Just thinking back to the iPhone 6 which is 10 years old this year. I’m trying to work out if there are any features people use that weren’t available 10 years ago?
My dad still uses my old iPhone 6, and it really highlighted for me that innovation has stagnated in the last 10 years, unless I’m missing something.
Take a picture in a dark bar. That’s about it.
Face ID, much more storage (all my music downloaded in lossless quality), a bright screen I can actually read in the summer, wireless charging.
The rest of the new stuff I use, I omitted, because they are software features, and I don’t think it’s fair to say the older phone couldn’t have ran them if given the chance.
Even though Apple is much, much nicer with device longevity than any Android manufacturer, I still feel like there should be a way to force updates on old devices. Just put disclaimers that devices updated this way will not receive support or something.
Face ID is a good innovation, not sure it really is a giant leap from Touch ID more of a comparative feature. I always went for the larger storage options but I suppose it depends on your music collection, I tend to use streaming and audiobooks for offline emergencies. The screens have improved, I’ll give you that one, luckily in England a convenient cloud is never far away. I bought a load of wireless chargers, but I’ve slowly been unplugging them in favour of slightly longer cables so I can use my phone while it charges. I can see a use for a MagSafe power bank that is exactly the correct size for one full charge, I’d probably keep one of those on standby just in case.
Face ID is really nice in that 90% of the time it’s like my phone isn’t even locked. Especially with raise to unlock, it just completely gets out of the way.
I like wireless chargers because you can just put your phone down and it starts charging. I’m a big fan of things charging whenever you put them away, like the Pencil 2, DualSense controllers with the station, or joy con going back into the Switch. I always remember to put stuff away when I’m done, but I used to easily forget to charge them as well, so this has been a big improvement overall for me.
I have bought the MagSafe battery because it’s super useful, especially when you have an iPhone Mini (the only one that’s usable one-handed). I don’t have to compromise and get a giant phone for battery life, and that’s neat.
( Android people may say it’s an iPhone problem, but I’m not aware of any Android phone that’s the same size and quality as an iPhone Mini )
That last point is a good one too, I’ve got the iPX and every time I think about a new phone I want to go for the Pro Max Ultra GigaChad Edition for the battery and screen size, but I can barely use the X one handed, there is always that bit in the top corner I can’t get to.
I need something the size of the mini that can fit in my pocket but can convert into a 75” TV when I need it to, and last a week one one charge, is that so much to ask?!?
Last 2 days on a charge…
Take pictures that aren’t all purple.
It can unfold into a tablet, it was like using a multi monitor setup for the first time. Wasn’t sure if it was going to be “all that” but now that I’ve integrated it into daily life, I can’t see myself ever going back lmao
my phone? not a thing. I really wish it could act a mobile hotspot as well as make phone calls but they just don’t make feature phones like that.
my ‘feature’ phone can act as a mobile hotspot and connect to wifi networks (it does have a mobile browser and email client), but i have never used it for anything other than taking and making voice calls (don’t even use sms).
whats the make and model is it? I would love to connect my laptop to cellular data without a smartphone. Its like my dream phone!
it’s some cheap no-name pos from verizon. i wouldn’t wish it on anyone (not verizon, either, for that matter).
it’s getting replaced, hopefully tomorrow. it’s the first phone i’ve never dropped… not even once. and it’s cracked, literally in pieces, and the hinge basically disintegrated. shortest time a phone has lasted me (by far); barely a year and a half. my previous ones all went 5+ years each.
Find my, down to the centimeter
Measure
Fast autofocus
Much much better camera
Many software improvements but I won’t list because you’ll have gotten many of them
Photo album with object recognition to create virtual albums
5g
USB-C, including much faster charging, 10gbps data
Wireless charging
Screen is always on
Thread
Satellite emergency texting
These are all fair points… I think I may have to upgrade this year for the USB-C, always on, 5G , iOS18, and the better camera.
Put widgets on the screen 😂
I had that 10 years ago
I mostly use my phone for maps, and modern Google Maps is a lot better than maps a decade ago. It’d probably run on a decade old phone still, though.
They hawe much better cameras today, much better battery life. Much better processors and graphic processors for much better gamming. More ram and more storage 🙂 Better quality video, and much brighter displayes for using in sunlight. Louder speakers for music. And 120Hz displayes for smoooooooth everything 🙂 Good enough if you ask me 🤷♂️
More of a problem if you ask me is that most of that software is “closed source” and they are spying on us all the time. We need more of “open source” software for good privacy and to have control in our hands. But education about those things is the cay. Because there are alredy a lot of open source programs, apps, and even games. But becayse people are litle edycated about all that, those apps are not recognised as the best, and small amount of people are using them. And that means not wery much money for developing new open source apps and games… Instead, most people are using “close source” apps and games that are directly spying on them all, and tracking every single move… But we need freedom, and thats why i try to educate people around me, about stuff that i know, and learn from them some things that i dont know.
