Not an iPhone user here, but there are solutions to that problem:
Mophie iPhone External battery
Apple lost in the 80s plain and simple because they were too expensive and wanted to keep themselves that way to make “more margin”
While the glitterati and other techno idiots are always willing to pay top dollar for items, that universe is limited.
Today Apple is making the same mistake again with the iPhone.
Just so that we are clear, the iPhone NEVER even had 20% of the total smartphone market and now its share is falling again.
I am a iPhone user. When it first came out, it had the best technology, no doubt.
However, once my contract is over, here is why I will NOT be an iPhone user again.
Here are dumb rules made by good old Steve Jobs that make no sense except to Apple fanboys
1. Worst camera EVER!! For a $600 phone, the iPhone 3Gs has a crappy 3 MP camera with no flash. Every competing device, even at half the price has 5 MP
2. No changeable battery! This is a DEAL killer for business travelers. Understand this, the iPhone is a MOBILE computer first and then a phone. If so, then you suck up the battery a lot using it for email or browsing. But, if you are traveling and do not have access to a power port (almost all foriegn airlines/airports) then you are out of luck. Because Lord Jobs has decreed from the Apple Heavens that a battery slot is “not sexy”
3. No haptic feedback. Since Lord Jobs has banned keyboards it would have been nice to have Haptic feedback on the screen. But no, it is not so
4. Keyboards. Talking about that, what about an option (a la Droid by Motorola) for a freaking keyboard. Would it kill you Jobs. You are already charging me $600 and idiotic AT&T is charging me another $100 a month
5. AT&T. Clearly a communist company because no capitalist company would want to alienate its customers like AT&T does. But, oh wait, the iPhone is ONLY available on AT&T in the US
6. Slow as Molasses. Ever tried to use your iPhone when it is downloading emails. About dead as a donkey. No surprise cause it has an old and slow processor. All the new phones have the 1 Ghz mobile processor
7. No multithreading. Talking about sloooooooow, there is no multi-tasking on this “computer”, something my Windows 3.1 PC had. So, now you can only run one app at a time. God forbid if you have to switch between apps.
8. No built in IM tool. There is NO instant messenger built in. Imagine that! In today's day and age where literally entire distributed companies live on IM, Apple discourages it as “it takes up battery time”. So you have to use sucky third party apps
9. About 100 other things. But why bother. Soon an Apple Fanboy will come and say inane things like “it is sexy”, “they invented it”, “Steve Jobs is God”. No, they did not invent the smart phone. Yeah, they did come up with a functional interface. So did Xerox back in the 70s with the first GUI. So, why don't you trash your Mac Book and work on a Xerox Book. Oh wait, there isn't any
Long term, Apple will continue the death spiral that it was on. It only revived because in the US, trendy people were willing to pay TWICE as much as a PC to buy a product that was the same. Now, with this recession, the number of people wanting “trendy” luxury PCs will come down
Mark my words
Just so that it is clear, I have no favorites in this space right now.
Android seems a capable Mobile OS. Windows 7 Mobile MAY turn out to be nice. Palm Pre, God rest their soul, seems dead. Blackberry, has not kept up at all with the iPhone. Nokia seems more content on suiing Apple than actually createing an OS that someone likes.
iPhone will soon have version 4.0 of their OS. It should be pretty interesting to watch, how that competes with both Android and Windows 7 Mobile
I have a feeling it will come down to the above 3. The only thing is that Windows 7 Mobile will die if they don’t make it free as they don’t have a captive customer (like Apple with its own hardware)
Not an iPhone user here, but there are solutions to that problem:
Mophie iPhone External battery
” 1. Worst camera EVER!! For a $600 phone, the iPhone 3Gs has a crappy 3 MP camera with no flash. Every competing device, even at half the price has 5 MP”
Perhaps not the best phone ever, but not bad at all either. Enough resolution for 8x10 pics, and plenty for any web use.
‘”2. No changeable battery! This is a DEAL killer for business travelers. Understand this, the iPhone is a MOBILE computer first and then a phone. If so, then you suck up the battery a lot using it for email or browsing. But, if you are traveling and do not have access to a power port (almost all foriegn airlines/airports) then you are out of luck. Because Lord Jobs has decreed from the Apple Heavens that a battery slot is “not sexy”’
As someone else posted, there’re a lot of third-party solutions for this. I’ve never had an issue with not having a second battery, myself.
“3. No haptic feedback. Since Lord Jobs has banned keyboards it would have been nice to have Haptic feedback on the screen. But no, it is not so”
Not so far, at least. I think you’re being too hard on Apple here, though, you should at least give it credit for the first touchscreen interface that people really like. Even for the calculator app and dialing, I’ve been impressed with how well the touchscreen works.
“5. AT&T. Clearly a communist company because no capitalist company would want to alienate its customers like AT&T does. But, oh wait, the iPhone is ONLY available on AT&T in the US”
I’ve been surprised at how long Apple has stuck with AT&T as an exclusive, but I doubt it will go on a whole lot longer with the Android phones on the market. I was happy to see 3G appear in my area here lately, and you can indeed surf the web while talking which is nice.
“6. Slow as Molasses. Ever tried to use your iPhone when it is downloading emails. About dead as a donkey. No surprise cause it has an old and slow processor. All the new phones have the 1 Ghz mobile processor”
First off, as a “software engineer” you should know that clock speed is far from everything with device performance. Personally I’ve not been troubled by my “slow” iPhone 3G.
“7. No multithreading. Talking about sloooooooow, there is no multi-tasking on this “computer”, something my Windows 3.1 PC had. So, now you can only run one app at a time. God forbid if you have to switch between apps.”
That’s funny. I’m able to talk on the phone, and use the web browser at the same time. I can listen to music while using any app that doesn’t use sound. I have NEVER wished “gee why don’t I have background apps”.
“8. No built in IM tool. There is NO instant messenger built in. Imagine that! In today’s day and age where literally entire distributed companies live on IM, Apple discourages it as “it takes up battery time”. So you have to use sucky third party apps”
LOL! Yeah, all those “sucky third party apps” have sure hurt the iPhone, haven’t they? On the contrary, the App Store is one of the strongest things about the platform.
‘Long term, Apple will continue the death spiral that it was on. It only revived because in the US, trendy people were willing to pay TWICE as much as a PC to buy a product that was the same. Now, with this recession, the number of people wanting “trendy” luxury PCs will come down’
You fail to see a large part of the Apple value proposition. Most of the time, it’s products really do “just work”. On the Mac side, it’s very nice to not have the multitude of security concerns that exist on the PC, plus the bundled apps really do provide a ton of added value. On the iPhone side of things, the only “real” competitor is Android, which is already suffering from version drift and incompatibility across various devices.
In a bad economy, Apple will introduce a few lower-priced products, as it’s doing. BMW will probably introduce a couple lower-priced cars as well. However, the value proposition for both companies doesn’t depend so much on price...and they’ll continue to kill the margins of the mass-market companies.
I expect Apple to continue to do very well, and the iSlate will only help the bottom line.
great response
I've yet to see a successful touch-screen with "haptic" (that's "tactile" for those of you in Rio Linda...) feedback -- have you?
NO! The article does not make sense. It is typical Apple BS.
And..., your comments are also typical anti-Apple yada, yada, yada... LOL... so what's new?
Now, I would agree that this article is not from a good writer... I'll grant that much, but what he's trying to say, being the awful writer that he is (from what I see here) -- is true enough...
But, in your case, I don't know what your excuse is for the typical anti-Apple yada, yada, yada... :-)
The pixel count war should have stopped long ago. It's the equivalent to the Intel megahertz race, where their processors had a higher clock speed, but were actually slower. If the CCD elements and other bits in the camera suck, the pictures are going to suck in comparison to the lower-megapixel camera with quality sensors.
No changeable battery!
I complain when there is a changeable battery, with all that wasted space in the phone. There are options for that small minority who actually need it.
No haptic feedback.
That's probably coming since Apple has patents on under-screen feedback (not just running the vibrate when you hit a key).
AT&T.
AT&T was the only company willing to take a gamble on the game-changing iPhone. In return for the risk, AT&T gets exclusivity. IIRC, Apple had approached Verizon, which turned it down, so instead of complaining about AT&T, complain to Verizon for being so short-sighted.
Slow as Molasses.
Slower, but not all that slow. But remember, with the speed of some of these phones comes low battery life.
No multithreading.
Lots of multithreading. What you're thinking about is multitasking. The iPhone actually does multi-task, but it just won't let multiple user apps multitask. This is a design decision for simplicity, stability and battery life.
God forbid if you have to switch between apps.
You can still do that. It basically pauses the non-used app instead of letting it run.
No built in IM tool.
You already know the reason.
Why don't I believe a word of what you just posted... not one word?
Just so that we are clear, the iPhone NEVER even had 20% of the total smartphone market and now its share is falling again.
So you're wrong, right from the start.
What you post for the rest of your rant is a repeat of the talking points from every FUD article about the iPhone...
1. Worst camera EVER!! For a $600 phone, the iPhone 3Gs has a crappy 3 MP camera with no flash. Every competing device, even at half the price has 5 MP
The iPhone 3Gs is not a $600 phone for the consumer... It is a $199 phone for the consumer. Every competing device does not have a 5MP camera and many do not have video. Most have only plastic lenses, not optical glass which the iPhone has.
2. No changeable battery! This is a DEAL killer for business travelers. Understand this, the iPhone is a MOBILE computer first and then a phone. If so, then you suck up the battery a lot using it for email or browsing. But, if you are traveling and do not have access to a power port (almost all foriegn airlines/airports) then you are out of luck. Because Lord Jobs has decreed from the Apple Heavens that a battery slot is “not sexy”
There are numerous secondary market external battery systems for the iPhone that add extra charge times. They are reasonably priced for such road warriors. I have used an iPhone on the road and have not found a need for an extra battery. I charge it every night... and carry a car charger. I have had other smartphones... and didn't carry an extra battery for them either.
3. No haptic feedback. Since Lord Jobs has banned keyboards it would have been nice to have Haptic feedback on the screen. But no, it is not so
I haven't had a problem using the virtual keyboard... haptic feedback isn't necessary on the iPhone because it works when you RELEASE the virtual key... not when you press it... and haptic feedback would not work well with that set up. This difference tells me you really don't use an iPhone.
6. Slow as Molasses. Ever tried to use your iPhone when it is downloading emails. About dead as a donkey. No surprise cause it has an old and slow processor. All the new phones have the 1 Ghz mobile processor
Why, yes, I have... and I don't even notice it downloading email. Again, another sign you don't use an iPhone. You are lying. Very few of the competition have 1GHz processors, only the Nexus One does, as far as I know. AT&T's 3G speeds are clocked faster than any of the other carrier's 3G speeds for downloads.
7. No multithreading. Talking about sloooooooow, there is no multi-tasking on this “computer”, something my Windows 3.1 PC had. So, now you can only run one app at a time. God forbid if you have to switch between apps.
Another lie. The iPhone multitasks native applications such as the mail (again showing you don't know what you're talking about, downloading of IM messages, iTunes playing, loading of webpages, etc., and other built in Apple apps. What it does not allow is third party multitasking and multithreading because of energy management considerations.... and switching between apps is almost instantaneous and fast enough to be useful for cut and paste work on line.
8. No built in IM tool. There is NO instant messenger built in. Imagine that! In today's day and age where literally entire distributed companies live on IM, Apple discourages it as “it takes up battery time”. So you have to use sucky third party apps
ABSOLUTE PROOF YOU ARE A LIAR ABOUT USING AN IPHONE! The iPhone has had built in Instant messaging since day one and has had SMS since the release of the 3Gs.