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Since September I've been reading nothing but how much of a failure the iPhone 7 is, and how removing the headphone jack was going to be the final straw for App

Since September I've been reading nothing but how much of a failure the iPhone 7 is, and how removing the headphone jack was going to be the final straw for Apple. Similar story for the new MacBook Pros. It seems that the geekerati have very different priorities from the rest of the world, and maybe Apple still knows what's it's doing.

arethuza 10y ago
I've been very pleased with my iPhone 7 - yes requiring the headphone adapter is mildly annoying but that's all. I tried my previous iPhone, a 5S which I had donated to a relative, again recently and thought my 7 was well worth the upgrade.
- ashark 10y ago
  How I feel about the latest Apple devices is that they're good despite the "innovation". Touchbar, removing headphone jack, and going all-usb-c (but not on the iphone?) all either sucks or fails to add value, but the spec bumps are still good enough and the build quality's still great, and, crucially, the competition still doesn't have its sh*t together.
- austenallred 10y ago
  Try it with the airpods. I know it's cliche, but it's a fantastic experience. Truly worth the $ (for me, at least; can't say what $170 is worth to you)
  - arethuza 10y ago
    I think my ears must be a weird shape - it takes me ages to find ones that will be comfortable and stay in place and none of the Apple ones I've tried seem to work.
    - austenallred 10y ago
      The EarPods have a completely different shape. No idea of they'll work for you.
      - arethuza 10y ago
        Yes the problem is that I'm not keen on trying £160 headphones without some confidence that they will fit - not like over ear ones where you can try them in shops.
        mikestew 10y ago
        Find someone that has a wired pair of the ones that come with iPhones/iPods, the shape is AFAICT the same.
        austenallred 10y ago
        It's actually not the same. But I would recommend trying them on first somehow... not sure how. I have them if you're in San Francisco lol
        mikestew 10y ago
        Huh, you're right. At a glance, they look the same, but there are slight differences. Still, in a comparison fit, they might be close enough to get a rough idea. I didn't notice a big difference in fit. I have them if you're in San Francisco The OP might take you up on it. I have mine in my ears right now. :-)
        arethuza 10y ago
        I'm rather a long way from SF (Scotland) but the kind offer is appreciated!
        nardi 10y ago
        You can try the AirPods in the store. They sanitize them between before/after.
  - azinman2 10y ago
    Can you explain more why? I'm considering but hard to justify without trying.
    - austenallred 10y ago
      It's hard to describe. But the way they sync across all your devices without doing anything, the way it just pauses when you pull them out of your ears, the ease of switching between Apple devices (could be better but pretty great); I just forget I'm wearing them and they become a part of my day to day life.
      - azinman2 10y ago
        Do they get uncomfortable after a while?
        austenallred 10y ago
        Not at all for me. But I can't speak for anyone else's ears.
        djrogers 10y ago
        Not for me - I forget they're in all the time. In the first week I owned them I got in the shower with one in and didn't notice for a while (it's fine).
Apocryphon 10y ago
So unfortunately, that means further postponing of a substantial upgrade to the Mac Mini and Mac Pro.
- tqkxzugoaupvwqr 10y ago
  Here is a guy that upgraded his Mac Pro with standard components without making it a Hackintosh[1]. Maybe his tips are useful for you. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNd5_kxpPc4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNd5_kxpPc4
  - jsheard 10y ago
    That's better than nothing, but even if you resort to eGPU solutions you still can't use the current fastest GPUs (GTX1080/Titan XP) with OSX because there's no driver support.
hoorayimhelping 10y ago
I love my iPhone 7. I've had it for a little over a month and I've already taken some of the best photos of the last ten years, including dslr photos I've taken.
- seibelj 10y ago
  Every 2 years I upgrade my iPhone, and every 2 years I get to buy the best phone I've ever owned. Not worth arguing in these places about religious wars. I try to appreciate how amazing everything is rather than lose my mind over a plug changing formats.
- joering2 10y ago
  But have you had any others? I have to be honest around 2010 I had Samsung i997... the photos from it are still far better (in terms of catching light, and general sharpness and the feeling of good photos) than the one I take with 6s.
- martin-adams 10y ago
  I just upgraded to the 7 plus from a Samsung S6 on Monday. I agree, the camera is very, very good. I love the live photos and the portrait mode is beautiful. I was actually underwhelmed when the phone was announced, and the lack of a headphone jack seemed inconvenient (and those ear pods refuse to stay in my ears). But, the wired headphone adapter works, and fortunately I don't charge and listen at the same time much. So much like the new Macbook, I wonder how much these notable backwards steps really matter. With Apple products my thinking is, is it worth the switch? Most likely. Is it worth a yearly upgrade? Nope.
chocolatebunny 10y ago
Every time I hear criticism of an Apple product that I agree with, I think of this: https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-ipod https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-i...
- ianai 10y ago
  That is seriously classic stuff right there
- devmunchies 10y ago
  I don't see many sales in the future of iPod. haha. this is good stuff.
  - fsck--off 10y ago
    The review pointed out the shortcomings of the first generation iPod. It isn't a review of the entire iPod line that would follow in the future. The first generation was only compatible with OS 9 and OS X, had 5G or 10G of storage, was in black and white and had a mechanical click wheel. Apple sold 236,000 in three fiscal quarters before they released the next generation. Meanwhile Nokia was selling an order of magnitude more 3310s, another portable electronic device (cell phone), every quarter. The iPod became the best music player on the market because Apple kept improving it.
    - ssharp 10y ago
      There is also this Steve Ballmer reaction to the original iPhone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U It's funny in retrospect but the iPhone didn't really start to take off until the 2nd generation, when the price came down, 3rd-party developers were let in, and it added 3G. The comments on the physical keyboard were clearly off-base looking back, though. I remember when the iPhone came out the criticism for a lack of a physical keyboard was extremely common and most competitors responded by using sliding keyboards, which clearly never caught on.
seanmcdirmid 10y ago
I upgraded to conductive wireless headphones and really really like my iPhone 7 now. I won't miss the headphone jack at all.
- azinman2 10y ago
  What's the advantage of the bone conductive over in ear? How's the sound?
  - seanmcdirmid 10y ago
    For me, I dont have to put anything in my ear, and it doesn't plug up when I'm sweating a lot during a workout. The sound is ok, nothing special, but much more reliable than what I had before (because of the sweat problem), and my ears feel so much better not having to sticking anything in my ears.
czstrong 10y ago
We don't know what percent of those units are 6S and SE. iPhone 7 could have worse adoption than previous whole-numer releases even with overall sales up.
megablast 10y ago
You need to change where you read.
Razengan 10y ago
I'm sure that most of the ruckus raised by people who haven't even used the Apple product they criticize can be safely raced to PR firms of competing companies. See [1]. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=samsung+students+fake+reviews https://www.google.com/search?q=samsung+students+fake+review...

arethuza 10y ago

I've been very pleased with my iPhone 7 - yes requiring the headphone adapter is mildly annoying but that's all. I tried my previous iPhone, a 5S which I had donated to a relative, again recently and thought my 7 was well worth the upgrade.

ashark 10y ago
How I feel about the latest Apple devices is that they're good despite the "innovation". Touchbar, removing headphone jack, and going all-usb-c (but not on the iphone?) all either sucks or fails to add value, but the spec bumps are still good enough and the build quality's still great, and, crucially, the competition still doesn't have its sh*t together.
austenallred 10y ago
Try it with the airpods. I know it's cliche, but it's a fantastic experience. Truly worth the $ (for me, at least; can't say what $170 is worth to you)
- arethuza 10y ago
  I think my ears must be a weird shape - it takes me ages to find ones that will be comfortable and stay in place and none of the Apple ones I've tried seem to work.
  - austenallred 10y ago
    The EarPods have a completely different shape. No idea of they'll work for you.
    - arethuza 10y ago
      Yes the problem is that I'm not keen on trying £160 headphones without some confidence that they will fit - not like over ear ones where you can try them in shops.
      - mikestew 10y ago
        Find someone that has a wired pair of the ones that come with iPhones/iPods, the shape is AFAICT the same.
        austenallred 10y ago
        It's actually not the same. But I would recommend trying them on first somehow... not sure how. I have them if you're in San Francisco lol
        mikestew 10y ago
        Huh, you're right. At a glance, they look the same, but there are slight differences. Still, in a comparison fit, they might be close enough to get a rough idea. I didn't notice a big difference in fit. I have them if you're in San Francisco The OP might take you up on it. I have mine in my ears right now. :-)
        arethuza 10y ago
        I'm rather a long way from SF (Scotland) but the kind offer is appreciated!
      - nardi 10y ago
        You can try the AirPods in the store. They sanitize them between before/after.
- azinman2 10y ago
  Can you explain more why? I'm considering but hard to justify without trying.
  - austenallred 10y ago
    It's hard to describe. But the way they sync across all your devices without doing anything, the way it just pauses when you pull them out of your ears, the ease of switching between Apple devices (could be better but pretty great); I just forget I'm wearing them and they become a part of my day to day life.
    - azinman2 10y ago
      Do they get uncomfortable after a while?
      - austenallred 10y ago
        Not at all for me. But I can't speak for anyone else's ears.
      - djrogers 10y ago
        Not for me - I forget they're in all the time. In the first week I owned them I got in the shower with one in and didn't notice for a while (it's fine).

Apocryphon 10y ago

So unfortunately, that means further postponing of a substantial upgrade to the Mac Mini and Mac Pro.

tqkxzugoaupvwqr 10y ago
Here is a guy that upgraded his Mac Pro with standard components without making it a Hackintosh[1]. Maybe his tips are useful for you. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNd5_kxpPc4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNd5_kxpPc4
- jsheard 10y ago
  That's better than nothing, but even if you resort to eGPU solutions you still can't use the current fastest GPUs (GTX1080/Titan XP) with OSX because there's no driver support.

hoorayimhelping 10y ago

I love my iPhone 7. I've had it for a little over a month and I've already taken some of the best photos of the last ten years, including dslr photos I've taken.

seibelj 10y ago
Every 2 years I upgrade my iPhone, and every 2 years I get to buy the best phone I've ever owned. Not worth arguing in these places about religious wars. I try to appreciate how amazing everything is rather than lose my mind over a plug changing formats.
joering2 10y ago
But have you had any others? I have to be honest around 2010 I had Samsung i997... the photos from it are still far better (in terms of catching light, and general sharpness and the feeling of good photos) than the one I take with 6s.
martin-adams 10y ago
I just upgraded to the 7 plus from a Samsung S6 on Monday. I agree, the camera is very, very good. I love the live photos and the portrait mode is beautiful. I was actually underwhelmed when the phone was announced, and the lack of a headphone jack seemed inconvenient (and those ear pods refuse to stay in my ears). But, the wired headphone adapter works, and fortunately I don't charge and listen at the same time much. So much like the new Macbook, I wonder how much these notable backwards steps really matter. With Apple products my thinking is, is it worth the switch? Most likely. Is it worth a yearly upgrade? Nope.

chocolatebunny 10y ago

Every time I hear criticism of an Apple product that I agree with, I think of this: https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-ipod https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-i...

ianai 10y ago
That is seriously classic stuff right there
devmunchies 10y ago
I don't see many sales in the future of iPod. haha. this is good stuff.
- fsck--off 10y ago
  The review pointed out the shortcomings of the first generation iPod. It isn't a review of the entire iPod line that would follow in the future. The first generation was only compatible with OS 9 and OS X, had 5G or 10G of storage, was in black and white and had a mechanical click wheel. Apple sold 236,000 in three fiscal quarters before they released the next generation. Meanwhile Nokia was selling an order of magnitude more 3310s, another portable electronic device (cell phone), every quarter. The iPod became the best music player on the market because Apple kept improving it.
  - ssharp 10y ago
    There is also this Steve Ballmer reaction to the original iPhone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U It's funny in retrospect but the iPhone didn't really start to take off until the 2nd generation, when the price came down, 3rd-party developers were let in, and it added 3G. The comments on the physical keyboard were clearly off-base looking back, though. I remember when the iPhone came out the criticism for a lack of a physical keyboard was extremely common and most competitors responded by using sliding keyboards, which clearly never caught on.

seanmcdirmid 10y ago

I upgraded to conductive wireless headphones and really really like my iPhone 7 now. I won't miss the headphone jack at all.

azinman2 10y ago
What's the advantage of the bone conductive over in ear? How's the sound?
- seanmcdirmid 10y ago
  For me, I dont have to put anything in my ear, and it doesn't plug up when I'm sweating a lot during a workout. The sound is ok, nothing special, but much more reliable than what I had before (because of the sweat problem), and my ears feel so much better not having to sticking anything in my ears.

czstrong 10y ago

We don't know what percent of those units are 6S and SE. iPhone 7 could have worse adoption than previous whole-numer releases even with overall sales up.

megablast 10y ago

You need to change where you read.

Razengan 10y ago

I'm sure that most of the ruckus raised by people who haven't even used the Apple product they criticize can be safely raced to PR firms of competing companies. See [1]. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=samsung+students+fake+reviews https://www.google.com/search?q=samsung+students+fake+review...