Calamander

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Calamander
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  • Apple pushes back on India's demand to support GPS rival in 2023 iPhones

    JP234 said:
    This will come down to which party needs the other more. Pretty sure Apple wins this one.
    Government always wins, unless it's a very small, unimportant nation. 

    Apple will do what the government demands. 1.3Bn customers are at stake! 

    They're just negotiating at this stage. 
    JP234watto_cobra
  • Apple ditches physical SIM cards from all US iPhone 14 models

    Amazing how Apple is now using its monopoly just like Microsoft used to - doing things that are good for corporate and carriers and bad for customers. 

    Maybe they have a secret plan on how to usurp the carriers with this - who knows. 

    But on paper, it makes no sense whatsoever, so they are clearly lying about the reasons they're doing it. 

    They're also making an iPhone a bad choice for travelers. It's the all in one approach where you're married to a US carrier and if you wanna leave the country well you better pay for the roaming plan! 

    I am in Asia, no way you can get an eSim for travelers. 

    The SIM card empowers the user, the carrier has no say in what phone you use, neither does the manufacturer of the phone. It's a standard and I can buy a SIM card and use it however I want. Carriers and manufacturers support the SIM standard. 

    I had an eSim on my XS when it first came out. Then I got an 11 pro - turns out the eSIM is married to the phone and can't be transferred. Apple has a transfer eSim function, except it doesn't work. It told me I have to go to a service office of my carrier to transfer the number. Meaning - total carrier control! No thanks. I eventually ditched the number and got a physical SIM card, after keeping the XS forever just for that eSim phone number which I needed for banking. I was out of the country. So basically this prevented me from selling the phone. 

    eSim may be OK if its is under full user control - it's basically just permission to access the network, the same as a SIM card. But there would need to be standards. And they don't exist, so currently eSim is the worst of all worlds - you are now controlled by both Apple and the carrier! 

    Think you can transfer your eSim to a device not made by Apple? Fat chance of that. Not gonna happen. One more lock on your Apple prison door. 

    I won't be affected since I will be getting an overseas version, but so far I believe this is a very bad move from Apple.

    I am wondering about the true motives. So far - I don't know. Saving that tiny bit of space - not it. Apple carrier - maybe. 
    darkvaderbubblefree
  • Apple unveils iPhone 14 Pro & iPhone 14 Pro Max with always-on display

    Worthy upgrade 

    removal of SIM tray is concerning, that's a bit like the removal of the audio jack.

    We still miss the audio jack, and now we're using these silly lightning port dongles... wondering how this has been "progress" as we dongle about our day. 

    My experience with eSim was terrible - I was excited and jumped right in, and got an eSim. Works! But then I got a new phone. There's an eSim transfer fucntion in the iPhone but apparently the operator gets to override it - I got a message saying my eSim can't be transferred and I need to go to a customer service center. I couldn't do that since I was in another country. That's a very big step back in usability from a SIM card - pop it out, pop it back in, no drama, no dialogs, no customer centers. It just works. 

    Here in Asia everyone is using SIM cards on a daily basis, it's common to switch them while traveling, or to get a new one - also why phones have 2 or more SIM trays and even Apple sold iPhones here with dual SIM slots. 

    So why remove that from the US models? Given that they can't remove it from Asian models for probably a very long time to come? It makes the USA iPhones useless in Asia. So... that's a very strange decision. 
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Brazil stops iPhone sales until Apple includes an AC charger

    Brazil put a price on wokeness, good.

    Apple is so concerned about the environment they don't include a charger or earphones in their $1,000+ devices. 

    At the same time, they make products that can't be repaired and need to be replaced wholesale. Example my XS face ID crystal broke, turns out, that cannot be fixed or replaced. At all. Not by Apple or anyone else. Either you use the phone without, or you throw it away. 

    What @wood said is a simple solution but Apple won't do that because they're hypocrites. Apple used to be a good company under Steve Jobs - at that time, critics were saying the same thing. Back then they were not right. Today they are.

    I also don't think the environment argument has merit - let's say Apple ships 1000x less chargers, OK, fair enough, but people are going to buy 100x more 3rd party chargers, most of which are way more polluting than what Apple is making in its closely monitored factores, and some of these 3rd party chargers will destroy the iPhones, leading to more waste. i think in the end nothing will have been saved. Except the carbon neutral rating, congratulations, hypocrites! 

     wood1208 said:
    Price for Brazil iPhone by default includes charger. If someone don't want it than give deduction/rebate for charger in final price on invoice.

    rrabubyronlmobirdwilliamlondonentropys
  • Compared: Apple 2022 iPhone SE vs Google Pixel 6a

    Best looking Pixel so far. Really nice. The iPhone SE is also a killer product. 

    A15 naturally destroys other processors - give Google a few years, they will get closer. 
    watto_cobra