Apple’s iPhone
So you’ve got that new iPhone home and out of the box, signed up for your two year At&T contract and you’re all ready to go zipping down the information super-highway. visions of YouTube on a 3 inch screen dancing in your head you power on your iPhone for the first time and dive right in looking for the basics of a cellphone, customization. Can you customize it? Can you change the wallpaper with your OWN? Can you change the icons? Can you change the layout? Can you change the ringtone ?? After several hours of plugging around and searching the internet for answers you slowly come to realize the answer to those questions is *NO*. So is your new “tech toy” stupid? No, it’s smarter than you because in your neverending quest to be the most technologically savvy kid on your block, you were thrown a curve. Why ?? Here’s a few reasons. If you’ve been smart enough to resist those appealing commercials from Apple, but are on the fence regarding a future iPhone purchase, read on here for some useful information.
Multi-Function Devices
Color me black for having owned one of those TV/VCR combo units back in the 1990’s. I swore I’d never own another combo or multi-function unit ever again. If one of the devices breaks, you’re left with a partially functioning mess. I guess I hadn’t learned my lesson when I bought one of those Cannon Multi-Function printer / scanner / copier / fax machines years later only to have an overpriced hunk of junk that never worked correctly from the beginning. My philosophy on multi-function devices is etched in stone these days and the iPhone’s offering of phone / PDA / media player has me wondering why would anybody need all those functions packed into one small, easily breakable unit. The “tech geeks” who rushed out to buy an iPhone are more than likely own several iPods, PDA’s and God only knows how many old cellphones in the desk drawer. You think people would learn by now not to be bitten by the technology spider. Especially people who are carrying balances on their credit cards, have difficulty paying their bills or are still living at home with their parents (the majority of iPhone early adopters).
At&T Wireless Services
I’m not quite what they’re smoking out there in California where Apple is headquartered but to the vast majority of East Coast cellular subscribers, AT&T / Cingular is not an option. Ask any Cingular or AT&T subscribers from Florida about how they performed after the state was ravenged by three hurricanes. Connectivity was non-existent which lead many subscribers to move away from AT&T and/or Cingular to other providers such as T-Moblie and Verizon. Not to mention, anybody who regularly makes the trip up I-95 knows well of the Cingular “blackhole” driving through North Carolina where At&T or Cingular subscribers are lost without a signal. Cellular customers in Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and many other states have all found themselves locked into long term contracts with Cingular / At&T and stuck with sporadic connectivity and poor service and support. I think the people at Apple should have done some due diligence before picking a singular (pun intended) provider for service.
Developers Left Out
It’s no suprise the iPhone doesn’t support third-party applications like standard PDA’s. The iPhone is a win-win situation for Apple in the marketing department. They’re certainly in no hurry to hand over their “captive audience” to outside development teams.
iPhone Hacked
Fox News reported today that the Apple iPhone is vunerable to hackers and security exploits. While I put little stock in anything reported on Fox News, it still remains a fact that hackers around the planet have turned their attention to the biggest “geek gadget” in recent years.
Interchangable Battery??
Perhaps the most stunning revelation from iPhone early adopters is the fact that the iPhone *does not* have an interchangable battery. Are you serious? A cellphone combo unit without an interchangable battery ??? That’s just a recipe for disaster.
Enjoy the Apple iPhone for what it is. A well done piece of hardware with a very cool GUI. Nothing more, Nothing less. Feature-wise, it’s a bomb but does anything *ever* live up to our inflated expectations, especially as far as technology is concerned? I can’t think of anything that has.
Dude, you can change the desktop to any of the included ones, or to a picture you’ve taken, or to any photos you choose to upload to the iPhone. And you can change the ring tone to any ringtone currently installed.
Talk about a trolling piece to pick up hits. Do you actually **own** an iPhone, or is your piece based upon pure speculation?
From someone who has owned it for 3 weeks, I can say it’s the best handheld device I’ve ever owned. Sure, it has a few shortcomings, but show me any product that doesn’t.
It was only a matter of time before someone cracked the iPhone. I think someone actually cracked it like withing 12 hours of its release. Stinks its not secure, I was going to get one!
Ted, So what you’re saying is somebody has to *own* a gadget to write about it??? You also sound like a typical Mac devotee who worships at the altar of Jobs because you seem to need to bash people for expressing their opinions especially if they are against Apple.
As far as *owning* an iPhone, no, I’m not a “tech geek” and I’d never spend $600 on any phone, especially an iPhone, considering I live in Delaware in the summers and AT&T is not an option as a provider.
Obviously you didn’t read the last paragraph before you dashed off to bash my article… Typical…
ROTFL @ Ted
dude, I thought blogging was about getting hits to yourr blog. sucker.
Although I must admit that in the case of the iphone AT&T has gone way too far. You are 100% on the money with the ridiculous price tag but I guess innovation has it’s price ..
Innovation does have it’s price but just like the iPod, if you wait 6 months to a year you’re going to get a much better iPhone. This reminds me of my first Palm Pilot that was monochrome running DragonBall processor. It was more expensive than the color Palm IIIc I got less than 2 years later.
Only difference is that developers could load their own applications from the earliest Palms. Ted doesn’t realize my main issues with the iPhone are that the architecture is closed for 3rd party development and that you are suckered into a 2 year contract with an inferior wireless provider just to have a piece of hardware that was already outdated the day it was released.
the Helio Ocean blows scrApple iPhone away and it’s half the price.
check it out for yourself - http://compare.helio.com/
Ocean has 3G, GPS, a keyboard, IM, video camera and a removable battery. iPhone is just a joke.
This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title e is Smarter Than You. Thanks for informative article
This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title e is Smarter Than You. Thanks for informative article