One thing to be aware of is that there is a bit of a hack to start using your iPhone for tethering right now and you don't even need to jailbrake it. I have a couple of thoughts and concerns about this.
First, I haven't read the TOS lately but you're probably breaking the Apple and/or the AT&T regulations you agreed to so, just weigh the consequences if you do decide to do this.
Second, this will be fixed in an update, Apple can't let this continue going on or they could face legal issues with AT&T so don't get used to the functionality.
More importantly though I clearly think AT&T dropped the ball and should have been ready, but if their infrastructure could handle the load there's little reason why they wouldn't offer it right now. If this is the case then consider that you may be ruining the experience for everyone by helping to overload the network and you probably don't want your 3G internet suddenly sucking, do you?
I'm not an Iphone expert, but your telling me, on my cheap little $50 LG phone, I can take a picture of my kid and MMS it to my wife, but you can't do this on the "Jesus Phone"?
Seems like a basic function for any multimedia ready phone at this point?
Like I said, I'm not a big phone nerd, but one thing I occasionally do, is snap a quick pic of my kid, send it to my Mom, or the Mrs. or something. I just have a cheap LG slider, and it does this fine.
#8 on that list may have been kind, its a failure so Epic, I was not even looking for it, I mean seriously, MMS is not available on the market's "smart phone" of choice?
It just shows you what Apples marketing dept is capable of. They should get those guys to launch an add campaign for world peace or something, everybody would buy it.
It just shows you what Apples marketing dept is capable of. They should get those guys to launch an add campaign for world peace or something, everybody would buy it.
Yeah but then world peace would be "exclusive" to only specific carrier countries and would come bundled with iTunes. Microsoft would then be told that they can't package world peace with Windows 7.
I don't think there's any reason to be upset with the lack of an upgrade price. No carrier out there will give you a subsidized price when you're not eligible for an upgrade; the only reason people expect it with the iPhone is because the 1st gen iPhone was NOT subsidized, so they were able to offer subsidized pricing for the 2nd gen iPhones.
Good points all around. Myself, I'm preparing to make a final purchasing decision for a smart phone. I'll probably make it on Tuesday, if not a little later than that.
The iPhone currently has my bid, due to its overwhelming industry adoption and support. The T-Mobile G1 is a close second. I'll also peek at the Palm Pre just for variety, though I probably won't go with it.
I'm not dancing for joy to become an AT&T customer. But honestly, what American service IS worthwhile? Verizon has good coverage and customer support, but their phones do not meet my needs well (as I do not like the Blackberry type phones) and I hate how they feature-lock their phones. AT&T and--- blargh, that's all for now.
Speaking of epic failures and iPhones... Do you have copy/paste yet? Cuz... that seems like something that should have been in v1.0 if you ask me. I mean, does functionality get any more basic than that? I can probably forgive the lack of MMS provided that you can send an email with images attached from it... but the lack of ability to copy and paste on a phone that is built to be multi-tasking friendly is a major oversight. Then again... appeasing me probably isn't high on Apple's list of things to do since the only way I'd buy an iPhone is if they released one that ran Android and did it better and cheaper than HTC or Samsung could. Which will clearly never happen.
Bandrik, the Pre looks really interesting, if I weren't tied to some of Apple's other services and I didn't love the selection on the app store so much I'd definitely be considering the Pre. One to watch for sure!
I also know a lot of people who love their G1's, solid option to check into.
Verizon pissed me off too many times with terrible phone options, especially when the only good ones had their best features crippled. Not sorry I left Verizon.
Ardichoke, yeah, C&P showed up in OS 3.0, took them two years to get there and yes, it was a major fail IMHO. That said, it handles far, far better then any of my old Windows Mobile PDAs did at it.
Verizon pissed me off too many times with terrible phone options, especially when the only good ones had their best features crippled. Not sorry I left Verizon.
Ardichoke, yeah, C&P showed up in OS 3.0, took them two years to get there and yes, it was a major fail IMHO. That said, it handles far, far better then any of my old Windows Mobile PDAs did at it.
Oh man, don't get me started on WinMo "smart" phones. I can't even tell you how many times I had to wipe and reinstall them when I was working a sys-admin department at my old University. There was only one WinMo phone that I actually liked, that was the HTC Touch Pro/HTC Tilt (basically the same phone back then except one had a screen that would tilt up slightly when open). The only reason those were any good was because they were overpowered. Everything else ran like crap.
As for Verizon... one of the major reasons I'm switching carriers is because Verizon bought Alltel. I loved the last 6 years I spent with Alltel but now that Verizon is taking them over I'm abandoning ship. I'll never ever be a Verizon customer again after the way they treated me last time.
Hmm, the HTC ones looked really nice, I owned two or three of the high end ipaqs over a few years and yeah, I reinstalled the dang things many times. I loved them while I had them but now that I've had an iPhone I realize how crappy those things were.
That said, a CF and a SD slot in one device rocked and I just pulled out my Pocket PC and reinstalled it to use as a camera previewer, there's a program that will even handle RAW files. Feels like a POS in my hand though.
I had a little bit of time to test-drive my coworker's phones. One had a Pre, the other a G1. Both loved their respective phones and had a war over my favor.
I have to say, there are some Android apps that are just calling me. It has a NES, SNES, and Genesis emulator, which is REALLY appealing to me. I won't make a purchasing decision on that alone, but man... having the library of all 3 systems with me EVERYWHERE is very appealing (though my battery would die, so not overly important). Also, it's Googly-ness is quite attractive. I'm one notch before being an all-out Google Fanboy.
The Pre was a beefy surprise though. I loved it's simplicity and its elegant OS and interface. It just felt "right". The keyboard was really nice as well. The app store doesn't really exist yet without the developer kit out yet... but when it does, I wonder if it would kick off like the Android market currently is...?
If it would kick off well, then I would consider the Pre. What do you guys think? Do you predict the Pre's app market to rival Androids and eventually Apples given enough time and its open environment? Eager minds await your thoughts!
Oh and yes. iPhone is still a strong condenter due to its maturity, market saturation, speed/power, and current app selection.
I highly doubt the Pre app market will start out anywhere near as strong as the Android app market. The Android SDK was out for at least a year before the G1 was even released. Plus the Android Development Challenge got a lot of people to develop a ton of awesome apps. MAYBE if Palm has a similar challenge they could have a decent offering at launch... but the Android Marketplace has well over a 1 year head start.
Ah... thanks for the info, ardichoke. I figured Android would create more buzz, but I didn't realize that it was out THAT FAR ahead of time. Eh... that's going to seriously put the hurt on the Pre for me...
Actually Bandrik, I was a bit off. It seems the first Android SDK was released all the way back in 2007... though I'm sure developers didn't start heavy development until more recently.... specifically around when the Android Developer Challenge was announced.
I think Android's going to become a stronger platform for apps and it's always going to appeal to the more hard-core nerd hackers so many Icontrians are. The Pre will have cute social applications, solid PIM stuff and super casual games.
The iPhone has a little of everything with a focus on good UI's and experiences and a decent selection of games across the board but with really good stratagy games and racers. However, you'll also waid through mountains of utter crap to find the good stuff. But it's not as hard if you follow the right people on Twitter and have a few good RSS feeds like Touch Arcade. It also has the numbers in it's favor right now.
The Android platform will take off much more as soon as there are more devices, it's going to be great accross the board but will draw in more techy apps, more hacks like the NES/SNES/Sega emulators (which Apple could never allow do to the copyright issues, at least not without a jailbreak). I think it will also get deeper games but with less big titles until the Google phones start selling at the kind of numbers Apple has.
All my own opinion and speculation though, just my two cents.
Insider tip though, the real action is all going on on the Palm OS, that's the place to be for the really hot underground stuff.
Thanks for the tips, Chris - it definitely will help me with my decision.
You should have seen me 4 years ago when I selected my last phone. It was the Motorola e815 or the Motorola Razr (first generation). I did tons (perhaps too much) reading up between the two phones, and went with the older e815. Best choice I've made on a gadget yet.
So yeah, point is I took forever between two extremely similar phones. You can imagine this decision is a bit tough for me. Any additional info like that you and ardichoke and the rest have offered has been awesome.
I guess it's down to Android and the iPhone now. iPhone has a great "one size fits all" simplicity (the barrage of upcoming Android phones is exciting but leaving me feeling a bit overhwelmed), but the apps for Android really intrigue me. That's the bottom line.
Any time I'm considering phones, I always compare them on http://www.phonescoop.com first. Of course in this case you have it narrowed down to two platforms, not so much the actual phones. In my mind the iPhone v. Android argument goes something like this... Do I want my smartphone life to be tied to Apple on a closed platform... or Google using an open platform? I already use Google to organize most of my daily life... Google Calendar, Tasks, I've even started fleshing out my Google Contacts. All that information will automatically show up on my Android phone. I'll have to convert everything if I go to iPhone and if I don't like the iPhone or AT&T or if they stop making them for some reason, I have to move everything again. On the other hand, if I get the G1 or the myTouch and don't like T-Mobile... well... by the time my contract is up there will be Android phones on most other carriers. Everything follows me. No hassle. Plus I just plain prefer to support open software. It's why I use Linux and it's why on my 1 Windows box, most all of the software is open source.
If I get the G1 or the myTouch and don't like T-Mobile... well... by the time my contract is up there will be Android phones on most other carriers. Everything follows me. No hassle.
Could you elaborate more on how everything follows you? For example, how does purchasing apps work? If you buy an app for your G1 and switch to another Android device with another carrier, are those apps tied to your old G1, or to your Google Account or something?
If it's the latter and I get to keep the apps I've purchased and move them to other phones later on, that's a huge thing to me. But if it's stuck to the G1 or even T-mobile, not so much...
One thing about being tied to Apple vs Google for services like contacts, email and calendar is that they aren't mutually exclusive either. My iCal syncs with Google Calendar, my contacts sync with my address book and it's not like you can't use Gmail with just about any setup. The feature I do admit I drool over is how well the Android does Google Talk and how you SMS gets merged into the gmail logs. I think Meebo for the iPhone will improve chat substantially and BeeJive is already offering push based chat but the G1 definitly has the edge here.
One thing to be aware of is that there is a bit of a hack to start using your iPhone for tethering right now and you don't even need to jailbrake it. I have a couple of thoughts and concerns about this.
First, I haven't read the TOS lately but you're probably breaking the Apple and/or the AT&T regulations you agreed to so, just weigh the consequences if you do decide to do this.
Second, this will be fixed in an update, Apple can't let this continue going on or they could face legal issues with AT&T so don't get used to the functionality.
More importantly though I clearly think AT&T dropped the ball and should have been ready, but if their infrastructure could handle the load there's little reason why they wouldn't offer it right now. If this is the case then consider that you may be ruining the experience for everyone by helping to overload the network and you probably don't want your 3G internet suddenly sucking, do you?
But you're using Windows Mobile so the ability to tether is negated by a very bad OS. I don't mean to be unfair, I've had three highend Windows Mobile PDAs, I probably spend $500-1000 on apps and accessories over the years and I loved them at the time despite needing to reinstall the thing every other month. Windows Vista Sync center really improved things and all that so I'm not just bushing for ht sake of bashing. The moment I switched to an iPhone I realized I'd been putting up with—and loving—absolute mediocrity in a device. Just my two cents though.
chrisWhite
Littleton, CO
Comments
First, I haven't read the TOS lately but you're probably breaking the Apple and/or the AT&T regulations you agreed to so, just weigh the consequences if you do decide to do this.
Second, this will be fixed in an update, Apple can't let this continue going on or they could face legal issues with AT&T so don't get used to the functionality.
More importantly though I clearly think AT&T dropped the ball and should have been ready, but if their infrastructure could handle the load there's little reason why they wouldn't offer it right now. If this is the case then consider that you may be ruining the experience for everyone by helping to overload the network and you probably don't want your 3G internet suddenly sucking, do you?
Just my thoughts on the matter.
Seems like a basic function for any multimedia ready phone at this point?
Like I said, I'm not a big phone nerd, but one thing I occasionally do, is snap a quick pic of my kid, send it to my Mom, or the Mrs. or something. I just have a cheap LG slider, and it does this fine.
#8 on that list may have been kind, its a failure so Epic, I was not even looking for it, I mean seriously, MMS is not available on the market's "smart phone" of choice?
It just shows you what Apples marketing dept is capable of. They should get those guys to launch an add campaign for world peace or something, everybody would buy it.
Norge
This was absolutely a major fail on the iPhone and continues to ba fail for people with carriers like AT&T
The iPhone currently has my bid, due to its overwhelming industry adoption and support. The T-Mobile G1 is a close second. I'll also peek at the Palm Pre just for variety, though I probably won't go with it.
I'm not dancing for joy to become an AT&T customer. But honestly, what American service IS worthwhile? Verizon has good coverage and customer support, but their phones do not meet my needs well (as I do not like the Blackberry type phones) and I hate how they feature-lock their phones. AT&T and--- blargh, that's all for now.
I also know a lot of people who love their G1's, solid option to check into.
Verizon pissed me off too many times with terrible phone options, especially when the only good ones had their best features crippled. Not sorry I left Verizon.
Ardichoke, yeah, C&P showed up in OS 3.0, took them two years to get there and yes, it was a major fail IMHO. That said, it handles far, far better then any of my old Windows Mobile PDAs did at it.
As for Verizon... one of the major reasons I'm switching carriers is because Verizon bought Alltel. I loved the last 6 years I spent with Alltel but now that Verizon is taking them over I'm abandoning ship. I'll never ever be a Verizon customer again after the way they treated me last time.
That said, a CF and a SD slot in one device rocked and I just pulled out my Pocket PC and reinstalled it to use as a camera previewer, there's a program that will even handle RAW files. Feels like a POS in my hand though.
I have to say, there are some Android apps that are just calling me. It has a NES, SNES, and Genesis emulator, which is REALLY appealing to me. I won't make a purchasing decision on that alone, but man... having the library of all 3 systems with me EVERYWHERE is very appealing (though my battery would die, so not overly important). Also, it's Googly-ness is quite attractive. I'm one notch before being an all-out Google Fanboy.
The Pre was a beefy surprise though. I loved it's simplicity and its elegant OS and interface. It just felt "right". The keyboard was really nice as well. The app store doesn't really exist yet without the developer kit out yet... but when it does, I wonder if it would kick off like the Android market currently is...?
If it would kick off well, then I would consider the Pre. What do you guys think? Do you predict the Pre's app market to rival Androids and eventually Apples given enough time and its open environment? Eager minds await your thoughts!
Oh and yes. iPhone is still a strong condenter due to its maturity, market saturation, speed/power, and current app selection.
http://www.fiercemobileit.com/story/first-look-googles-android/2007-11-12
The iPhone has a little of everything with a focus on good UI's and experiences and a decent selection of games across the board but with really good stratagy games and racers. However, you'll also waid through mountains of utter crap to find the good stuff. But it's not as hard if you follow the right people on Twitter and have a few good RSS feeds like Touch Arcade. It also has the numbers in it's favor right now.
The Android platform will take off much more as soon as there are more devices, it's going to be great accross the board but will draw in more techy apps, more hacks like the NES/SNES/Sega emulators (which Apple could never allow do to the copyright issues, at least not without a jailbreak). I think it will also get deeper games but with less big titles until the Google phones start selling at the kind of numbers Apple has.
All my own opinion and speculation though, just my two cents.
Insider tip though, the real action is all going on on the Palm OS, that's the place to be for the really hot underground stuff.
You should have seen me 4 years ago when I selected my last phone. It was the Motorola e815 or the Motorola Razr (first generation). I did tons (perhaps too much) reading up between the two phones, and went with the older e815. Best choice I've made on a gadget yet.
So yeah, point is I took forever between two extremely similar phones. You can imagine this decision is a bit tough for me. Any additional info like that you and ardichoke and the rest have offered has been awesome.
I guess it's down to Android and the iPhone now. iPhone has a great "one size fits all" simplicity (the barrage of upcoming Android phones is exciting but leaving me feeling a bit overhwelmed), but the apps for Android really intrigue me. That's the bottom line.
Could you elaborate more on how everything follows you? For example, how does purchasing apps work? If you buy an app for your G1 and switch to another Android device with another carrier, are those apps tied to your old G1, or to your Google Account or something?
If it's the latter and I get to keep the apps I've purchased and move them to other phones later on, that's a huge thing to me. But if it's stuck to the G1 or even T-mobile, not so much...
http://happywaffle.livejournal.com/