iPhone users are delusional, consultants say

Could you please educate me as to what it is that you want to do with a phone? What "features and power" are you looking for? What other phone offers said features?

I'm keeping an open mind, and would love to know. I'm not saying you're wrong, I just want to understand why your needs are so much beyond everyone else's.

BTW - I do know about tech, and think it's a great *platform*.

TIA, cheers,
Ian

 

I use my BB for reading word documents, xls files, and ppt slides sometimes. Not something an iPhone can do from what I understand (my friend's 1G and 3GS phones, but maybe there is an app). Also, I don't think the iPhone's browser can do Find for a word on a webpage, which I use more often than not. I also use the camera sometimes at night, which has flash. The memory card (microSD) is expandable to what I need and can change it out easily (4GB is enough for me now and I can use it in my computer). The phone also weighs less. Those are my reasons at least...

trackball ftw

 

I know people who have had to do the same thing, except they now hate the iphone because of this.

I wouldn't be so opposed to using Apple products, but can anyone tell me why I have no choice but to use itunes for other apple product functionality? Why can't they adopt a drag and drop system, just give users an option?

 

+1 Syncing photos from the iPhone is a joke. Not to mention that, if I just want to add *one* song from my work computer, I have to download & install iTunes, then accidently LOSE ALL DATA when it syncs with my work computer's data. Then I lose that one song when I go home to sync with my home computer's data again. This was all frustrating before I dropped it on the pavement once & it became a paperweight...

 

...anybody gonna try the HTC Google Nexus One coming out in January....no subsidy lock and $199, supposed, retail.

 

Firstly, thanks for the reasoned response, rather than the usual nonsense. As with all things, it depends on what you want to do with the thing(s) and what's important to you.

Addressing (some!) of your points :

There are many viewers available, some free I believe. This one also allows you to edit said doco types, and is getting pretty good reviews:

http://www.dataviz.com/products/documentstogo/

As you can see, it runs on a *ton* of platforms - Many BB's, Palm and Android among them.

Damn, you got me! I'm hoping someone can come up with an answer, as it does seem crazy that there's no way to do that.....

Again, all valid reasons that may or may not be important to each individual. Which BB do you have? - For me, they always seem huge and typically hang off the "geek belt" - My iPhone slides nicely into my pockets. Again, personal choice, which has got be good, right?

Incidentally, I have a nice little free app called "Nightcamera" - It certainly isn't a flash, but uses the accelerometers to check that the thing is stable before taking the pic - Works pretty well in low light.

Personally, I didn't get along at all with the Trackball, but it's just another of those "pays your money and takes your choice" things - No doubt had I played with it more I'd have got used to it.

Thanks again for reasoned response,
Cheers,
Ian

 

Back on the Verizon subject.

After a few weeks I really, REALLY like this Motorola Droid phone. I was hoping VZN would get the iPhone but, after having this thing for a while, I'm not sure why I would need an iPhone anymore. It does some very cool stuff - best of which is it auto syncs to Gmail and GCalendar - 2 things I already used heavily on a day to day basis.

RMX

 

You need this:

http://my.smithmicro.com/win/tuneranger/

Or, you could of course use the magic of the 'net and/or a USB stick etc to move stuff around - You don't necessarily need to use iTunes.

How many more times are you going to tell us that you dropped it and it broke? I dropped mine, and it didn't break. I'm sure there are many stories of people dropping their phones with both results. **** happens, and as I said somewhere else, sometimes you're the dog, sometimes you're the hydrant.

cheers,
Ian

 

The entire problem is there are people who use non-words "sysadmin" and there are people who understand them. "English, mother ****er, do you speak it"....

 

Love my 1st Gen iPhone STILL! It works great does everything I want/need it to do and a TON MORE! I even get to keep my pics and music on the damn thing! Freaking AWESOME! There are apps out there to turn it in to voice control. Some better than others. Of course I used a Newton 2100 (and YES IT STILL WORKS!!!) to keep all my contacts and calendar info on and then had a cell phone too. I SERIOUSLY thought about the Palm's but I was not ready to jump and kept putting it off and putting it off and then an iPhone (2 actually) came available from a kind soul ON THIS SITE so I bought them for $100 each and unlocked them. My wife locked hers back and signed up for the full on data plan. I leave mine locked w/ no data and surf only when I am in a WiFi hot spot...much of the time!

To each his own though. If an iphone does not work for you there are a zillion other good phones that probably will! The iphone is PERFECT for me...I would only like the plan to be less expensive and to get the memory a touch higher to match the iTouch and to have custom colors on the back instead of just black and white...

 

-Can't change SIM cards. I travel a lot internationally, get a local SIM card. iPhone can't do oit.

-Battery life doesn't cut it. I use VOIP over WiFi, iPhone is incapable of doing this other than as an experiment, not for real use, because your battery will die in maybe 30 minutes

Also, when I bought my Nokia E71, the iPhone could not do VOIP over Wifi, nor shoot video. I needed the former, and wanted the latter. Apple has made some major strides with the iPhone but it's still lacking in a few key areas. IMO the biggest is the iStore because Apple maintains strict control over apps... which is why there was no VOIP over WiFi for years on the iPhone.

 

Good call, Mike. In addition to the SIM issue, I'd like to be able to remove a memory card and the battery... like even a Tracphone does these days.

 

Check out the Motorola Droid.

Battery is user replaceable.
Comes with 16GB Micro SD card which is removable.
Open platform for app development.

The OS is open to different phone manufacturers - meaning you'll see a lot of advancements and evolution in the Android platform over time.

The iPhone has a lead in the apps department. Android has roughly 20,000 apps currently to nearly 100k for the Apple. Like the iPhone, however, maybe 5% of them are good. The Android market is not as good as the Apple app market. You do not have to use something like iTunes to sync the Android, add songs, etc. Droid camera is better at 5mp. I do think Verizon has a better network. I don't know about the SIM cards, though.

RMX

 

*Good* reason - Thx.

So do I, and I get ~ an hour..... What do you get from the E71?

I've also found, that when in range of Wi-fi, power is often available - Again, depends on your "usage patterns" I guess - At least we have a choice

"Arguments" don't come any better than that - I'd have gone for the E71 as well!

Couldn't agree more! - Those "key areas" vary depending on wants/needs etc - Our BS even "highlighted" a few, which has gotta be good, right?

I can "argue" both sides on the app store - It's a tough one - It does seem that "everyone" is trying to duplicate their model - While leaving it "open" - Which is where it gets "hard" I believe.

+1 - Right now, I'm "happy" with the 3GS. It definitely isn't "perfect", but it "works for me".

However, I'm a huge believer in open source, and hope the Droid/Android OS does well - Plus, it multitasks - iPhone doesn't do that either......

Cheers,
Ian

 

My quick $.02 - (I go back and forth between an iPhone and BB).

First, not sure who said iPhone SIM is not swappable, but that is incorrect. Actually it's quicker to change than my BB (but you need a paperclip).

iPhone RF blows compared to RIM - my BB will hold where my iPhone drops, same route same position in car. Winner - RIM

iPhone battery life is poor w 3G, when traveling I turn off 3G and WiFi, doing this makes them very close to battery life - Tie

For me..."old eyes" - BB is a pain to adhoc dial, iPhone has big letters/numbers (just try dialing a "lettered" phone number on a BB) - iPhone

BB allows UMA wifi calling, iPhone does not.

iTunes is designed around iPhone (either you like iTunes or you don't); RIM media player is so so - - iPhone

email - my miserable typing speed is the same on RIM (qwerty and suretype) as on iPhone. Cut and paste is miserable on the iPhone, spelling seems to "fix" itself faster on iPhone. Slight nod to RIM

Drop an iPhone (unless you use a case like the Defender) and you might be doomed...$100 to repair the screen...you can drop kick a BB. RIM

Skype is very easy on an iPhone - BB, not so much.

Random, but cool, stuff you can do on iPhone - remote control your PC/Mac, make random fart sounds, use it as a level, currency conversion (easily...I've used the BB version, very frustrating), use it as an "air" mouse for presentations,

All phone cameras blow but iPhone with good light takes pretty good pictures. The RIM lens seems to get crud in the well (I think the 8900 is flush so this might no longer be an issue).

Browsing - I like a bigger screen and iPhones portrait view is superior (to me) to say, the Bold.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

I run Fring on the E71 and I also have it sync with a couple of email accounts and keep me signed into Skype, MSN, Yahoo and AIM all day. It automatically defaults to Wifi when it's available, the rest of the time uses my T-Mobile data connection... since I have Wifi at home and work, it's almost always on Wifi. I'm sure it goes into low power mode, but I leave the Wifi turned on 24/7 so I can get incoming calls.

I don't talk on my phone that much, maybe average 30-40 minutes a day, but it's always on the Wifi. I've only run out the battery once but that was when i hadn't plugged it in for 2 days. I believe the longest Wifi call I've had was maybe 1.5 hours... but what I need is a day, and the E71 gives me double that, in case I forget to charge it on a given day.

The E71 runs Symbian and of course that is open. The plus side to iStore *should* be a higher quality level of app since it's been given the green light by Apple, but I have certainly seen a ton of crap in the iStore. I'd say most mobile development is crap to begin with, with a few diamonds in the rough (like Skype, Opera Mobile, Google Maps, Pandora and other apps like that). But it seems like the best apps tend to be the free ones... and the somewhat onerous deal you have to strike with Apple to be in the iStore means that at best apps are delayed on the iPhone, and at worst are simply not available.

I am not really a latest and greatest type of guy... I got my E71 maybe 1.5 years ago. It's a 2 year old phone... but I can open PDF's on it, it has a 3.2 megapixel camera. It records full motion video. It supports VOIP SIP clients (so my cell phone can be an extension on my office PBX phone system) as well as VOIP through Skype and Fring. It supports multiple email accounts with active pulling from my mailbox and instant notification of email messages. It supports text-to-speech (will speak the persons name or the caller ID - great for when the phone is in your pocket) as you're driving and it rings. It has bluetooth, wifi, USB, expandable SD storage, a real clicky keyboard, supports additional apps, replaceable battery, removable SIM card, stainless steel case, FM radio tuner, internet radio, built-in GPS, supports WEP2/TKIP/AES for easy connection to lots of Wifi networks, skinnable interface, auto-syncs with outlook, has a print spooler to print directly to wifi or USB printers, supports JavaScript/Java, macromedia flash, reads barcodes, is an MP3 player, supports lots of video and music formats (wmv, MP3, mpg, mov, Wav, rm, flv, etc), has a built-in modem for easy tethering to my laptop (great for high speed internet anywhere anytime with no additional fees), has IR and can control my TV (useless but neat... but good for quick data transfer to a PC without a microSD card slot), supports voice dial, has a built in spreadsheet/word processor/database application compatible with MS office, supports compressed files natively, and much more - all out of the box.

And I paid $450 for it, I think.

I'm constantly amazed at all the stuff this phone can do.

The only downsides are the screen is not touch sensitive, and I don't generally like phones with exposed keyboards (they auto-lock the keys which is a PITA). It's a PITA to dial with those little keys, but you get used to it... i can type a text message with full tactile feedback and a backlit QWERTY keyboard right on the phone.

At the time I reviewed everything out there... I am not tied to any platform or brand, so if the iPhone would have done what I wanted, I would have gone for it. I am not even sure if there is a phone, even today 2 years later, that surpasses what the E71 can do. My brother got a Google Phone - cool, but gimmicky and doesn't work well, not like my E71.

 

'Inside Steve's Brain'

Great read, IMO.

Anyways, back to the topic. I have an iMac, 3 iPods. My brother has an iPhone, as well as a Macbook. The rest of the family has Macbook Pros...

I think, one of the reason i bought and love apple products is because they're reliable. As a business student, it's quite amazing how they market their products. That book i pointed out above, really great book for you to realize how Steve actually thinks, and how he wins people over.

He admits that they were the last to get into the mp3 market, it was Sony's, who had the world at their feet with the Walkman.

Trouble was, Steve realized that the Sony guys just didn't want to move forward. They wanted hard copies, not soft copies. He also knew that they were afraid to try new stuffs, new designs.

How iPods conquered the world? Pretty simple. Design, marketing, durablity, as well as the introduction of iTunes. Hassle free software. Microsoft lauched their version, can't recall whats it called now, but they failed miserably.

Having said that, i don't see myself getting an iPhone soon. My Sony Ericsson K800i is a perfect phone for me right now, and even if i do change, i'd get a BlackBerry.

 

Yes, you can take the SIM out - but they are not interchangeable. The new SIM would have to be AT&T, activated via your computer on iTunes, and purchase another iPhone data plan. Similar hassles await you when you go to switch back to the other SIM...

Interesting point. I kind of enjoyed the iPhone's slide-to-unlock, until winter time. Ever tried to unlock or use an iPhone with freezing fingers or gloves on??? Doesn't work! You can't even answer a call. FAIL! Give me hardware buttons any day over a touch screen

 

Kinda sorta, but Jailbreak/Pawnage or factory unlocked version shall set you free!

(see above)Tap to unlock works like a charm!

 

I heard that answer a lot back when I had a working iPhone. Not a great product... when you have to void warranties / risk destroying the phone just to do simple things!!!

Tap a hardware button? Because the touch screen doesn't work with gloves on, or freezing fingers.

 

Agreed, but, so is "tweaking" our respective ride(s)to get just a wee bit more juice.

IIRC you can disable the "slide to unlock" (I use Cydia's "tap" to unlock) in the Apple authorized setting menu - the net result is pushing the "hard button" brings you to the springboard (of course with gloves/freezing fingers you can't do much beyond this point anyway)

 

Can you use the *tiny* keys on the BB with freezing fingers or gloves on? [I'm not arguing, just interested btw!.....]

 

Don't really need to, BB numeric voice dialing is good...spooky good.

 

You can use voice dialing on the iPhone and you dont need to take gloves off.

 

I guess that rules out a Virgin Mobile.