So, coming up on the 4-year anniversary of when we bought our iPhone 6's (our very first smartphones), & it's looking like it's time to replace them. We're getting some minor to moderate glitches:
From what our carrier (AT&T) is offering, we seem to have 2 options that might be acceptable: the iPhone 8 (drops the headphone jack, but otherwise is identical in screen size & dimensions to the iPhone 6), & the iPhone XS (barely larger than the iPhone 6/8 so it might still be OK, but the larger screen is at the expense of the physical home button).
Price-wise, they're about the same, so aside from the Luddite-like feeling I have about dropping the home button, would going for the XS be the best option, or should we go for the 8? As for the timeframe, this won't be immediate, but probably some time in the next few months.
- my wife's phone had the screen replaced about 2-3 years ago, & on a semi-regular basis is getting white horizontal lines across the lower part of the screen (started off at the very bottom, now comes up maybe half an inch from the screen bottom); she's also still on her original battery, so it's not lasting as long.
- my phone had the battery replaced last year, but I'm starting to have some issues with charging cords not always getting a good connection. It happens on multiple cords (official & non-official ones), & I've cleaned out the port with compressed air & Q-Tips, so not sure if it's already run through the 2nd battery or not
- Our music. Yes, I understand that there are almost certainly software tools out there that would allow us to convert our iTunes library to a non-Apple format (some of which may even be free) -- & since we've resisted the urge to use cloud storage, it's all stored on our desktop hard drive. The problem, however, is that we cannot just convert from iTunes to another software application...because then we'd lose the ability to add new music to our iPod Touch (4th-generation) devices. We had those before our smartphones, & currently we still use them quite a bit -- my wife's is hooked up to its own speaker system in our living room, & mine is plugged into my car's USB port. Switching to Android would mean we'd have to not only start using a new software app to manage the music on new Android smartphones, but every time we bought downloaded a new CD/digital album we'd have to add it to both applications (thereby doubling the amount of disk storage used). The disk space isn't that big of a problem, but the time wasted doubling the work is.
- Our other devices. As I mentioned, we both have iPod Touches. However, my wife also has for her work (professor at the local community college) an iPad Air and a Macbook Air that the college has provided her. She uses the same Apple ID for both the iPad & iPhone, which makes it easy to switch from 1 to another when she's working. Going to an Android phone would eliminate that compatibility...& anything that affects her productivity makes her very cranky.
- Phone size. Our iPhones are the perfect size for fitting in a purse or a shirt pocket, so going to a bigger phone of any sort is not in the cards.
From what our carrier (AT&T) is offering, we seem to have 2 options that might be acceptable: the iPhone 8 (drops the headphone jack, but otherwise is identical in screen size & dimensions to the iPhone 6), & the iPhone XS (barely larger than the iPhone 6/8 so it might still be OK, but the larger screen is at the expense of the physical home button).
Price-wise, they're about the same, so aside from the Luddite-like feeling I have about dropping the home button, would going for the XS be the best option, or should we go for the 8? As for the timeframe, this won't be immediate, but probably some time in the next few months.