So my wife (also lacking in the eyeballs department), currently has an Iphone 6S which really isn't doing well (she can't even get the Ap store, and essentially just uses it as a talking mobile phone).
I have an Iphone 8 which I bought in 2018, (apple offered me the 10, but since the only advantage to the ten was facial scanning and camera, I said no thanks).
However, while I like the 8, Apple are probably going to be deprecating that soon enough.
So, it's upgrade time, and I'm wondering which model.
First question: I know new Iphones don't have the home button (one reason I've been reluctant to upgrade), what is the required swipe gesture which serves the same function?
Second question, I hear Iphone is now going Usb, which might actually be helpful if you can plug it into a pc and transfer files such as music onto it (I used to do this back in the Iphone 5 days, but Itunes was the spawn of Satan, especially the way it refused to respect file names.
if so, which Iphone does this.
I might be a little rusty on info, but I thought of the standard Iphoen models the pro was the one with the larger hd, and the max, the one with the bigger screen, is that still the case?
I don't mind spending money to get something that will be helpful, though obviously stuff like a super duper camera or the hole facial recognition thing probably won't be much use.
A quick article I found online suggested the Iphone 15 rather than the 17, but is that still the case?
Any suggestions or thoughts welcome.
Comments
I think I can help with this
I just got my iPhone 15 in August so it’s brand new thing for me too. This is my first iPhone that does not have a home button as well. In order to go to the home screen you go to the bottom right corner of your phone and the screen and you swipe up with one finger and you’re going to hear like two little popping sounds and if you move your finger from that you can go to your home screen. In order to go to the app switcher you do a similar gesture, but you’re going to hear three popping sounds and that will get into the app switcher. It’s honestly easier when you can actually feel it and hear it, but it is to write it down here. Yeah I really do kind of wish. Apple kept home button. An iPhone 15 is a pretty good phone. If you can still get one, you might like that. If you want anything that has any kind of apple intelligence capabilities, though you’re going to want to get something they’re 16 or 17 cause you said you only wanted a standard microphone. The 15 doesn’t have any apple intelligence capabilities. Hope that helps. He said he wanted a standard model for the phone. I have a regular standard 15 as well. I have no interest in the pro models. I have been totally blind since birth so I don’t need a home of a giant screen.
Microphone and ai
Good to know about the home button, it's a pain to lose it but that's upgrades for you.
on the hole microphone and ai stuff, sinse I'm not sure what either thing does, I'm not sure whether I want them or not :D.
I find Siri pretty crappy as it is, though do use echo alexa for things. If Ai will help with things like describing images, or reading or location based stuff it might be helpful; I already use sing Ai to read packages, though it's pretty sketchy.
What I mostly use my Iphone for are games, phone calls, plus the step counting bit of zombies run (even though the interface is currently a bit crappy).
Other than that, I'm open to new ideas, it's just obviously I don't see the point of paying for cameras I can't use.
Phone
Suggest what is you want to do with it. Check with your phone company or amazon for deals on phone. Soon amazon will be doing their holiday deal and you may find a good deal on iPhones or with your phone company. Verizon tend to do deals during Nov.
iPhone 17
The general consensus amongst tech reviewers is that the iPhone 17 is the best model and value for most folks. I has good battery life and plenty of processing power. Based on your general description of your situation it sounds like it would last you for years.
The already seemingly forgotten iPhone 16e is still a reasonable option for folks who do not have demanding use cases, and could save you a couple hundred dollars. If you really are hoping to not deal with this for seven more years I'd recommend the 17 though.
Yes all iPhones have USB-C now. You may miss the home button for a little bit. The fingerprint sensor is the nice thing I wish we still had, but otherwise the button truly isn't needed.
Some Answers and Possible Recommendations
Hi Dark,
Below are some answers and recommendations, in no particular order:
Feel free to ask more questions and I am sure I am not the only one who will have recommendations. :)
Looking for models.
My concern here wasn't really saving money, I'll worry about that later, more to do with technically which model does what, and the lack of the home button.
If I did get the Iphone 17 what is the difference between pro and max? Or would it be better with the standard one.
Also, does the USB take a memory stick and let me use file transfer?
Would be cool to be able to actually transfer music files from my pc onto the Iphone without all that nonsensical sinking and id tags malarkey, even if just to listen to while running from zombies.
Oh and no, I don't subscribe to streaming services, I prefer to actually own the music I buy.
a couple quick things.
Its 2025. The home button is gone, the screens got bigger, there's a new action button instead of the mute switch, face id replaced the finger print scanner, and all of these things are used by blind people every day multiple times a day.
No home button, no problem. You can customize gestures to go home and app switcher if you can't get used to swiping from the bottom to go home, or just for those times you're lazy. I have a 2 finger swipe left to go home, and 2 finger swipe right to go to app switcher.
Face ID is super easy to set up and use. Its fast and you don't even have to think about it.
If you don't care for cameras, buy the iPhone 17. Its the latest non-pro device, and should last you a while.
The pro max is massive and has the best battery life out all the iPhones currently offered but has a bunch of pro stuff you don't care about so i'd ignore that one.
As for transfering files from a drive, i'm not sure. I have apple music for times when I feel like listening to something.
Best thing to do is to go to the apple store if you can.
handle all the iPhone models they offer.
See which one fits your hands best.
It will get some practice getting used to the new gestures and features, but I promise you'll be fine.
Good luck on your new iPhone journey.
Another suggestion regarding no Home Button.
Hello Dark:
What helped me was making a custom gesture to unlock my phone.
home button etc
@CrazyEyez , it might be 2025, but total lack of home button does seem a weerd change to me, but it is obviously something to be got used to if I want to upgrade my phone, just as I had to get used to the home button no longer actually being a button and coming with fingerprint scan when I switched from my Iphone 5 to 8.
Glad to know facial recognition is workable, though as I wear glasses we'll have to see if it does work or not.
Also, handy to know that stuff like ap switcher and home can be configured to different gestures if needs be.
Would still be curious if the thing can take a memory stick and then use a file transfer ap to listen to music.
Playing Files From an External Flash Drive Etc.
Huge caveat that I have not personally tried this, but, based on this Apple Support article, I think playing media from an external flash drive or similar should work, using the Files app. I do not know how convenient or intuitive the experience will be for something like music playback.
Get whatever works for you best.
It does take a bit of time to get used to not having a home button on your phone but once you do that, it will be OK. I actually kept my iPhone SE third generation as a secondary device for this very reason. It’s the last iPhone with a home button on it so I kept it to be an iPod. So that’s always an option if you want to keep something with a home button. Yes you can make customize gestures. If you have trouble using the default gestures to go home and use the app switcher.
iPhone
I don't have an iPhone with a USB C port, but basically anything from the 15 and newer will have it. If you have a USB C drive, connect it directly to the phone and open Files. If not, use a USB C male to female A adapter or Hub to work with older devices. It should show up under the locations section. From here, you can either play files directly from the drive, or transfer them to the internal storage or any other cloud storage service you've configured like Dropbox and of course iCloud Drive. If you bring up the share sheet on a file, you can open it in another app such as VLC. The only downside is that you'll have multiple copies of your data because iOS sandboxes everything into its own containerized environment. However, it's not hard to delete duplicates.
I'm not happy about the lack of Touch ID and the home button either, but this is Apple, and as I like to say, you play by the rules in Apple land or you get out! As has already been said, you can assign VoiceOver custom gestures to go home, open the App Switcher, go to Notification Center, etc. However, I'd really like a control bar added to Assistive Touch. I don't think this is an unreasonable request, particularly when you consider the feature is designed to help those that might struggle with motor control, and using the weird slide gestures definitely falls into that category. I can do it on my 11, but I find it neither intuitive nor efficient. If Apple adds this control bar, I imagine it would work similarly to Android, where you have touch buttons along the bottom edge of the screen to go home, open App Switcher, etc. I encourage anyone interested to send Apple feedback. The more people they hear from, the more likely they'll prioritize such a feature.
Another alternative might be using the action button. It's funny how Apple went on a crusade to get rid of buttons, only to turn around and add some with future models. This requires the newer iPhones, but I'm pretty sure as long as you get a 16, 16e, 17, 17e if that's what they call the next cheaper model, etc, you should get it. Sadly, it seems like customizing the behavior is artificially limited in software, but again, this is Apple we're talking about, so this shouldn't shock you. Having said that, you can also use this button to go home, etc.
Music ttransfer
You can do it with Icloud or dropbox, and there are apps that play songs on your phone.