CDMA is just as bad...depending on the area...
I would buy an iphone in a hot minute if it was cdma, but I'll never go back to cingular, even if its called at&t...they dropped more the 50 percent of my calls, and when I could make a call it was all distorted and choppy. Add the worst customer service ever and it was a huge deal breaker. I was with cingular for years and right @ the merger things got bad.
Apple on the other hand is fantastic. I have always used them, my MBP runs vista ultimate, osx, and ubuntu. I don't agree with all there policies and the customer service is hit or miss, but the software and dev community is great.
The iphone needs evdo, a removable battery, keyboard, cut and past, true 3rd party apps(exist with hacks now), removable memory and I'm sold.
If palm does step it up, it will have to be major, because they have demonstrated a complete lack of innovation and support for their loyal customers.
I would go with the neo linux phone, but that is gsm, not cdma,
so this leaves me stuck choosing a blackberry, which doesn't have enough 3rd party apps or a windows/ HTC device, which will probably be where I go. Its not what I ideally want, but I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place and palm has abandoned me...b($tards!
Before I go into my point about the dependability of CDMA vs. GSM; let it be known that I am huge iPhone fanatic and my passion for this device now and in the future grows daily.
I live in the Chicagoland area and was a loyal Sprint customer for years. But, since the Nextel merger, they are not the same company. It seems that they have lost touch with their customer base and will not work to retain their customer base. I personally gave them 3 chances to do the right thing when my wife?s phone died and give pleaded to me some sort of credit towards a new handset. All they said is No.
All this while none of my 4 lines were under contract!
Further, since the merger, signal strength has diminished and dropped calls have soared. I consistently had less than two bars on my Treo, OUTSIDE of my home. Now I was okay with that annoyance to a point, I purchased a signal booster for my home, and called Sprint when the dropped calls became too much. But, when it these issues have ripple affects to other areas like customer service and resolution - - You lose me.
In the last few weeks of my relationship with Sprint, I had to wait anywhere from 30 minutes to 45 minutes on hold for a rep. I even had to record the last 2 conversations with customer service because each time I called, I was promised something different. then I was told there was no record of my previous contact.
Finally, after all this, I ported over all 4 of my lines to AT&T, (they rolled out the red carpet for me). Sprint tried to charge me for canceling my lines!!!! (Which were not under contract?)
AT&T has been great, customer service hold times have been less than 5 minutes, and the level care on the phone has been top class.
Now to the points brought up by Noodle:
I have had no issues with call quality and signal strength, in fact, I have full bars on my iPhone ? INSIDE my house!
EDGE is faster than Vision service and Sprint EVDO. Period. There are also some great test videos on this at you tube.
Battery removal can go either way with me. Every time I have purchased a replacement/additional battery, I have never used it. So for me, additional charger is enough; and some common sense on charging the battery. Another notion is that the battery reportedly has at least 1000 charges it can before any noticeable decline in charge life. That means in will be more than 3 years before you?d have to consider sending in the iPhone for a new battery, or simply invest in the latest phone out at the time.
3rd party apps. Give it some time people. The only area I can see this being a real issue is for games. I?d like to be able to play solitaire on the plane while on a plane. Since the release of the iPhone, there have been gluts of Web 2.0 apps that have popped up that provide all the workarounds for the iPhone?s perceived short comings. But, that being said, why would anyone buy an iPhone who has spotty data service. This phone is 100% dependant on constant data connectivity all the time. Even for its visual voicemail!
I am not knocking Sprint, they were good, but CDMA service has a lot of improvements to make. As I understand the other major CDMA providers have similar issues like Sprint does...so it GSM for me! Rock on iPhone!!!
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