Hermès handbags used to drive me nuts. I couldn't for the life of me work out the value in such a handbag. I had totally missed the point. Functionality has nothing to do with it; it is all about making a statement. That is, they are purely a status device.

I suspect the new X will fall into a similar category.

Yeah... System updates keep bringing them back. But some phones (manufacturers) its a lot worse. I no longer have the apps that appear to be Chinese only (imported a HK version, if I remember right) without an issue. If they didn't keep changing defaults or popping notifications to buy...

I know I'm a little picky, but I'm amazed at the garbage that fails to faze most people.

This.
Not just with phones but life generally.

I've been on vanilla android since the google play HTC One M7, and was flashing Cyanogenmod onto a SGS2 before that. (Have a 5X now)

I'm never going back to a bloated phone as much as the Z5C is almost exactly what I want I am not into Sony's UI and I don't want to put any effort into making it like I want it.

With only the Pixel offering a vanilla experience (at a price I'm not currently willing to pay) and me being tired of ~5" phones I'm actually kind of excited about the prospect of going to an iPhone SE... guess I'm just itching for a change. I'm sure I'll be pissed off at iOS in no time (I almost dropped the idea after realizing they don't have swype typing, but apparently you can use google's keyboard or swype now).

Funny enough my gf is moderately disgusted with the idea of me getting an iphone.

:scared0016:

Guess the point is that you're not the only picky one.

I don't know about you guys but I'm glad the cupholder / phoneholder is removable, so I just take it into the store to test fit the new phones.

Check the Android phones Nokia is offering... ;) May not be what you're after in the end, but really promising. They're already getting Oreo.

Swapping the launcher fixed the minor Sony UI issues I found, but I've foregone rooting and installing alternate ROMs, this one for the first time (I may instead say "screw you, work - you don't get to use my phone, I'm rooting it"). I go back to the HTC Hero (Cyanogen, overclocked stable nearly 50%) and custom stuff (first tablet was an Archos 10" running Android 1.6 - in 2010).

My problem now with Sony is the corners - they eat through my pockets!

The biggest problem with the iPhone is Apple. Everything is now out of your control, and only available through the software they want you to use for whatever it is you're doing. And you have to buy into their whole ecosystem. It's great from a "keep people suckered in" business perspective, but... I don't organize and work the way they think I should, so it fights me the whole way. Hardware is solid, optimization and performance is top notch. Everything else, at best, annoys me. At worst has me wanting to throw the fu**ing thing after 5 minutes of use. I've spent more time fixing stuff Apple so kindly 'fixed' for me (I tried doing music with iTunes briefly because my wife loves Apple and it was easier for us to share the stuff that way... it was faster for me to delete and re-rip ~160GB of classical music after it re-organized it and actually separated movements of symphonies! The same piece, and it put it in different places and it wouldn't play the whole piece together, in order.)

Don't get me started on their 'special' keyboard layout.

At this point, I immediately think significantly less of someone if they believe Apple is the bees knees. Different. Just like everyone else pretending to be different desperately trying to be SOMEONE and fit in...

Wrong size, do not pass go, do not collect $200. It does remind me of 2013 Motorola which is promising now that they're out from under Microsoft's thumb (but that could be a backhanded compliment in a few years).
Size is about 1/3 of the reason why I'm considering a switch, hardware reliability is the other 2/3 (as I'm on my 3rd 5X in <1.5 years), don't know Nokia's history but they don't meet criteria #2 for me so why bother?

I think it's all about how you want to use your device. I can load up Gboard, Google Play Music, Gmail, Youtube, google maps, make phone calls, take passable pictures, and browse the web, that's really all I need a phone to do.

The power user stuff is when shit hits the fan and I've been out of that game for a few years now. Funny enough quite a few of the people I know in software prefer Apple because they typically screw power users over less than Microsoft or Google, but I have a hunch we'll start seeing an uptick in Linux adoption as Microsoft and Apple converge to one universal OS and Google flounders without a direction throwing money at the wall to see what sticks.

Maybe there will be a nightmare niggled in iOS and I'll scream Uncle and go back to Android, but all a phone needs to do is fit in my pocket, get me to where I'm going, contact people, and entertain me a bit along the way.

Think less of me as you will. The iPhone SE has great battery life, a clean OS, and solid construction on a budget, a rare find among ANY android phone at ANY pricepoint. HTC got close imo but prioritized looks and their own OS sacrificing battery and performance, not to mention the QC niggles ('dat purple camera tint).

When my 5X fails again I'm asking for a refund and jumping ship (especially now that Google Fi isn't cheaper than ATT anymore). Maybe there will be a competent Android offering by then, but I'm not hopeful (my last 5X only lasted ~3 months). If the iPhone pisses me off I'll hop back on my HTC One M7 which I stopped using because battery life was awful and the charging port was no longer a solid connection, but when I used it while the 5X was down it was surprisingly not as bad as I remembered, likely because I didn't have any apps installed so I'll keep that in mind and keep that phone light given it's age.



Edit: Shit, I just realized this might be an issue on iPhone, have to test...

http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/imag...dia_volume.png

If you're doing the older hardware that's likely soon to be unavailable, yeah. Also didn't realize how big the Nokia 6 is. And if your music is already in iTunes you'll be fine. They're decent devices, and the hardware quality is impeccably consistent. They'll even insist the screen can't pop loose in a corner even when it keeps happening, just not at the store for warranty. My wife went through 2 5's, second one has the screen issues still...

I'm typing on a 4 year old Sony tablet... Really, I've only had issues with HTC batteries puffing after a couple years.

If not for the couple design issues that are giving me trouble I'd keep going on my z5. That's coming up on 2 years only, though.

I'm not an apple guy but i find a bit of irony in people complaining about paying $1000 for a single device that most use all day long to contact their family, do work, manage and record their life etc. Yet a lot of these same people will spend multi thousands of dollars to give their car that will never see a track more than a couple times a year a few extra whp or some fancy aero and whatnot.

Well, can't speak for everyone, but in either case the value has to be there. I would happily pay $1,000 for a phone, if I thought it was worth it.

I'm sure Apple will sell every one of the X they can build for that price.

The answer is simple. Apple is a mainstream brand yet the iPhone X pricepoint is already at the very top bordering the luxury market like Vertu or Porsche Design, etc. The twins pricepoint isn't remotely close to the boundary of the luxury segment, so what if the mods are a few grand. It's all relative.

It's like the same people that don't see any merit to the price of a VW Phaeton for example.

I think it's more relevant to say that a lot of the people who end up buying the X will be the same ones who say "I can't eat healthy because it's too expensive" or, "I can't afford to go away on vacation because it's too expensive"


Since I've gone through two phones already this year, it's unlikely I'll be making the jump back to Apple (Besides, happy as heck with my G6, though the S8 is tempting) but I'll likely get the X for the girlfriend. I don't have a monthly plan, since work pays for it (roughly $110 per month) so buying phones off contract makes way more sense in my position. This way I just pay off whatever phone I have in a month or so, and it's all good.

Bummed out that Apple Financial is no longer alive in Canada. I was hoping to get the X that way, and be interest free for three months. Ah well, guess I'll just have to work a bit more overtime.

@cjd I've been streaming music for about five years now, no need to use iTunes.
:cheers: