintage, for others you'll have to go back to PPC. Or M68K. Or 6502 to qualify. It doesn't really matter. Have fun! I'm staying in the Apple Silicon era.

 

[nickdalzell1]

True, for myself 'ancient' means CP/M and a Tandy TRS-80. Or any XT-class system. But there are some that think iOS 6 is 'ancient' when to me that's still yesterday. My 2009 MBP doesn't feel any older than my 2012 one that died long ago.

The things I do miss about Apple Silicon are the cooler laps (this one can bake my lap!) and better battery life, and they are super fast. But they feel less well-made (my M3 Air has three keys already broken off the keyboard just from typing for a few months!) and the OS is getting more and more idiot proof (can't even install a IIGS emulator without it assuming I'm doing someting bad and it refusing to work) and you can't disable any notification from System, such as 'app name has been added to startup items/login items' each time my Norton updates. Or update notifications. They don't go away on their own. I also kinda like the breathing light and glowing Apple logo.

Some folks think flat design is 'modern' and skeuomorphism is 'outdated/dated looking' but it seems backwards to me, as I grew up with flat design (MS-DOS, Windows 1.x, Tandy DeskMate, VisiCorp VisiON, CP/M) and for me, skeuomorphism is the future, not the past. Flat design is the dated one; it made sense when all we had to work with was 256-640KB of RAM, 5.25" Floppy disks, and CGA/EGA graphics if you even had that and not Hercules.

 

[Steve Adams]

True, for myself 'ancient' means CP/M and a Tandy TRS-80. Or any XT-class system. But there are some that think iOS 6 is 'ancient' when to me that's still yesterday. My 2009 MBP doesn't feel any older than my 2012 one that died long ago.

The things I do miss about Apple Silicon are the cooler laps (this one can bake my lap!) and better battery life, and they are super fast. But they feel less well-made (my M3 Air has three keys already broken off the keyboard just from typing for a few months!) and the OS is getting more and more idiot proof (can't even install a IIGS emulator without it assuming I'm doing someting bad and it refusing to work) and you can't disable any notification from System, such as 'app name has been added to startup items/login items' each time my Norton updates. Or update notifications. They don't go away on their own. I also kinda like the breathing light and glowing Apple logo.

Some folks think flat design is 'modern' and skeuomorphism is 'outdated/dated looking' but it seems backwards to me, as I grew up with flat design (MS-DOS, Windows 1.x, Tandy DeskMate, VisiCorp VisiON, CP/M) and for me, skeuomorphism is the future, not the past. Flat design is the dated one; it made sense when all we had to work with was 256-640KB of RAM, 5.25" Floppy disks, and CGA/EGA graphics if you even had that and not Hercules.

Agree with the enpoopification of everything for sure. I am not using vintage devices, the thought intrigues me for sure. I would love to have an older macbook pro running aperture 2. One of the reasons I ditched mac when they told me I could not download software I PAID FOR. That was the second time I left apple.

As for the mobile devices, I could never go back because I use my phone for everything. But it's awesome that you can. Keep the old gear running.

BTW is that the HTC sense UI in your avatar? I miss that. I had the first HTC hero with the chin and loved it. I still have it today. I should get a replacement battery for it and use that.