iPhone Xs/Max bags the top ratings from DisplayMate, DxOMark, Anandtech for Display, Camera and Silicon

[Dabombinable]

9 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Yeah, no reasonable person could argue that the S5 is a better value than anything later than the iPhone 6s. I would probably even take an iPhone 6 over the Galaxy S5 today. At least the iPhone 6 would still run the latest software. 

If you think that's unreasonable, especially with a comparison linked. Then look at the S9 compared the the iPhone 8 and Xr. Still far better value, while costing a shitload less:

https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=8573&idPhone3=9320&idPhone2=8161

 

Or S9 VS iPhone 8 and XR
https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=8573&idPhone3=9320&idPhone2=8966

[ZacoAttaco]

3 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Yeah, no reasonable person could argue that the S5 is a better value than anything later than the iPhone 6s. I would probably even take an iPhone 6 over the Galaxy S5 today. At least the iPhone 6 would still run the latest software. 

Yeah for me personally, I notice that I get a lot more life from the iPhones just because of better optimisation, even on the latest available OS, when my Galaxy S5 was starting to become unusable, my old iPhone 5 was still working reasonably well. Maybe a battery replacement and that's it.

 

With the Galaxy S5, the 6.0 system update was just destroying my RAM, perhaps I could have done a factory reset and that would have extended the life. I know Luke Lafr says he has to factory reset his Pixel every year or so.

 

But for me it became clear what phone would last longer, and for me I don't want to be upgrading every 2 years, I want to try and get the most out of my phone. Considering you're running an iPhone 6s I guess you'd feel the same. 

[DrMacintosh]

2 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

If you think that's unreasonable, especially with a comparison linked. Then look at the S9 compared the the iPhone 8 and Xr. Still far better value, while costing a shitload less:

2 https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=8573&idPhone3=9320&idPhone2=8161

 

Do your argument, which is in itself fundamentally flawed, a favor by comparing phones of the same generation. 

 

Now once you've done that lets stop using gsmarena and use actually reviews that compare the phones in real life, not numbers of a spec sheet. Ok? 

[Curufinwe_wins]

5 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

If you think that's unreasonable, especially with a comparison linked. Then look at the S9 compared the the iPhone 8 and Xr. Still far better value, while costing a shitload less:

https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=8573&idPhone3=9320&idPhone2=8161

 

I'm very confused by this. On the one hand the S8 is near contemporaneous with the iPhone 8. On the other hand, the s5 is no where near of similar age and support as the iPhone 7. 

 

Thus my comment about comparing S7 value to iPhone 7 if you really felt obliged to do so. 

 

The iPhone 7 is a much better phone than the s5. The S7 is a more interesting comparison.

[DrMacintosh]

3 minutes ago, ZacoAttaco said:

Considering you're running an iPhone 6s I guess you'd feel the same. 

I would say that I'm trying to get the most out of my 6s Plus but that would require my 6s Plus feeling inadequate. Really this phone is just as fast as any 2018 flagship and does literally everything except have FaceID. 

[wasab]

4 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Do your argument, which is in itself fundamentally flawed, a favor by comparing phones of the same generation. 

 

Now once you've done that lets stop using gsmarena and use actually reviews that compare the phones in real life, not numbers of a spec sheet. Ok? 

S9 is prettier and it is an objective fact, OK?

[wasab]

4 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I would say that I'm trying to get the most out of my 6s Plus but that would require my 6s Plus feeling inadequate. Really this phone is just as fast as any 2018 flagship and does literally everything except have FaceID. 

Plus the apple slowing down your phone because of battery issue so you missed something. 

[ZacoAttaco]

1 minute ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

I'm very confused by this. On the one hand the S8 is near contemporaneous with the iPhone 8. On the other hand, the s5 is no where near of similar age and support as the iPhone 7. 

  

Thus my comment about comparing S7 value to iPhone 7 if you really felt obliged to do so. 

 

The iPhone 7 is a much better phone than the s5. The S7 is a more interesting comparison.

The Galaxy S5 shouldn't have even been brought up. Pricewise i7 and i8 compare well to S7 and S8.

3 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Do your argument, which is in itself fundamentally flawed, a favor by comparing phones of the same generation. 

 

Now once you've done that lets stop using gsmarena and use actually reviews that compare the phones in real life, not numbers of a spec sheet. Ok? 

I think the core issue is that, while Apple might not admit it, it's never been about the specs. It's about getting the most out of the specs with great software. No one should argue that an iPhone is superior on a purely hardware side. No comparison with the phones should be done on specs alone, it's about usability and price. You can argue on usability that the Galaxy line is fine and you wouldn't be wrong.

 

Price is a little harder to distinguish because you are paying for more than just hardware but support also.

Just now, DrMacintosh said:

I would say that I'm trying to get the most out of my 6s Plus but that would require my 6s Plus from feeling inadequate. Really this phone is just as fast as any 2018 flagship and does literally everything except have FaceID. 

Same here, it's funny, because I don't really want FaceID, I'd prefer to stick with TouchID.

[ZacoAttaco]

3 minutes ago, wasab said:

Plus the apple slowing down your phone because of battery issue so you missed something. 

Yeah I did forget about that...hasn't affected me yet, if it does hopefully it's just an easy battery replacement although I've heard it can still throttle your performance even after the replacement. Definitely a downside.

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, ZacoAttaco said:

Same here, it's funny, because I don't really want FaceID, I'd prefer to stick with TouchID.

And I'm not even joking about how stupidly good the 6s/Plus is in 2018

 

[Curufinwe_wins]

1 minute ago, wasab said:

Plus the apple slowing down your phone because of battery issue so you missed something. 

Can we please do me a favour and not argue against iOS inarticulately? It makes things so much harder when I have legit points to bring up against @DrMacintosh...

7 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I would say that I'm trying to get the most out of my 6s Plus but that would require my 6s Plus feeling inadequate. Really this phone is just as fast as any 2018 flagship and does literally everything except have FaceID. 

I tried booting up my old HTC 1 M8, and was so disappointed with the display and camera. But I know I have ludicrous expectations these days having treated myself to an S9+.

I'd argue a lot with 'just as fast' and 'does everything' but I can certainly believe it does plenty enough, well enough.

 

Anecdotally, my mother misses her headphone jack (6s work phone, 7 personal phone).

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, ZacoAttaco said:

although I've heard it can still throttle your performance even after the replacement. Definitely a downside.

After a fresh battery is installed performance goes back to day one levels. Any slow downs and stutters are just going to be from a lack of RAM and pure limitations in computational cycles in a phone so old. 

[D13H4RD]

9 minutes ago, wasab said:

S9 is prettier and it is an objective fact, OK?

Design is subjective, I'm sorry to say. Not everyone likes curved glass. 

 

8 minutes ago, wasab said:

Plus the apple slowing down your phone because of battery issue so you missed something. 

Whilst I agree Apple totally fucked up by keeping it a secret, maybe ask yourself this. 

 

Would you rather have a fast phone that could shut down at any time due to a severely degraded battery or a phone which has to slow down to prevent shutting down at a possible critical situation? 

 

They're both bad situations but what would you have? And assume there's no option to switch (current iPhones now have the option to switch, thank God) 

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

I'd argue a lot with 'just as fast' and 'does everything' but I can certainly believe it does plenty enough, well enough.

The NVME storage and complimenting controller were really the thing that catapulted the iPhone 6s way ahead of its time. The 2GB of RAM also bring it right into the iOS 12 sweet spot and it has all the same software features of the iPhone 8 Plus. It just lacks certain hardware features like stereo speakers, better cameras, and a better Taptic Engine. The 6s through the 8 are really fundamentally the same phone. Just quality of life features were added on year over year. 

[Curufinwe_wins]

3 minutes ago, ZacoAttaco said:

The Galaxy S5 shouldn't have even been brought up. Pricewise i7 and i8 compare well to S7 and S8.

I think the core issue is that, while Apple might not admit it, it's never been about the specs. It's about getting the most out of the specs with great software. No one should argue that an iPhone is superior on a purely hardware side. No comparison with the phones should be done on specs alone, it's about usability and price. You can argue on usability that the Galaxy line is fine and you wouldn't be wrong.

 

Price is a little harder to distinguish because you are paying for more than just hardware but support also.

Same here, it's funny, because I don't really want FaceID, I'd prefer to stick with TouchID.

Not in the US. iPhones are much more expensive. Mint/(new resale) 7 for 350 at the lowest on secondary markets. 250 for S7 at same.

 

This is actually better than it was 2 years ago when I bought my S7. S7 was already down to 400-450, an iPhone SE was still 450. lol. iPhone secondary market sucks price wise here (although the good news is that it means value retention).

 

For now, support is same, but won't be in 6 months. Anyways, this wasn't even a relevant discussion.

[Curufinwe_wins]

1 minute ago, DrMacintosh said:

The NVME storage and complimenting controller were really the thing that catapulted the iPhone 6s way ahead of its time. The 2GB of RAM also bring it right into the iOS 12 sweet spot and it has all the same software features of the iPhone 8 Plus. It just lacks certain hardware features like stereo speakers, better cameras, and a better Taptic Engine. The 6s through the 8 are really fundamentally the same phone. Just quality of life features were added on year over year. 

That I can't disagree with. And the same fundamental issues (that I have with iOS) are all the same

[wasab]

Just now, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

Design is subjective, I'm sorry to say. Not everyone likes curved glass. 

 

Whilst I agree Apple totally fucked up by keeping it a secret, maybe ask yourself this. 

 

Would you rather have a fast phone that could shut down at any time due to a severely degraded battery or a phone which has to slow down to prevent shutting down at a possible critical situation? 

 

They're both bad situations but what would you have? And assume there's no option to switch (current iPhones now have the option to switch, thank God) 

Why don't I see Android phone randomly shut off then? And gasp, some of them have removable battery so ease to replace. 

 

iPhone design is now seriously old fashion. It is the same looking piece of shiny metal every year. 

[Curufinwe_wins]

1 minute ago, wasab said:

Why don't I see Android phone randomly shut off then? And gasp, some of them have removable battery so ease to replace. 

 

iPhone design is now seriously old fashion. It is the same looking piece of shiny metal every year. 

I really really hate arguments for fashion based on age. I quite literally cannot design or conceive a better looking phone (to me) than the s8+/s9+ shell, and the day they move away from it, I will be a sad panda.

[D13H4RD]

3 minutes ago, wasab said:

Why don't I see Android phone randomly shut off then? And gasp, some of them have removable battery so ease to replace. 

 

iPhone design is now seriously old fashion. It is the same looking piece of shiny metal every year. 

Yeah, because you haven't experienced an Android phone with a battery that's degraded to that point. 

 

Yes, the iPhone's battery lifespan is honestly kind of pathetic in comparison to the recent Samsung batteries, but I've owned an HTC One M7 and Moto Z (both phones are notorious for poor battery life) and when their batteries were degraded, the moment I did anything intensive, the phone shuts off entirely without any warning and required to be plugged in. 

 

Also, many new Android phones have no removable batteries 

[ZacoAttaco]

15 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

And I'm not even joking about how stupidly good the 6s/Plus is in 2018

That's why I switched to iPhone, hopefully I still get at least 2+ years out of the 7, that's the plan anyway.

13 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

After a fresh battery is installed performance goes back to day one levels. Any slow downs and stutters are just going to be from a lack of RAM and pure limitations in computational cycles in a phone so old. 

I thought there were articles about the phone remembering to charge the battery to only 90% rather than the full capacity of the battery itself, with iOS still saying it's fully charged. Thanks for the clarification.

9 minutes ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

Not in the US. iPhones are much more expensive. Mint/(new resale) 7 for 350 at the lowest on secondary markets. 250 for S7 at same.

Fair enough, over here they are much similar in prices, probably a lot of old stock vendors want to ship.

8 minutes ago, wasab said:

And gasp, some of them have removable battery so ease to replace. 

Key word being 'some', most unfortunately don't, that is the issue with Android, all the unique and defining features have slowly being phased out. So while I don't like that you can't DIY an iPhone battery repair, it's not like it's common on Android anymore either. MicroSD expansion is almost gone too. It is a genuine shame

[DrMacintosh]

3 minutes ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

Also, many new Android phones have no removable batteries 

And lets be real, the iPhone might have a "non removable battery" but they are extremely easy to replace yourself if you have the right screw driver and a suction cup. 

[D13H4RD]

Just now, DrMacintosh said:

And lets be real, the iPhone might have a "non removable battery" but they are extremely easy to replace yourself if you have a the right screw driver and a suction cup. 

Talk to my HTC One M7 

 

It has heat warping due to needing a shit ton of heat just to remove the back cover. 

[ZacoAttaco]

3 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

And lets be real, the iPhone might have a "non removable battery" but they are extremely easy to replace yourself if you have a the right screw driver and a suction cup. 

That's something I don't agree with, if there is ever a more serious issue, Apple support are hesitant to repair a product that's already been DIY fixed. So if I were to do something wrong, then I'm am fully reliant on third party and we've seen recently with the T2 chip on Macbooks that they don't want you using third parties.

 

It's not that they just 'don't want you to' it's more that they'll refuse to repair products, look at the whole LTT iMac Pro fiasco, so that is one thing I don't like about their products.

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, ZacoAttaco said:

That's something I don't agree with, if there is ever a more serious issue, Apple support are hesitant to repair a product that's already been DIY fixed.

Generally Apple policy is that they will service you as long as the battery has not been replaced. They don't care about 3rd party displays or other repairs as long as they are no board level. 

[ZacoAttaco]

6 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Generally Apple policy is that they will service you as long as the battery has not been replaced. They don't care about 3rd party displays or other repairs as long as they are no board level. 

I think the use of the word 'Extremely easy to replace' is a little exaggerated, iFixIt has it as moderate with 33 steps using their toolkit. Again for me it's about the longevity of the product, I look after it so I haven't had any major screen damage and if I did, I would just take it to Apple honestly.

 

If something were to happen, I'd be on my own. Repairs have never been my expertise