Some folks are out of joint because the next iOS release, 10.3.2, will supposedly not include support for the iPhone 5 or 5C. In other words, we\u2019re finally moving to 64-bit-only iOS, four years after the iPhone 5s shocked the world with a 64-bit processor. I don\u2019t know that it\u2019s a big deal to cut off a phone that was new in 2012 (or 2013, for the 5C) – that was the phone with iOS 6, so it\u2019s had four major releases since. \u00a0By contrast, my Moto X was first dropped in summer 2013 (I got mine in February 2014) and hasn\u2019t had an OS version update since late spring of 2015 and hasn\u2019t had a security update of any kind in a year. In a world where you can never count on getting the latest Android OS – or ever getting an upgrade – I think four years worth of support is pretty good for phone hardware.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s necessary, too, because absent the two-year upgrade cycle dictated by American phone contracts, it no longer makes sense to upgrade your phone every two years whether you need it or not. The iPhone SE I bought almost a year ago had six-month-old innards when I got it, but absent something truly amazing – an AMOLED-based iPhone with the screen size of a 7 in the body of a 5 and 2000mAh battery, say – there\u2019s no compelling need to get another phone. The SE is 64-bit ready, compact, amazing battery life and has already proven itself abroad – and will almost certainly be called upon to do so again.<\/p>\n
Still not the case for the Apple Watch, though. Nice to have when it\u2019s on my arm but I don\u2019t miss it when it\u2019s gone – especially since that usually means I\u2019m traveling somewhere, if only to fish off a charter boat in Santa Cruz (notice I don\u2019t say catch. That\u2019s not a mistake. It was a rough weekend). Plus, apropos of my last musings on this topic, the Apple Watch means another charger to carry and another thing to top up overnight, whereas my mechanical watch can be wound once and left on my arm pretty much until the day I die.<\/p>\n
International travel has also given me a use case for WhatsApp, because that can easily move between phone numbers – even internationally – and give me cross-platform chat compatibility with people on both sides of the Atlantic. As with so many things, it\u2019s all about having a use case. (And I find it singular that of the social media and messaging products I actually use, two are owned by Facebook without actually being Facebook apps. They figured it out – if at first you don\u2019t succeed, buy someone who did.)<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s spring 2017. We\u2019re going on four years since phones added something you really need. We had 64-bit processing, NFC payments and fingerprint ID in 2013; everything since is just screen size and battery life issues (and this SE, almost a year old, still gives me over 7 hours of screen time between charges. Try that with a modern Android). If you want me to buy a new phone, make it one I need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some folks are out of joint because the next iOS release, 10.3.2, will supposedly not include support for the iPhone 5 or 5C. In other words, we\u2019re finally moving to 64-bit-only iOS, four years after the iPhone 5s shocked the world with a 64-bit processor. I don\u2019t know that it\u2019s a big deal to cut … <\/p>\n