I am tired of seeing nothing but complaint topics on every damned iPhone forum I visit.
Who is happy with the 3G device? I know this forum doesn't seem to have a lot of traffic, and I can pretty much round off the regular posters from memory, and I already know most of you aren't thrilled, but I figured I would try anyway.
I, for one, am very pleased with the device. I contributed my predictions and ideas, participated in the rumor discussions, etc. In spite of my hopes before hand, I never truly expected Apple to add much to this device because I know how they work.
Apple likes to release things in incremental upgrades. They usually bring out a new product with a bang, marginally upgrade it for a gen 2 effort, follow up with a gen 3 bang, marginal for 4, bang for 5, so on and so forth. For that reason, I knew in my heart of hearts that the 3G iPhone would fall into the marginal category; despite my wishful hoping, I always expected what came.
I personally feel that the 3G iPhone wasn't released for the existing iPhone community at all. I think it was released to attract the people that were on the fence waiting for 3G and GPS (gee...). Contrary to the common outcries seen across these blog sites and forums, not everyone was waiting for MMS, video recording, cut/paste, front camera, blah, blah, blah.
I think Apple actually struck a good balance. They released the device with 3G and GPS, two of the main complaints about the first gen model, and two of the complaints that kept many people on the fence and waiting. They are offering a good price for new customers, and a decent price for current iPhone users that may upgrade anyway.
It is my opinion that had Apple released a device that was a HUGE improvement over the original, the complaints would be worse than they are now. The 1st gen adopters would be up in arms about the new features that they can't have without dropping a bunch of money again, and screw Apple for not doing it the first time around. We would be bombarded with comments about spending $500 a year ago, and now I have to spend <x> amount more for the new one that has all the stuff that should have been included in the old one, etc, etc, etc.
On the flipside, waiting until the gen 3 device to do these things will finally make many gen 1 owners happy. The upgrade may still be minor compared to the gen 2 device, but it should be significant when compared to the gen 1, and the gen 1 people will have had time to cope with their original expenditure, and will be more prepared to spend again. The negative to this is that now the gen 2 owners will complain; it is a viscous cycle, but it is Apple's style.
Anyway, I am happy. I am a data hound and the 3G means A LOT to me, plus the GPS is very helpful in the car. I don't care if it doesn't have voice directions —which I am sure it will since I think people are reading that SDK rule too literally— because I don't use them now. I get by with BlackBerry Maps giving old style turn by turn directions and the GPS node quietly following the route. I just check it periodically to make sure I am still on the right track and I am good. Now, I will have this on a much nicer screen in the much cleaner Google Maps app written just for the iPhone. Works for me. (I know Google Maps Mobile is available for other phones, but the iPhone version is specially coded for the iPhone)
I also understand the future. In between incremental hardware upgrades, Apple likes to seed out software upgrades. They are not the types to take every planned upgrade, stick it in one basket and drop it all at the same time. They want you to look forward to it, wait for it, and be happy when you get it. It keeps things fresh, and it keeps people sticking around for the things they know are coming next. I still hold faith that we will see video recording —though this means little to me— and cut/paste —this means a lot more— in future software upgrades.
If they gave it all to us on June 9th, what would there be to give us in firmware 2.1? What about 2.2, 2.3... 3.0, etc?
This thing is a beast of a mobile computing platform. It has more potential packed inside of its sexy self than pretty much any other mobile phone made today. 5 year old phones having MMS and the iPhone not having it doesn't take any of its hardware power away from it. I think people concentrate too much on the size of their phone's feature list and ignore the size of its potential. I will take a phone with amazing potential over a phone that has a mile long feature list any day of the week.
People talk about switching to the Samsung Instinct thing coming to Sprint soon. It has MMS and video recording, it "pwns" the iPhone. They are blinded by features and are missing the fact that it doesn't have 1/100th the potential of the iPhone. It doesn't run a real mobile operating system. It presents itself as no form of a platform for the future, for apps, for real games, for anything really. It is just a phone with features and no future.
They can go ahead and get their Samsung with MMS and video recording. I will personally stick to my amazing mobile PLATFORM that has done nothing but get better. The amazing tech, the amazing platform, the amazing future; now with 3G and GPS.
Last thing. I don't give half a damn about the data price increase. I understand why At&t did it, and I have already been paying the premium PDA/smartphone price of $30 a month for a long time anyway. There is little to no reason the original iPhone wasn't also priced in line with the other PDA/smartphones on At&t's lineup, and now that it is, it doesn't bother me at all. I can see where the original iPhone owners are having a cow, but they are seriously misunderstanding the scenario, and are getting too carried away in their complaints.
For me though, it is a lateral cost move, so whatever. I am not going to try and change the world and make them understand what is going on and why it changed. It would be nothing more than an exercise in futility...
Anyway... I would just like to say, thank you Apple, I am happy.
Who is happy with the 3G device? I know this forum doesn't seem to have a lot of traffic, and I can pretty much round off the regular posters from memory, and I already know most of you aren't thrilled, but I figured I would try anyway.
I, for one, am very pleased with the device. I contributed my predictions and ideas, participated in the rumor discussions, etc. In spite of my hopes before hand, I never truly expected Apple to add much to this device because I know how they work.
Apple likes to release things in incremental upgrades. They usually bring out a new product with a bang, marginally upgrade it for a gen 2 effort, follow up with a gen 3 bang, marginal for 4, bang for 5, so on and so forth. For that reason, I knew in my heart of hearts that the 3G iPhone would fall into the marginal category; despite my wishful hoping, I always expected what came.
I personally feel that the 3G iPhone wasn't released for the existing iPhone community at all. I think it was released to attract the people that were on the fence waiting for 3G and GPS (gee...). Contrary to the common outcries seen across these blog sites and forums, not everyone was waiting for MMS, video recording, cut/paste, front camera, blah, blah, blah.
I think Apple actually struck a good balance. They released the device with 3G and GPS, two of the main complaints about the first gen model, and two of the complaints that kept many people on the fence and waiting. They are offering a good price for new customers, and a decent price for current iPhone users that may upgrade anyway.
It is my opinion that had Apple released a device that was a HUGE improvement over the original, the complaints would be worse than they are now. The 1st gen adopters would be up in arms about the new features that they can't have without dropping a bunch of money again, and screw Apple for not doing it the first time around. We would be bombarded with comments about spending $500 a year ago, and now I have to spend <x> amount more for the new one that has all the stuff that should have been included in the old one, etc, etc, etc.
On the flipside, waiting until the gen 3 device to do these things will finally make many gen 1 owners happy. The upgrade may still be minor compared to the gen 2 device, but it should be significant when compared to the gen 1, and the gen 1 people will have had time to cope with their original expenditure, and will be more prepared to spend again. The negative to this is that now the gen 2 owners will complain; it is a viscous cycle, but it is Apple's style.
Anyway, I am happy. I am a data hound and the 3G means A LOT to me, plus the GPS is very helpful in the car. I don't care if it doesn't have voice directions —which I am sure it will since I think people are reading that SDK rule too literally— because I don't use them now. I get by with BlackBerry Maps giving old style turn by turn directions and the GPS node quietly following the route. I just check it periodically to make sure I am still on the right track and I am good. Now, I will have this on a much nicer screen in the much cleaner Google Maps app written just for the iPhone. Works for me. (I know Google Maps Mobile is available for other phones, but the iPhone version is specially coded for the iPhone)
I also understand the future. In between incremental hardware upgrades, Apple likes to seed out software upgrades. They are not the types to take every planned upgrade, stick it in one basket and drop it all at the same time. They want you to look forward to it, wait for it, and be happy when you get it. It keeps things fresh, and it keeps people sticking around for the things they know are coming next. I still hold faith that we will see video recording —though this means little to me— and cut/paste —this means a lot more— in future software upgrades.
If they gave it all to us on June 9th, what would there be to give us in firmware 2.1? What about 2.2, 2.3... 3.0, etc?
This thing is a beast of a mobile computing platform. It has more potential packed inside of its sexy self than pretty much any other mobile phone made today. 5 year old phones having MMS and the iPhone not having it doesn't take any of its hardware power away from it. I think people concentrate too much on the size of their phone's feature list and ignore the size of its potential. I will take a phone with amazing potential over a phone that has a mile long feature list any day of the week.
People talk about switching to the Samsung Instinct thing coming to Sprint soon. It has MMS and video recording, it "pwns" the iPhone. They are blinded by features and are missing the fact that it doesn't have 1/100th the potential of the iPhone. It doesn't run a real mobile operating system. It presents itself as no form of a platform for the future, for apps, for real games, for anything really. It is just a phone with features and no future.
They can go ahead and get their Samsung with MMS and video recording. I will personally stick to my amazing mobile PLATFORM that has done nothing but get better. The amazing tech, the amazing platform, the amazing future; now with 3G and GPS.
Last thing. I don't give half a damn about the data price increase. I understand why At&t did it, and I have already been paying the premium PDA/smartphone price of $30 a month for a long time anyway. There is little to no reason the original iPhone wasn't also priced in line with the other PDA/smartphones on At&t's lineup, and now that it is, it doesn't bother me at all. I can see where the original iPhone owners are having a cow, but they are seriously misunderstanding the scenario, and are getting too carried away in their complaints.
For me though, it is a lateral cost move, so whatever. I am not going to try and change the world and make them understand what is going on and why it changed. It would be nothing more than an exercise in futility...
Anyway... I would just like to say, thank you Apple, I am happy.
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Thanks for putting things back into persepctive.
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