
next iPhone priced at $999, reportedly - Stanleyc23
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/24/apple-reportedly-looking-to-price-its-next-iphone-at-999/
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PascLeRasc
I just got a $99 Motorola phone a few weeks ago, the E4, and it's been
amazing. Latest security update on Nougat 7.1, and very close to stock. I put
a microSD card in and it formatted it as internal storage. Cheap Android is
great.

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fouc
How's the camera?

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Fej
Potato.

That's one of the downsides of budget phones.

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bsharitt
The super budget phones like the E4 are pretty bad, but you can get a pretty
decent camera on a midrange Android phone. I've got a Moto G5 Plus that is a
pretty solid phone with a decent camera(only real short coming is very low
light). That phone is $230 for the base model, and I think it's about $40-$50
less if you get the Amazon ad supported version(which I think the
aforementioned $99 E4 is).

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pasbesoin
The G5+ comes in 2 configurations, in the U.S. (UK/Europe and India are
different.) 2 GB RAM / 32 GB flash, and 4 GB RAM / 64 GB flash. Both take a
microSD card of up to 128 GB or 256 GB, depending on whose specs your reading
-- I'd be cautious, if it makes a difference in your purchase decision, and
believe the 128 GB.

It is described as being compatible with all 4 of the U.S.'s major networks.

Currently, it's on a fairly recent version of 7.0 . Interesting that the E4 is
ahead of it, on 7.1 . Typical Motorola/Android inconsistency.

The 2/32 version has an ad-free price on Amazon of $230, and an ad-full price
(Amazon ads, like they've had on Kindle and Fire phones) of $180. However, a
week+ ago, Amazon was putting the ad-free version on sale for $180, in typical
Amazon fashion: On again, off again, on again... Until their inventory of the
ad-free version sold out.

The 4/64 version has been consistently holding at $300, for the ad-free
version. I've read a comment or two about someone getting the ad-free version
on sale for $40 or $50 off, but I haven't seen such a sale. The ad-full
version has the Amazon discount price, but that wasn't of interest to me.

I've also read comments stating that the 2/32 ad-free version has been at
CostCo for $180, but I don't have a CostCo membership.

Oh, and that if you want to root the thing, you should get the version free of
Amazon's ad platform.

My Nexus 5x bootlooped, and I ended up getting the 4/64 version of the G5+.
Supposedly, there is a G5S+ version coming soon, with an upgraded camera
package -- dual 13 megapixel cameras that enable some depth-of-field trickery
and whatever else. The G5+ has a single 12 megapixel camera (as well as the
"selfie" camera).

The G5S+ is supposedly launching in Europe this August, and in the U.S. at
some unannounced time in the fall. Pricing's also not known, but some think
both models will be offered concurrently, with the S's pricing a bit higher.

As for me, I needed something now, so I bought the G5+. I got frustrated with
Amazon's pricing dance, and I figured 4/64 would provide a longer life as a
second phone or experimental device. My purpose was/is to tide me over until
the Pixel 2 launches, although I'm hesitant after my 5X experience.
Thereafter, to have a backup device as well as one I can root and play with.

The G5+ is a decent phone. Decent IPS screen. Battery can go all day with
moderate use, plus perhaps a bit more. Has a fingerprint sensor, making having
a locked device more convenient (the whole unlocking "coercion" concern,
aside).

The processor/GPU combination is not high end, but it's enough for email,
browsing, Facebook, watching video, and the like.

The camera's ok. The Nexus 5X's takes more attractive pictures. The G5+'s gets
rid of the momentary lag that both the 5X and the 6P exhibit when the
"shutter" is triggered.

The Motorola camera app has a professional mode with significant control (ISO-
equivalency, exposure control, etc.). One thing it doesn't seem to have is the
ability to turn off taking photos at the screen's proportions. Essentially, it
is discarding the top and bottom pixel lines built into the sensor, in order
to match the screen's dimensions. I installed the open source, well-regarded
app Open Camera to get around this. (Which it does, but I've been running into
some typical single guy / small team project bugginess as I use it more.) Some
of the Motorola app's pictures also exhibited some significant JPG-type low-
quality distortion. (Perhaps it was lower light and/or moderate zoom,
contributing.) I'm not sure, but maybe Open Camera does a bit better, in this
regard.

So, I got into a pretty good ramble, here.

I'll be damned if I'm going to pay a grand for a phone. And if I did, it would
have to be with a good warranty and some decent loss/damage/failure insurance
(if affordable). And I'd need a guarantee of support. At least Apple devices
tend to get good support for 3 - 4 years, unlike Android's crapshoot of too-
often abaondon-ware.

I'll see where the Pixel 2 prices come in. Although, no SD card... And now no
headphone jack...

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foldr
I don't think this can last. Smartphones are a commodity now. I just moved
from a 5c to a Samsung A5. Android is a clunky piece of crap compared to iOS
(Google can't get predictive text right?!), but I can't possibly justify
paying hundreds of dollars more for a device that isn't really any more
featureful. Sure, the iPhone would have a better camera, but most midrange
Androids have cameras that are good enough now.

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StavrosK
The beauty of Android is that, if Google can't get predictive text right, you
can use something that can (eg SwiftKey).

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ringaroundthetx
2013 called and wants its arguments back.

iOS has had Swiftkey and any custom keyboard you want since iOS 8.

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StavrosK
Eh, let me know when I can connect my phone to the computer and have it
mounted as a mass storage device, then I'll accept that the arguments are
invalid.

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ringaroundthetx
Let me get a native crossplatform airdrop on android and I would consider
switching back

I never want to plug in an iOS device. But, after you accept the iTunes thing
if did plug it in as mass storage, you'll see that you can move arbitrary
files to the app that can open them. Do you really want the extra storage or
is there another particular use case you want that requires it as a mounted
drive?

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StavrosK
What do you mean by native airdrop? You can have whatever SSH/SMB/NFS server
you want.

> is there another particular use case you want that requires it as a mounted
> drive

I don't want files to be per-application. I have various audiobook reading
apps, music players, video playing apps, etc. I don't want to copy my music
once per app, I want to put it on my phone and choose which app I want to play
stuff with later on.

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ksec
By Next iPhone, it means the iPhone 8 or iPhone Edition, what ever it will be
named.

People often forget you can still buy what a normal upgrade cycle iPhone 7s.
Assuming the leaks and rumours are correct, you still get the normal "S"
upgrade, Faster SoC, better LTE Baseband, WiFi and Bluetooth improvement,
likely a slightly better screen, glass Back, Better Front and Back Camera,
along with Capacity bump, double the Storage for same price.

And the iPhone 8 is Apple's price discovery, how much will people paid for the
best Apple could make, with limited capacity and volume. Personally I dont
think $999 is that expensive considering an iPhone 7s Plus Mid tier would cost
$869. __

 __That is what Apple, and likely what the media is going to spin the story.
Its ONLY $140 difference. And it is actually the wrong way to compare it to
because even though it has a 5.8 " screen, it has the size of an iPhone 7,
which goes for $769 mid tier. We already knew from the firmware hacks there is
likely a iPhone 8 Plus NEXT YEAR, same size with iPhone 7 Plus but with 6.x"
Screen, likely starting at $1099.

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malloryerik
Apple is doing an amazing job in the fight against techno-deflation. I just
bought a new MacBook Pro yesterday with decent specs and holy jalapeños it's
pricey. The irony for me is that I'd probably have bought an Apple Watch too
if the MBP weren't so expensive.

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MuffinFlavored
That isn't really irony...

Say the MBP cost $2k.

A $1.7k MBP and a $300 watch = $2k revenue.

What's the difference? Are you saying watch margins may be higher?

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berdario
I guess that with both a MBP and an Apple watch the lock-in effect might be
stronger...

Compared to now, where as soon as the MBP will die, the GP would be free to
switch to another platform

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godzillabrennus
The iPhone 7 Plus 128 GB is about $900 retail, this isn't really that
different.

~~~
Someone
Also, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is _" $930 to $960 (depending on carrier"_,
according to [https://www.cnet.com/news/galaxy-note-8-everything-you-
need-...](https://www.cnet.com/news/galaxy-note-8-everything-you-need-to-
know/)

For these phones, price signals quality in some sense, so if they want to
claim their phone is best, they have to be at least in that range.

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johansch
I could see the Tim Cook era Apple ending up buying LVMH down the line.

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TheOtherHobbes
Much too vulgar for AAPL.

Besides, Apple probably has plans of its own for self-driving designer
luggage.

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dagw
_Much too vulgar for AAPL._

No more vulgar than Beats.

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netsharc
Whatever happened to 10K Apple watches, they were presented as one of the
options, I've never checked if they actually made it to market.

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tommorris
The Series 1 'Edition' watches were $10-17k and in gold. When Series 2 came
out, they switched the gold to ceramic and they start at $1,249.

The gold ones were definitely for sale both online, in the shops, and in
department stores (one of the big London department stores has an Apple Watch
counter).

Personally, I think it was more of a marketing gimmick: send a few out to
celebrities for some buzz in the fashion press, and get the tech press to
write about how Apple are "going after the Rolex end of the watch market"...
even if they don't sell many, it was good PR for the first series of watches.

And for consumers, they could try the gold one on in the shop, sigh that they
don't have $10,000 and then buy the $300-$500 one.

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pmlnr
Bought a 119GBP Nomu S10. Certified IP68, EU 4G, all fine, no bloatware.
Forget all the overpriced wonders imo.

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tomcam
So... $1199 for the 512G version, I would guess

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StavrosK
So there's a half-terabyte phone version, huh? We've come a long way indeed.

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tomcam
[https://www.macrumors.com/2017/08/23/iphone-8-64-256-and-512...](https://www.macrumors.com/2017/08/23/iphone-8-64-256-and-512gb-
storage/)

