I was really looking forward to an new SE phone, that was my upgrade plan (currently on 6). Now my upgrade plan is to transition to Andriod, or I am seriously considering going back to a "dumb phone". The cost of phones is out of control (including data plan prices), honestly not sure it is really worth it for me anymore.

The only features I want in a "smart" phone, are podcasts, camera, music, GPS/directions. I don't really even need a web browser, and I don't need any social media at all. And I certainly don't need any gaming capabilities (I still don't "get" mobile gaming, if I want to play a game I will do it on my desktop, with a mouse and keyboard, and large screen).

I might go back to carrying 2 devices, a MP3 (podcast/music player) and a dumb phone. Should cut my phone bill down significantly.

> The cost of phones is out of control

I wouldn't say that, there's just a wide range. You can spend four digits on a brand-new flagship model, or you can get a decent phone for under $150. And if you have WiFi where you spend the day, a data plan is mostly redundant.

>you can get a decent phone for under $150.

A smart phone? If so please provide a link. The "cheap" smart phones I have found are $300 ish, which ins't terrible, but this general trend towards a $1,000 smart phone is insane. I am not spending more for a phone than the cost of a decent laptop.

I'm very happy with my Moto G5, and it's $150 on Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Generation-XT1680-Single-Factory-Unlo...

(I got the 3GB version for €119 thanks to a sale, but the 2GB should be more than enough for what you're planning)

I'm largely in the same boat. Have you considered a pay-as-you-go plan with an MVNO? I use H20 wireless [0], with an iPhone SE, and it can be pretty cheap.

[0] https://www.h2owirelessnow.com/mainControl.php?page=planMin

I live in a remote area, and so far have found the only carrier that has any signal at all at my house is Verizon. So I am pretty much stuck with them, unless I get at network extender/signal booster for another carrier and install it in my house, which I am not too keen on doing.

Looks like you don't need a data plan. With offline maps and home downloads of podcasts, you should be all set.

That is what I am thinking, save myself about $50 a month.

My kids are almost ready for phones. We've already got one 2nd hand SE, and once they start actually using data we'll put them on our mobile providers "tablet" data-only yearly plan, 24GB for $100. At ~$8/mo that's pretty reasonable, and plenty for basic text/image usage. If they start streaming and burning through the data, they can pay for that themselves.

Talking about the iPhones (I'm not much of a apple guy but I use an iPhone 7+) I totally agree about the new phones.

However I heard the iPhone 7 now sells for 450$ new. Given the 8s weren't a huge performance improvement, I wish tech reviewers would re-evaluate it at its current price.

I wholeheartedly recommend the iPhone 7 (or 7+), especially when you consider it's 450$ vs 1200$. As a bonus the screens are cheaper the amoled (I work in phone repair) and IMO 95% of non-hacker-news users don't benefit from the more expensive screens (either can't tell a difference or don't really care)

I just paid off my iPhone 7 through the upgrade program. And I didn’t upgrade at the end. I still have the 7. It’s a great phone and works perfectly fine. Seriously, not a single flaw.

I want the iPhone X because I want the iPhone X. There is nothing groundbreaking in the X that changes my daily life. Maybe I’m growing older and more financially conscience but it makes no sense for me to go to iPhone X.

7 is still a gem.

Personally, I think they've become too big, too heavy and too expensive.

The XR is honestly a huge misstep, IMO. It's bigger, heavier and dramatically more feature-less than its 2018 counterparts. Who is this phone for?

I'm curious, feature-less in what sense?

Not an Apple fan myself, but everyone I've heard has praised the XR for basically being an XS with a cheaper screen.

Personally, I think the price points for these phones have become irrational. Supposedly their entry level model, the XR starts at €859.

So for 859 I can buy an XR that doesn’t even include 3D-Touch (A feature standard since the 6S). For 450 I can buy an iPhone 7 with 3D-touch. Doesn’t rly impress me.

As someone who switched from a Pixel XL to XR, I have to partially disagree. I don't have the telephoto camera nor the 4GB RAM (3GB on XR) of the XS line and the screen is not OLED. Having seen the screen quality first hand in store, I cancelled by Pixel 3 XL pre-order and got a XR, my first iPhone since 3GS. For me, the differences between XR and XS was not worth the extra 250$.

There was a YouTube video comparison with a 'blind' test comparing the XR screen to higher specced screens and the large majority of those tested picked the XR screen. The other thing the XR has is the longest battery life of all of the new iPhones.

It was with the Pocophone, a phone costing ~$300. Let that price sink in.

Sure, but the listed stats are better. So you're saying that stats do not mean much if they are also cheap? It shows there are screen qualities that make it better that are beyond spec sheets.

We're on HackerNews. We know that anything has a long list of stats and vendors will optimize for the stats that are actually shown on a spec sheet, at the expense of others.

And how is it in any way fair for reasonable people to compare a $300 phone with a $750 one? Put the XR next to Samsung S9 and have the XR cry (and by the way, the S9 is around $600 on Amazon now!).

Mmm, I know someone who purchased one of those, and it seemed to be totally fine – basically the same experience as the X, but with slightly cut-down specs to reduce the cost. Presumably for all the people who complained about the cost of the X last year, no?

People who want a semi-affordable Apple phone in 2 years when the 8 is discontinued.

I got the XR. Better camera for one, nice upgrade to my 6s. Cheaper, has the full screen look. Who am I? I'm an iPhone developer and I needed the notched screen for testing my apps.

Why does it always have to be "can't afford"?

How about "can't justify"?

Yep, the SE (and the 5S before it) have a form factor that "just right" for one handed use and that fits comfortably in a pocket.

Hopefully they'll bring back something like it.

I was surprised they didn't refresh it and even discontinued it. I work at a phone repair/resell store and I come across a lot of people who prefer that size. whether it's enough to make the r/d of another SE I have no clue - admittedly most of these people are part of the "older group" and most won't want to change over to Android (mostly because change is bad) so they'll be using an iPhone no matter what

I recently upgraded to my wife's hand-me-down 5S and I've been very happy with it— it's definitely a "just right" size for me, especially compared with the borderline phablet-size 6+/7+/8+.

The major downer is the lack of a quality small screen phone that supports current-day phone networks.

If the SE was updated with the latest modem, it would be wonderful. A CPU/RAM bump would be welcome but not strictly necessary. Leave the headphone jack alone, or if you must remove it at least replace lightning with usb-c for consistency's sake.

I'd pay whatever it costs for the equivalent XR - being larger is an anti-feature IMO.

Just want to second (or third, or fourth) this sentiment about the SE. That's what I use, and I don't feel inclined to upgrade any time soon.

I want to buy a new iPhone, but I refuse to buy a phone that cannot use the same headphones as I use on my laptop. Apple either need to bring back the headphone jack, or adopt USB-C. Until then I'll continue to use my iPhone 6S.