Letters to the Editor
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I Too Returned my iPhone and Here's Why
I also just took back my iPhone - and it's hard to explain why...
Know when you love something SO MUCH, that when you find a flaw you are more disappointed than with something less ordinary that you would normally be more accepting of?
I just couldn't get past:
1). The slow Edge network
2). The no GPS on Google maps (which my Samsung SCH-i730 has and it ROCKS! - shows traffic patterns and I can be somewhere - and hit connect and it tells me where I am)
3). The 8GB capacity
4). No swappable battery plus Apple just announced that after 300 - 400 charges you have to send in your phone to have Apple replace it for $79.00 and a loss of your phone for three days (which I cannot do)
5). No external memory and no swappable SIM (which is why you get GSM in the first place - so you can swap it out in Europe)
6). No compatibility with Microsoft Exchange Server and Active Sync - my perhaps favorite feature on my current PDA the Samsung i730 - even though rich text emails on the iPhone looked incredible and my Gmail worked especially well
7). More of my friends, family and daily calls are on Verizon - or 'In my network'
8). The text/email portion didn’t adjust to landscape mode when turned sideways which would make the keys larger and easier to text
9). The recessed headphone input - rendering my $400 Westone UM2 audiophile headphones obsolete - unless I bought a silly adapter
10). No stereo support via Bluetooth. (OK - now I'm nitpicking, but did I mention the slow Edge network???)
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oh well...
Pretty dumb article, considering your predetermined goal to return it and apparent bias against Apple. And given all that - your only real bitch is that it is a little too much money for you? (Oh – but if it had voice dialing it would be worth it? great point… uh… not so much.) Fact is: it completely blows away any device that performs any ONE of its capabilities. It has rendered anything with a physical keypad instantly obsolete. Get a zune and a blackberry, tally up the cost and then try and do half the things the iPhone can do 10 times better with a 100 times the style. Sorry to all you jealous Apple hating suckers! You guys make me laugh. How's that windows vista thingy working out for ya?! Pretty quaint.
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Live Free, iHardass
Farhad you badass-- dump that iPhone! (that is, return it with proper receipt for a full refund).
Next thing you know you'll be on a myspace login hunger strike and a blackberry blackout.
Keep it coming Salon, I can't wait to hear what these American iDorks do next.
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This is what passes for tech journalism these days?
The total cost of a cell phone includes both the cost of the phone AND its service plan?
If only the iPhone had voice dialing, it would be worth $300 more? On 6/27 you said the iPhone would change everything. On 7/13 the iPhone is apparently not worth more than $300 because it lacks voice dialing. These are some seriously deep thoughts.
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The best part.
Arguably, the best part of your article is about the price of the i-phone. I'm waiting for a $299.99 price W/O the PESKY 2 year contract!
http://OsiSpeaks.com or http://OsiSpeaks.org
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Yes, the iPhone's cost DOES include the service plan...
You'll need another phone if you actually want to talk to anyone. I used AT&T's network for a year. I had regular dropped calls, voice quality was bad enough that friends complained about it, and there were big uncovered areas. And I don't live in a rural area by any stretch.
I wouldn't take an iPhone as a throw-in with the contract if it meant using AT&T again.
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Hey Farhad Manjoo, the rPhone is for you.
Mr Manjoo check out the hot rPhone at
http://www.piratepalooza.com/rphone/
That's r in arrrr, that's right a pirate phone. I haven't seen a return policy so you are on your own there.
And for the rest of you, Jitterbug has just announced an updated phone with a new interphase. They are replacing the "tow" button for a "I've fallen down and can't get up" and added this button at the top: "P.S. I'm not a crackpot".
Peace out.
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No more restrictions on Sichuan peppercorns
FYI, there are no longer import restrictions on Sichuan peppercorns. You just need to know where to shop. Going to the Web from your ex-iPhone would help but you could also walk into a Chinese grocer.
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Gadget Angst
You know, I'm reading all this berating and chest-thumping and histrionics and I've only got two observations:
1)It's really amazing how emotional the technology game really is at its core. Y'all are blathering on and on about features and network speed as if that is really what the issue is. At the end of the day, the decision of which cellphone one owns is less an objective decision based on actual prices vs. features and more a subjective decision based on what you think your phone says about how you live.
Apple as a company instinctively understands this and preys upon it -- using millions of dollars in marketing to make you believe that you're a backwards nobody if you don't have an iPhone. People's reactions to the iPhone have therefore largely been emotional. Some buy the hype and fall in love with the product, ignoring or minimizing any flaws, just as we always do with things and people we love. Others resent and mistrust the marketing and the broohaha and therefore nitpick at the iPhone, looking for the flaws that can justify their emotional reaction.
In the end, because you are dealing with emotions, there is no objective truth to be had. And given the mixed emotional reactions here, Apple's marketing aimed at manipulating our emotions has not been universally successful at swaying us. Which does not bode well for the iPhone v. 1.0.
2) Farhad is entitled to make any decision he likes about his phone. And because the decision to own a piece of technology is an emotional one (and not just some sterlie calculation of features and price and performance), the only one who can decide if Farhad needs to own an iPhone is Farhad. So just give the righteous indignation a rest, willya?