iOS 10.3 officially released

Yes I think I over compensated when I got the 6 Plus. I was tired of fat fingers trying to type on the 4" screen of my 5. I considered the 6, but then went with the 6 Plus instead. I didn't consider the size of the 6 Plus inside an Otterbox Defender case which makes it huge! Oh well I kept the 6 Plus for 2.5 years, and now I'm looking forward to the middle sized 7. I already picked up an Otterbox defender case for it and it is just the right size to carry.

[HarryT]

I share your preference for the smaller phones. The only thing to bear in mind when going for such a phone is that they do have smaller batteries. I use my iPhone 6 pretty intensively for Internet access. I recharge it overnight, and by the time I put it back on charge the following night, the battery is typically down to about 35-40%, so it's certainly possible that someone who uses it more intensely than I do could drain the battery in a day. The 6+ has a significantly larger battery.

Originally Posted by HarryT

I share your preference for the smaller phones. The only thing to bear in mind when going for such a phone is that they do have smaller batteries. I use my iPhone 6 pretty intensively for Internet access. I recharge it overnight, and by the time I put it back on charge the following night, the battery is typically down to about 35-40%, so it's certainly possible that someone who uses it more intensely than I do could drain the battery in a day. The 6+ has a significantly larger battery.

I'm almost always near to my iPad and MacBook Pro, so I don't use the phone that much for internet. I use it when away from home, but I'm at home 95% of the time. So mostly the phone gets used for phone calls, text messages, and things like that unless I'm away from home. Typically my 6 Plus ends the day still around 90% charged. So battery size won't be an issue on most days. It will be an issue when I travel to see family, but that is fairly rare these days. Usually if I leave the house I'm only gone for an hour or two while running errands, going to an appointment, or driving about. I do use it to connect to my Toyota RAV4 audio system to stream Pandora music when driving, but that is only an hour or two over an entire week. I definitely agree that for those who work or are away from home/office a lot the bigger battery is a better choice, but being retired and staying home most of the time I will be okay with the smaller battery.

Got my new iPhone 7 via UPS this morning. Before I could restore it with the latest backup I did with my 6 Plus I had to update it to iOS 10.3.x. It came with 10.2.x, but I had already updated the 6 Plus to 10.3.x so the newer file system was required. But it quickly updated then I restored the 6 Plus backup from this morning on to it, and it downloaded all the apps (but not all the app data yet). All in all a fairly painless and quick upgrade to the iPhone 7.

This is the first time I've restored a new iPhone from an older/other iPhone. I must say the the process went smoothly and was very fast compared to starting over from scratch. It is a royal PITA to download each app manually and set up all the app sign-ins and settings. It is also a PITA to setup a new iPhone and get all the settings set like the old one. So restoring from the old iPhone's recent backup is definitely the way to go. I do think calling it a restore is incorrect though. Apple should call it cloning, as in clone the settings/apps/data from your old iPhone to your new iPhone. That would make more sense. And it would also make more sense to leave the device name for the new iPhone to whatever you name it rather than having the restore/cloning name it to the name used on the older device. Apple really needs to start thinking things all the way through.

The only glitch was on T-Mobiles end. T-Mobile sent the iPhone 7 with a new sim card installed. There was absolutely no documentation from T-Mobile about anything, so I tried the new sim card but it wouldn't do anything except call T-Mobile CS. Their CS tried to ping the old sim card and turn it off in the 6 Plus but couldn't get that to work. So in the end I had to take the new sim card out of the 7 and replace it with the old sim card from the 6 Plus. No big deal, but some documentation would have been nice and would have saved me about half an hour messing around with CS.

I really love the smaller size. I'm keeping the 6 Plus as a backup and to have a larger screen when/if I need one for certain occasions. It is still charging, so I haven't had time to use it much yet.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jswinden

This is the first time I've restored a new iPhone from an older/other iPhone. I must say the the process went smoothly and was very fast compared to starting over from scratch. It is a royal PITA to download each app manually and set up all the app sign-ins and settings. It is also a PITA to setup a new iPhone and get all the settings set like the old one. So restoring from the old iPhone's recent backup is definitely the way to go.

Definitely. I set up my iPhone 6 from my iPhone 4 backup, and my iPad Pro from my iPad Air 2 backup. As you say, it's so much quicker than doing it all manually. All you have to remember, if you're keeping both devices, is to rename the new one after the restore completes.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Definitely. I set up my iPhone 6 from my iPhone 4 backup, and my iPad Pro from my iPad Air 2 backup. As you say, it's so much quicker than doing it all manually. All you have to remember, if you're keeping both devices, is to rename the new one after the restore completes.

I set up my iPad Pro 9.7 a few months ago manually, but that was because I had so much junk on the iPad Mini 2. I thought it would save time in the long run. But now I think it would have been better to restore/clone the Mini 2 to it, then delete the stuff I didn't want. Or better still, I should have deleted the old, seldom used stuff off of the Mini 2, backed it up afterwards, then cloned it to the new Pro 9.7. Oh well, now I know always do a cloning rather than spend a whole day setting up a new device manually.

I do see that login info for some apps is often not cloned, so I'm having to enter that the first time I use some of my apps, but that is okay. I think the banking apps store that info in their servers, so no way the Apple backup could have known the logins and passwords. I only have a few apps that require login, so no big deal. All the data seems to have come over though.

For those with an iPhone 6, 6s, or 7 (non Plus models only), does your Home screens auto rotate? To be clear the Home screens are the screens that show the app icons. My iPhone 7 (non Plus) will automatically rotate certain app screens but it won't rotate the Home screens like my 6 Plus does. I think this is normal, probably due to the smaller screens, but I just want to verify. I never really cared much for the Home screens auto rotating on my 6 Plus, so I'm okay with the 7 not rotating them. But I'm just curious if the 7 is supposed to or not.

[HarryT]

No, the home screen doesn't auto-rotate on my iPhone 6.

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, the home screen doesn't auto-rotate on my iPhone 6.

Thanks Harry, that's what I thought. I'm actually glad it doesn't. The auto rotation on my 6 Plus is too sensitive and often rotates with the slightest movements. I like being able to rotate app screens, but not so much the Home screens.

[GERGE]

If it is still in guarantee, you should take it back. It seems like there is something wrong with the accelerometer. Those are hard to fix and can cause bigger problems later on. They would probably change it with a new one.

[HarryT]

What makes you believe there's a problem?

[Strether]

My iPhone 7 doesn't auto rotate on the home screen, either.

Jim

Originally Posted by GERGE

If it is still in guarantee, you should take it back. It seems like there is something wrong with the accelerometer. Those are hard to fix and can cause bigger problems later on. They would probably change it with a new one.

I think you don't have an iPhone 6, 6s, or 7 (non Plus). The accelerometer is good otherwise the screen would not auto rotate in certain apps. It appears, as I thought it would, that the non Plus models do not auto rotate the Home screens. They only allow auto rotation within apps designed to allow same.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Thanks Harry, that's what I thought. I'm actually glad it doesn't. The auto rotation on my 6 Plus is too sensitive and often rotates with the slightest movements. I like being able to rotate app screens, but not so much the Home screens.

Rotate can be turned off.

Dale

Obviously some of you are not thoroughly reading what I wrote or asked about.

I know all about turning on/off auto rotation. Here is the thing, the iPhone 6, 6s, and 7 (non Plus models) DO auto rotate in apps that are designed to do so. They do NOT auto rotate the Home screens (screens with app icons). Only the Plus models do auto rotate the Home screens, but not the non Plus models.