Insert yet another oh no, what should I buy post, and I apologize. But this is a large potential purchase, or at the very least monthly payment, and I want to make sure all my ducks are in a row and I don't make a worse choice.
So I'm currently rocking a Pixel 6 pro. I'm looking to move to Apple. My experience with Android watches was pretty abismal, though, so I have no real benchmarks to go on. I'm in that quandary of what to get, though.
A typical day on my phone involves some media consumption/web browsing, a call with aira from time to time, using Envision AI to scan documents occasionally as well. I also have been testing be my AI on my iPhone 7 and what a joy it is to use and can't wait to use it on a more modern device. I also do occasionally shoot videos, some basic note taking and navigating in maps etc. Of course a bit of social media - telegram, reddit, bluesky, discord. Probably more I just can't think of right now.
With that being said - from a voiceover user perspective, will the 15 pro give me any more noticeable performance over the standard 15? I know the processor is newer, the camera is also a little better. However the battery size is less and it's also more expensive - but is that expense worth it for my use case? I'm sure it will apply more as time goes on, but since I don't know anyone with either device and having not used an apple device since 2018, I'm trying to get more modern, unique perspectives than just my own. I also know everyone has differing opinions, but am curious on people who use these things on a daily basis. I know either way I'll have a great device that will last a long time.
Now for the watch - I am torn between the 9 and the SE. I do enjoy the idea of more detailed sleep tracking with the 9 as well as the other things like double tap that it offers, does this work with voiceover? I do plan on keeping the watch for as long as possible and do plan on trying to get the cellular model. Is there any reason apart from price the SE would be worth my while? Does it give superior batterylife to the more flagship watches and there is also that pretty hefty bit of savings that is very tempting. Anything I should keep in mind about the watch and my purchase? AM I missing anything?
As far as an iPad - I'm likely going to go refurbished, and that won't be for a while, assuming I even want one at the end of the day. I like the idea of a tablet that can stay at home and I can air play things to my Apple tv with it without needing to use more of my phone's battery, but that's really the only appeal it has for me personally. Is there anything I'm missing with any of these observations? Should I keep anything else in mind while making this purchasing decision?
I'm super stoked to start back into the Apple ecosystem again, even if it has some unusual bugs just like anything else. Nothing is perfect, at the end of the day, but much as I hate to say it eloquence on an iPhone has been the dream since my first 3gs in 2009 when Talks on my e71 was all the rage. And here we are, over a decade later, with a phone doing more than my computer from 2006 could dream of that fits in my pocket. Wild! I remember when multitasking on an iPhone was a revolution in and of itself.
Sadly, though, that e71 still got 4 to 6 days on a charge and had a beautiful keyboard. I miss it, but I digress.
Any help is appreciated!
thank you for reading
Jake
Comments
What i can offer, not much lol
Hi. The phone, battery might be longer, the pro might have Lidar? The scanner that with seeing AI or other apps, can detect doors at the door's two feet to your left. I have a twelve, so don't quote me on this because I can't tell you how good it is. Someone had double tap issues on the nine watch, except is it fast, to slow etc? I can't know what they did verses what you would do. I guess you'd try it on your own. If it doesn't work, then return it. The iPad I haven't used since the old iPad two with the 30 pin connector so I can't help there. Sorry this isn't easier to understand but also watching TV at the same time.
get pro or pro max
Get pro or pro max. The Lidar. A lot of new accessibility features can be done with Lidar.
go for the standard sized pro
Jake,
I would get the regular 15 Pro not the Pro Max or the regular 15. This is because more than half of the benefit of an iPhone is iOS. Processors have been averaging about six years before the iPhone can no longer accept new iOS versions. A one-year-old processor shortens the iOS update cycle by one year. The iPhone seven was the last iPhone to use single core processors. Newer iPhones send the processing tasks to specific areas of the processor, preventing crashes and allowing the device to conduct other tasks in addition to the one in focus. Besides a processor that is 10 percent faster from the 14 Pro/15, the iPhone 15 Pro has a variable refresh rate up to 120 htz. The regular iPhones have a constant screen refresh rate of 60 htz. Jonathan Mosen says the bump in processor speed in the iPhone 15 Pro is “quite noticeable.” The 60 htz difference is not as noticeable compared to Android phones because Apple designs both the processor, phone and the operating system and seamlessly integrates them all.
Either phone is a good choice. Apple added last year’s monster Pro camera to the regular iPhone this year and seems to have added the dual channel satellite navigation chip, providing for better location accuracy, to the regular 15 as well.
I am running with a 13 mini, when the difference in processors was nearly indistinguishable. I love the smaller size and will miss it when I eventually upgrade to a new iPhone.
Watch
Agree get the 15 pro, series 9. Check the podcast by David Apple watch 101. There still relevant. Regarding an iPad, what you planning to do with it. Get the AirPad or iPad pro.
new dilemma
Hi everyone,
So I can get a 14 pro 256 GB for $30 a month if I return it in 2 years, new discount from a different provider. Or the 15 itself is $8 more - but has USB C and, I think, the same processor as the 14 pro. Apart from maybe better camera unless it came over from the 14 pro, what else am I missing in the 15?
What is this lighter? This is the first I've heard of it?
I don't do any content creation or anything like that.
Chip
The 15 has the U2 chip that helps find people who also use the 15 phone. Suppose to have better battery.
Lidar
Everyone always says to get the pro because of the lidar, but does anyone really use it? Point and speak sounds cool, but it also sounds hard to use especially if you don't have any useable vision. Does lidar make text recognition or document scanning better with something like Seeing AI?
To answer op's question, lidar is a sensor that measures depth, so you can use it to measure the height of something for instance. Apple has added some accessibility features that use it to the magnifier app. One of those is door detection, where you're supposed to be able to slowly approach a door and your iPhone will tell you how far away it is and how it opens. I've played with it a few times on other people's phones, and based on that found it extremely unreliable and wasn't impressed. Yeah I know, I'm holding it wrong, as the meme goes. lol
If lidar, in general, was such a useful feature, then why do no android phones have it? I read an article somewhere that Samsung had lidar on some of their phones a few years ago but then took it away.
14 pro 1 tb for $30
Hi,
So disregard my last statement looks like all capacities of the 14 pro are $30 a month. Obviously, if I do go for this, I'll be getting the 1 tb model.
Good to know I wouldn't be missing much with the regular 15, though - but while 1 tb on a phone is absolutely overkill if I can get it for the same as 128 I'll do it. I'm paying $47 for my 128 pixel 6 pro - got screwed, clearly, and didn't do my research - but you live and learn.
Any relation?
Just wondered if you knew Shakey Jake, an old Ann Arbor Michigan fixture.
Sorry I'm not much help on new hardware. In my experience, there's no need for both a phone and an iPad, so just get the phone. As for memory amount, only you know how much you need. I have a substantial music library and have gotten along with 64GB for years. Only recently have I had to kick some music off because the whole library no longer fits. My next phone will be 128GB or whatever the next size up Apple offers.
My shopping list for next year includes a hypothetical iPhone 16 and an M3 Mac Mini.
Enjoy your purchase and let us know what you get.
1TB
Old timer technology story. You have been warned.
It was the year 2000. I was an engineer working at Hewlett Packard, and HP was rolling out a new model of desk side workstation, big tower units comparable to the Mac Pro desktop. That was the first time I ever saw a computer with 1GB RAM. Now you have 1000 times that much as flash memory on your handheld for a fraction of the price. 2000 just doesn't seem that long ago, but I guess a lot can happen in 23 years.
No relation and No need for 1 tb at all
Hi,
No relation here, unfortunately. I am in Canada.
In regards to phones, I'm not super in need of the latest and greatest myself, but will take advantage of what gets offered price wise. Here in Canada it's incredibly difficult to get a good deal on anything cell phone related - even refurbished are quite expensive. I've had very bad luck with used devices in the past. I'm mainly going this method to see how I like iPhone after being away from so long. After two years of use I'll know what I need and from there can make a propper purchase direct from Apple and keep the device for as long as I want with whatever carrier I choose. I do plan on keeping the pixel 6 for testing purposes. It still is very capable.
Technology really has come a long way - I remember using dos - how 64 mb of ram was more than anyone would ever need. The idea of having 1 tb of storage on a pocket sized device is quite frankly insane to me and I myself will never use all of it. At the end of the day I know I'm being, mostly, conned into believing it's actually cheaper, but I'll take what I can get and be able to make a better purchase decision when the time comes in 2 years.
I only used dos for a very short time before school switched me over to windows 95/98 at that point. I've wanted, for a really long time, to find an older machine and get it in working order - thanks LGR on youtube for keeping the retro systems alive and shown off.
Sorry for the rant. I find technology and the history of where we are today absolutely fascinating and there are so many rabbit holes. 5.25 inch speakers were a thing. As were the Japanese computers that were also stereo receivers with minidisk players and had a built in amplifier from the late 90s. So many cool quirky things over the years that are just gone.
1 TB
When I bought my iPhone 13 Mini in 2021, Apple offered 512 GB for the regular iPhone for the first time. I leaped at the chance to get this much storage. I didn’t know what I would do with it, but I thought more was better than less. Two years later and I feel the freedom with all the storage. I recently switched gyms and they have hip hop music on half the time and rock and roll the other half. I bought a pair of Bluetooth earbuds on liquidation for $36, a fitness belt, and transferred loads of hard rock and heavy metal music onto my iPhone. I can now enjoy bands like rush, Tool, Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin, AC/DC Motley Crue, Metallica, disturbed, and others while I lift weights. I visited a friend this past August in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He lives along Lake Superior in an area notorious for a lack of cell signals. It is one of the least densely populated areas of the Midwest. I bought a Marshall Emberton speaker before I left. I transferred many classic jazz recordings from bill Evans, Miles Davis, Winton Kelly, and others. With my 512 GB of storage, I had plenty of jazz recordings for quiet northern Michigan nights in my friend’s small town.
Podcasts are another need for storage. I have years of archived shows to listen to all downloaded on my device without the need of a cell connection to listen to them. Similarly, I also have plenty of audio books on my iPhone for listening and learning.
While blind people take few photos and videos, flac files might eat up storage if Apple ever decides to support them.
This is all to say go with the 1 TB option. You will never know now if you will need it five years into the future.
re: 1 TB
Well I just went for it.
I was going to do Apple financing until I found out in Canada it is now 7.99%.
The difference in price from the 13 through 15 was so minimal that I decided I was going to get the 15 and be done.
Then I went on another website, openbox.ca, and found a 15 256 GB for $200 off. I couldn't pass it up.
No, it's not 512 or 1 TB. Those prices, for the 15 512 are hitting close to $1575- and the 15 pro 1 tb is right around 2,100 here in Canada direct from Apple and I'm just not interested in paying much over $1200 on a phone. For that premium, I can easily stick a 1 tb micro sd card in my very budget level Android tablet and have a very similar experience. Android isn't lacking at all in multimedia consumption apps.
All tolled, with tax, which again is much higher here than in a lot of places, I am out just under $1150 for at most, a 2 month old iPhone 15 256 GB. Apple is charging $1279 before tax for this storage varient. Winning!
For anyone else in Canada who is wondering, I switched to public mobile from Rogers and am saving $51 a month on my current phone bill from the plan change alone. This equates to $1200 savings over those 2 years. That savings just, preemptively, went to a new iPhone - which will last at least 5 years. And since I'm not also forced to finance with Rogers, I get another savings of well over $600 over those two years - I should add that if you finance you are forced into incredibly expensive plans with the big three telcos here in Canada. Even financing through Apple still ultimately saves you money in comparison.
I really think given the other options I made the right choice. I don't think the pro would have added much of anything apart from a bit more CPU and better camera, but only in certain scenarios.
Congrats!
Enjoy your purchase.