1. After an amazing run, it was time to let my iPhone 5 get some deserved rest. About a week ago, I was finally able to purchase a new iPhone. From a general budget standpoint, my two options were a 64 GB iPhone 8 or a 64 GB iPhone XR. From a mere ‘future proofing’ standpoint, the logical choice would have been the XR. Even chromatically the XR looked like the winner, though I would have had a hard time choosing between blue and (PRODUCT)RED.

2. But I chose the iPhone 8. Space grey, 64 GB. Why? The answer is simple: I just like it better. And eight days after my purchase, I can already tell you I love it and I don’t regret choosing it at all.

3. It’s no mystery I dislike the design of the iPhone X line. I dislike the removal of the Home button in the quest to achieve an ‘all screen’ look. I dislike the notch because no matter how hard I try, I can’t unsee it. And I also dislike that these phones keep getting bigger and uncomfortable to hold and operate with one hand.

Left to right — iPhone XR, iPhone 5/5s/SE, iPhone 8. The iPhone XR doesn’t look that much bigger than an iPhone 8, but coming from an iPhone 5’s size, it’s simply too much for me to handle.

4. Ah, but the screen is bigger while Apple has managed to keep the iPhone’s physical size smaller than the iPhone 8 Plus… – I know. But the bezels also work as anchors when you hold the device; they provide a bit of added stability. If there is screen, if there are interface elements to interact with where I usually rest my thumb, then my grip falters, and the device starts slipping away. In the store I managed to drop an iPhone XS Max on the table while trying it out. And I got very close to dropping an iPhone XR too. It’s interesting that it didn’t happen when handling an iPhone 8 Plus.

5. I come from an iPhone 5. Its design and size are simply perfect for my hand and for how I use the phone. In this regard, the iPhone 8 is the minimum size I could get a new, still-supported iPhone. (And yes, I considered the iPhone SE, but I was concerned about the aging internals. Getting a phone with a three-year-old generation SoC didn’t feel wise.)

6. With the hard clear protective case I bought along with it, the iPhone 8 is a bit big for my hand, but it’s still manageable and I can hold it steadily enough while in use.

7. It doesn’t have a notch. It has a Home button. It has Touch ID. Touch ID is fast and accurate. So fast that I still have to remember to avoid pressing the Home button too deliberately or I’ll miss the notifications when I wake the iPhone. The Raise to wake feature is very helpful here.

8. No Animoji. No Memoji. It’s awesome.

9. I did not purchase the iPhone 8 at the local Apple Store, but at a department store with an Apple area inside. It was more advantageous for a series of reasons (I could pay with their affiliate card, the device came with an additional one-year warranty and free insurance against theft, etc.). When I attempted to purchase it the first time, the clerk told me they were out of stock, and to return a few days later. When I did, a second clerk told me: “You’re in luck. We have two units left. The phones arrived two days ago, but these are selling fast.” Hmm. Interesting.

10. I knew this would happen. At the library, a couple of days after my purchase, I wanted to unplug my headphones from the PowerBook and listen to a podcast on the iPhone 8. Whoops, no headphone jack. This still irritates me more than mildly. I went out and bought a Lightning-to‑3.5mm dongle later the same day.

11. Going from an iPhone 5 to an iPhone 8 isn’t so much about mere speed (though that doesn’t hurt, believe me), but smoothness. It’s not the benchmarks per se what astounds me about this new iPhone, but the effortlessness everywhere. Everything feels fluid – I was about to say liquid but I didn’t want to sound like Steve Jobs when he started overusing the term magical. Another element that contributes to this feeling of fluidity is the display itself. It must have a different oleophobic coating because I distinctly feel less friction when moving my fingertips over it.

12. Now that I have a suitable iPhone, I was eager to set up Apple Pay. Of course my bank had to be one of the few left in Spain that don’t support Apple Pay. Of course. Anyway, I’ve finally the opportunity to use Touch ID to authorise a payment when I buy apps on the App Store, and even a few third-party apps (like the one from my mobile operator) have allowed me to use my fingerprint instead of username/password at login. It’s really convenient.

13. The new gestures on the X‑type iPhones are very handy once you get used to them — this is the usual reaction from iPhone X‑type owners, who often also add: I simply can’t go back to having a Home button. Well, while I’ve warmed up to some of them, and while I agree that the app-switching gesture is satisfying (it’s like you’re flipping through a deck of cards), I’m really really glad that on the iPhone 8 I don’t have to invoke Control Centre via that absolutely awkward swipe-down-from-the-top-right-corner gesture. I use Control Centre a lot, and having it come up from the bottom of the display is just perfect.

14. And speaking of Control Centre, it’s great that it can be partially customised. (I know, old news, but bear with me — I’m coming to iOS 12 straight from iOS 10…) What is less great is that it can’t be done… from within Control Centre itself. I just assumed it was possible to long-press or 3D Touch the controls, then the controls would wiggle, and you could rearrange them right on the spot, just like what you do with apps. I had to do a brief Web search to find out that you rearrange the controls via the Settings app, and that you can only rearrange them in limited ways. I’m certainly nitpicking here, but this method just feels so counter-intuitive and so un-Apple.

15. Thankfully, the setup process when going from the iPhone 5 to the new iPhone 8 was rather quick and stress-free, and for a moment I had a glimpse of that It just works I used to love about Apple. I did an encrypted backup of the iPhone 5 via iTunes (wired connection between iPhone and Mac), plugged in the iPhone 8, downloaded a small (and mysterious) software update so that iTunes could talk with the new iPhone, connected the iPhone 8, and restored from that backup. Once the process in iTunes was over, I could see that everything was perfectly cloned on the iPhone 8. Wallpapers, settings, email accounts & passwords, the whole springboard layout. All third-party apps started downloading and installing, and for being more than 100 apps, I was positively surprised by how quickly the iPhone 8 handled everything. Battery-wise, the entire setup cost only two percentage points. Not bad.

16. Some apps were not installed, but I liked that iOS kept them in place, with a little cloud icon next to the app’s name. And I liked that, when tapping on these particular apps, the system gave me a clear explanation as to why (in some cases the reason was that the app is no longer on the App Store, in others the reason was that “This app needs to be updated by the developer to work on this version of iOS”).

17. Okay, I like 3D Touch. And also the haptic feedback. These little nudges you get while interacting with apps make the app feel alive under your fingers. After a week, it hasn’t got old yet.

18. Siri seems more lively and reactive on this iPhone 8. The fundamental issue with Siri hasn’t changed, though. Most of the time it understands my words, just not what I mean.

19. I know, the device is new. But battery life… Battery life is astounding. I’m reaching three days on a single charge.

20. This iPhone will have to last me until Apple manages to deliver a true ‘all screen’ iPhone, without a notch. Yes, I do hate the notch this much.

21. The other day I went back to the store where I purchased the iPhone, and while I was checking whether they had come up with some promotion to sell the previous-generation iPad Pros, I saw three young women trying out the new iPhones. They had an intriguing, somewhat unexpected exchange. It went more or less like this:

– Ah, this is the new one, in colours, the X‑something.

– XR. [She pronounced it ‘eks-ar’, of course. All of them did.]

– The colours are lovely, yeah?

– [Pointing at the XS Max and the XR] These are just too damn big.

– [Picking up an iPhone 8] I like this one, the eight.

– It’s the same size as your 6S, yeah?

– Yeah, when it’s time I’ll buy this one. I like that it’s smaller and that it has a button.

[Brief laughter]

– No seriously, I like my phone to have a button here, see? Click! I close the app and am back to the start. Just like that.

– I prefer the eight too, you know. At first I got tempted with the 8 Plus, but I returned it after a week. Too big to carry around. And with a case on it? Nah, too much. And for what? Nah, I went back for an eight.

– Yeaah, you’re right… [Fiddles with an iPhone 8] Feels better.

I said this exchange was a bit unexpected because I simply took for granted that they would be more interested in the shinier, newest iPhone models. I’ll admit, part of me was glad that these three regular users were giving some love to the iPhone 8, which has become a bit of a ‘Cinderella iPhone’ in the tech sphere. Their evident distaste for the bigger models was another interesting indicator — not everybody is attracted to ‘the big screens’, Apple. Oh, and in case you want another example of the great divide between tech nerds and regular people, I’ve left the best remark for last: speaking of Face ID as another off-putting detail of the X‑type iPhones, one of the women said: I don’t feel it’s very practical to have to take a selfie every time I want to unlock my phone.