charlesgres

I don't think they intend to sell the 512GB a lot.. It's just there to make the 256GB version more attractive.. 

dreyfus2 said:

If I could only find a way to stop iOS from bringing up notifications for emails it then puts into spam... About 90% of my distractions would be gone. While at it: Having "send to spam" as an option in the swipe gestures in the mail list would save me a three-digit number of unnecessary manual activities a day.

All the listed things are nice, but of little use to me. I do not use Siri, and the others solve problems I do not really have, since I have very few apps configured to create alerts: email, text messages, one general news app that has its own notification filter, and AI. Mail is really my only problem (well, as far as notifications are concerned :-)

In settings for mail, notifications, you can choose only to receive notifications for VIP persons.. So, basically you enable that and flag those persons you want to receive notifications for as VIP's, which you do by clicking the sender in the email and clicking 'Add to VIP'.

gbdoc said:

You write, about notifications, "we still need them to keep up with what is going on". Do we really? Do we really have to know, all the time in realtime, what's happening, what and where our "friends" are doing, what the Kardashians are up to, and on and on? Do we really, really need this? C'mon ...

No you don't, which is why you can choose not to receive notifications.. or only for the *important* ones..
And if you have many important ones, ios 12 now manages them better..
I wonder why one has to point out the obvious..

That Siri lags behind Google is not a dealbreaker for me.. iPhone has so many more features that are more important, such as advanced super-calibrated tech and smooth operation, consistency across apps, handover and continuity, airdrop & airplay, the whole eco-system basically, etc.. That they earn considerable margins allows them to pounce ahead where others can only try to imitate with cheap AI tricks (like bouquet)..

Even more importantly is that Apple is one of the very few ethical companies that has sufficient clout to make a difference in the world.. That alone takes any regret away that the price tag of their technology would induce.. 

As to Siri, I know in time it will be able to do the same things as Google.. Now that the AI team is reorganized and the infighting stopped hopefully, I think it will be sooner rather than later and who knows maybe Siri will leap ahead..  Also, imagine what an advanced AI can do with full 3D perception of the world, instead of being restricted to clever 2D pixel analysis and manipulations..

What's the advantage over just placing a cellular call?