the iphone 16 in pink, and the button i use like a shutter release

The apple store guy asked, while bagging my phone, if I wanted stickers. I said, "don't the stickers come in the box." He said they stopped putting them in, first iphone ever, something about the environment, but I could ask and he would give me some. I asked. He gave me four. This is the entire relationship I have with this phone's packaging and I regret nothing.

the honest bit, with the price drama

I paid $799 plus tax in september 2024 for the 128gb one in pink, which is a strawberry milk pink that I chose in approximately four seconds. I sold my old phone to my friend Dana for $150 in cash at a breakfast place, so the real number was $649, a figure I have repeated to myself many times since.

Because yes, the phone went to $699 when the iphone 17 arrived, and then this september apple raised it back to $799, and now it only comes in 128gb. If you buy one today that is the deal, and I can only tell you my receipt, not your decision.

what i actually care about, in order of care

Camera Control is my favorite button on any phone. It is the little flush one on the right side, and it has two speeds: a light press opens the camera, a hard press takes the photo, and a light press twice slides open zoom and tone. I took it to the farmers market in june and shot two hundred photos of peonies like a person with a film camera. The button makes the phone feel like a camera instead of a rectangle of apps, and I am never going to shut up about it.

The cameras are the quiet upgrade. 48 megapixel main camera, a new ultrawide that can focus close enough for macro, and the two lenses stacked vertically now, which mostly means I can point it at a dog's nose from one inch away and get something worth keeping. The 2x crop from the big sensor is my everyday lens. My camera roll is 60 percent dog, 30 percent flowers, 10 percent whiteboards I will never read again.

60hz. We meet again. The same complaint I made about the ipad air on this site, and the same peace I made. Scrolling has a faint drag that cheaper android phones do not have, and after three days I stopped seeing it, and every time I pick up a 120hz phone I see it again. That is the honest cycle.

128gb is a squeeze and the squeeze has a name, and the name is "storage almost full." The system takes its bite, then photos, then the 40 apps I need for a job where I prototype on everything. I live in the cloud. Sometimes the cloud is a betrayal at 30,000 feet.

Battery is a one day phone and that is fine. Apple says up to 22 hours of video, and my honest day is 7am to midnight ending around 30 percent with normal use and one shame spiral of short form video. Fast charging gets me to half while I make coffee. I have stopped carrying a battery pack, which is a personal milestone.

The action button is set to something embarrassing. You can point it at anything: silent mode, camera, a focus. Mine toggles my reading focus, which I have activated twice. It could open the camera, it could start a timer, and instead it does almost nothing, magnificently. Also, one real gripe: the usb-c port is usb 2 speed, so moving videos to my laptop crawls. The port is the future, the speed is 2005.

a tangent about stickers

I collect them. Laptop lid stickers are how designers quietly introduce themselves to each other, like a tattoo for cowards, and I have opinions about placement. So the fact that apple removed the stickers from the box felt bigger than it should have, and the store guy handing me four like contraband felt like a tiny act of civil disobedience. Two are on my water bottle. One is on the reMarkable. One is still in the drawer with the retired planners, waiting for its moment.

The box is nice anyway. It opens slow, like a drawer with good runners, and apple knows exactly what it is doing.

the soft landing

I keep meaning to learn the photographic styles properly, the real time color ones, but every time I open the camera I just point it at the dogs and

The truest thing I can say: this is the first phone in years that made me want to take photos on purpose, and that, plus the pink, plus four contraband stickers, is the review.

ava