First impressions 

When I got my first laptop in 1999, it was the classic PowerBook G3 series. It was replaced with a slightly slimmer version, and then an iBook with Firewire. A couple years later that was replaced with a titanium PowerBook G4, the theater-aspect slab of metal, and as soon as I got to Cupertino it was replaced with the 12-inch model. Then a 15″ MacBook Pro, soon replaced by a series of black 13″ MacBooks. Then a more advanced 15″ MacBook Pro at a new job, followed by a 13″ MacBook Air, followed by the new 12″MacBook. 

I say all this to show the pattern of my laptop history: wherever possible, a laptop PC similar processing power was always replaced with a physically smaller model as soon as one was available. The main reason this didn’t happen with the iPhone was because for five years, there was only one size of iPhone. Then the new ones were a hair larger for two  years. Then for two years your only option was to go either bigger or much bigger. Until now. 

Today you can get the same processor and most of the same chipset and features in three different sizes. It’s possible to move from the iPhone 6, at 4.7″,  to a phone that’s faster and more powerful with a better camera and superior battery life – in a smaller package. And today that’s just what I did. Everything is set to go, from scratch, using my prepaid backup SIM from my Moto X. All that remains is to pair the Apple Watch, set up work MDM, and pop the SIM for the work-paid AT&T device out of the 6 and into here.

For the first time in years, I feel fully in control of my own phone situation without eating the cost of service (which in the long run is far more expensive than any handset). I like it. It’s a good arrangement. And to be honest the toughest part of banging this out on the device itself was trying to use the Gboard swipe keyboard, because despite my worries the stock 4 inch display Apple iOS keyboard is working just fine. 

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