back to article Apple iPhone 6S: Same phone, another day, but TOTALLY DIFFERENT

So here are the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus - basically the same phones with a few new bits and bobs. Or as CEO Tim Cook downplayed it: "We have changed everything." The new mobes look virtually identical to the 2014 iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smartphones. Same size screen, resolution and casing, pretty much (the 6 versus the 6S, and the …

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Can I introduce you to my friend Mr Sarcasm, he's a top bloke but often misunderstood...

  2. Busby

    Seriously why the hell is the minimum still 16GB? For a phone costing this much it should be at least 32 and even that is on the mean side.

    1. Grikath

      whut?! And not be able to gouge out more $$$ for lack of an SD slot? This is Apple we're talking about, right?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I'm sick to death of people complaining about lack of an SD card slot.

        How is it a good experience for users OR developers to augment the internal memory with memory that is relatively slow, unreliable, and potentially missing completely?

        1. Dave 126 Silver badge

          >How is it a good experience for users OR developers to augment the internal memory with memory that is relatively slow, unreliable, and potentially missing completely?

          A good point, but as developers of the OS there is nothing to stop Apple from somehow defining data types that are more tolerant of slow speeds and unreliable presence; i.e music and video. However, even then one gets into the situation where SD cards need to be indexed before use, app developers need to define data as such (i.e game engine lives internally, big level maps live on SD) or whatever the the situation is in Android these days ( I only have an Android phone, but I haven't tested the way internal Vs SD storage works... some apps are happier than others to be on SD maybe?)

          YMMV

        2. big_D Silver badge

          How is it a good experience for users OR developers to augment the internal memory with memory that is relatively slow, unreliable, and potentially missing completely?

          For audio, video and ebooks and most other data that is streamed, it is generally more than fast enough. Unreliable? I've never experienced any problems with my phones. I agree, for apps loading large amounts of data on the fly (E.g. games) and for launching apps, it might not be ideal, but for media storage that is only going to be streamed, it is more than good enough and is better than not having enough storage.

        3. Tom 35

          and potentially missing completely?

          Where the Apple phone it's definitely missing completely, until you buy a new phone at least.

        4. Blitterbug
          Facepalm

          Re: I'm sick to death of people complaining about lack of an SD card slot

          ... You *are* an actual developer, I assume? How about oh, I dunno, doing what Android developers have been doing for years? A 64GB micro SD card packed with goodies like entire TV seasons and films becomes a portable library between my various tablets. Except on my iPad mini, where I have to stream over Wifi from my NAS box <sigh>

    2. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

      I agree 16GB is mean. Minimum should really be 32GB on premium stuff.

      However, today most media is streamed, so it's not as bad as it used to be.

      But if you need media offline, then 16GB is cramped.

      I get by with 8GB, but have a largely unused 16GB SD card installed too (unused because most Android apps are crap at using it). For some obscure reason the Mobo G LTE doesn't seem to exist with more than 8GB (which, come to think of it, is the RAM size on several of my computers).

      1. Frank Bough

        Honestly

        You pretty much covered exactly why Apple doesn't do SD card slots. However, their reasoning was all about security, same reason why they restrict Bluetooth file transfers on the iPhone.

    3. Michael Strorm Silver badge

      Profiting on the gravy *and* the main course

      "Seriously why the hell is the minimum still 16GB?"

      So they can draw people in with the price of the base model then- after they've already committed to the idea- have them realise that the 16GB is overly restrictive and upsell them on the larger-capacity models at many times the going market rate for the difference.

      Typical sales technique, make the money by upselling the gravy. Like the time I went to Specsavers (#) and after I'd gone for the "two for one" offer on some relatively cheap glasses I was offered anti-reflective and scratchproof coatings which bumped up the cost noticeably. Of course, the iPhones aren't cheap in the first place, but the principle is the same.

      The omission of a card slot not only means that you have to pay Apple's prices if you want a larger-capacity iPhone. However, it's also a useful sales technique since- as you can't upgrade later- many people unsure whether they need the extra capacity will go for it anyway, rather than risk disovering later that their already-expensive iPhone has insufficient storage for their needs and they can't do anything about it.

      (Oh, and I never bought the "customers will buy crappy low-end memory cards and blame Apple for the poor performance" argument against the card slot. If the will was there I'm sure it would be easy for them to require a minimum spec and automatically peform benchmarks and diagnostics against a card the first time it was inserted, to ensure it performed well enough).

      (#) I should be clear that this was about 15 years ago

      1. dave 93

        iCloud storage is much cheaper, and that is what Apple want you to use

        Not mentioned anywhere on the Reg, of course, but Apple cut the price of paid for iCloud storage to 99cents a month for 50G of cloud storage.

        It would take more than eight years to match the price difference of the 64G iPhone. How often are you truly without connectivity these days, be honest? Just sayin'

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: iCloud storage is much cheaper, and that is what Apple want you to use

          "How often are you truly without connectivity these days, be honest? Just sayin'" --- dave 93

          Personally, I spend about 8 hours a day where connectivity is too low to stream music at acceptable bit rates. My 128GB microSD card is probably the best 40 quid I've ever spent.

          1. dave 93
            Coat

            Re: iCloud storage is much cheaper, and that is what Apple want you to use

            'My 128GB microSD card is probably the best 40 quid I've ever spent.'

            Perhaps you should consider getting out a bit more?

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: iCloud storage is much cheaper, and that is what Apple want you to use

              "Perhaps you should consider getting out a bit more?"

              As my post implies that I'm often out of range of wired networking, WiFi and anything but quite basic mobile internet; and your post strongly suggests that you almost never are (in fact, that you can hardly believe that almost anyone is) it seems painfully obvious which of us should "get out a bit more!" :-)

            2. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

              Re: iCloud storage is much cheaper, and that is what Apple want you to use

              "Perhaps you should consider getting out a bit more?"

              That's not nice.

              I think it's commendable to be able to enjoy the small things in life!

            3. v1m

              Re: iCloud storage is much cheaper, and that is what Apple want you to use

              "Perhaps you should consider getting out a bit more?"

              if he agrees to make a good faith effort to get out more, will you meet him halfway and stop posting these appalling clichés?

        2. Philip Lewis

          Re: iCloud storage is much cheaper, and that is what Apple want you to use

          True, but that implies that one has a free and unlimited data plan (in the dictionary sense, not the marketing sense) and further, one is willing to tolerate the inconsistent coverage and quality that we currently have.

          1. Philip Lewis

            Re: iCloud storage is much cheaper, and that is what Apple want you to use

            A down vote from someone who clearly never gets out of a city on a major continent (try Buttfuck Idaho or back of Bourke) or ever paid for data in Australia or had his "unlimited" plan suddenly not be so unlimited after all ...

            The facts remain that data is expensive in many countries, "unlimited" often isn't, and coverage still sucks outside cities. Visiting a major event in just about any city just about guarantees zero data coverage as people actually try and post to FB etc. Mobile data is still a long way from usable for anything but unimportant things, and not even those.

        3. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

          Re: iCloud storage is much cheaper, and that is what Apple want you to use

          I would probably take up on Apples offer, were it not for my 1 Mbit/s upload speed.

          So 20 x 3 MB photos would take some 10 minutes just to upload. Imagine after a larger photo or video session, for example. Doesn't appeal to me.

          I have about 12Mbit/s download, but upload is the important bit when saving your photos, videos etc.

          Obviously, doing it with 3G or 4G would be out of the question, unless you have unlimited data.

          Although 4G upload could in theory be many times faster than the awful ADSL speed.

        4. Kimo

          Re: iCloud storage is much cheaper, and that is what Apple want you to use

          Unless of course you had to pay for the bandwidth to steam media from that storage.

  3. dajames
    Paris Hilton

    Pressure sensitive?

    So, this pressure thing is like press-and-hold, but instead of waiting longer you squeeze harder? Sounds TOTALLY DIFFERENT to me!

    Paris, because I'm sure she'd understand ....

    1. Michael Thibault

      Re: Pressure sensitive?

      It's being billed as 3D, but functionally it's adding a fourth dimension: where you click that click are the first and second dimension, the duration of the mouse-down/click is the 4th dimension (time), and intensity/pressure is the 3rd dimension--arguably 'depth', or something analogous to it. It is "TOTALLY DIFFERENT".

      1. werdsmith Silver badge

        Re: Pressure sensitive?

        "3D Touch," a new gesture system capable of recognizing how much force one applies to the screen, and the duration of a touch

        Force can be measured (I am guessing) by the size of the imprint of the touch screen, if you push harder with your fingertip, then your fingertip flesh will spread over a larger area which the touchscreen can measure. If it is done this way rather than sensors under the glass then it will be interesting to see if a stylus that doesn't deform will work.

        Lucky I don't have to use pressure with my old 5S, because the screen is cracked already and has been since it was a week old. I'm not replacing it because I will only break it again. Many people operate iPhones like this.

        1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

          Re: Pressure sensitive?

          It's not done that way.

          It actually measures the minute deformation of the glass surface. Cool tech.

          1. Richard Scratcher

            Re: Pressure sensitive?

            Apple already have this tech working in their newer MacBooks. The glass touch pad is fixed solidly to the casing but it has an electromagnet underneath that gives a small kick when the pad senses the pressure required for a "mouse click". The effect is that you'd swear the pad had moved - I had to shut the laptop down to convince myself it hadn't. A similar gizmo is fitted behind the glass of the new phone.

            1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

              Re: Pressure sensitive?

              I think you are describing the haptic fedback part. Not the actual ability to register the amount of pressure you apply on the screen. Although the laptop you describe may have a simplified force sensor as well?

        2. death&taxes

          Re: Pressure sensitive?

          @werdsmith

          Mostly teenagers...

  4. Consultant Dogsbody

    I assume that was sarcasm, but maybe there's an Apple heavy standing right behind the journavulture? They've been known to be less than the official level of fawning before....

    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Always assume sarcasm.

      C.

      1. dave 93
        Coat

        Er, paradox, or what?

        So, you're being sarcastic now, right?

        Which means you're actually not being sarcastic.

        I'm confused.

        (Not really, just pedantic :D)

  5. Somtimes_Right

    What about the memory?

    The most annoying thing I find about the iPhone 6 Plus is its lack of memory. I use an app like Spotify in the car on bluetooth then I go somewhere and use maybe messaging and Flipboard and get back in the car and Spotify has been killed to free up space and I have to faff about going into it again so it will play over bluetooth. Same for many other apps being killed whenever I play a game.

    Soooo annoying that a modern phone would do this constantly and completely breaks the flow of working with it.

    If they have doubled the memory I'll be upgrading, otherwise I'll just stick to the crappy 6+ I have.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: What about the memory?

      The behaviour of streaming audio buffers does my nut in too - and I'm an Android user. Let us both hope that whoever finds the solution first, Apple or Android, is swiftly copied by the other! : D

      In fairness, Google has a nasty habit of suggesting that an app be updated (i.e maps), when the newer version exceeds the hardware of my device (yeah, my newish phone broke, so I'm on a aged cheapo phone). Apple are aware that many iOS users are still on older hardware, and then *don't always* trip those people up with OS updates.

    2. Waspy

      Re: What about the memory?

      Hate to be the smug one here but blackberry 10 streams and multitasks quite easily between apps, even audio or youtube streams via the browser. No it does not do what you describe when getting out of the car and doing other things before wanting to play Spotify again (my passport has a dedicated media pause/play button on the side). It runs android apps too. Yes I'm expecting loads of downvotes. Yes everyone finds it hilarious and odd that I use a BlackBerry in 2015. Yes BlackBerry should marketed the fuck out of bb10 cause its core functionality is better than ios or android but everyone missed the memo. Did someone mention webos and meego?

      1. Grade%

        Re: What about the memory?

        "Hate to be the smug one here"

        Not me. BB10 is THOR'S bloody bollocks!

      2. fruitoftheloon
        Pint

        @Waspy: Re: What about the memory?

        Waspy,

        Yup, me too, a Blackberry Passport has superceded my Note 2, plus Deezer (with spotizr to migrate playlists) has just superceded Spotify.

        Aside from the ass-hat privacy stupidity, what always glt my goat with Spotify was the amount of audio stuttering/interruptions....

        And this was with playlists that were CACHED for offline use, Spotify regularly stuttered, on multiple devices.

        Have one on me!

        Ymmv.

        Jay

        1. Martin
          Headmaster

          Re: @Waspy: What about the memory?

          Supersede, not supercede.

          (I didn't believe it either, and had to look it up to be convinced.)

          1. fruitoftheloon
            Thumb Up

            @Martin: Re: @Waspy: What about the memory?

            Martin,

            thanks for that, me neither...

            Jay

  6. Snowy Silver badge

    You forgot one thing...

    >The new iThings also offer identical 16, 64, and 128GB capacities, and prices ranging from $199–$399 for the 6S and $299–$499 for the 5.5-inch 6S Plus.

    If your going to quote the price of the phone you should quote the price off contract or make it clear the price you quote is with a two year contract and give a price for the contract).

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: You forgot one thing...

      If you're...

      1. Naughtyhorse

        Re: You forgot one thing...

        Damn,

        I forgot to note that it is the AGM of the pedants society today!

        (not having a go at you in patricular!)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: You forgot one thing...

          I forgot to note that it is the AGM of the pedants society today!

          It's actually spread over a number of days...

          1. fruitoftheloon
            Devil

            @AC (AGMs..)Re: You forgot one thing...

            Acs,

            but which timezone[s]?

            Jay

    2. Richard Cranium

      Re: You forgot one thing...

      Upvote. Yes I too get seriously peed off by this widespread form of misinformation $199+(small print: 2 year minimum contract). OK we expect advertisers to tell lies but surely the register can serve us better, I read the article, seeing the $199 price in the 3rd sentence thinking - gosh, I thought iPhone was way overpriced, have they finally come up with a Moto G rival? Scroll down a long way to get to the small print - but still no off-contract price quoted. Surely the true cost of any item is one of the most important metrics for a purchaser.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: You forgot one thing...

        I think the way Apple mentioned those prices would have raised eyebrows here in the UK because I found them misleading (they only mentioned these were contract prices at the very end). I also wonder how it is possible that Apple can prescribe the prices of those contracts - isn't that anti-competitive? Is it not the decision of the telco how exactly they want to fund and structure the associated financing?

        I do NOT want to get into debt for a f*cking phone, so I either acknowledge it's too expensive or I buy it outright - I am not interested in yet another "we'll drain you slowly so you won't notice it" contract.

      2. MrTivo

        Re: You forgot one thing...

        "Surely the true cost of any item is one of the most important metrics for a purchaser."

        It should be, but there seems to be a growing group of consumers who either don't understand or don't care about cost, if it means they can get their instant gratification purchase hit, and ignore the TCO for the next 24 months.

        It's quite depressing really.

  7. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

    Looked like a very decent mid-life update for the 6! The camera results looked SLR-like. Pressure touch might be useful. Processing power seemed good.

    1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

      Thanks for the downvote.

      What do you expect from a phone? What major innovations has Microsoft done to smartphones?

      Samsung? (Oh, something on the edge of the screen..)

      I just don't know what sort of fantastic features people expect to get in a one-year update cycle.

      Guess some just can't be pleased.

      1. Hellcat

        Apps that will run on your phone, tablet or full PC?

        Ooops! Didn't realise that was a rhetorical question.

  8. Unicornpiss
    Trollface

    Comment

    Buy a decent SD card and it's neither slow nor unreliable. No more unreliable than the flash memory in the phone itself anyway, and certainly more replaceable/interchangeable.

    I see Apple is creeping up on the specs of last year's Samsung S5 now. Maybe someday they'll have as good of a camera. Now if they could just make it less fragile...

    1. Youngone Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: Comment

      @ Unicornpiss

      Yes, I own a Samsung Galaxy S4, and my boss has given me an iPhone 6, and they are about on par.

      The iPhone's camera is very nice, at least as good as the Samsung.

      The reason I would never buy an Apple phone is the non-removable battery and lack of SD card slot.

      20 odd GB of music taking up no space on my phone.

      Also the first thing to go bad on my Samsung will be the battery, so I will buy a $25 replacement and carry on using it for several more years.

      When Samsung stop providing updates, (which they may already have done) I'll install CyanogenMod or whatever the El Reg Commentards tell me is a good custom ROM.

      Apple will allow none of that.

      1. jzl

        Re: Comment

        iPhones come in a range of storage options. I have the 128Gb one and have never felt the need for an SD card. Besides, the way the Apple OS abstracts away all filing system details (simultaneously one of its most annoying features for power users, and one of the biggest reasons for its simplicity of use) would mean that an SD card would necessarily make the phone much more complex to operate.

        As for the non-removable battery, seriously? Who carries a spare battery these days? I'm sure some people do, but I can't believe it's more than a handful.

        USB external battery chargers are ten a penny, and much more convenient as they can be charged directly and don't require fiddling.

        1. fruitoftheloon
          Go

          @jzl: Re: Comment

          Jzl,

          Many folk like replaceable batteries for a number of reasons:

          - you have the OPTION of carrying a spare, should you need it

          - the usable life of a given is dramatically extended when you have the OPTION to replace a dead/dying battery

          Needless to say, the above are irrelevant on iKit and many 'droids.

          Cheers,

          Jay

          1. jzl

            Re: @jzl: Comment

            I don't see how anything you've said here doesn't apply to an external USB battery pack. With the added advantage that you can recharge a USB battery pack directly, and you don't need to shut down the phone to plug the thing in.

            Come back when you've spent a few months in 2015.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Comment

          "As for the non-removable battery, seriously?"

          Yes a rechargeable battery can only be cycled maybe 1000 times and capacity gets progressively lower. My spare phone, an antique at 7 years, Nokia 1208, is still good but only because I was able to buy a new battery. Built in battery = landfill after 5 years max, probably MUCH less. OK, gadget freaks will replace much sooner but will maybe pass the phone on to a family member, keep as a spare or put it on eBay.

          1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

            Re: Comment

            Of course an end-of-life battery can be changed. You just need a techie to do it.

            No big deal. If it leads to lower second hand prices on iPhones, I'm all for it.

            1. Frank Bough

              Re: Comment

              I replaced both e the camera module and battery on an iPhone 3GS. The parts were cheap, but the install was a nice exercise in steady hands and tiny tools.

        3. Tony Paulazzo

          Re: Comment

          an SD card would necessarily make the phone much more complex to operate.

          Not if the OS showed it as simply more storage space, intelligently utilising it as being designated more for storage (music, video, pictures, etc) than holding apps.

          1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

            Re: Comment

            I agree it could be done in a very nice and transparent way.

            Apple could do it I'm sure. It can't be a secret that they 1) Don't like extra ports. 2) Like to charge extortionate amounts for the larger storage capacity devices. But, if people buy it... At least they get cash to keep investing in i-things.

            Android has made a bit of a meal of handling extra removable storage, in my rather newbe opinion. I seem to have to go around to each and every app and try to convince it to pleeease use the SD card. And they generally refuse to anyway.

            It's like other Android things, requiring configuraton to work (or not). Had to spend a lot of time just to stop various Google spying draining the battery at a crazy rate.

        4. BenBell

          Re: Comment

          @jzi

          Regarding USB charge vs replaceable battery:

          My wife was out on a long drive coming home from Scotland - using her android phone as a satnav. Understandably, Screen+maps+4g+GPS eats a battery quite quickly (especially when she also has about a million apps and widgets running).

          It was nearly midnight and her battery dies despite being plugged into a USB adapter in the car.

          Your solution would involve her stopping, waiting for her battery to charge and then continuing.

          She has a spare battery in the glove box. She was back on the road in < 3 mins. THATS WHY PEOPLE HAVE SPARE BATTERIES!

          I also doubt its just a handful of people. I am the same, so is my brother, so is my boss, so is the guy sitting opposite me at work, so if my wifes 2 sisters, mum and dad... that makes it a "handful" of people if you count people in my life, who i will see today alone!

          Re: SD card not needed - good for you, you own an iPhone with less memory than my phone, but at a much higher price (HTC 32GB plus a 128GB card).

          The reason people want SD cards can vary, but I like that I can remove a card from my phone and use it instantly in my wife's phone or either of our samsung tablets and instantly have over 100GB of media there... coupled with the ability to do the same in reverse... without having to worry about WiFi availability or drops in signal on long journeys. I also have a MicroSD->SD converter, meaning I can use it as a memory stick at work, a card for a camera (admittedly witha format), and if it dies, I don't need a whole new phone. If it gets full, I can buy a second one exclusively for media. I can also plug the card directly into my TV and watch all my media or showcase photos without the need to spend any extra.

          This is where Apple falls down. Were it to address these issues, I would probably give an iPhone a go - but in their quest to build something so simple anyone could use it - they've alienated a cientbase of people (IT Pros) who like spending money on new tech toys.

          1. hardboiledphil

            Re: Comment

            >> It was nearly midnight and her battery dies despite being plugged into a USB adapter in the car. <<

            What happens if it's a longer journey and the spare battery runs out?

            Something's not right there. Why would it discharge when plugged in? Sort that problem out and the need for a spare battery goes away in this scenario...

            1. DropBear

              Re: Comment

              "Something's not right there."

              Seeing as how the lighter socket was not originally designed to be a power tap, some of the ones I've seen make absolutely marginal contact with anything inserted and break it silently at the drop of a hat. Whenever I try to power up my laptop-with-a-dead-battery in my car I'm keenly aware not to even look funny at the power brick because the laptop dies one minute after the slightest tug on its cable. Maybe it is a socket like this they are talking about...

              1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

                Re: Comment

                The lighter socket can handle a massive current (heating up a heater element), and the high temperature from the glowing heater. It's probably more likely it's the accessory from China that isn't very good.

          2. Sid_the_Kid

            Re: Comment

            There's no reason when you've got a portable generator (e.g. an alternator) with a power outlet (e.g. a fag lighter socket) typically right next to you, that you should ever run out of battery - as long as your charger is up to the job.

            Get a decent charger and even with the GPS and every service under the sun running, you'll still easily finish the trip with 100% charge, even if it starts from empty.

          3. djberriman

            Re: Comment

            She probably didn't notice (or it didn't say as I've only seen it once) the message thats says something along the lines of 'your phone is using too much power so can not be charged'. Eventually the battery runs down. Probably got too many apps running.

            1. Frank Bough

              Re: Comment

              Is that something that Android phones do? Oh, that's shit.

          4. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Comment

            She has a spare battery in the glove box. She was back on the road in < 3 mins. THATS WHY PEOPLE HAVE SPARE BATTERIES!

            That's why iPhone users have decent car chargers, we just stop for a break when we feel like it :).

            I frequently use my iPhone as a SatNav (TomTom) and it manages to charge up during that time as well. Judging by how fast it can charge I suspect that Apple has come up with something that detects it's been hooked up to a 2A capable socket.

            Needs differ. I have never really felt the need for a swappable battery or external memory. Both complicate the phone, and *not* having lots of storage also ensures I don't get tempted to keep more on the phone than I absolutely need, which makes backing it up easy and reduces the impact of losing the phone or having it stolen.

          5. jzl

            Re: Comment

            WTF? Her battery died even though the phone was plugged in?

            Sounds like whoever sold her that phone saw her (or you) coming.

          6. Hellcat

            Re: Comment

            Having a spare battery is a great idea, especially if she's likely to be driving to/from Scotland during winter - you never know when you might get stuck due to snow for many hours.

            However, I also suggest buying a fast charge cable, and a 2.1A in car charger to ensure you can charge the battery faster than it drains. Something like this is perfect. This ensures your phone negotiates, or to be precise it prevents your phone from trying to negotiate, the charging rate, forcing full power and prevents it from defaulting to safe 500mA.

            http://www.amazon.com/PortaPow-Micro-USB-Cable-Charging/dp/B0088HTYUE

            I had this issue driving over to Germany this year... battery lasted as far as Kent. Knocked it into battery saver and even with the GPS and SatNav running I didn't run out of battery again. Would like to be able to run all the normal apps I have open with push nnotifications next time so will be investing in something like the above.

        5. Frank Bough

          Re: Comment

          I have noticed that a lot of people carry those USB rechargeable charger lumps that typically have a big enough capacity to charge your phone 3-5 times. Of course, these things work equally as well with iPhones as they do with ersatz iPhones.

      2. dave 93
        Facepalm

        Re: Comment

        'Also the first thing to go bad on my Samsung will be the battery, so I will buy a $25 replacement and carry on using it for several more years.'

        No you won't. You'll get a new phone before the battery dies - like everyone else.

        'When Samsung stop providing updates...I'll install CyanogenMod' - just, ha ha? Of course you will. (FYI - there is some sarcasm)

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Comment

        "Also the first thing to go bad on my Samsung will be the battery, so I will buy a $25 replacement and carry on using it for several more years."

        The first thing to go bad will be the shitty plastic case which will flake and crack and make the device look like the crap that it actually is.

        1. Youngone Silver badge

          Re: Comment

          The first thing to go bad will be the shitty plastic case

          Which is why the Gods made protective plastic covers for phones.

          Seriously? Who doesn't have one of those?

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Comment

          5 thumbs down from people who have never actually owned a Galaxy - the cases are crap

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Comment

      >> Buy a decent SD card and it's neither slow nor unreliable. No more unreliable than the flash memory in the phone itself anyway, and certainly more replaceable/interchangeable.

      Interesting claim but not backed by any evidence. Where are your bandwidth and IOPS numbers to prove performance? Where are the write cycle numbers to prove longevity?

      >> I see Apple is creeping up on the specs of last year's Samsung S5 now. Maybe someday they'll have as good of a camera. Now if they could just make it less fragile...

      If all you want is a high number of megapixels, and you have no appreciation for image quality beyond that, then you and Samsung deserve each other.

  9. flearider

    i'd rather pay £250 for an honor 7 full 1080 . but hey i'm not a fan boi

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No, you are. Or a judgmental prick. Or both...

      1. fruitoftheloon
        FAIL

        @AC (the judgemental prick)

        Ac,

        and what are you exactly?

        Aside from a bit a coward obviously..

        jay

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: @AC (the judgemental prick)

          Ac,

          and what are you exactly?

          Aside from a bit a coward obviously..

          Maybe less of a judgemental idiot that doesn't go round berating people for making a different choice? Calling that cowardice (i.e. going personal) suggests you're several points short of registering an IQ, and further suggests you feel that your clearly rather feeble brain is incapable of coming up with normal, valid points of debate.

          There are valid reasons for choosing either platform, and my choices are based on actual use, not on some wank based judgement of a magazine or other people. In my case I find iOS suitable for most of what I need, but it would be folly to spend double that money to ensure I have a backup (I am required to be always reachable because of the work I do). The Honor 7 looks like a decent phone for the money, and I don't need to submit to Google's dangerous Terms & Conditions to make it work as a backup.

          Unlike you, I don't need to belong to a particular club to have friends.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      i'd rather pay £250 for an honor 7 full 1080 . but hey i'm not a fan boi

      I'm not a fan boi either, but a user. This also means I choose gear not because of some cult value, but because of fit with what I need. In that context I'm quite interested in the Honor as a second phone, it's definitely good value for money as far as I can tell. That doesn't automatically make me anti-Apple or pro-Android, I don't do group-think.

  10. Breen Whitman

    "True innovation. Everything has changed"

    I know what he means. 6 months ago, I upgraded my car from a 2014 model to a 2015 model.

    Its an absolute game changer. There is contrasting stitching highlights in the seats, and the fuel guage is now an LCD graph.

    But get this: the surround of the gear lever is now chrome, instead of matt black.

    I am still *blown away* every time I get in the car.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I know what he means. 6 months ago, I upgraded my car from a 2014 model to a 2015 model.

      I'm *so* with you. As I stated before, I may like most of the gear, but the associated hype fest is something I have an increasing problem with.

    2. Frank Bough

      Hang on

      The new iPhone has an 80% faster CPU, new touchscreen, new case material, new camera. Apple upgrade their phones like Porsche does the 911 - it looks very similar but many/most components get significant upgrades.

      So funny, sure, but wrong.

  11. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    "...constantly and silently taking photos..."

    "We guess the camera app is constantly and silently taking photos so it can capture the 1.5s of images before the button is pressed. Good luck with all this, 16GB iPhone owners."

    Hint: it can toss away any unneeded images beyond the 1.5s circular buffer.

    Quoted phrase seems to imply that it's "constantly and silently taking photos" and thus rapidly consuming one's 16GB of storage even "before the button is pressed". Which is not true.

    /quibble

    1. Phuq Witt

      Re: "...constantly and silently taking photos..."

      "...Quoted phrase seems to imply that it's "constantly and silently taking photos" and thus rapidly consuming one's 16GB of storage even "before the button is pressed". Which is not true..."

      I'm sure original article author realised that. I think the concern would be more about battery life, in this mode.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "...constantly and silently taking photos..."

      Excuse me if I seem a little paranoid, but that does seem to allow for some security problems in future. Can the NSF pull any of these photos?

      1. Bronek Kozicki

        Re: "...constantly and silently taking photos..."

        They wouldn't be stored to flash (think about wear it would cause!), they would go to circular buffer in RAM only, and only (I guess) when appropriate application is running (in front). Both CPU and battery utilization would be pretty high though, I think.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "...constantly and silently taking photos..."

      "We guess the camera app is constantly and silently taking photos so it can capture the 1.5s of images before the button is pressed. Good luck with all this, 16GB iPhone owners."

      Either (1) it's taking pictures constantly and storing in a ciruclar buffer (but how many frames? 45?)

      or more likely

      (2) it's an Apple product, so just like Steve Jobs, it can predict the future.

  12. jzl

    Money for old rope

    It's faster? Great, but the iPhone 6 is already bloody fast. I, for one, don't think I'd notice the difference.

    1. werdsmith Silver badge

      Re: Money for old rope

      So the benefit of being able to save 2 nanoseconds on a Facebook status update is lost on you then ?

      1. theblackhand

        Re: Money for old rope

        Lets see - I average one FB status update every 4 years so the annual time saving of updating to a new iPhone would be less than one fart.

        I think there could be a marketing byline in that...

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    First Time

    I watched the conference (on an iPad, no less) for the first time ever yesterday. It took me a while to go through the 'what the hell-> is he serious -> surely he can't be serious -> what the hell is this man smoking, i want some' cycle I generally go through when watching TV evangelists (I DO NOT endulge often). But when they finally came to the 'custom 7000 series aerospace grade aluminum' bit, I first cleaned up the stuff that had squirted out of my nose because I was drinking at the time and switched it off.

    However, I DO insist on getting some of the stuff these people were smoking.

    Someone later told me the band was shite too, bit I didn't see so I will refrain from commenting.

  14. big_D Silver badge

    $199?

    $199–$399 for the 6S and $299–$499 for the 5.5-inch 6S Plus.

    According to the Apple Germany website, the prices range from 739€ to 1069€ ($828 to $1199). That seems to be a lot more than $199!

    1. Jason Hindle

      Re: $199?

      You beat me to it. That's certainly out of touch with a way a lot of the more advanced British consumers are starting to think. Mine's the one with Nexus written on it, with the cheap-as-chips SIM only contract.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: $199?

      prices in Italy are hilarious,

      iPhone 6s plus unlocked are 16GB €889, 64GB €999, 128GB €1109

      iPhone 6s unlocked are 16GB €779, 64GB €889, 128GB €999

      the 4.7" iP6s seem to have battery life problems, requiring charging several times per day, at least according to the Guardian reviewer. "iPhone 6S review: a very good phone ruined by rubbish battery life"

      http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/06/apple-iphone-6s-review-camera-3d-touch-screen-faster-processor-fingerprint-sensor-rubbish-battery-life

      Probably Apple had to put the 5% lower 1715 mAh capacity battery in the iPhone 6s, [according to iFixit the iPhone 6 featured an 1810 mAh, 3.82 V Lithium-ion Polymer battery with an energy rating of about 7 Wh] the 'new' smaller battery was needed because of the heavier 3D-touch screen taking up too much space. also here

      http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/10/iphone_6s_battery_downgraded/

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Trollface

    Now we await Microsoft's flagship Windows 10 phone, the 950 XL EpicfailMan

  16. JDX Gold badge

    3D Touch... finally

    Finally my phone will be able to tell when I'm pissed off. Tap the "reject call, send text" button and it will send "sorry I'm not available". Thump it and they'll receive "F*** off I'm busy".

    1. DropBear
      Joke

      Re: 3D Touch... finally

      Ehhh, you don't need pressure sensitivity for that, it can all be done with existing tech. You just wait for the brief "wildly spinning" reading from the accelerometer followed by the "50G shock spike" one then fire off the "f*** off" message - if the phone still seems to be roughly in working condition...

  17. Shane 4

    I think they forgot one of the zero's on the price!

    I know the Aussie dollar is crap at the moment but the iPhone 6s 128gb launched at $1529! o.O

    Could get an entire pc for that money.

    And I thought $800 was steep for my imported Note II a few years back. lol

    Can't see myself ever paying over a grand just for a phone but I am sure many out there do and good luck to them!

    1. Bronek Kozicki

      They didn't show the full price at all, only what you pay in advance for the privilege of paying 2 years contract. Otherwise price "free" for the oldest model does not make any sense. Which means that the full price could very well go to $1000 (or thereabout).

  18. Archaon

    Pricing

    Only a bargain $200* deposit for a massive capacity 16GB model on a (no doubt) premium priced** 2-year contract?

    Fuck. That. ***

    * Let's call that £120-150 by the time they actually get here after import costs and the slight price premium we generally pay for tech in the UK.

    ** I would imagine £45 per month over 2 years, which in reality gives you a call plan worth about a tenner.

    *** Add that up over 2 years and you're looking at near enough £1000 overall spend. For the base model. So again: Fuck. That.

    1. Handy Plough

      Re: Pricing

      "...slight price premium we generally pay for tech in the UK" AKA VAT.

      1. Archaon

        Re: Pricing

        That is a large factor but not the be-all-and-end-all of it. Take a random tech product, do a straight $ to £ conversion and add 20% and you won't get the price we pay. There are other factors such as risk aversion on exchange rates, i.e. setting the price slightly higher than usual to cover the company from making a loss if the exchange rate changes.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    4K iPhone videos...

    What a great idea. Surely the best way to enjoy all that 4K video goodness, is to watch it on a nice big 4K TV?

    What a shame then that the average iPhone user is totally incapable of turning the thing to landscape mode when taking a video... when will we see the first bracket that can take a huge TV and rotate it 90 degrees, just so some retard can show off the video of their cat in 4K?

    Video in portrait mode - just say no.

    1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

      Re: 4K iPhone videos...

      Do you watch a lot of other people's videos?

      1. Hellcat

        Re: 4K iPhone videos...

        Let me introduce you to this website, it's pretty cool, but I don't think you've seen it.

        http://www.youtube.com

        1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

          Re: 4K iPhone videos...

          Ah, I didn't one was forced to watch crappy stuff one hates on that site. Doesn't sound that cool to me!

          1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

            Re: 4K iPhone videos...

            Correction: "..didn't know one was..."

    2. MrXavia

      Re: 4K iPhone videos...

      its a big sensor, plenty of pixels spare..... why can't apple detect the orientation and automagically record in landscape when your holding the thing at any angle... why not even automatically stabilize the video also so no more shifting your head to see wtf is going on...

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ooo

    3D touch will be amazing for drumming apps. Something that can recognise force direction and pressure and simulate a djembe with near zero lag with the right tone and variation across the surface would make impromptu drum circles with fellow hipsters that much easier to get going :D

    Call it iDrum.

  21. RobThBay

    * improved LTE speeds*

    Does that mean the *new* Apple 6S [plus-mark2-whatever] will be somewhat close to the speed of BlackBerry's (1 year old) Passport phone when the 2 devices are on the same network?

    A few months ago I compared LTE internet bandwidth and upload/download speeds between an Apple 6Plus and a BlackBerry Passport. Both devices were on the same network. BlackBerry's device was about 4x faster than Apple's. The really interesting thing was that BlackBerry's LTE download speed was about 6x faster than my DSL connection at home.

    It shouldn't be too hard to figure out which phone I bought. (Hint: It wasn't from Apple)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: * improved LTE speeds*

      You've lost me. Which phone did you buy in the end?

    2. Handy Plough

      Re: * improved LTE speeds*

      How much are RIMM Blackberry paying for these post these days?

      1. Bronek Kozicki

        Re: * improved LTE speeds*

        Why would they? These are top phones, even though their ecosystem have only 10% of fart apps compared to Android or Apple.

      2. fruitoftheloon
        Happy

        @Handy Plough: Re: * improved LTE speeds*

        HP,

        err they don't, primarily because people with brains, opinions, proper jobs, their own businesses, free will etc choose to BUY Blackberry phones on their merits, as opposed to paying through the nose on HP etc.

        May ask what experience you have of using a Blackberry?

        Regards,

        jay

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: @Handy Plough: * improved LTE speeds*

          err they don't, primarily because people with brains, opinions, proper jobs, their own businesses, free will etc choose to BUY Blackberry phones any phone on its merits

          FIFY.

          The fact that you have an opinion doesn't make it valid for the whole world. That just makes you a judgemental idiot.

        2. Handy Plough

          Re: @Handy Plough: * improved LTE speeds*

          Experience with a Blackberry? None recently. I've owned several pre iPhone and the nicest thing I can say about them is they were bland then; best of a bad bunch. Glad to be rid of them if I'm honest. Had a laugh look at the Passport. didn't fit my needs. No, the iPhone does what I need. Hey if Blackberry works for you, then that's just dandy. Just don't fucking tell me what phone I should use based on your prejudices you jumped up little...

          Of course YMMV, but then I'm not going around calling people names for using a different product. My slight was at the sudden volume of pro-Blackberry post on an Apple thread. It was a dig/troll. That you clearly took it personally tells us much.

    3. asdf

      Re: * improved LTE speeds*

      Buying Blackberry at this point is just gambling you will get the last handset they ever made to flog on ebay.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    great, new shiny

    Just like an angel getting its wings whenever a bell rings whenever a new iPhone comes out it usually means an older iPhone version is no longer supported by Apple. Keep those small improvements but with a bigger number coming as I can't wait for mine to be obsoleted.

  23. rolanddrogano

    Man, 16GB 6S owners are gonna be mad when they realize they can only record 3 minutes of 4k video before their phone is completely full, and that's assuming the phone is completely empty and not factoring in the amount of space iOS takes up on its own.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Man, 16GB 6S owners are gonna be mad when they realize they can only record 3 minutes of 4k video before their phone is completely full

      Yup. Argument no 1 why I don't want one. As a matter of fact, I'm totally not interested in 4K for precisely that. It means yet again more processing and storage needs, and especially the processing means battery. As far as I'm concerned, Apple phones need but one innovation: 1mm EXTRA thickness to add a bit of battery. It's also why I'm not so impressed by LTEx2 - switching the phone to 3G when abroad seems to almost double battery life, and I still get email and messages.

      Not all progress is essential progress IMHO.

    2. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

      Is this a fact, or based on some quick calculations by you?

      I assume Apple has implemented some hardware video compression?

  24. msknight

    A novel lock-in.

    "and a new "iPhone Upgrade" plan where users pay Apple a monthly fee (starting at $32) to receive the newest model every year."

    So ... you start paying them money and once you do so, there's even less incentive for you to move away from Apple ... you've already given them your money! - Personally, I'd rather put the cash in the bank and leave all my options open.

    1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

      Re: A novel lock-in.

      Did you know the following amazing fact?:

      It's not actually mandatory to upgrade your phone!

      You can move to a low cost plan and keep your old iPhone!

      Hurray!

      1. asdf

        Re: A novel lock-in.

        >You can move to a low cost plan and keep your old iPhone!

        Until Apple quit offering security updates for it (can keep even then if brave) which is imho is one of the few places Android beats iPhone is in the old phone as a secondary/spare space because you can continue to find new Android version custom roms for most older common phones longer.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: A novel lock-in.

          >> Android beats iPhone is in the old phone as a secondary/spare space because you can continue to find new Android version custom roms for most older common phones longer.

          The iPhone 4S came out in 2011 and will be supported officially for at least the next year.

          Can you find a lot of current custom ROMs for circa-2011 Android phones?

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