You are being intentionally insulting. I value:
- being able to read and navigate pdfs and word documents as well as or better than I can on my work desktop machine
- being able to count on my phone not crashing or locking up at inconvenient times (or, as with my treo 650, near constantly)
- being able to browse nearly every website I need to browse and seeing it rendered in a way that is actually useful rather than painful (especially since more and more websites now rely on ajax)
- being able to retrieve imap email from my own mailserver
- being able to write my own working applications for my device
- being able to carry on multiple SMS conversations simultaneously
- being able to access google talk on occasion
- being able to take occasional snapshots that actually look reasonable
- being able to sync with all my outlook contact and calendar data
Now, some of these things can be done on other devices, and some can be done better on other devices (heck bullet by bullet you can probably find a device that's better for any one of those), but I've yet to see a single device that does all of these in combination as well as iphone, and which does so while still "looking pretty" and being a joy to actually use.
Your obsession with 3rd party apps (i want them too) is misplaced when you cite it in the abstract. 3rd party apps are only valuable in that they provide you the ability to do things you need to do that you otherwise couldn't. Webapps happen to suit my needs. I'd still like native apps for various reasons, but I'm happy. My expectations are not low. The damned phone does what I need it to do.
Your refusal to accept that someone could have different priorities than you is simply moronic, and eliminates any shred of credibility you might otherwise have.
I have frequently (on this thread and others) acknowledged problems, even when they aren't of concern to me, as being something that people with different values than my own might be affected by. You are incapable of doing the same, and thus have no credibility with me (I'm sure you're heartbroken).
Yes, the iphone is shiny. But it's possible to be both shiny AND useful, and the iphone represents that combination for me because it does what I need it to do. When you can get your WM devices to instantly bring up a pdf on the screen so i can actually read the entire page at once, and so i can effortlessly and instantaneously page and zoom with as little trouble as I can on my iphone, then WM might become the phone for me.
For your convenience you gave up a huge amount of freedom. For your needs the iPhone may be useful, but with the Iphone being so limited, I really dont see how I am wrong to assume your needs are also.
- being able to read and navigate pdfs and word documents as well as or better than I can on my work desktop machine
But you are not able to store these documents locally, edit them, store and forward them or any of the useful features available in more capable devices.
- being able to count on my phone not crashing or locking up at inconvenient times (or, as with my treo 650, near constantly)
Maybe using a device with no memory protection or proper multi-tasking as your benchmark is the real problem.
- being able to browse nearly every website I need to browse and seeing it rendered in a way that is actually useful rather than painful (especially since more and more websites now rely on ajax)
And you give up simple things like being able to cut and paste from those web pages, or being able to up or download content.
- being able to retrieve imap email from my own mailserver
This is scraping the bottom of the barrel on features, as its so far from unique its not even relevant.
- being able to write my own working applications for my device
Sorry, you could do a lot more with a device that allows native development.
- being able to carry on multiple SMS conversations simultaneously
Again, not unique, and most other devices allow IM too.
- being able to access google talk on occasion
And other devices allow google talk AND skype.
- being able to take occasional snapshots that actually look reasonable
Again, as this is not a unique or even exclusive feature, and the Iphone camera is severely under-featured, I fail to see how this even was part of your decision making.
- being able to sync with all my outlook contact and calendar data
Other devices do it better.
The Iphone does most things on your list poorer than competing devices, therefore your needs must be pretty limited if you are happy with its performance.
Surur