Benefits and Reasons to Buy an iPhone?

I killed the 6s that I bought used somehow, pulled out my moto to get by. It was ok but the camera didn’t hold a candle to 6s. Got an SE now and wow do I like that wireless charging!

I use my camera mostly for work, or sometimes for various tasks, never selfies or even family pics. Know how a picture is worth a thousand words? yep, rather than type what I see, I can take a quick pic then insert and/or reference later. Expensive but hardly a toy for me. I can take a pic of something I am working on, so I know how to put it back together, or take a pic of an issue while at work and quickly make documentation (not allowed to plug a digital camera into my computer, can only transfer files via email).

I wouldn't like to drop $500 on a new one but it replaces a digital camera and is something I use daily (MFA and picture taking).
 
There was a time in the past ( around 10 years ago ) when an iPhone did have some significant benefits ( for example, a very good local sync, which Apple killed off as part of its efforts to herd people into using iCloud ). It's my opinion that many of those Apple-specific benefits are gone, and that if you're not seriously locked in to the Apple "ecosystem", an Android phone might be a perfectly good choice. I say this having been a hard-core fan of Apple products since the first Macintosh was sold.

Apple's software and hardware quality has really gone downhill under the "leadership" of Tim Cook. Cook might be a nice guy but Steve Jobs was the sort of leader who was able to strike fear into the hearts of employees and that tended to result in much better hardware and software.

I do not see Apple stuff being worth the premium any more, and that's because I am no longer getting the quality of user experience that justifies in my mind the extra cost of Apple products. I am aware that Apple has been making lots of money, but that does not mitigate my disappointment in the lower quality of user experience I get with Apple products. Obviously the preceding is only my opinion, but my next phone will be an Android and my next laptop will run Linux. I'm done paying extra when the quality of user experience no longer justifies the premium. In my view Apple has shifted to the mass market ( Beats headphones ? ) and with that shift the excellent user experience has been sacrificed in the pursuit of profits. Apple used to be Ruth's Chris Steak House, and now it is edging toward being Burger King.
 
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There was a time in the past ( around 10 years ago ) when an iPhone did have some significant benefits ( for example, a very good local sync, which Apple killed off as part of its efforts to herd people into using iCloud ). It's my opinion that many of those Apple-specific benefits are gone, and that if you're not seriously locked in to the Apple "ecosystem", an Android phone might be a perfectly good choice. I say this having been a hard-core fan of Apple products since the first Macintosh was sold.

Apple's software and hardware quality has really gone downhill under the "leadership" of Tim Cook. Cook might be a nice guy but Steve Jobs was the sort of leader who was able to strike fear into the hearts of employees and that tended to result in much better hardware and software.

I do not see Apple stuff being worth the premium any more, and that's because I am no longer getting the quality of user experience that justifies in my mind the extra cost of Apple products. I am aware that Apple has been making lots of money, but that does not mitigate my disappointment in the lower quality of user experience I get with Apple products. Obviously the preceding is only my opinion, but my next phone will be an Android and my next laptop will run Linux. I'm done paying extra when the quality of user experience no longer justifies the premium. In my view Apple has shifted to the mass market ( Beats headphones ? ) and with that shift the excellent user experience has been sacrificed in the pursuit of profits. Apple used to be Ruth's Chris Steak House, and now it is edging toward being Burger King.
Very well analyzed and spoken.
 
Very well analyzed and spoken.


Thanks for the kind words.

Tim Cook was a supply chain expert. I don't understand why Steve Jobs picked Cook as his successor, unless Jobs' underlying motive was to ensure that Apple would fail to continue the hardware and software excellence Apple was known for when Jobs was running the show.

I feel like Apple has betrayed me. I also believe Apple's current pursuit of profits that results in a shabby user experience for users who know what they are doing is going to come back to haunt Apple in a significant manner, because there are many long time Apple users who are now severely disillusioned such that they are considering leaving the Apple "ecosystem". These are people who were at one time evangelists for Apple. Now they feel like the rug has been pulled out from under them, and that is a lousy feeling to have when you were paying good money
for the experience. No one wants to feel like a chump after he or she spent good money. And that is the feeling I have now when I use my OS X laptop that no longer has features that were important to me because Apple unilaterally deprecated OS X, and my iPhone with the latest version of iOS which is FILLED with bugs.

Apple is pushing quantity and quality has gone out the window. You can get an Android phone which has a superb camera and pay less than you'd pay for an iPhone which has a comparable feature set. Unless the Apple logo is important to you, there are plenty of good alternatives to
Apple products. All this stuff should be viewed as a consumable anyway - an iPhone is not a Rolex and a few years after you buy one it is very
close to worthless in terms of resale value. So why buy into a higher price structure when the user experience doesn't justify the higher price ?
 
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Tried Android for two years, didn’t like it really, just a bunch of small things, went back to Apple. Would take a lot for me to switch again. Sure the phone is about $1000 for the top end stuff but the resale value is crazy good. The top end comparable Samsung is roughly the same price anyway.
 
..... All this stuff should be viewed as a consumable anyway - an iPhone is not a Rolex and a few years after you buy one it is very
close to worthless in terms of resale value. So why buy into a higher price structure when the user experience doesn't justify the higher price ?

That is exactly my point of view on all of this high tech stuff. Everything lasts 15 minutes, and is then an outdated also ran. Look at big screen TV's. I remember back in 2003 the owner of the company I worked for at the time spent $14,000.00 to have a 42" Plasma TV installed in his motor home.

Today you can walk into Wal-Mart and buy a 75" 4K LCD for under $700.00. TV's, like computers and smartphones, are nothing but disposable items, that have little to no worth in just several months.

It is why I buy, and will continue to buy, the cheapest phone I can find. The difference between it and the top of the line, is right around 20 months or less.
 
Why can't the people with iPhones in a group text respond to the entire group? I mean they want and mean to, but they don't just the text initiator. I obviously am a forever Android user, but did have a through back 5i (my "old" number, when I had two phones), but never used it for texting.

Curious - is this a feature?

PS I have no issues with Android and apps, hate any phone without a replaceable BATTERY. I guess I am a hater!! :LOL:
? I don't understand the question because as I read it I am wondering who can't text a group with an iPhone. I do it all the time.
 
I thought I made myself clear. Some people with iphones have difficulty replying to ALL when most/all others in group are Android phones. It happens with all sorts of groups. If I knew WHY I would not have asked the question. My brother, by sister in law, ex- coworkers with iPhones. My wife with an Android has noticed the same thing with other groups. Maybe it's AT&T??
Well, honestly, now you explained the question better.
It can't be answered because no one here including me has any issue with group texts among a mix of android and iPhones.
Its not ATT, until the last week we used ATT through various providers for the last 13 years or so. Never an issue.
I suspect some people don't know what they are doing using their phones would be my only answer but not sure how you can mess up replying to a text.
 
...

Apple is pushing quantity and quality has gone out the window. You can get an Android phone which has a superb camera and pay less than you'd pay for an iPhone which has a comparable feature set. Unless the Apple logo is important to you, there are plenty of good alternatives to
Apple products. All this stuff should be viewed as a consumable anyway - an iPhone is not a Rolex and a few years after you buy one it is very
close to worthless in terms of resale value. So why buy into a higher price structure when the user experience doesn't justify the higher price ?
Built in privacy and security is far superior in Apple products then Android. That is what I use Apple products for.
The cloud features of the iPhone and related devices is a negative to you but to me its a reason to purchase.
I love the seamless integration among all my devices. I love the performance of the products which are in my opinion far better then the Samsung products in the same price range.
Best of all they are not nearly as expensive as the haters say they are. Really? $500 for a high end phone is expensive? Or $429 for one with less features yet has the fastest most powerful processor of any Android product in any price range with the same privacy functions unmatched by Android.
For me, its about privacy and integration among my phone, laptop and desk top. Simple and seamless ability of I-message as well. All this can be had for $500 for a iPhone 11 or $429 for the budget iPhone.

The quality of their phones has not gone downhill by any means, drop an iPhone into a pool, dive into the pool get it off the bottom of the pool and continue your conversation or text message without a care in the world.

Before we get in a privacy pissing match (not you), here is JUST ONE undisputed example.
Apple no longer allows cross app tracking, meaning if you aren't using an app, that app can no longer track you and keep tabs on what you are doing. No such thing exists in Android.
In fact, you can check the facts yourself, 100% accurate. To give you just ONE tiny example of the impact this presents on just one company out of hundreds. FACEBOOK HAS REPORTED TO THEIR SHAREHOLDERS IN THE REQUIRED ANNUAL DISCLOSURES THAT IT IS GOING TO LOSE TEN BILLION DOLLARS IN ADVERTISING REVENUE IN 2022 DUE TO APPLES NEW PRIVACY CONTROLS.

So for anyone (not you) that is going to start saying nothing is private ya da ya da... lets not.

With that said, sure, like any device it has some pain in the neck bugs sometimes that you have to work through and you shouldn't have to, I expect more from APPLE over the others and it annoys my wife and I. With that said, once you successfully find the solution to whatever bug it is, it stays fixed. So whatever... other times an update fixes it, like all other company devices. Ohhhh... and lets not forget! One thing that ALWAYS drove me nuts is bloatware, some Andriod phones are famous for this, including Samsung's. Doesn't happen with Apple.
 
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That is exactly my point of view on all of this high tech stuff. Everything lasts 15 minutes, and is then an outdated also ran. Look at big screen TV's. I remember back in 2003 the owner of the company I worked for at the time spent $14,000.00 to have a 42" Plasma TV installed in his motor home.

Today you can walk into Wal-Mart and buy a 75" 4K LCD for under $700.00. TV's, like computers and smartphones, are nothing but disposable items, that have little to no worth in just several months.

It is why I buy, and will continue to buy, the cheapest phone I can find. The difference between it and the top of the line, is right around 20 months or less.

You just compared two tv’s nearly 20 years apart. Smart phones are only 15 years old.

You can buy cheap phones every two years and toss them or you can buy good phones and trade them in/sell them. The actual cost difference isn’t all that much. A $1000 iPhone is still worth $700 or so a couple years later assuming it isn’t destroyed.
 
You just compared two tv’s nearly 20 years apart. Smart phones are only 15 years old.

You can buy cheap phones every two years and toss them or you can buy good phones and trade them in/sell them. The actual cost difference isn’t all that much. A $1000 iPhone is still worth $700 or so a couple years later assuming it isn’t destroyed.
I don't need a $700 dollar phone when $160 dollar phone does everything I require. That's $540 dollars I can spend on something else. Money doesn't grow on trees.
 
The apple platforms strength is in the organization, cleanliness of the interface, and product longevity.

As for lifespan I get quite a long life out of the apple devices having had a 6s since 2015, I've replaced one battery for 75.00, and I have no intention of getting a new one until its locked out of future upgrades. I just put a basic rubberized thin case on them.

I never had more than 3 years out of an android phone before some sort of major failure, and the interface is cluttered and the whole UI just messy. Considering I would have had to buy at least 2 if not 3 in the span of my one Iphone the Apple product becomes a bargain.

The only reason to get anything more than a basic phone/ Iphone is to get a better camera, because a more expensive phone doenst really do much more for you unless you game on it a lot which I never do.

I second this.

Until about 3-4 years ago, I used Android devices exclusively. I found myself upgrading every 2 years, sometimes less than that. Despite always buying a flagship Android device (expensive), by year two it was slowing down terribly, updates became less and less frequent (often non-existent), and overall the implementation of new features (through updates) was done hastily and haphazardly. And because different manufacturers use different user interfaces, it was challenging to migrate from one phone manufacturer to another, even for a tech guy like myself. That is unless you're a phone geek and want to dedicate a lot of time to learning the ins and outs of each device you buy.

My current phone is an Iphone XS Max purchased 3-4+ years ago (whenever that model came out) and I don't plan on switching back to Android unless I have a lot more time on my hands or desire to learn/experience something new. The Apple interface is logical, easy to use, and always lightning fast even though it's an older model. Sure it's limiting in some ways for power users, but I have a PC for that; my phone is a tool for communication, banking and other apps that I need to use while on the go. For those uses I don't see how you can beat an Iphone. JMHO.
 
One thing that ALWAYS drove me nuts is bloatware, some Andriod phones are famous for this, including Samsung's. Doesn't happen with Apple.

Successive iOS updates typically result in more resources being used by the hardware. If you don't think that is bloatware, you have a different idea of what bloatware is than any of the computer professionals I work with.
 
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