There’s a major kerfuffle about the new iPhone 7. I am not an iPhone fan. We’ve owned them, both the four and the five and were underwhelmed. We were much happier back when we could use a Blackberry, a mobile phone that was designed to be used as an actual telephone. You know, with sound you could hear. Even a real keyboard. Since the end of the Blackberry, it has been downhill. Our current phone, a Samsung Galaxy that we picked entirely based on the quality of its sound, is okay. It works and does what we need to do with it. I’m not in love with it, but I’m satisfied that it was almost worth the ridiculous amount it cost.
Which is less than half what the new iPhone 7 will cost.
So what are the new upgrades that make it so special? They dumped the analog earphone jack which everyone used to listen to music. They have, instead, put in another speaker. Which, my good friend the audio engineer says will make its tinny sound louder, but not better. On a more positive note, it will force buyers of the new iPhone to get those expensive blue-tooth earphones which, at $150 a pop, should add a nice pop to Apple’s bottom line.
They have also (finally) made it water-resistant. You can drop it in the toilet, pull it out and go right back to sticking it on your face. What could possibly go wrong with that?
It is heartwarming to see how corporations “get” us and respond to our needs, isn’t it? Have you ordered your iPhone 7 yet? Don’t forget to buy those new blue-tooth earphones! You’re going to need them.
Share this:
Categories: Humor, Technology
SKIPPING THE SMALL PRINT 
YOU JUST HAD TO BE HERE 
BLOWING A CIRCUIT 
REMEMBER WHEN YOU WERE HAPPY TO GET A PHONE CALL? 
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Cell phone, the only topic for which i can speak hours and hours, that what i often write.
See
My fresh blog : Lenovo Moto Mods cell phone
https://technewspoint.wordpress.com/2016/10/09/moto-mod-transformation-era/
LikeLike
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 here, and I don’t think I’ll be upgrading that any time soon based upon the current issues. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Note 4, awesome,especially sensors
LikeLike
We got a Galaxy pad for our trip. Still haven’t figured out how to efficiently operate it. But it did prove useful … checking the Blog and email. I don’t have a phone though – and don’t plan on it.
LikeLike
If you have the pad, you can actually use it as a phone. There’s an app for that, though I think you also need a phone carrier. Still, I like the Galaxy products. After you get used to the Android OS, it’s easy to use … and it works.
LikeLike
Thank you. I didn’t know that. (I confess to my lack of Tech savvy.) We’ll figure it out.
LikeLike
Just look up the reviews of the pad you own on Amazon. The reviewers often leave tons of information.
LikeLike
Thank you again.
LikeLike
I hate to sound like a luddite, but we’re sticking to our landline and cell phone that is so old – size and shape of a deck of cards. There is zero interest in stealing that little gem.
Leslie
LikeLike
We have a VOIP landline. A “real” landline is so obscenely expensive, i can’t even think about it. Sadly, our old cell phones were Blackberries … and they went out of business, so we had to move on. I think we’re pretty okay with our current phone and AT&T was always our carrier, even way back when. I really don’t worry much about people stealing our stuff. It’s not that valuable or resellable.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some of those phones are valuable.
Leslie
LikeLike
But I don’t actually HAVE the old phones. I’m pretty sure we donated them to some charity years ago. I had about 10 or them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good Lord – 10 of them.
Leslie
LikeLike
We were early cell phone adopters. Garry really needed one for work. It vastly improved the quality of his life after I got him one. And I worked a long way from home and was always job hunting, so a cell phone let me take prospective employment calls away from home. It made MY life a lot easier too since I was nearly always on the road. Cell phone technology was changing very fast in those early years and we’ve had cells since the early 1990s, long before most people had them. That’s more than 20 years of cell phones. Two people and a lot of phones later. They had to wrench the early ones out of our hands because while they were heavy and awkward, they ALWAYS connected and had GREAT audio. After that, we swapped phones about every year and a half or two.
LikeLike
It makes a lot of sense from that perspective. It would be hard to do business without one today.
Leslie
LikeLike
Nothing much has changed mobile phone wise for the last 5 years, they’ve just gone bigger, the cameras are better quality, and the batteries last a little longer. The apps are what really make the difference, however, for most people I know, the ‘smart’ part of the smart phone is never used in quite the same way as the advertisers present. Email, Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp, Snapchat and Google – all phones do that eh? As for the iPhone, it’s more of a designer mobile accessory than a great phone. However, fashion accessories are supposed to be an expression of you individualism right? So it doesn’t make sense to have the most popular mobile phone in the world. It seldom gets voted as the best phone on the market in reviews, and the last three iterations as you have pointed out have been ‘underwhelming’. I think the next one they bring out should include a cracked screen, as most iPhone users crack there screens within a month. I liked my Galaxy S4 Mini so much I bought another one off eBay… then I dropped it before getting a case for it and it now has a cracked screen. I feel like an iPhone user now… although my phone only cost £85 and does everything I need it to do 😉
LikeLike
HEY there. Glad you are still around. Haven’t heard from you since your series after coming back from Asia. Hope all is well! We have a small Galaxy phone, too. It was, by current standards, cheap. As a camera, it’s a great telephone. It does what we need to do … phone calls, texts (I hate texting, but everyone else seems to love it and I don’t know why). Has my calendar on it so I can make sure today new appointment isn’t on the same day as some other appointment. I think that sums up my cell phone usage. It’s too small for email, though if something just needs a one word response, I can manage that. And I can at least look and see what I’ll have to take care of when I get back to a computer with a keyboard. I have a feeling that this may be the beginning of the end of the love affair with ever more expensive cell phones. I suspect a flash of commonsense is about it kick in and change the equation. Sure hope so.
Don’t be a stranger!
LikeLike
Hola! I never went anywhere, I just changed country, which was complicated. I didn’t really have time to continue writing regularly. I hope you and Gary are well.
LikeLike
We’re as okay as we have ever been. Better, really … just older. I suppose that’s what you get if you continue to live. Get older, I mean. I knew you were in … was it Indonesia? Forgive my memory lapses. I feel like I need a bigger hard drive and a better motherboard in the brain. We’re good. I miss your writing. But I have also noticed that it takes up a huge amount of time … which I almost have enough of being retired. Yet not enough. I keep writing shorter and shorter pieces and somehow, the day disappears anyhow. Funny how writing does that.
LikeLike
Good thing I can’t afford one. Coz after a year or less it will be worth nothing when there will be new releases. Ouch.
LikeLike
I think this may be the beginning of the end of the “annual new phone” contest. I think people are wearing out and seriously questioning if they actually NEED a new phone. It’s about time.
LikeLike
I’ll stick with my Samsung Galaxy s6- does everything I need it to!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ditto. We have a Galaxy, too. Different model. Smaller.
LikeLiked by 1 person
S6 is marvelous
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am a happy iPhone user although the only calls I get or make seem to be doctors surgeries and Mr. Swiss if I lose him in the supermarket. Since dad passed away, I have no real need to call England and if I do it is done by the Facebook messenger which is free and costs me nothing. My last forever visit to England was all done by messenger to Mr. Swiss and I did not have to pay a penny extra on my bill. I wil probably get the new phone eventually. My main interest is the camera, so I will have a look to see if this new phone has better quality. I never actually walk around with the plug in my ear, although Mr. Swiss tends to go on a walk in nature listening to jazz. Everyone to their own.
LikeLike
I’m not fond of earphones, iPhones, headphones or cell phones. Or even regular telephones. We’ve got a Galaxy something or other and it’s fine. We use it when we need it. The rest of the time, it sleeps in my bag. It’s more than enough for our minimal needs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry Apple, but I think I’m going to hold on to my 2006 flip phone for a few more years. It’s a phone, it’s a paperweight, and not much else. Just how I like it…
LikeLiked by 2 people
I wish I’d hung on to some of my earlier phones. You can’t get them anymore.
LikeLike
Huh?
LikeLike
I just got my first smart phone — it’s so smart that the only thing I can do with it yet is make phone calls!. It’s a Samsung, and I’m sure I’ll like it when I get it all set up and get used to using it.
LikeLike
I’ve really only just begun to be able to do more than make a phone call … but I don’t care about most of the other functions. I want to be able to make calls, answer texts, look up my calendar, and if I’m desperate, answer an email. I can also use it to listen to an audiobook, but it is would not be my first OR second choice. The Samsungs have pretty good sound, especially compared to iPhones which have really pathetic sound. And once, the camera came in handy because I was at a wedding and you can’t fit a camera in an evening purse. Not even a very small one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If I thought I’d remember, I’d promise to update the above response in a year, after I get more used to using the smart phone as a single tool to replace all the other things I carry (calendar, camera, and things like maps, email, etc. I know it’s useful if you use it to its full extent, but I haven’t seen myself adapting to that yet.
LikeLike
Don’t give up your camera. But it will do the rest. As a camera, it’s a good telephone.
LikeLike
What??
LikeLike
😀
LikeLike