Apple: iPhone News and Discussion Thread
Currently Post-Acura
Platinum (got it from eBay NIB for $7 instead of Best Buy): https://www.bestbuy.com/site/platinu...?skuId=6006000
Sena (Looks like they came out with an XS variant):
Also have a knockoff ElementCase coming from eBay, but since it's coming from China who knows when it'll get here.
Links to photos I already put on the MacRumors forum since I can't get them to upload here
https://forums.macrumors.com/attachm...15-jpg.786931/
https://forums.macrumors.com/attachm...16-jpg.786932/
Sena (Looks like they came out with an XS variant):
https://www.amazon.com/Sena-Cell-Phone-Case-iPhone/dp/B075XJHRNC/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1538714873&sr=8-7&keywords=sena+iPhone+x
Also have a knockoff ElementCase coming from eBay, but since it's coming from China who knows when it'll get here.
Links to photos I already put on the MacRumors forum since I can't get them to upload here
https://forums.macrumors.com/attachm...15-jpg.786931/
https://forums.macrumors.com/attachm...16-jpg.786932/
Last edited by MaxMike93; 10-04-2018 at 11:54 PM.
Grandpa
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I'm indecisive as hell, can't decide on which S4 watch. What did you guys choose, in the past even?
Leaning towards:
Leaning towards:
- No cellular (how much would I really use it?)
- Silver aluminum. SS looks pretty, but a little too flashy. I'm pretty careful. Silver would match with more bands than space gray, but I'll probably stick with an Amazon milanese loop
The only thing I'd caution about is the gold finish on aluminum, which if you ask me seems decidedly inferior. I wouldn't do that. If you think about gold, go for stainless. Even if you get too many of the little micro scratches on it, it's easy to polish out quickly.
If you want aluminum for the money savings, I think the black or dark grey looks a lot better than silver, but that's just me. :-)
Grandpa
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This is probably dumb, but I haven't bought an S4 cellular as I originally intended for the sole reason that they're still not covering all the T-Mobile bands.
I really want Bands 66 and 71. Bands 2,4,12 doesn't cover it all. :-)
Maybe I'll give in at some point, but that's the one silly reason I haven't upgraded.
I really want Bands 66 and 71. Bands 2,4,12 doesn't cover it all. :-)
Maybe I'll give in at some point, but that's the one silly reason I haven't upgraded.
Go Giants
I had cell on my 3 (Thoiboi has it now) and turned if off. My 4 is just wifi.
I think I've settled on space gray at least.
The thought of running without my phone bouncing around with each step and still having music is nice. But I don't run at all at the moment
The thought of running without my phone bouncing around with each step and still having music is nice. But I don't run at all at the moment
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I have the cell enabled on the watch for now just because T-Mo had a promotion with the first 3 months free but I don't think I'll end up keepin git.. Pandora stopped developing an app for music so my whole value proposition of having my watch + BT headphones at the gym went out the window They don't even have Google Play Music or Amazon Music; Apple is really pushing their shitty Apple Music app...
Anyone have a workaround or suggestion? I
Anyone have a workaround or suggestion? I
Grandpa
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Anybody looking forward to the October event?
New iPad?
AirPower? 0_o
New iPad?
AirPower? 0_o
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astro (10-09-2018)
Was gonna wait at least a few days before posting about battery life, but on my XS max it's been amazing.
It was very slow at work the other day. Got close to 6hrs screen on time, with Spotify playing on my 40 min commute and around 25% battery life. Insane.
It was very slow at work the other day. Got close to 6hrs screen on time, with Spotify playing on my 40 min commute and around 25% battery life. Insane.
Grandpa
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Sanest Florida Man
Ok, now I'm noticing the shitty wifi reception on the XS Max. I'm at a client the WAP is 15ft away from me and this phone isn't joining it automatically. I have to manually go in to wifi settings and tap on the network, then it joins it without asking for a password. This is what fucked me earlier this month, on my first day with the phone I took it into the office and I assumed I was on the wifi network and started re-downloading my music collection to it. It wasn't on wifi apparently even though it knows the passwords to every wifi network in that building and then proceeded to download at least 4GB of Music over LTE. I get a notification from AT&T later that day that I'd used 75% of my data plan already and I got 28 days left on my plan.
I was at my friends house last night and he got a new wifi network. I went in to wifi settings to join the network and it didn't see any network nearby, turning wifi off and on again didn't help, it just refused to see any wifi networks. My friend just got an XS Max and he was able to see all the wifi networks nearby but mine wouldn't. Tried it 5 minutes later and it was able to see the network and he was able to share the password with me.
And during the course of writing this message the XS MAx is no longer joined to the wifi at the client I'm at, I have to go back in to settings to manually rejoin it again. This is annoying
My guess is that it's a software issue but who knows. I'm on iOS 12.1 Public Beta 2
I was at my friends house last night and he got a new wifi network. I went in to wifi settings to join the network and it didn't see any network nearby, turning wifi off and on again didn't help, it just refused to see any wifi networks. My friend just got an XS Max and he was able to see all the wifi networks nearby but mine wouldn't. Tried it 5 minutes later and it was able to see the network and he was able to share the password with me.
And during the course of writing this message the XS MAx is no longer joined to the wifi at the client I'm at, I have to go back in to settings to manually rejoin it again. This is annoying
My guess is that it's a software issue but who knows. I'm on iOS 12.1 Public Beta 2
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0_o
Sanest Florida Man
If I'm at home and I'm 10 ft away from the router sometimes the phone says I only have 2 bars of signal strength out of 3, I should definitely have 3.
Also a reminder that Apple removed the ability to see the numerical signal strength levels from the field menu in iOS 11.
Now we have to use made up arbitrary bars
Also a reminder that Apple removed the ability to see the numerical signal strength levels from the field menu in iOS 11.
Now we have to use made up arbitrary bars
Go Giants
Patch came out today. You can install that over the beta and try that
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Sanest Florida Man
Supposedly the beta already had the patch
Sanest Florida Man
and my home router is still 802.11n so no 5GHz anyways
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robb m.
robb m.
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I'm indecisive as hell, can't decide on which S4 watch. What did you guys choose, in the past even?
Leaning towards:
Leaning towards:
- No cellular (how much would I really use it?)
- Silver aluminum. SS looks pretty, but a little too flashy. I'm pretty careful. Silver would match with more bands than space gray, but I'll probably stick with an Amazon milanese loop
You can get the SS with cellular and just not pay to activate it.
It's probably hoping for too much but more bass would be great.
What will updated airpods have? Wireless charging?
What will updated airpods have? Wireless charging?
Go Giants
Im ready for a faster 12 inch Macbook I guess. I sold my 2017 one and my iPad pro and got the XS Max, a Surface Go and still have my 2017 13 inch Pro.
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Go Giants
They all have the free trial. I ended up not turning it on after the trial. I always have my phone with me
Sanest Florida Man
I'm gonna go full-STUNNA here:
Here's a breakdown of the FCC data on signal strength from the latest and recent iPhones. The goal is to get to be at or above a baseline of 200 mW (23 dBm), which corresponds to a standard conducted power target with unity antenna gain and generally represents good RF transmission performance.
First up are the aluminum iPhone 8 and the upcoming aluminum iPhone XR
Compare the aluminum models above with the Stainless Steel models
and here's an S9 and Pixel 3 because why not
I believe the X and the 8 had the same modems and capabilities so the should have similar results but they don't, my theory that I mentioned a while back was that the stainless steel was inferior to Aluminum. These results provide corroborating evidence for that theory. I've heard that previous Apple watch
Stainless steel models had signal quality issues and Apple announced that all models of the Series 4 watch would have a ceramic backside in order to improve transmission quality. The S9 and Pixel 3 both use Aluminum as well and they appear to have good antennas as well.
Stainless Steel is not a good conductor of electricity, Aluminum is much better and is used in electrical wiring. Is that a cause?
Sources:
this article came out a day after the XS was announced and it predicted antenna issues because of these results
https://www.wiwavelength.com/2018/09...y-fail-to.html
https://www.wiwavelength.com/2018/09...etting-my.html
https://www.thoughtco.com/table-of-e...ctivity-608499
Here's a breakdown of the FCC data on signal strength from the latest and recent iPhones. The goal is to get to be at or above a baseline of 200 mW (23 dBm), which corresponds to a standard conducted power target with unity antenna gain and generally represents good RF transmission performance.
First up are the aluminum iPhone 8 and the upcoming aluminum iPhone XR
Compare the aluminum models above with the Stainless Steel models
and here's an S9 and Pixel 3 because why not
I believe the X and the 8 had the same modems and capabilities so the should have similar results but they don't, my theory that I mentioned a while back was that the stainless steel was inferior to Aluminum. These results provide corroborating evidence for that theory. I've heard that previous Apple watch
Stainless steel models had signal quality issues and Apple announced that all models of the Series 4 watch would have a ceramic backside in order to improve transmission quality. The S9 and Pixel 3 both use Aluminum as well and they appear to have good antennas as well.
Stainless Steel is not a good conductor of electricity, Aluminum is much better and is used in electrical wiring. Is that a cause?
Sources:
this article came out a day after the XS was announced and it predicted antenna issues because of these results
https://www.wiwavelength.com/2018/09...y-fail-to.html
The takeaway is that iPhone EIRP in the lab has not always been so compromised as it appears to be this year. Real world RF performance comparisons when some users switch from the iPhone X and 8 generation to the iPhone XS generation, no doubt, will be interesting.
What can be said definitively is the iPhone XS and XS Max exhibit lab tested RF performance for antenna gain and radiated power output (EIRP) that almost invariably measures lower than the same metrics on 2017 iPhone variants and other recent, comparable handsets.
https://www.thoughtco.com/table-of-e...ctivity-608499
Last edited by #1 STUNNA; 10-09-2018 at 05:05 PM.
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George Knighton (10-12-2018)
Senior Moderator
Odd issue this morning.. I updated to iOS 12.0.1 on Monday. This morning, my phone was working fine until about 3 hours ago when the screen stopped responding. Tried soft reset, hard reset, re-update via itunes DFU mode and now going to try a fresh restore.. Hoping that fixes it or else I need to take it to the Apple Store for a new one
Go Giants
No backsies
Senior Moderator
At the Apple Store now waiting for a Genius.
CURSE YOU WHISKERS!
CURSE YOU WHISKERS!
Senior Moderator
1.5 hours later, they took my phone in to replace the screen, I'm hoping they can't fix it and just give me a new phone
Go Giants
Thats nuts. This was my second X. My first one got screen burn in and they replaced it for me for free and without using an Apple Care Plus incedent. I bet you get a new one.
Senior Moderator
I'm hoping so too it reeks of Whiskers
Maybe they'll run out of iPhone X's and then give me an XS
Grandpa
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Go Giants
Grandpa
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A question about the stainless steel.
Apple says that there are six points on the stainless surround where the antennas are uncovered.
If we believe that, do we still believe that the lower RF signal performance is a byproduct of the stainless steel construction?
Apple says that there are six points on the stainless surround where the antennas are uncovered.
If we believe that, do we still believe that the lower RF signal performance is a byproduct of the stainless steel construction?
Grandpa
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...I believe the X and the 8 had the same modems....
The iPhone XS, XS Max in all varieties and the iPhone X and iPhone 8 sold for AT&T and T-Mobile have Intel modems.
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A1864 - Qualcomm
A1865 - Qualcomm
A1920 - Intel
A1921 - Intel
Does that change our minds about where we went with the stainless steel?
A1865 - Qualcomm
A1920 - Intel
A1921 - Intel
Does that change our minds about where we went with the stainless steel?
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Go Giants
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Yeah. Can't complain, besides the fact that they tweaked a post and the screws on the bottom weren't all the way in so they had to take it back and fix the screws so it just cost me some time
I'm glad they were able to accommodate me on the same day though..
I'm glad they were able to accommodate me on the same day though..
Sanest Florida Man
Additionally -- as I already have stated -- the Intel baseband categorically is not the source for conducted power output, radiated power output, or antenna gain.
Those two findings are demonstrable facts.
To follow up the latter of the two facts, I posted this on Twitter last night, though if you have been following just my blog pieces, you may have missed it.
The two 2017 iPhone X variants -- with Qualcomm baseband and with Intel baseband -- perform almost identically in RF testing submitted in their FCC authorization filings. And I do mean almost identically, right down to the decimal place -- this speaks well to Apple's precision tolerances in design and manufacturing. The lone deviations between the two variants are on bands 41 and 66, and only band 41 presents a difference worth discussing. The maximum antenna gains across all bands are exactly the same for both Qualcomm and Intel variants, but for unknown reasons, the Qualcomm variant puts out 50 mW greater conducted power on band 41, hence also 50 mW greater EIRP on band 41. That is absolutely it for the raw RF output differences. Any other cellular performance differences likely can be attributed to the Qualcomm baseband versus the Intel baseband. That controversy is well known.
...Apple's decision to forgo Qualcomm this year and source all cellular modems from Intel is not responsible for the RF power output limitations in the new iPhone models. The cellular baseband modem is separate from and well upstream of the amplifiers that generate the conducted power and antennas that generate the radiated power being measured in lab testing.
To follow up the latter of the two facts, I posted this on Twitter last night, though if you have been following just my blog pieces, you may have missed it.
The two 2017 iPhone X variants -- with Qualcomm baseband and with Intel baseband -- perform almost identically in RF testing submitted in their FCC authorization filings. And I do mean almost identically, right down to the decimal place -- this speaks well to Apple's precision tolerances in design and manufacturing. The lone deviations between the two variants are on bands 41 and 66, and only band 41 presents a difference worth discussing. The maximum antenna gains across all bands are exactly the same for both Qualcomm and Intel variants, but for unknown reasons, the Qualcomm variant puts out 50 mW greater conducted power on band 41, hence also 50 mW greater EIRP on band 41. That is absolutely it for the raw RF output differences. Any other cellular performance differences likely can be attributed to the Qualcomm baseband versus the Intel baseband. That controversy is well known.