iPhone -- really?

[rotlex]

I'm getting the Droid tomorrow. Not as great as the iPhone but Verizon's network is so much better than AT&Ts.

Shows how different areas have different service. Verizon was the worst service I ever had. Sprint, the best as far as coverage and stability. ATT, kind of in the middle, but who cares, it's got the iPhone.

 

[jcb]

Don,

Do you think you make this thread longer than the one Nikki started?

I mean, that has to be the record for the length of time "on the fence" about anything (marriage proposals excepted, of course).

 

[Disney Khi]

So, is the iPhone not a good phone? I know it is a super cool gadget and fun to have, but is it really a bad phone? DH and I are thinking about getting them, but I would need them to be good phones not just fun things to play with.

 

[rotlex]

So, is the iPhone not a good phone? I know it is a super cool gadget and fun to have, but is it really a bad phone? DH and I are thinking about getting them, but I would need them to be good phones not just fun things to play with.

It's as good as any phone I have ever had in the past. Nothing special, as far as the phone function, but it does the job for me.

It's really the "extras" that get you on it. It is the first device I have ever owned, and I'm a computer systems guy by trade, that I can honestly say I consider a hand held computer. So much so, that when my main home machine needed warranty servicing due to a failed hard drive, I didn't even mind being without it for a few days.

 

[katscradle]

So, is the iPhone not a good phone? I know it is a super cool gadget and fun to have, but is it really a bad phone? DH and I are thinking about getting them, but I would need them to be good phones not just fun things to play with.

well take it for what it is, but I am in Northern Ontario, Canada.
Sitting in the middle of the bush and I can get a phone call, and
it be clear as a bell.

 

[dpuck1998]

Don,

Do you think you make this thread longer than the one Nikki started?

I mean, that has to be the record for the length of time "on the fence" about anything (marriage proposals excepted, of course).

Well, since I don't pay for a phone yet, I haven't really been on the fence for long. Rumor is I have to get my own service starting in Jan and will get a phone "stipend" starting then.

 

[timmac]

Well, since I don't pay for a phone yet, I haven't really been on the fence for long. Rumor is I have to get my own service starting in Jan and will get a phone "stipend" starting then.

I'm switching jobs in just over a week, and as such, will no longer have a company-provided blackberry, so I got my iPhone earlier this week (see my two threads about it..)

I had a lot of the same concerns as you, but honestly, I am not looking back at this point. The variety of apps and developer community surrounding it is unreal, even if disproportionate to the number of users.

Don, btw, I also fully agree with your PC vs Mac assessment. My bread and butter, at least at my day job, is Windows based stuff, but even aside from that, I agree the ads are very slanted (of course they are, though) I think it's also pretty remarkable how many people are Windows-haters. The UI between OSX and Windows isn't all _that_ different, and the hardware under the hood has been near-identical for a few years now...

 

[dpuck1998]

I'm switching jobs in just over a week, and as such, will no longer have a company-provided blackberry, so I got my iPhone earlier this week (see my two threads about it..)

I had a lot of the same concerns as you, but honestly, I am not looking back at this point. The variety of apps and developer community surrounding it is unreal, even if disproportionate to the number of users.

Don, btw, I also fully agree with your PC vs Mac assessment. My bread and butter, at least at my day job, is Windows based stuff, but even aside from that, I agree the ads are very slanted (of course they are, though) I think it's also pretty remarkable how many people are Windows-haters. The UI between OSX and Windows isn't all _that_ different, and the hardware under the hood has been near-identical for a few years now...

Totally agree. Its just a different GUI at this point. Heck I could install Linux and any flavor GUI for it and have a "mac" for a fraction of the price.

 

[spaddy]

I am having iPhone withdrawl today. I am trying to talk my DH into getting one so he "borrowed" mine today to see if he likes it. I am freaking out with this "regular" cell phone of his.

I have to admit I don't like Macs, but I love my iPhone. And I agree that those Mac PC commercials are a little too much. I guess all commercials are a little too much.

 

[Golf4food]

Been an iMac user for over a year and plan to get an iPhone in March when our current contract expires and I can upgrade cheaper (and maybe they'll have a better plan by then, too).

Windows people that hate the Mac vs. PC commercials are just upset because Microsoft's marketing team is getting their butts handed to them and they know it.

Like someone said earlier, it's nice have a computer and just using the computer, not constantly tweaking it, fixing it, rebooting it, etc.

 

[dpuck1998]

Been an iMac user for over a year and plan to get an iPhone in March when our current contract expires and I can upgrade cheaper (and maybe they'll have a better plan by then, too).

Windows people that hate the Mac vs. PC commercials are just upset because Microsoft's marketing team is getting their butts handed to them and they know it.

Like someone said earlier, it's nice have a computer and just using the computer, not constantly tweaking it, fixing it, rebooting it, etc.

I don't hate Macs, I use one all the time. The commercials are annoying because they tell blatant lies. If you can't get your mac to lock up then you aren't using it very hard. I locked mine up the day I bought it. While I enjoy my MacBook, I would never pay double or triple the price of a solid PC for the same or similar hardware, just so I can have a mac (mine is a work purchase). Maybe because I know how to use it, but my PCs work just as good as my Mac.

 

[safetymom]

Don, I agree with you. I used to work with an Apple rep and he would constantly try to convert me. Told me how they never locked up. Every time I used the MAC I could lock it up.

I don't have to tweak or fix my PC and I am running Vista. I guess I know what I am doing.

 

[sarahsar]

Totally agree. Its just a different GUI at this point. Heck I could install Linux and any flavor GUI for it and have a "mac" for a fraction of the price.

True, you could, but I would hazard a guess that most people don't want that hassle (and it is a hassle, though using Linux is far easier these days than it used to be. It's still not something I would suggest to my mom).

User interface preference aside (and I agree they look a lot alike these days), there are real structural OS differences between Windows and OS X. The difference between an OS that uses a registry and one that doesn't is pretty significant, for example. Whether or not that matters to the average user - probably not. But there are more differences than just the GUI.

I think a lot of it boils down to personal preference. I've been using Windows since, well, before it was Windows. I've used every version except Vista and Millenium. I thought XP was actually very good. It was certainly far more stable than any previous version of Windows. Vista, on the other hand, was a disaster. That's where Windows lost me. Windows 7 offers some redemption, but at this point it's not enough for me. My tolerance threshold for certain Windows aggravations is a lot less than what it used to be. Why, for example, on a clean install of Windows 7 would it take me so much effort to get it to sync with a Windows Mobile phone (stock ROM, no funny stuff, 1 year old phone)? Wouldn't you think two stock Microsoft products would play nicely together? It took forever to get it to work. Finally after trying multiple attempts, with multiple reboots of the computer and the phone and reinstalls of the synching software, it "just worked." Ha.

But I think the whole Mac v. PC debate usually ends up being rather pointless. Both have pros and cons. I think in a lot of cases people haven't really used both platforms extensively enough to really compare and are very caught up in the idea of adamantly disliking just the idea of the other one. For me, I'm pretty firmly in the Mac camp these days, but I'll keep an eye on what's going on on the other side. I've switched once and I'm sure I could switch again, but I would have to have a really compelling reason to do so.

 

[dpuck1998]

True, you could, but I would hazard a guess that most people don't want that hassle (and it is a hassle, though using Linux is far easier these days than it used to be. It's still not something I would suggest to my mom).

User interface preference aside (and I agree they look a lot alike these days), there are real structural OS differences between Windows and OS X. The difference between an OS that uses a registry and one that doesn't is pretty significant, for example. Whether or not that matters to the average user - probably not. But there are more differences than just the GUI.

I think a lot of it boils down to personal preference. I've been using Windows since, well, before it was Windows. I've used every version except Vista and Millenium. I thought XP was actually very good. It was certainly far more stable than any previous version of Windows. Vista, on the other hand, was a disaster. That's where Windows lost me. Windows 7 offers some redemption, but at this point it's not enough for me. My tolerance threshold for certain Windows aggravations is a lot less than what it used to be. Why, for example, on a clean install of Windows 7 would it take me so much effort to get it to sync with a Windows Mobile phone (stock ROM, no funny stuff, 1 year old phone)? Wouldn't you think two stock Microsoft products would play nicely together? It took forever to get it to work. Finally after trying multiple attempts, with multiple reboots of the computer and the phone and reinstalls of the synching software, it "just worked." Ha.

But I think the whole Mac v. PC debate usually ends up being rather pointless. Both have pros and cons. I think in a lot of cases people haven't really used both platforms extensively enough to really compare and are very caught up in the idea of adamantly disliking just the idea of the other one. For me, I'm pretty firmly in the Mac camp these days, but I'll keep an eye on what's going on on the other side. I've switched once and I'm sure I could switch again, but I would have to have a really compelling reason to do so.

I totally agree! I wouldn't give my mom a linux box. I'm not in the bash Mac camp by any means, I just choose to defend the PC camp from the Mac folk. For me the commercials are annoying and the price of the Mac is way to high. People are buying them however, so I guess like Disney, they haven't priced it too high yet.

For the record, I wasn't comparing the Windows OS v Mac OS. I was comparing linux to the mac

 

[sarahsar]

I totally agree! I wouldn't give my mom a linux box. I'm not in the bash Mac camp by any means, I just choose to defend the PC camp from the Mac folk. For me the commercials are annoying and the price of the Mac is way to high. People are buying them however, so I guess like Disney, they haven't priced it too high yet.

For the record, I wasn't comparing the Windows OS v Mac OS. I was comparing linux to the mac

Gotcha!

The commercials are deliberately provocative/competitive. Sort of like Microsoft's Laptop Hunter ads or the Droid Does ads. They can all be a bit over the top, I agree.

From a business standpoint, Apple knows what they are doing. They have insanely high profit margins (good for shareholders, not so much for consumers!) A lot of people thought they were nuts not to get into the low-cost netbook market, but it's turned out to be a good decision. Even Michael Dell recently was bemoaning netbooks - great to have inexpensive devices for the consumer, but tough for the companies to make money on them, and even worse when people buy netbooks instead of more expensive laptops (and honestly, for most people, something that does internet and a little word processing is probably adequate). Apple deliberately does not compete at the lower end at all. Actually at the higher end if you price out, say, laptops spec for spec, the "Apple tax" isn't too bad. It does exist, but maybe just $200 or so on a $2,000 laptop. But there are no less expensive options at all, and down at the cheapest Mac ranges you do pay a lot more for the same hardware. It's a business strategy that has worked for them, but it definitely can be pricey for the consumer.

 

[jcb]

I tune out the apple ads. I did find it amusing that right as my Windows 7 based pc locked up, on comes an ad for Windows 7 promising that it won't lock up. Once again, the television bore the brunt of my vicious mouth.

I switched to the iphone 3G July 2008. I had used a Treo 750 on Verizon. I can't tell any difference in phone quality. The Treo was driving me crazy with dropped calls and calls where the phone simply didn't ring at all. I don't have any of those problems with the iPhone. I can count the total number of dropped calls on one hand. The "speaker" phone is not great but so what. No doubt, there are "phones" out there that probably sound better than the iPhone. Even so, the iPhone blows them away on so many other levels (IMNSHO).

 

[KatheeME]

Don, cross over to the dark side. Get an iPhone. I thought my Blackberry was great but love love love my iPhone.

My feeling exactly!

 

[Anna114]

Wow...really? You might want actually try one first.

And then you'll know the true love of a MAC

 

[rotlex]

And then you'll know the true love of a MAC

Absolutely, LOL. There is a reason many of the Windows Admin guys I know, myself included, use Macs at home. (If I actually need to run Windows, I do it through a VM, in either Fusion, or ESX at the office)!

 

[Matt@WDWR]

I bought my wife the Droid. Oh God it is awesome. Very equivalent to the iPhone. In some ways it's better.