I have sort of settled into a three year product upgrade cycle with Apple. One year I buy a new iPhone, the next an iPad and the year after that a new Apple Watch. This year, it was the Watch’s turn. I have a Series 6 and this year they released the Series 9. I’ve had mine long enough. Except I looked at the Series 9 and couldn’t help but think it looked virtually identical to the one already on my wrist. Perhaps it had new features? Well, it does have a body temperature thing to check up on my menstrual cycle.
Meh. I’ll wait for Series 10 next year. Or will it be Series X? Either way, it’s a decade of Apple Watch and they’d bound to have a special upgrade then. And I can just take this year out and save some money. I don’t need anything new really. Or do I? I had a look at the latest iPhone. I ummed. I ahhhed. Release day came and went. I ummed a bit more, but there was none in stock. Until yesterday when I noticed that there were some new phones in stock in Basingstoke. So I popped in and bought myself a fresh new iPhone 15 Pro 128gb in Natural Titanium with a blue silicon case.
I asked if they did screen protectors, and the nice lady said that they certainly did, and it was just £34, to which I said that she could fuck right off with her stupid £34 screen protectors and shove them right up her arse. But luckily, I said all that silently and the words that actually came out of my mouth were ‘actually, I’m alright for screen protecters thanks’, along with the most sarcastic smile I have delivered this year. So far. And then I went to KFC to unbox my new device and cover it in chicken grease and mystery spices.
My new iPhone is sitting in front of me as I type away into my iPad on the train home – and coincidentally I just got an Amazon notification to let me know that my three pack of ESR screen protectors at the bargain price of £15.99 has just been successfully delivered through my letterbox. Hurrah for Amazon. But back to the phone. And you know what? It looks exactly like my iPhone 13 Pro. I mean exactly like it. Identical. You could not tell them apart by looking at them. Well, I guess you’d see the dust and dirt stuck around the lens of the 13 and have a wild stab in the dark and you’d definitely be totally right. But grime aside, they are indistinguishable.
I’ve had it for 24 hours. My first impressions? The new dynamic island thingymajig where the notch was on my 13 Pro is, well it’s a bit meh. And when it expands to do the Face ID? That’s just ugly. Maybe I’ll get used to it. It does now have a USB C port which is both good and bad. Good, because it matches my iPad, so I only need one sort of cable. Bad because, omg I’ve got draws full of lightning cables which just became useless. And then there is the new Action Button where the silent mode switch is. I’ve set that to open my camera and that is a brilliant feature. Love it.
But none of that is why I bought a new iPhone that looks identical to my old one. I bought the new one because it has a massively improved camera specs. A larger sensor, 48mp compared to 12mp and other upgrades. Whether or not this means better photos is something I’ll find out over the coming months. I’m well aware that better specs do not always make for better results. If I’ve effectively parted with the best part of £600 just for that dynamic island and the privelege of making all my cable obsolete, I’ll be more than a little cheesed off.
The photos are from my first photo shoot with the 15 Pro, around Battersea Power Station. I went there to trade in my 13 Pro in the Apple Store. That was a slick experience. I used my phone to scan a QR code on his phone, which linked the two together. He then used his phone to take photos of the front and back of my 13 Pro. Some diagnostics app did it’s stuff, and once the whirring had finished, a trade in price was offered. Snazzy stuff.
The Mexile 
Driving a train must pay well for you to afford all your fiddling with Apple merchandise. Those are nice pictures, whichever phone you used, particularly the one of the Control Room E (?). Is it all retail temptations at that Battersea Power Station? No movies, restaurants, art exhibits? You might stay away for a while, at least until your credit cards recover.
LikeLike
Plenty of retail space, plus restaurants, coffee shops, a few car dealerships, a cinema and the rather wondrous Lift 109, a glass domed elevator that rides up one of the chimneys.
There’s so much there, why even ever leave the place? You don’t have to. There is residential space too. My train driver salary, alas, will never pay for one of those places…
LikeLike
I got a phone with a fingerprint sensor, so I don’t have to enter a code to unlock. But only because my old phone was no longer eligible for security updates.
LikeLike
Lifting a finger for a sensor just seems like so much hard work these days…. 🙂
LikeLike
I have been pondering as one does about splashing out some spondulicks on a new phone. To be honest I don’t need one exactly but my iPhone XR is getting a little jaded recently. The battery seems to be getting a little tired especially since the last ios17 upgrade. I’d love to get a larger model but the prices here are hideous and the cost of cellular service is prohibitive in comparison to what you have over there.
I messed up last week and missed out on a deal for a 128g iPhone 14 $17.36 a month, not bad for the basic model but the larger phone was $40+. Of course they slam us with a premium cell service with a further $65 plus and maybe more depending on the service and contract, that’s for 60 gigs though which is all fine and dandy if you need that but I’ve never used more than 4 gigs ever. Cellular service here is patchy at best and very often the gps is out too by a few hundred feet. As we live in close proximity to the US border we have to be careful where we roam as that can be an expense we don’t want to visit too often!
I prefer to keep my old phones, my 6s is on its last legs, I’m going to get a battery for it from iFixit soon to extend its life a little further (it’s got a lot of music on it).
I may get a new iPaddy next year, it’s surprising how last they last in comparison to the Samsung and other android devices there again battery life after six years is starting to wane. I’ve had mine since December ’17.
Of course that’s what happens when you get a little long in the tooth, you don’t need to have the latest and greatest…
LikeLike
We’ve had this conversation before, but reading the mobile fees you pay doesn’t cease to make my eyes water. I got a new deal sometime last year, switching from Three to Smarty. Although Smarty runs on the Three network, so its not a switch in service quality. Instead of paying £22 for unlimited calls and data, I now pay £12 for unlimited calls and 120gb of data. I’m a heavy data user, but still…I rarely exceed 35gb in a month. Smarty also gives my free data use in the EU, so effectively I now pay £10pm less, for more…
LikeLike
That almost makes me throw up! We have an account with Shaw for internet etc. because of that there is “free” wifi in most places which reduces dependence on cellular data which could explain my low usage!
It is eye watering, I wonder if I got a US contract with added travel use would it be cheaper overall?
In the meanwhile I’ll just have to lick my wounds and hope for a better deal to come along.
I can afford to buy a new one outright but I shudder at handing over $1800 + for a new flavour when I may be able to swing a deal saving me half of it albeit paying it off incrementally or just buying last year’s model!
I would love to get a plus model as my eyesight isn’t as sharp but they are silly money and the eyepad is a worthy if clumsy alternative for entertainment. I’ve never owned a mini (neither car or skirt). I bought one for one of my sons but is last girlfriend got it!
LikeLike
I think, were I in your position, I’d just buy the phone and skip having any sort of phone contract. Just use wifi where available. Ok, I won’t be able to use the phone as a phone, but hey…I never actually use the phone part anyway.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yup, wow £12 for 120 gigs of data!
Insane, my bill this month is $55 plus $6.60 tax for 8 gigs of data, 5 @4g plus 3 bonus @3g if I go over.
LikeLike
Great photos by the way, I have to say iPhones really have great cameras. Not perfect but considering what a slab of glass wedged into an aluminium or titanium shell can capture it’s really remarkable what stunning photographs can be taken from such minute camera(s) in your pocket.
LikeLike
I could buy an iPad mini and a decent compact camera, both of which will serve my needs much better than an iPhone in every way but one – putting it in my pocket.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve had my OnePlus 9 Pro for several years and it has a 48mpx camera, I had no idea I was ahead of an iPhone! Love my phone although once in a while I catch myself thinking about going Apple just to be like everyone else.
LikeLike
Come over to the light Nancy….! 🙂
LikeLike
I just made the switch from Android… made sense since I have a MacBook Air and an iPad already. But god, how do I turn off the cloud? It put photos from 2010 on my phone and dated them all yesterday. I think they had all beef What’s app shares. I guess I’ll dig into that another day.
LikeLike