iphone

[chaz]

i'm ready for an upgrade next week, and i am thinking of getting a smart phone. what should i consider (other than an iphone)? it must be with at&t

For business, pleasure or both?  Does your work have a blackberry server?  Do they support Exchange ActiveSync? 

[godsshoeshine]

95% pleasure, we have a blackberry server, not sure on the last one but i would guess yes

[godsshoeshine]

also, my home computer is a mac, if that makes any difference

[sweetcell]

i'm ready for an upgrade next week, and i am thinking of getting a smart phone. what should i consider (other than an iphone)? it must be with at&t

at&t has the HTC Fuze, if you like qwerty side-sliders... but it's $100 more than a new-gen iphone (and $200 more than a last-gen iphone).  i love HTC, but the premium is hard to justify over an iphone.  i know smackie disagrees.  

[vansmack]

You would be foolish to want a 95% pleasure phone and not get an iPhone if you are already with at&t and have enjoyed good service from them.  They really don't offer a lot of other options for pleasure in the smart phone arena - I'm sure the exclusive deal with Apple has somethign to do with that.

I actually don't like the Fuze - while superior to the iPhone 3G, the 3Gs has really closed the gap (save for Flash support) for what WinMo 6.1 has been doing for years (video, etc.).  The real downside to the Fuze is that it's Thick as a Brick, which is fine for ladies who carry a purse, but looks terribly awkward in a mans pocket.  Unfortunately the TouchPro2 (Fuze2 for at&t) and the Diamond2 aren't available in America and I don't think we'll see them until Christmas.

The only Blackberry worth dicussing for 95% pleasure is the Storm2, supposedly coming to at&t with the dreaded "soon" label, but who knows how long that will be. 

And don't expect the PalmPre on at&t until Spring/Summer 2010.

I don't believe you have much a of choice if you have to stay with at&t - all of these exclusive deals are really the bane of competition in the market.  You can check out the Fuze, but stick it in your pocket to see what I'm talking about.

[chaz]

Smackie just reco'd the iphone.  What's next?  Manimtired knocking on doors for Obama?

[godsshoeshine]

i guess that settles that

[vansmack]

I have always maintaned that I'm not a hater, depsite what you all think.

Logic always dictates with me, and that's my biggest problem with Apple and the iPhone - how people simply throw logic out the window because of a flashy commercial or an aesthetically pleasing device.  They make good products that people and, now with at&t, companies overpay for simply to become beholden to the beast.  That defies all logic to me.

People forget that I learned my trait on an Apple IIe and still own the first 512k Mac.  But when I needed a printer and Apple wanted $300 for one but a PC owner could get a printer for $100 I saw something wrong with that.  Those type of closed business practices of Apple turned me off then and continue to turn me off today.  No good product from Apple comes unteathered to some closed business model that leaves you beholden to them.  It almost cost their existence in the late 90's (thank you MS for saving them) and now they are enjoying a massive resurgence.  How quickly people forget.

That being said, given godsshoeshine's situation, clear logic says he should get an iPhone 3Gs due to his particular situation (and lack of other options with at&t - which I warned about from the beginning).  It would be foolish for me to argue otherwise.  I'll even go as far as to say that he's going to love the iPhone...

[godsshoeshine]

i cant speak for peripherals before 2001, but i've bought hard drives and printers that arent mac specific from the get go

i wasnt trying to bait you (honestly) but i was just wondering if there was anything better out there. verizon has lost me as a customer for life and sprint users dont get coverage in my office. at&t is really the only option left for me

[Vas Deferens]

how's the iphone for browsing the internet?

and vansmack, are you still with Sprint?

[vansmack]

Yes, Apple has eased restrictions with their peripherals after nearly going under in the late 90's (and switching to the Intel chip and adopting a wider array of standards [like USB in addition to firewire] helped that cause too).  Oddly, the price of their machines have not dropped as steadily as their competitors given that they now share the same or similar components, which I find odd.

And I didn't take it as bait - I knew you were being genuine, but you were right to trust your instinct:  get the new iPhone. 

[vansmack]

and vansmack, are you still with Sprint?

I am.  Still using the HTC Touch Diamond as my personal phone though I have been testing an array of phones for them over the past 3 months and am happy to answer any questions (that I'm allowed to talk about)...

[vansmack]

Right on cue....

iTunes 8.2.1 brings Pre Music Syncing to a Halt

It's like they know I'm talking shit about them.  Somebody, anybody, please tell me how this is good for the consumer?

[sweetcell]

It's like they know I'm talking shit about them. 

don't flatter yourself tooooooo much.  this one was entirely predictable, no great industry insight required.

Somebody, anybody, please tell me how this is good for the consumer?

since when is consumer good a company's only motivation?

[vansmack]

I didn't say "only" - you did - but I would still like to know how this is good for the consumer AT ALL?  I'm not naive to think that some part of every business decision has to have some benefit to the consumer...

Palm's device sync didn't make your iPod or iPhone work any less reliably when syncing to iTunes.  It didn't raise the cost of iTunes songs or Apple devices, nor did it deplete inventory as there are no limits to digital download stock.  It didn't cost at&t or Apple a single sale as the Pre is not available on at&t and the iPhone is not available on Sprint. 

If anything, Apple may have sold more songs from ITM to Pre users who sync with iTunes now that DRM free songs are available.

And don't be so quick to point out that the industry expected this.  There were many people who warned Apple not to block this.   Apple now opens itself up to an anti-trust suit because there's finally a clear example of Apple trying to take advantage of its market share and block other competitors.  The threat has always been there, but no company with any clout or resources attempted what Palm did.  And when its Palm and Google combined, there's a lot of people in the industry who aren't going to come to the defense of Apple like they would had it been MS that took the lead on this.  Sadly, anti-trust suits take longer than market force chages these days....