>I think the real performance story with the A10 Fusion is not what it scores on benchmarks, nor how fast it feels in use, but what it does for battery life with its truly innovative dual two-core design. When high performance is called for, the A10 Fusion uses two performance optimized cores. When it’s not, is uses two energy-efficiency-optimized cores. To my knowledge there has never been a system like this in a phone.
Well, that's just wrong. Android phones had this years ago. The near ubiquitous Snapdragon 810 uses a Big.Little architecture.
Technically the Android phones using Big.Little are (correct me if I'm wrong) all octacore which is somewhat different than his claim (dual two core design; although there are/have been other chips with this).
Technically, it's not wrong because the statement is prefaced with 'To my knowledge'. Whether the author's knowledge is more extensive in the domain of the history of Apple's iPhone color offerings than the domain of mobile processor technologies implemented withing the industry does not alter the technical correctness of the statement.
Second, the hate he gets on every comments thread is very fun and entertaining to read, but I think it is often misplaced, and always ad-hominem.
Yes, one third of the 'review' is about the finish, and yes one third of the review is about home button usage patterns from Asia, but personally, that is why I read them, that is why they are unique, because they are not cultural reviews from The Verge, or technical reviews from Ars Technica, or node process reviews from Anandtech, which I also read. That is also why I don't read Engadget's review, or Gizmodo's one (are they still online?); their reviews are a subset of the others.
This is clearly a case of niche focus, he writes stuff others won't. And I'm glad I get to read his writing because, and this is the important part, I get to make my own mind, I don't have to agree with him.
Why am I incapable of either discerning or caring about any of this? I can't help but be impressed by his incredible attention to detail and his understanding of the design choices and their ramifications ... but I still feel like I'm reading about the mating habits of some alien species. Interesting yes. But also bizarre and faintly ridiculous.
People have different tastes and obsessions. I enjoy Gruber's writing about Apple products, but his extreme obsession on other topics baffles me. YMMV. I think it's a good thing that there are lots of different types of people on the world. There's extreme value in that diversity.
I sort of feel the same way. But then again people have different interests. And he happens to spend a lot of words on black vs. jet black, but still in the end concludes: "But what matters is what happens when you turn them on and use them."
Some years ago Gruber became the community PR person for Apple. The phone isn't interesting in any good way; the only major changes are all things taken away.
This reminds me of people who I dealt with in retail.
People would buy beautiful laptops, with glossy finishes, interesting detail. Yet, people would never pull the original plastic off the surrounding covers or back cover.
They would bring in their computers to be worked on and have this hideous, dirt crusted, half pulled up, sheet of plastic flapping in the breeze on their computer. I would ask them why they did this and they always said the same thing: "Because I don't want to scratch the laptop."
I would then go through my speal about how, if their entire purpose for keeping the plastic on was to keep it looking pristine, why did they put up with it looking like shit for years. By the time they get sick of dealing with said plastic, they will pull it off only to realize that the dirt and grime that has accumulated under that plastic causes tiny scratches in the surface of their laptop.
In summary: Laptops with plastic on them looked like shit to begin with, once removed the laptop still looked like shit from leaving the original plastic on. Take the plastic off, enjoy how beautiful your laptop is and try to take care of it to the best of your ability. Nothing lasts forever.
Laptops are still in the "big investment" category. (I put that in quotes because many, even the majority, of non-apple laptops cost less than a phone).
When my wife replaced her 1st gen macbook air she brought it to the shop to have the data transferred. She's a painter and it was covered with drips and smears of paint and had various nicks and other blemishes -- it was plainly a working tool. All the staff at the Palo Alto Apple store came to take a look at it because they were not used to seeing a machine not treated with kid gloves.
I find it fascinating that a review of an extremely complex piece of technology devotes 1,500 words to the color of the back of the thing. What a world.
It's not just the "color". The technology to create those finishes is itself extremely complex and difficult to accomplish. One of the things many people like about Apple products is the company's (or Jony Ive's) obsession with producing hardware that looks and also feels good, solid, pleasing. Some people find those details silly and pointless but lots of people appreciate meticulously crafted objects. Gruber is definitely that sort of person, and he writes for that sort of person. You may judge the relative value of other aspects of the device differently but I think it's reasonable that many phone buyers would be deeply concerned about the look and feel of a device they carry with them everywhere they go and use and touch more than literally any other object in their life.
I iPhone 6s+ owner here with iPhone 7+ on order. I wish some of the reviewers would cover the voice quality when using the iPhone as a phone. The iPhone 6s(+) added another microphone for noise cancellation and also it uses H.265 for FaceTime Video compression over cell networks (2x H.264 compression) and one is able to use VoLTE (I'm on Verizon). But I'm always looking for better cell phone quality.
I actually received a phone call while just to about to get on a NYC subway, 1 story below ground and the person couldn't wait until I took my subway trip, so we chatted for awhile while several subways passed both uptown and downtown (they come every 3 - 5 minutes in each direction). She claimed she could here me speaking just fine even when the subway is arriving :-)
But sometimes, people have trouble hearing me on the iPhone and on the Apple $80 in-hear microphone.
I'm curious if there are any upgrade to the iPhone 7 that improves the voice quality and I wish at least one reviewer would test this out.
Also, as an aside, I'm disappointed that the iPhone 7 doesn't cover band 66 (AWS-3) spectrum. I guess there aren't any modem chips out yet (at least not from Qualcomm which is what the Verizon and Sprint CDMA phones use).
Still in dense markets like NYC, even though Verizon has far more spectrum than AT&T, I expect that in the next year or two the existing spectrum will be filling up.
I've been using the iPhone leather case since the 5s (when it first came out) and I've only had one screen break.
I love the part about AssistiveTouch. I was just in China last week and also noticed this and couldn't explain it. I thought it had something to do with Chinese writing/characters. But this makes more sense: "why don’t they click the home button? Because of a widespread misconception that the home button will wear out, thus reducing the resale value of the iPhone."
The irony is that if nobody uses the home button, the buyer of the used phone shouldn't care if it works or not either.
Of course psychology and human nature doesn't work that way (I too feel weird buying something when a feature I don't need is broken), but it's still funny.
> misconception that the home button will wear out
I don't think it's a misconception at all. I've had to use the AssistiveTouch solution with both my 2 previous iPhones because either the home or power button stopped working. It's still enabled on my current iPhone and I still use it out of habit. I don't resell my phones, so I'm not worried about that aspect of things. I've only had 3 iPhones, 2 of them had the issue and I feel my current hasn't gotten it because I still use AssistiveTouch.
I've seen a lot of people use AssistiveTouch as a replacement for the home button too. It's definitely because they want to reduce wear on the home button and is also an easily copied habit from one person to another.
I'm also guessing that the amount of dust in certain geographies may play a bigger part in the home buttons not working well after sometime, since there is a gap for dust to get in in all the iPhone models (AFAIK) till the iPhone 6s series. The iPhone 7 series is the first one to eliminate the press button and replace it with a haptic one, which helps in water resistance and also eliminates dust getting in at that point.
> widespread misconception that the home button will wear out
I don't know if Apple finally fixed that in the iPhone 6, but it was everything but a misconception, I had the problem in my iPhone 3G and iPhone 4s my girlfriend in her 5s. Many friends in different versions of the iPhone.
Yes, a lot of people use it for this reason. It's really weird. I use the hell out of these things and never had the home button do anything but its job.
It is downright weird how everyone frets about the resale value of Apple products. Almost like they treat them more like art or similar than a device to use to get their life done.
Say what you want about Gruber's breathless/obsessive style, but as an upgrading iOS user, I found two bits very useful that weren't in the other 2 reviews I read:
-Jet black is the grippiest iPhone finish ever
-no OIS on the telephoto lens, making it much less useful than the default lens for night photos and video
The only reason I use a case on my iPhone is because without one, when I'm holding it, I feel like I am constantly on the verge of a rapid unplanned jettison. The thing is so slick and thin that I can't grip it very well.
I'm a-ok with micro-abrasions and treat my phone well, so maybe I'll spring for the jet black version.
The jet black ones look fantastic to me as well and I had worried a bit about durability since I've dropped, scraped and generally abused every phone I've had and I don't like cases.
I may be a bit unusual in this, but I actually want a smaller screen. Like everyone else, I want the phone to be thinner and lighter too, but I miss the days of being able to take my phone with my in my pocket when I go out running. a 4" screen at current iPhone thicknesses would be amazing. I'm not going to watch movies or write long HN comments on a phone. I just need something small that works for checking email, texting and playing me music.
Also on the topic of size, as my screen resolution keeps increasing over the years it feels like John is writing in smaller and smaller text! By changing literally nothing, he's been offering a worse and worse UX.
If you want a smaller screen take a gander at the iPhone SE. My biggest disappointment with the keynote is that they didn't update the SE's internals with the new A10, expanded memory, and storage. It's kind of annoying that the company assumes if you want a smaller screen you must be on a tight budget and willing to accept compromises. This holds true for most Android phones too, smaller screen == poverty option.
I think it's really strange that the headphone jack wasn't mentioned at all in the review. In the one instance he refers to it he says "where the whatchamacalit jack used to be".
He made an entire blog post 110% or more on side about the courage to remove the headphone socket, and how it would make the world a markedly better place and cure world hunger. Of course it's hardly the first time he's had a ridiculously pro-Apple position.
> Second, both black finishes exemplify Apple’s obsession and mastery with materials engineering.
But first, the Jet Black one is going to scuff and nick like hell. But because of feelings Gruber thinks it's both better and a demonstration of materials mastery and engineering.
Thanks Gruber, 12 paragraphs defining why a poor materials choice that requires a case (which counters the thinness of the phone which was the justification for why the headphone jack is gone) is a demonstration of mastery.
Here's the tl;dr of any Gruber review of an Apple product, he loves it. All the issues are examples of courage, and all the real problems don't get talked about ("where the whatchamacallit jack used to go"). He'll point out a token "problem" but, just like in this example, he then goes on at length about why it's actually some bold solution to a problem that's not actually a problem but is really about how dumb some users are (so dumb that the thing they're doing wrong even gets an entire paragraph of a footnote about how Apple is even helping them through the hopeless superstitious morass of their lives).
Even points that might be interesting to read about (the camera) can't be trusted because he's such a compromised reviewer.
A much better, and still favorable, review is the other one on the front page today by the Verge. There's issues with that review as well, but at least the information in the review is well balanced and considered and not thousands of words of apologia and user blaming.
> "which counters the thinness of the phone which was the justification for why the headphone jack is gone"
Er, at what point did Apple justify the removal of the headphone jack with thinness? The 7 has the same thickness as the 6/6S. They've put many justifications out there, but to my knowledge "thinness" has never been one of them.
The way I view it, Gruber reviews Apple products for people who already love Apple products. He has a broad understanding of Apple and brings a well-thought perspective to many things without getting stuck on comparing products to those in competing ecosystems. Personally I put a lot of value in Gruber's reviews, because he has a similar perspective to the products that I do. But that's going to be a important part of any review - matching perspectives.
> which counters the thinness of the phone which was the justification for why the headphone jack is gone
This is just factually incorrect. Apple gave a lot of reasons why the headphone jack was removed but thinness was never one of them. And it would make no sense for it to be one of them because the iPhone 7 is the same thickness as the iPhone 6 and 6S which have a headphone jack.
I agree Gruber is biased and loves Apple to the point where he will take ridiculous positions (see the EU tax issue) but if you're going to argue, do it from a factually correct point.
I am so glad somebody finally took Gruber head on. His reviews are always biased towards Apple and he fails to take a critical look at Apple's choices sometimes. You also forgot to mention one other thing which is the camera protrudes outside also because of the obsession with thinness. I would think we would probably get another hour or 2 charge if we make it a little thicker.
> I wouldn’t be surprised if the news stories and pundit hot takes about jet black iPhone scratches and scuffs outnumber those about the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 literally exploding and hurting people.
The Note 7 recall resulted in a $20B market cap drop for Samsung, about 15%. I'd bet good money at poor odds that 'scuffgate' will not have anywhere close to the same impact.
[+] [-] ClassyJacket|9 years ago|reply
Well, that's just wrong. Android phones had this years ago. The near ubiquitous Snapdragon 810 uses a Big.Little architecture.
[+] [-] sdsykes|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Steko|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JustSomeNobody|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CoolGuySteve|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] brudgers|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] redial|9 years ago|reply
Second, the hate he gets on every comments thread is very fun and entertaining to read, but I think it is often misplaced, and always ad-hominem.
Yes, one third of the 'review' is about the finish, and yes one third of the review is about home button usage patterns from Asia, but personally, that is why I read them, that is why they are unique, because they are not cultural reviews from The Verge, or technical reviews from Ars Technica, or node process reviews from Anandtech, which I also read. That is also why I don't read Engadget's review, or Gizmodo's one (are they still online?); their reviews are a subset of the others.
This is clearly a case of niche focus, he writes stuff others won't. And I'm glad I get to read his writing because, and this is the important part, I get to make my own mind, I don't have to agree with him.
[+] [-] jgruber|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] scandox|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skywhopper|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] janvdberg|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dionidium|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] scholia|9 years ago|reply
EDIT: Downvoted by abnormals ;-)
[+] [-] lallysingh|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mulletbum|9 years ago|reply
People would buy beautiful laptops, with glossy finishes, interesting detail. Yet, people would never pull the original plastic off the surrounding covers or back cover. They would bring in their computers to be worked on and have this hideous, dirt crusted, half pulled up, sheet of plastic flapping in the breeze on their computer. I would ask them why they did this and they always said the same thing: "Because I don't want to scratch the laptop."
I would then go through my speal about how, if their entire purpose for keeping the plastic on was to keep it looking pristine, why did they put up with it looking like shit for years. By the time they get sick of dealing with said plastic, they will pull it off only to realize that the dirt and grime that has accumulated under that plastic causes tiny scratches in the surface of their laptop.
In summary: Laptops with plastic on them looked like shit to begin with, once removed the laptop still looked like shit from leaving the original plastic on. Take the plastic off, enjoy how beautiful your laptop is and try to take care of it to the best of your ability. Nothing lasts forever.
[+] [-] gumby|9 years ago|reply
When my wife replaced her 1st gen macbook air she brought it to the shop to have the data transferred. She's a painter and it was covered with drips and smears of paint and had various nicks and other blemishes -- it was plainly a working tool. All the staff at the Palo Alto Apple store came to take a look at it because they were not used to seeing a machine not treated with kid gloves.
[+] [-] Udo_Schmitz|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grecy|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skywhopper|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidf18|9 years ago|reply
I actually received a phone call while just to about to get on a NYC subway, 1 story below ground and the person couldn't wait until I took my subway trip, so we chatted for awhile while several subways passed both uptown and downtown (they come every 3 - 5 minutes in each direction). She claimed she could here me speaking just fine even when the subway is arriving :-)
But sometimes, people have trouble hearing me on the iPhone and on the Apple $80 in-hear microphone.
I'm curious if there are any upgrade to the iPhone 7 that improves the voice quality and I wish at least one reviewer would test this out.
Also, as an aside, I'm disappointed that the iPhone 7 doesn't cover band 66 (AWS-3) spectrum. I guess there aren't any modem chips out yet (at least not from Qualcomm which is what the Verizon and Sprint CDMA phones use).
Still in dense markets like NYC, even though Verizon has far more spectrum than AT&T, I expect that in the next year or two the existing spectrum will be filling up.
I've been using the iPhone leather case since the 5s (when it first came out) and I've only had one screen break.
[+] [-] sarvinc|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] janvdberg|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gumby|9 years ago|reply
Of course psychology and human nature doesn't work that way (I too feel weird buying something when a feature I don't need is broken), but it's still funny.
[+] [-] bnycum|9 years ago|reply
I don't think it's a misconception at all. I've had to use the AssistiveTouch solution with both my 2 previous iPhones because either the home or power button stopped working. It's still enabled on my current iPhone and I still use it out of habit. I don't resell my phones, so I'm not worried about that aspect of things. I've only had 3 iPhones, 2 of them had the issue and I feel my current hasn't gotten it because I still use AssistiveTouch.
[+] [-] newscracker|9 years ago|reply
I'm also guessing that the amount of dust in certain geographies may play a bigger part in the home buttons not working well after sometime, since there is a gap for dust to get in in all the iPhone models (AFAIK) till the iPhone 6s series. The iPhone 7 series is the first one to eliminate the press button and replace it with a haptic one, which helps in water resistance and also eliminates dust getting in at that point.
[+] [-] jbmorgado|9 years ago|reply
I don't know if Apple finally fixed that in the iPhone 6, but it was everything but a misconception, I had the problem in my iPhone 3G and iPhone 4s my girlfriend in her 5s. Many friends in different versions of the iPhone.
The home button did break after some use.
[+] [-] draw_down|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] digi_owl|9 years ago|reply
It is downright weird how everyone frets about the resale value of Apple products. Almost like they treat them more like art or similar than a device to use to get their life done.
[+] [-] saturdaysaint|9 years ago|reply
-Jet black is the grippiest iPhone finish ever -no OIS on the telephoto lens, making it much less useful than the default lens for night photos and video
[+] [-] thatswrong0|9 years ago|reply
The only reason I use a case on my iPhone is because without one, when I'm holding it, I feel like I am constantly on the verge of a rapid unplanned jettison. The thing is so slick and thin that I can't grip it very well.
I'm a-ok with micro-abrasions and treat my phone well, so maybe I'll spring for the jet black version.
[+] [-] xiaoma|9 years ago|reply
I may be a bit unusual in this, but I actually want a smaller screen. Like everyone else, I want the phone to be thinner and lighter too, but I miss the days of being able to take my phone with my in my pocket when I go out running. a 4" screen at current iPhone thicknesses would be amazing. I'm not going to watch movies or write long HN comments on a phone. I just need something small that works for checking email, texting and playing me music.
Also on the topic of size, as my screen resolution keeps increasing over the years it feels like John is writing in smaller and smaller text! By changing literally nothing, he's been offering a worse and worse UX.
[+] [-] jandrese|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] apiguy|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anexprogrammer|9 years ago|reply
Came up on HN the day of the event I think.
[+] [-] dionidium|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jgruber|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bane|9 years ago|reply
But first, the Jet Black one is going to scuff and nick like hell. But because of feelings Gruber thinks it's both better and a demonstration of materials mastery and engineering.
Thanks Gruber, 12 paragraphs defining why a poor materials choice that requires a case (which counters the thinness of the phone which was the justification for why the headphone jack is gone) is a demonstration of mastery.
Here's the tl;dr of any Gruber review of an Apple product, he loves it. All the issues are examples of courage, and all the real problems don't get talked about ("where the whatchamacallit jack used to go"). He'll point out a token "problem" but, just like in this example, he then goes on at length about why it's actually some bold solution to a problem that's not actually a problem but is really about how dumb some users are (so dumb that the thing they're doing wrong even gets an entire paragraph of a footnote about how Apple is even helping them through the hopeless superstitious morass of their lives).
Even points that might be interesting to read about (the camera) can't be trusted because he's such a compromised reviewer.
A much better, and still favorable, review is the other one on the front page today by the Verge. There's issues with that review as well, but at least the information in the review is well balanced and considered and not thousands of words of apologia and user blaming.
[+] [-] artimaeis|9 years ago|reply
Er, at what point did Apple justify the removal of the headphone jack with thinness? The 7 has the same thickness as the 6/6S. They've put many justifications out there, but to my knowledge "thinness" has never been one of them.
The way I view it, Gruber reviews Apple products for people who already love Apple products. He has a broad understanding of Apple and brings a well-thought perspective to many things without getting stuck on comparing products to those in competing ecosystems. Personally I put a lot of value in Gruber's reviews, because he has a similar perspective to the products that I do. But that's going to be a important part of any review - matching perspectives.
[+] [-] ebbv|9 years ago|reply
This is just factually incorrect. Apple gave a lot of reasons why the headphone jack was removed but thinness was never one of them. And it would make no sense for it to be one of them because the iPhone 7 is the same thickness as the iPhone 6 and 6S which have a headphone jack.
I agree Gruber is biased and loves Apple to the point where he will take ridiculous positions (see the EU tax issue) but if you're going to argue, do it from a factually correct point.
[+] [-] perseusprime11|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aljones|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] schappim|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] draw_down|9 years ago|reply
Haha, probably so.
[+] [-] bryanlarsen|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Steko|9 years ago|reply
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