The USB-C is tempting. The only other Apple devices I own are all USB-C - Macbook Pros and an iPad Air. Maybe this will finally get me to switch from my aging Pixel 3A. The idea of dropping $800 on it is still a bit much though.
If you are looking for an alternative because the 3A is getting a little long in the tooth, I would say look at the SE. It doesn't have USB-C, but its a damn good phone for ~$400 (with probably 7-ish years of support). When I was looking to upgrade from my 3A, its what I went to.
Exactly. The really screwy thing with it is the naming scheme. SE 2016, 2020, and 2022. But I love still having a physical button on it. The battery life is better with the 2022, but still not anything compared to the regular iPhone or most flagship phones.
The 2020 or 2016? Yes stupid naming scheme. I’m super happy with my 2020 especially for the price. It’s plenty fast, not obnoxiously big, just a basic iPhone
Yea, the naming scheme is really screwed. They also have the 2022 now. I had the 2020 and got a free upgrade to the 2022. The only big difference between the two is the 2022 does have a slightly better battery life. But I love having the physical button.
I was thinking about the price because $800-1200 seems like a lot for a "phone", but you're really getting something that's awful close to a Macbook in power and display quality, but with a great camera and many times more compact (which usually command a hefty price premium), for less money than a Macbook. It's actually not a bad deal?
I suppose you could argue in the other direction that Macbooks are way overpriced. :-)
Looking at it from $/min you use the device or utility/$ that you get, these phones and laptops are far cheaper than many, many other luxury purchases people buy, such as restaurants, alcohol, or movie tickets.
It packs lot of power, likely enough to replace MacBook, except you can't really do anything other than what Apple thinks you should do with the device. It's far more constrained system than MacBook.
iPad is more or less same, except it lets you extend to a screen (not just mirror with wrong aspect-ratio), but the window management and everything else is still shit.
Neither of those devices adapt to keyboard/mouse yet, and primarily touch only. It does makes sense that they are touch only, but "its powerful" argument becomes less and less useful every release. It may mean different to someone else who plays games, or benefits from Machine Learning things that the phone can perform more each release just because of added power.
> I suppose you could argue in the other direction that Macbooks are way overpriced. :-)
I did drop $3.5k on my M1 Max MBP though and have zero regrets. And I plan on keeping it for 8-10 years. My previous laptop was a 2011 MacBook Pro which lasted about that long.
I just haven't ever spent more than ~$450 on a phone so far. The lag and the battery life on my current phone is starting to get pretty annoying. I might end up buying if it is a significantly better experience.
I went from 3a to a pixel 5 on backmarket, it's a great upgrade and doesn't really sacrifice anything. I am still waiting now for a new pixel, but even the 7/8 don't look interesting enough.
