Seven Ate Nine?

The new iPhone is here! The new iPhone is here! Well, not the new iPhone. But a new iPhone. And because I’m crazy like that – don’t get Megan started – I picked one up on launch day, even though I really want and plan to get the iPhone X when it’s available in November. 

I opted to get the silver/white variety of the iPhone 8 (not Plus) because it’s as different (physically & visually) as possible from my Jet Black iPhone 7 Plus. I’ll have more thoughts to share soon once I’ve used it for a bit. 

I will say that in San Francisco at least, there was still a long line at the Apple Store on iPhone 8 launch day. But it was also Apple Watch Series 3 (you know, the LTE one) launch day. And, to a lesser extent, Apple TV 4K launch day. I got a lot of responses on Twitter that lines were non-existant in other parts of the country (and at carrier stores). Can’t wait to see what those numbers look like – no press release out of Apple this AM…

Per above, I read most of the reviews for the iPhone 8 (both the regular and the Plus variety). The consensus seems to be that it’s nice – the best iPhone yet, even – but unless you’re upgrading from an iPhone 6-era phone (meaning, at least two generations ago), it’s probably not worth the cost to upgrade. Yet.

Of course, one has to wonder how these reviews would be different if the iPhone X didn’t exist. Because essentially what folks are saying is that the iPhone 8 isn’t different enough from the iPhone 7 to warrant the upgrade – but that’s a much easier stance to take with the iPhone X waiting in the wings. Because that device should be different enough to upgrade – if you can afford it, of course. Would the reviews be the same or more positive or would they be tinged more with an “Apple is doomed” storyline? 

Even more than normal, I mean…

Boy, what a shitshow. A number of reviews pointed to the core functionality of the new Apple Watch – the LTE connection – simply not working a not insignificant amount of the time. Yikes.

Reading between the lines, it seems pretty clear what’s going on here: bad hand-off-to-wifi software. But it’s just as problematic that Apple didn’t catch this before they handed out review units. You have to wonder as well what this will mean for early sales of this device. Basically every headline noted that the device was flawed and/or buggy. Again, yikes. 

Apple somehow managed to hit the trifecta here: reviewers were also not blown away by this device. Reviews ranged from “4K, cool, I guess” to “I didn’t even bother testing it because I don’t have a 4K TV”. The fact that this device doesn’t make someone like John Gruber want to rush out and get a 4K TV says just about all you need to know…

If you were just to hear the plot of this movie, it would sound incredibly stupid. But given the people involved, my bet would be on it being, very, very good. Being John Malkovich preposterous, and good.