Apple iPhone Pro Max

I researched this phone, and while being cool (I like the idea), it’s not practical for me to hunt it, it’s not trivial to buy in my area. However, I have a similar idea to others: an old tiny iPhone (4S or 5S if you can survive with the obsolete system, FaceTime and iMessage works there last time I checked, a year or two ago), or SE 1st gen (I use it as my second phone to my 12 mini), which is perfectly usable (Safari is stuck at whatever version it has from iOS 15). It’s not very practical everyday phone, but it works for most tasks, including navigation with maps. So if you’re hunting a small distraction free phone, an obsolete iPhone is a pretty decent thing to buy, and is usually cheap. I bet getting a new battery might be more expensive than the phone itself, unless you’re up to the task (it’s not complicated, if you have the basic instruments). I know it’s the opposite of an open phone with an easily swappable battery, but it’s a decent step into the direction. And I found an old iPhone being very usable for very basic tasks. If I had a Pro Max, I’d surely wasted much more time on it. I know because I had one before.

I've also struggled to install GrapheneOS and Calyx on my iPhone Pro Max. /s (I actually do have both and definitely prefer the Pixel -- especially the cameras on the Pixel are amazing in low light, but it's a bit annoying how the official Gcam app seems to expect that Google photos is installed.) How funny is it that the best way to de-Google is to buy a Google device, and that Apple is incredibly prescriptive about knowing exactly who you are, connecting to wifi, and getting your purchasing on file before you can even get through the initial setup on an iPhone. The one thing I like about iPhone over Android is that the animations are a bit nicer and more polished, and the stock color scheme is pretty bright (but awful at night), and everything else about Android seems to be better.

Apple phones have always been performance competitive with Android phones for quite a few years now, despite using cooling systems that maintain significantly lower wattage. This means that Apple's processors are more efficient than the equivalent Android devices, but their cooling systems are very much critically designed. Rather than decrease the CPU performance, they typically start dimming the screen first. This is extremely frustrating when outside and you need to see something in the sun, if the sun happens to warm up the screen. This is widely regarded as the biggest problem with Apple phones and thermal management. One user on YT who works on commercial HVAC on a roof in AZ, US mentions that Apple phones are unusable because the ambient temperature and sun will cause the phone to shut down and display a overtemp warning without doing anything, while Samsung keeps working. The reason flagship Android devices do not have this problem is twofold: 1) Android device makers use a ton more cooling materials. Large area graphite film layered with a competition driven (among all Chinese manufacturers anyway) almost 70% coverage vapor chamber cooler. Only Samsung lags the industry here. 2) Different trade offs. Android phones typically allow surface temperatures up to 47C for high performance devices, where Apple probably believes users will complain of overheating if the device feels hot, thus targeting 44C. This is the back surface temp, not the chip temp. The stacked main b…

Iphone PRO cameras have performed on pair with DSLR camera in many categories since version 12. Besides that, the article reek too much of marketing for my taste. On a related note, I would much prefer if Iphone Pro Max could shed 50-75 grams by adding a less capable camera. It is just too heavy.