The iPhone: Is it worth it?

At this point in time considering what you want from a phone, rather you get a iphone or galaxy it wouldn't matter. I do suggest you getting 32g or more, 64g is great for me and I have over 1500 pictures not including video and apps and other stuff and my memory isn't even half full yet. I have a iphone. Since your concern isn't about the service you can stick with boost and still get a decent phone. In my experience iphone battery has proven to be better especially since the new galaxy phones don't allow you remove the battery anymore. So even though I am a apple fan, if you get a galaxy your still good money.

 

Sounds like you just got a horrible lower end phone. That happens with Android because it's so scalable.

At 400 you can get a decent Android phone that can take nice photos with 32 to 64gb storage.

Honestly, both iOS and Android are good phone operating systems. I would not recommend the iPhone SE 16 GB if you go that route. That's just not a lot of space. It's an iPhone so it's going to take decent photos and it'll have some unique apps. Since you are not sold on the iOS already, I would not suggest getting the 7 since the price difference is so big.

Since you are on Boost, which is Sprint, your phone options are limited because of their type of network, CDMA. If you are not tied to that, I'd suggest trying out Cricket or Straight Talk. They run on AT&T. Straight Talk also has a Verizon option as well but I have not used it. However, this is would open up a lot of phone options for you. However based on what I see on Boost's site, I'd choose either the Galaxy J3 or Stylo 2. But if you are really tied to Boost and can't imagine leaving, the iPhone SE may be your best bet.

If you changed providers and wanted Android, for $400 max budget, I have three suggestions...

The OnePlus 3
OnePlus 3

The LG Nexus 5x
Nexus 5X - Unlocked Android Phones - Google Store

The Motorola X Pure Edition
Moto X Pure Edition (2015) by Motorola - Unlocked Smartphone

All of these are good phones and get regular updates. You can even customize the Moto X.

 

The iphone is a good choice if you have a lot of contacts who use imessage and the other chat features. Otherwise, you can get better hardware for less and less gimmicks with Android, with more options.

 

Any new updates? How do you like the iPhone?

 

I have an iPhone 6sPlus...only because my Samsung Note conked out months ago. Since I have other family members on my plan and they all have iPhones too, I admit FaceTime and iMessage person-to-person are bonuses. Force Touch on the iPhone 6 and 7 is pretty cool when an app knows how to make use of it. For photos, I don't really use my phone, still would rather have a Nikon or Canon digital SLR.

iTunes, however, is a BIG negative. I like that Android phones can be hooked right up to my PCs through the microUSB and show up like an external drive. This makes downloading/uploading photos, MP3s, PDFs to and from my phone a snap. Having to go through iTunes to load music, backup, etc. on an iPhone is a pain. I get that they're trying to rope you into staying within their ecosystem, but the price point for Apple products is just not worth it.

Despite their horrible year with the 7 series, I hope Samsung hasn't totally given up on the Note phone; or, if so, that Microsoft puts out a Surface Phone. I'd ditch the iPhone for a future Note 8 in a minute. I like having a stylus with an active digitizer (i.e. Wacom, Trig, etc.) not a passive one like iPhones.

If you're not invested in the Apple ecosystem, I see no reason to pay the premium price for the brand name. Overseas, people in India, China, Africa are not buying into the whole Apple Brand Bling bandwagon and going for Chromebooks and Android phones.

 

It's interesting to see that China (the new largest market worldwide) has turned its back on Apple, and now even on Samsung, for home-grown brands like ZTE and Huawei.

 

They believe in economic nationalism. After they let brands like Apple and Samsung in, copy their IP and then introduce cheaper models and imitations to build an economic base, some of their models have gotten good write ups on tech blogs but it remains to be seen if they expanse beyond their home and African dumping grounds, in light of other countries moving to their own variants of nationalism.