I have to agree. I’ve owned both, but neither have been my favorite. That title belongs to the 2016 SE. I’d love to be able to use that again with a modern OS.
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Other Last "Wow" iPhone Generation?
- Thread starter ergoego22
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13 Pro wowed me... 120Hz was a game changer, and it was the first non-Max phone which could last me the whole day on a charge.
Before that, obviously iPhone X, and before that the 5S.
Before that, obviously iPhone X, and before that the 5S.
Definitely the 6 and the 6 plus. It really made iPhones versatile with the larger screen. Our screen time increased because of this and apps became a lot advance than before with the smaller screens. Since the jump from big screen how we use our phones really haven’t changed that much and made upgrades less significant.
15 PM is best by a lot. And I have owned and/or tested every generation.I'm after what the crowd-sourced "best" iPhone is.
But I want it not from an objective perspective ("the iPhone 4 was a huge leap forward..." etc.) - I want you to vote for up to 3 generations that viscerally gave you a sense of "wow" or pure enjoyment.
For me, it's iPhone 5s, SE1, and 12 mini - can you tell I'm in love with this form factor?Please only vote for a model you owned - I would probably vote for the 13 mini (should be objectively better than the 12 mini - nearly same form factor but better specs), but I haven't owned that one so it's the 12 for me.
The 5s was my first iPhone - loved the design. Perfect. I still think it's a beautiful piece of engineering/industrial design. 12 mini would be better if it had a flush camera. But that brushed aluminum back... lovely design.
SE1 was just 5s but with 6s guts - that processor and iOS 12 (I think) improved performance and gave that phone an awesome recent-retro vibe (people would always ask if my phone was an original iPhone haha) along with good enough performance. I love the flush camera. Miss that. So understated and classy. And the one-hand size is just swell to use (and I'm a big dude - 6'2" and big hands). I also loved that I could stand it up on its bottom surface for watching something while eating or looking at instructions for something that required both hands.
12 mini - so excited and gratifying to have the return to form, in the middle of the insanity that was 2020 covid - the box edges, one-hand operation, can stand up on the bottom, and a new power - with the silicon case, it will stick to my fridge! I often pull up recipes and throw it on my fridge face. Out of the way and accessible. (the larger iPhones with MagSafe are too heavy and slide down). Also super useful when I'm in the lab and looking at a picture of a wiring diagram or something - I can throw it onto the metal shelving and have it right at eye level while working. Excellent non-marketed feature. I will have my mini as long as possible, and then when I am forced to, I will eek out another year by buying a used 13 mini (unless, miraculously, another mini gen comes along). .5 camera zoom was a first for me in this gen as well - so much of what I take images of benefit from this (capturing a whole industrial machine wiring cabinet in one shot before disassembly/debug is just lovely).
My least favorite - iPhone XR. Can't really explain why, but I think it just felt like an android phone with iOS. Huge, not-great screen, too-smooth and formless. Felt generic and un-inspired.
Others I've owned - iPhone 6s, iPhone 8, iPhone 7
Feel free to add your own flavor to the discussion (when you got it, notable memories with that phone, etc.), or just vote!
I originally had planned to have it broken out by pro, max, plus, etc. but the poll wouldn't give me enough options, so I lumped them together a bit.
15PM is a pathetic money grab which should not have happened. 15 Gen Pros will go down as the worst Pro iteration, and that's a pretty high bar given how bad 14 Gen Pros were to begin with.
The iPhone 5S with TouchID, then the iPhone 7 Plus with the dual cameras and solid state home button. Then again with the X. I had a bit of that 'wow' last year with Dynamic Island because we knew there would be a pill shaped FaceID module with possibly another circular cutout, but when they gave us the pill cutout with dynamic island, I was impressed. Now on my 15 Pro Max, I don't have that wow per se, but I am really impressed with the design and overall features. Just wish Apple would implement some more advanced multitasking a la S23 Ultra with split screen to take advantage of the extra screen real estate.
For me the biggest wow upgrades the iphone has ever got was the:
Iphone 4 was wow because of the glass back & stainless steel frame making it feel more solid but premium device, in contrast to the first gen iphone.
Iphone X wowed me, in terms of the devices size, Apple bringing back the glass back, and Apple ditching the iconic home button at the time for a full screen design minus the notch.
Iphone 4 was wow because of the glass back & stainless steel frame making it feel more solid but premium device, in contrast to the first gen iphone.
Iphone X wowed me, in terms of the devices size, Apple bringing back the glass back, and Apple ditching the iconic home button at the time for a full screen design minus the notch.
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The original iPhone is definitely a wow. I can't recall some of the changes in subsequent years, but the next one that I definitely felt a wow for was iPhone X when FaceID was first introduced. That feature was a definite game changer. So for me, it's the original iPhone and the iPhone X. By the way, I never owned the iPhone X (I know your original post says vote only for that which you have owned.) I owned the next model, the iPhone Xs. However, the X is really the one that first introduced the FaceID feature and the Xs refined the X further.
The hottest, especially for a phone that's not even 10 days in.
I wish Apple would firmly commit to strong battery life on the pro (non-Max) phones and make that a serious priority every year. They did it for the 13 pro and they can do it again.
Sure they could add mass to the phone. But most buyers including me prefer the thickness/battery/weight balance they have now. YMMV obviously, and you can add a battery case or whatever for additional power. But folks like me who like it as is could not take away weight/thickness if Apple added it.
What do you mean? I have a 14 Pro and the 15 Pro Max in my hands right now. The 15 Pro Max absolutely rocks. Nothing against the 14 Pro, but the 15 is a nice step up.
You claim "First time iphone owners with nothing to compare it to?" as if the 15 owners are less informed, but my guess is your assumption is flat wrong.
More likely is that the flaw is your statement "main complaints about it here is that there’s no perceivable difference between it and the 14 that came before it" because those comments are mostly made by uninformed folks who do not actually own a 15.
I'm after what the crowd-sourced "best" iPhone is.
But I want it not from an objective perspective ("the iPhone 4 was a huge leap forward..." etc.) - I want you to vote for up to 3 generations that viscerally gave you a sense of "wow" or pure enjoyment.
For me, it's iPhone 5s, SE1, and 12 mini - can you tell I'm in love with this form factor?
The 5s was my first iPhone - loved the design. Perfect. I still think it's a beautiful piece of engineering/industrial design. 12 mini would be better if it had a flush camera. But that brushed aluminum back... lovely design.
SE1 was just 5s but with 6s guts - that processor and iOS 12 (I think) improved performance and gave that phone an awesome recent-retro vibe (people would always ask if my phone was an original iPhone haha) along with good enough performance. I love the flush camera. Miss that. So understated and classy. And the one-hand size is just swell to use (and I'm a big dude - 6'2" and big hands). I also loved that I could stand it up on its bottom surface for watching something while eating or looking at instructions for something that required both hands.
12 mini - so excited and gratifying to have the return to form, in the middle of the insanity that was 2020 covid - the box edges, one-hand operation, can stand up on the bottom, and a new power - with the silicon case, it will stick to my fridge! I often pull up recipes and throw it on my fridge face. Out of the way and accessible. (the larger iPhones with MagSafe are too heavy and slide down). Also super useful when I'm in the lab and looking at a picture of a wiring diagram or something - I can throw it onto the metal shelving and have it right at eye level while working. Excellent non-marketed feature. I will have my mini as long as possible, and then when I am forced to, I will eek out another year by buying a used 13 mini (unless, miraculously, another mini gen comes along). .5 camera zoom was a first for me in this gen as well - so much of what I take images of benefit from this (capturing a whole industrial machine wiring cabinet in one shot before disassembly/debug is just lovely).
My least favorite - iPhone XR. Can't really explain why, but I think it just felt like an android phone with iOS. Huge, not-great screen, too-smooth and formless. Felt generic and un-inspired.
Others I've owned - iPhone 6s, iPhone 8, iPhone 7
Feel free to add your own flavor to the discussion (when you got it, notable memories with that phone, etc.), or just vote!
I originally had planned to have it broken out by pro, max, plus, etc. but the poll wouldn't give me enough options, so I lumped them together a bit.
It’s funnv that you say the XR wasn’t inspired - it is actually the precursor to the “standard” iPhone over the past five years, and I am guessing the 6.1 inch screen will be offered in some way for the next five years at least. In many ways it is one of the most influential iPhones.
People wow’s by the iPhone 15, what did it for you? the design is 4 years in
The 5 was slate black and one of my favorite iPhone colors to date
I have never even once had a noticeable problem with raise to wake. I had an 11 and a 13 prior to this phone. What was going wrong with it...?
The poll question is different from the thread title. Probably where it’s coming from.
1) Mostly it feels smoother operationally. Real world the 15 PM feels faster, but I have not tested whether or not it is objectively faster.
2) I went from 14P to 15 PM and again, it feels good in hand. It does not feel bigger/clunkier even though it provides hella more display real estate.
3) Sound is clearly superior.
4) The action button is a huge improvement in UI for me. I have it set for the camera, and it rocks.
5) Photo capture is quicker and easier. I do not know how much of this is the larger display coming from a 14 or how much is due to iOS 17, but it presents clear improvement to me. I constantly capture images for work purposes and for personal so any improvement is a big deal.
6) The display seems improved. That might just be because of my perception coming from the 14P to the larger display of the 15 PM, but I don't think it is.
7) The image captures from the 15 PM are real-world better in addition to being easier to capture.
8) Battery life of the 15 PM is clearly superior to that of the 14 P in my daily workflow. However battery of the 14 P was fine so the 15 PM is simply more fine.
9) The 15 PM presents as less hot than the 14 P does in my daily workflow. This was a surprise because I expected the 15 to behave similarly to the 14.
10) I like the look and feel of the Natural Titanium alloy exoskeleton and expect it to perform well over time like the Apple Watch Ultra Ti alloy has.
11) Facial ID seems faster and more consistent by a small bit.
There are no doubt other improvements that I simply have not noticed yet. The only negative that I have found is that the synch between the AW Ultra and the 15 PM is misbehaving a bit. Sometimes the AWU does not present an alarm going off that was set on the phone. This never happened on the 14 P, and may be an iOS 17 artifact (the 14 P never had iOS 17 installed).
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The 4 and X are obvious answers. Surprised there’s no love for the 6s. One of the biggest year over year improvements with the increased memory and A9 chip. The 6 was a potato compared to the 6s and I have little doubt they could’ve given the device a few more iOS updates. It also introduced 3D Touch: one of my favorite (pro) features and so much better than haptic touch!
For wow generations I think there are only three, and they’ve been named here numerous times over.
1. 1st gen iPhone. There was nothing like it on the market. Blackberry was the big professional phone at the time and the iPhone made them look like a horse and buggy next to a Model T. It just completely changed the entire space.
2. iPhone 4. As big of a deal as the iPhone was in the tech world prior to the 4, the 4 was where it really graduated to being one of the most popular phones in the world. Everyone was blown away by the design. You could tell the entire iPhone team put their heart and soul into that one. It was THE smartphone to have.
3. iPhone X. A brand new design language, a brand new edge to edge screen, Face ID, premium materials. Everything about it screamed “THE FUTURE” especially as it debuted at the same time as the iPhone 8, which kept the same form factor as the 6 and was getting long in the tooth. Also if I recall correctly the first iPhone to hit $1,000 in price.
These are not my favorites, however. Those would be:
1. iPhone 5s. The last of the smaller size iPhones and just a remarkably refined experience. TouchID wasn’t perfect but it felt magical and the phone felt perfectly balanced in the hand.
2. iPhone 11 Pro. This one was so good that in retrospect I should have just held onto it until the 15. Really exceptional battery life, even on the regular size Pro. The three camera system was so great to use. The feel in the hand was perfect. This is the one I miss the most.
3. Maybe the 15 Pro Max? It’s too early to tell but the subtle design changes from the 14 make this an immeasurably nicer object to behold and that design plus the titanium make it much nicer in the hand than the 12/13/14. The improvements in camera software feel like a unification of features that was a long time coming (specifically built in portrait mode into the main photos mode). Battery life seems very good so far. I’m hoping this one holds up well enough that I don’t feel tempted to upgrade for 3-4 years.
1. 1st gen iPhone. There was nothing like it on the market. Blackberry was the big professional phone at the time and the iPhone made them look like a horse and buggy next to a Model T. It just completely changed the entire space.
2. iPhone 4. As big of a deal as the iPhone was in the tech world prior to the 4, the 4 was where it really graduated to being one of the most popular phones in the world. Everyone was blown away by the design. You could tell the entire iPhone team put their heart and soul into that one. It was THE smartphone to have.
3. iPhone X. A brand new design language, a brand new edge to edge screen, Face ID, premium materials. Everything about it screamed “THE FUTURE” especially as it debuted at the same time as the iPhone 8, which kept the same form factor as the 6 and was getting long in the tooth. Also if I recall correctly the first iPhone to hit $1,000 in price.
These are not my favorites, however. Those would be:
1. iPhone 5s. The last of the smaller size iPhones and just a remarkably refined experience. TouchID wasn’t perfect but it felt magical and the phone felt perfectly balanced in the hand.
2. iPhone 11 Pro. This one was so good that in retrospect I should have just held onto it until the 15. Really exceptional battery life, even on the regular size Pro. The three camera system was so great to use. The feel in the hand was perfect. This is the one I miss the most.
3. Maybe the 15 Pro Max? It’s too early to tell but the subtle design changes from the 14 make this an immeasurably nicer object to behold and that design plus the titanium make it much nicer in the hand than the 12/13/14. The improvements in camera software feel like a unification of features that was a long time coming (specifically built in portrait mode into the main photos mode). Battery life seems very good so far. I’m hoping this one holds up well enough that I don’t feel tempted to upgrade for 3-4 years.
Totally agree. The massively improved battery life, larger screen, all combined with the all new 7nm A12 chip that was about 50% faster than the A11 in many benchmarks. Amazing phone at the time.