With each passing year I lose some of the respect I once had for Apple. The days of slow, methodical software updates that favored highly stable releases over new features are gone. The constant release of new phones tied with new versions of iOS is a nightmare, and buying a laptop with a 256 gb SSD after selling your first born child is like shoving bamboo under your fingernails (or it would be if I bought one). If I get started on Apple's apparent inability to implement cloud services that do not suck balls I will be writing for days!
That being said, within the last three months I have acquired two new Apple products that I am extremely pleased with. My son turned sixteen, got a job, and was therefore allowed to get his first phone. He decided to buy an iPhone 8 and it turns out AT&T was running a BOGO offer at the time. I had already decided (based on my changing opinion of Apple) that I was switching to Android when my iPhone finally quit working, but my wife brought me home a new iPhone 8 as a gift. Let me just say, I love it.
I have had three phones I have absolutely loved over the years. The first was the Nokia 3210. It was just a fantastic phone. The second was the iPhone 3G. I used that phone until all it would do is make calls, send text, check email, and browse the web. My iPhone 4 had a glass back. Glass. Great idea Apple. My iPhone 6 Plus seemed like a good idea at first, but it turns out carrying an iPad Mini in my pocket is not for me. However, now I can add my iPhone 8 to the short list.
This phone has 256 gb of storage! The home button is so responsive it is almost impossible to check the time unless you use the power button or change your settings to "push" the button to unlock it. For that matter, the speed of the entire phone is impressive. It feels sturdy, although I still put it in an OtterBox case. The dual speakers are actually nice and make watching video much more reasonable. No, I am not a fan of Apple dumping the standard headphone jack, but that is what Apple does, remember floppy drives? I carry every song I own, every picture we have, all 189 of the Three Stooges shorts, thirty-one Abbott and Costello movies, every app I need along with a couple I do not, and still have 90 gb of free space. For that, I will live without a standard headphone jack.
Speaking of my iPhone 6 Plus, I attempted to sell it to Gazelle, but while the website quoted me $145, the ecoATM kiosk at the mall only offered me $50 through Gazelle. I have no idea what the disparity was, but I was not going to part with it for $50. In the end I took it to Best Buy, traded it in for a gift card worth $130, added $25 to that and replaced my third generation Apple TV with a 4th gen Apple TV.
I did not get the 4K version as a) I did not want to spend more money, b) my television is not 4K, and c) I could care less about 4K. In my opinion, the Apple TV 4th Generation is a great investment for any cord cutters out there. Obviously it is more responsive, but the list of things I love about it in order of fantasticness are the new remote, creating folders, Bluetooth, and to a lesser degree, apps.
The remote has a home button on it now. No more pressing the menu button over and over to get back home. The only thing I do not like is that pressing the home button after launching an app from inside a folder takes you back to that folder instead of all the way "home". The second best thing about the remote is the ability to use HDMI-CEC technology to turn on the Apple TV, the television, and change the input to the correct setting all with one push of a button. Add to that the fact that I can control the volume on the tv as well, and it means the only time I ever need to reach for another remote is to watch a DVD. Ironically, my only other gripe with the new Apple TV is the annoying click when you push the touch pad down on the remote. Finally, I have kids in the house. I can now watch The Godfather using Bluetooth earbuds without worrying about them hearing f%$# every other minute.
At the end of the day, I am very happy with both the iPhone (which I got for almost free), and the Apple TV (which I also got for almost free). I have Home Sharing turned on so I can listen to Chris Cornell, watch Brideless Groom, or Abbott and Costello Meet The Killer Boris Karloff, and look at 11,000 photos on my television at home or on my iPhone when I am sitting in the car waiting on my wife. In all fairness I have had both of these products for a very short time, but for the first time in a long time, I am happy to have not one, but two, products from Apple that actually impress me. My Mac Mini still blows compared to my entry level HP laptop running Linux, but even it is running a little better ever since I upgraded to High Sierra. I am not overly hopeful, but maybe there is hope for Apple yet.
