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I don't think there's much reason to upgrade these days. Years ago I would instantly notice the crisper screen resolution, the nicer photos, and overall snappin

I don't think there's much reason to upgrade these days. Years ago I would instantly notice the crisper screen resolution, the nicer photos, and overall snappiness of a new phone. Granted my current phone (Pixel 2) is only a year old, but I can't imagine what I would upgrade to or for what reason.

askafriend 8y ago
For me, one reason: Photography. That's it. "The best camera is always the one you have with you." I have far more expensive dedicated cameras but my iPhone is the one that I use the most frequently because it's _always_ with me. That matters and I'll always upgrade if the camera is significantly better in any way (especially in low-light, which is the area where there's a ton of room for improvement). But I'm speaking as a person who values and has a dedicated interest in photography. My mom really doesn't care as much because phone cameras have gotten really really good for most people's use-case.
- JayXon 8y ago
  If you care about camera so much, especially in low-light, you probably want to upgrade to a Pixel, the night sight feature is like magic.
  - askafriend 8y ago
    I personally prefer to stay in Apple's ecosystem, but features like that are certainly interesting and speak to the type of camera improvements I was talking about in my comment.
    - acct1771 8y ago
      Guess "always" was the wrong word, then.
      - askafriend 8y ago
        I have an iMac, iPad, MacBook Pro, Apple Watch, AirPods...and so on. My friends and family also have Apple devices in their homes. My workplace is 100% Mac. There's no chance I'm getting anything but an iPhone, for those and a number of other reasons. With that being said, there are significant improvements year over year in the camera hardware used across the industry regardless of manufacturer. There's also really innovative stuff going on in camera software and computational photography from both Google and Apple among others (shoutout to Halide Camera). I'm not going to swap out my entire phone operating system and integrated workflow for a single software-feature like Night Sight (even though I think it's very cool). I was just making a statement about how smartphone cameras (as a category) will continue to get more impressive through a combination of software and hardware. The step function improvements in the camera experience alone are enough for me to consider upgrading even if the rest of the experience is only marginally better. The point being that even as someone with more expensive cameras and lenses, the camera on a phone is still extraordinarily important to people like me because it's the camera we end up having with us all the time. I get that you really want to turn this into an Apple vs Android thing, but I'm going to play that game with you.
        acct1771 8y ago
        Not the Grandparent, but I'd point out you turned it into an Apple vs everything else thing =]
        ric2b 8y ago
        And that's why Apple prices are only going to keep rising, lots of people are locked in on their own choice. If I were you I'd start planning how to move to the side where competition is actually a thing, before you're paying 4x or 5x for the same thing.
        askafriend 8y ago
        The price increases are 100% fine by me and do not impact me as a customer. The value of the ecosystem working reliably together is worth the premium to me (in addition to things like reliable updates, good privacy models, and a focus on customer service, among other things). Apple have an incredibly opinionated view of computing, for sure - but it's one that I prefer even at increased cost. With that being said, I would like to keep the focus of this conversation on camera technology across the industry. Apple or no Apple, the cool stuff going on in computational photography excite me as a photographer.
Macha 8y ago
New smartphones are more expensive than I paid for my last one, missing features I care about (headphone jack, removable storage), and replaced them with features I don't (waterproofing, notches). So while I will likely have to buy one in the next couple of years when the battery on my current phone gives up, it'll be an experience more like replacing a broken kitchen appliance than getting a new toy as it has been in the past.
Waterluvian 8y ago
I would upgrade with the zeal of a fanboy for one reason: A phone that could be plugged into a usb C hub and instantly I have a running full Ubuntu desktop environment with all of my phone's data in the right places. I know there's some partial attempts at this out there but I'm talking the full thing with Apple levels of quality and polish.
- jstanley 8y ago
  This will be a feature of the Librem 5, if they manage to deliver: https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/ https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/
  - Waterluvian 8y ago
    That looks really nice. But I'd still need an escape hatch of being able to install android apps.
- crispyporkbites 8y ago
  You'd think everyone wants this but in reality hardly anyone would actually use it. Imagine you want to go to a coffee shop, go sit somewhere else in your house, go to meeting someplace, get on a plane, go to an office etc. There's no hubs, screens, keyboards etc. in these places so you'd be stuck with a phone. You're effectively much much less mobile than a laptop, only incrementally more than having a desktop at home. Perhaps if hubs / screens became ubiquitous everywhere (maybe apple can do that) it would be useful.
  - njarboe 8y ago
    I would want this. This is basically how I use my laptop. My computer I use both at home and at work and plugged into extra monitors, keyboard, mouse, headphones, internet, power, etc at both locations. On the road it is nice to have a screen and keyboard, so if my computer was my smartphone I would have to carry a little screen and key board (I already carry a mouse). I wonder if such an inexpensive screen exists not attached to a computer like an iPad or tablet.
  - 8y ago
robert_foss 8y ago
5G
- crispyporkbites 8y ago
  What can you do on 5G that you can't on 4G? My 4G phone is faster than my broadband at home, I can stream at the max resolution on the screen and almost every app is latency or CPU bound at this stage.
  - AndrewGaspar 8y ago
    You've got Google and Microsoft saying 5G is essential for a future of ubiquitous high quality game streaming.
  - KaoruAoiShiho 8y ago
    Facetime and its ilk is still too low res. You cannot stream upload 4k 60 to youtube. You cannot play streaming games nor streaming VR because the latency is so bad. These things 5G will fix.
- torgian 8y ago
  Remove data limits and speed caps, and 5g might just be worth it. He’ll, it’d be worth it for 4g. Won’t happen in the states though
Theodores 8y ago
You might downgrade and be fine with it. Happened to me as I changed employer and had to hand back the fancy Pixel slab. I have been fine with the cracked screen 'burner' phone that I had bought in a hurry after I accidentally put my previous personal phone in the wash. The 'burner' was only supposed to be a temporary purchase so I could take personal calls from not-so-well relatives. However I like having a not-so-special phone and not having the fear of dropping the posh all-singing-all-dancing Google device. Family channel messaging still works on it, it works fine as a phone and it even has nice touches like an SD card and replaceable battery. The smaller size is particularly good, the Google thing did not fit in my pocket too well. The lack of decent camera is fine. It is actually what you do with a camera more than how good it is that matters the most. Plus there is that 'live for the moment' aspect of not having a posh camera. The only downside is not having 'the big phone' for 'really important things'. I used to be able to do that, for a really important call, fancy photo or serious surfing, tell people 'hang on a minute, let me get my big phone for this...'. There was comedy value to it (but, like the best jokes, you would have had to have been there at the time). Funny too that I never really needed any of those apps, games or whatever else you are supposed to have on these things. There is also value in being 'other' and not having a precious phone rectangle. I don't tease others for having to have their hand-rectangle crutch with them at all times. I am even okay with leaving my phone behind, if anyone calls then I call them back when I get in. Nothing is that important. There is no needless checking of the phone at every opportunity for me nowadays. I understand that new phones have apps to moderate that behaviour, I find that quite comical as I have no need for that imposed 'self control'. As an outsider to hand-rectangle life I now observe others sharing a room, all of them engrossed in whatever it is that is shown on their respective hand-rectangles and not talking. If you want to do any of those things a hand-rectangle is for then a regular laptop (with tethering) is far better. I can't think of anything of consequence I have read or watched on hand-rectangles of old. Even maps is something I am dubious about, I am good for the zombie apocalypse when directions will need signs, landmarks, sun-angle and other clues. Camera is also a bit more nuanced. A dedicated camera with tripod mount is much better than even a Pixel phone when you want to do things like product shots. Out and about, the burner camera is fine for those things you message people with. Testing websites for web-development is kind of even better with a burner phone. If it looks good on my phone then everything else is pretty covered (aside from Safari nuances). It reminds me of the time I gave up my addiction to music, once I took the headphones off I discovered that the ambient soundtrack to my life was pretty good. I can honestly say I don't aspire to a new hand-rectangle but if I did wash my phone again and had to get a new phone then I would find today's burner phones pretty sweet compared to what I have now to go for the same. To think of the 'status anxiety' aspects of the past, where obviously I would need the deluxe version of a device with that extra RAM and storage space 'just in case'. I have grown past that feeble dependency.
aviv 8y ago
I would be very happy to keep my Galaxy S7, but they make it slower on purpose with each software "update".

askafriend 8y ago

For me, one reason: Photography. That's it. "The best camera is always the one you have with you." I have far more expensive dedicated cameras but my iPhone is the one that I use the most frequently because it's _always_ with me. That matters and I'll always upgrade if the camera is significantly better in any way (especially in low-light, which is the area where there's a ton of room for improvement). But I'm speaking as a person who values and has a dedicated interest in photography. My mom really doesn't care as much because phone cameras have gotten really really good for most people's use-case.

JayXon 8y ago
If you care about camera so much, especially in low-light, you probably want to upgrade to a Pixel, the night sight feature is like magic.
- askafriend 8y ago
  I personally prefer to stay in Apple's ecosystem, but features like that are certainly interesting and speak to the type of camera improvements I was talking about in my comment.
  - acct1771 8y ago
    Guess "always" was the wrong word, then.
    - askafriend 8y ago
      I have an iMac, iPad, MacBook Pro, Apple Watch, AirPods...and so on. My friends and family also have Apple devices in their homes. My workplace is 100% Mac. There's no chance I'm getting anything but an iPhone, for those and a number of other reasons. With that being said, there are significant improvements year over year in the camera hardware used across the industry regardless of manufacturer. There's also really innovative stuff going on in camera software and computational photography from both Google and Apple among others (shoutout to Halide Camera). I'm not going to swap out my entire phone operating system and integrated workflow for a single software-feature like Night Sight (even though I think it's very cool). I was just making a statement about how smartphone cameras (as a category) will continue to get more impressive through a combination of software and hardware. The step function improvements in the camera experience alone are enough for me to consider upgrading even if the rest of the experience is only marginally better. The point being that even as someone with more expensive cameras and lenses, the camera on a phone is still extraordinarily important to people like me because it's the camera we end up having with us all the time. I get that you really want to turn this into an Apple vs Android thing, but I'm going to play that game with you.
      - acct1771 8y ago
        Not the Grandparent, but I'd point out you turned it into an Apple vs everything else thing =]
      - ric2b 8y ago
        And that's why Apple prices are only going to keep rising, lots of people are locked in on their own choice. If I were you I'd start planning how to move to the side where competition is actually a thing, before you're paying 4x or 5x for the same thing.
        askafriend 8y ago
        The price increases are 100% fine by me and do not impact me as a customer. The value of the ecosystem working reliably together is worth the premium to me (in addition to things like reliable updates, good privacy models, and a focus on customer service, among other things). Apple have an incredibly opinionated view of computing, for sure - but it's one that I prefer even at increased cost. With that being said, I would like to keep the focus of this conversation on camera technology across the industry. Apple or no Apple, the cool stuff going on in computational photography excite me as a photographer.

Macha 8y ago

New smartphones are more expensive than I paid for my last one, missing features I care about (headphone jack, removable storage), and replaced them with features I don't (waterproofing, notches). So while I will likely have to buy one in the next couple of years when the battery on my current phone gives up, it'll be an experience more like replacing a broken kitchen appliance than getting a new toy as it has been in the past.

Waterluvian 8y ago

I would upgrade with the zeal of a fanboy for one reason: A phone that could be plugged into a usb C hub and instantly I have a running full Ubuntu desktop environment with all of my phone's data in the right places. I know there's some partial attempts at this out there but I'm talking the full thing with Apple levels of quality and polish.

jstanley 8y ago
This will be a feature of the Librem 5, if they manage to deliver: https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/ https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/
- Waterluvian 8y ago
  That looks really nice. But I'd still need an escape hatch of being able to install android apps.
crispyporkbites 8y ago
You'd think everyone wants this but in reality hardly anyone would actually use it. Imagine you want to go to a coffee shop, go sit somewhere else in your house, go to meeting someplace, get on a plane, go to an office etc. There's no hubs, screens, keyboards etc. in these places so you'd be stuck with a phone. You're effectively much much less mobile than a laptop, only incrementally more than having a desktop at home. Perhaps if hubs / screens became ubiquitous everywhere (maybe apple can do that) it would be useful.
- njarboe 8y ago
  I would want this. This is basically how I use my laptop. My computer I use both at home and at work and plugged into extra monitors, keyboard, mouse, headphones, internet, power, etc at both locations. On the road it is nice to have a screen and keyboard, so if my computer was my smartphone I would have to carry a little screen and key board (I already carry a mouse). I wonder if such an inexpensive screen exists not attached to a computer like an iPad or tablet.
- 8y ago

robert_foss 8y ago

crispyporkbites 8y ago
What can you do on 5G that you can't on 4G? My 4G phone is faster than my broadband at home, I can stream at the max resolution on the screen and almost every app is latency or CPU bound at this stage.
- AndrewGaspar 8y ago
  You've got Google and Microsoft saying 5G is essential for a future of ubiquitous high quality game streaming.
- KaoruAoiShiho 8y ago
  Facetime and its ilk is still too low res. You cannot stream upload 4k 60 to youtube. You cannot play streaming games nor streaming VR because the latency is so bad. These things 5G will fix.
torgian 8y ago
Remove data limits and speed caps, and 5g might just be worth it. He’ll, it’d be worth it for 4g. Won’t happen in the states though

Theodores 8y ago

You might downgrade and be fine with it. Happened to me as I changed employer and had to hand back the fancy Pixel slab. I have been fine with the cracked screen 'burner' phone that I had bought in a hurry after I accidentally put my previous personal phone in the wash. The 'burner' was only supposed to be a temporary purchase so I could take personal calls from not-so-well relatives. However I like having a not-so-special phone and not having the fear of dropping the posh all-singing-all-dancing Google device. Family channel messaging still works on it, it works fine as a phone and it even has nice touches like an SD card and replaceable battery. The smaller size is particularly good, the Google thing did not fit in my pocket too well. The lack of decent camera is fine. It is actually what you do with a camera more than how good it is that matters the most. Plus there is that 'live for the moment' aspect of not having a posh camera. The only downside is not having 'the big phone' for 'really important things'. I used to be able to do that, for a really important call, fancy photo or serious surfing, tell people 'hang on a minute, let me get my big phone for this...'. There was comedy value to it (but, like the best jokes, you would have had to have been there at the time). Funny too that I never really needed any of those apps, games or whatever else you are supposed to have on these things. There is also value in being 'other' and not having a precious phone rectangle. I don't tease others for having to have their hand-rectangle crutch with them at all times. I am even okay with leaving my phone behind, if anyone calls then I call them back when I get in. Nothing is that important. There is no needless checking of the phone at every opportunity for me nowadays. I understand that new phones have apps to moderate that behaviour, I find that quite comical as I have no need for that imposed 'self control'. As an outsider to hand-rectangle life I now observe others sharing a room, all of them engrossed in whatever it is that is shown on their respective hand-rectangles and not talking. If you want to do any of those things a hand-rectangle is for then a regular laptop (with tethering) is far better. I can't think of anything of consequence I have read or watched on hand-rectangles of old. Even maps is something I am dubious about, I am good for the zombie apocalypse when directions will need signs, landmarks, sun-angle and other clues. Camera is also a bit more nuanced. A dedicated camera with tripod mount is much better than even a Pixel phone when you want to do things like product shots. Out and about, the burner camera is fine for those things you message people with. Testing websites for web-development is kind of even better with a burner phone. If it looks good on my phone then everything else is pretty covered (aside from Safari nuances). It reminds me of the time I gave up my addiction to music, once I took the headphones off I discovered that the ambient soundtrack to my life was pretty good. I can honestly say I don't aspire to a new hand-rectangle but if I did wash my phone again and had to get a new phone then I would find today's burner phones pretty sweet compared to what I have now to go for the same. To think of the 'status anxiety' aspects of the past, where obviously I would need the deluxe version of a device with that extra RAM and storage space 'just in case'. I have grown past that feeble dependency.

aviv 8y ago

I would be very happy to keep my Galaxy S7, but they make it slower on purpose with each software "update".