When the iPhone was announced, I got really excited. like, pathetic, scarily obsessed fanboy excited. so much so that I couldn't wait for it to be released in the UK and I bought one from america, unlocked it, and enjoyed the novelty and jealous glances. when that iPhone died (from an unlocking illness) I bought a legitimate one, and I loved it. I still do kinda love it, my third one.
I do wonder why you are on your third one and I haven't even purchased one yet. Mainly because it si to expensive for what is being delivered.
Althought I am kinda sickened at how many faults its had. and from reading forums, and reports from friends, practically every iPhone I hear about has had some sort of fault, serious enough for it to be returned and replaced.
Well people won't be posting about not having faults now will they? The fact is that a lot of people purchased iPhones in a very short period of time thus what seems like a large number of complaints. The reality is that forums tell you nothing about what the real field failure rates are.
The exception there being a real problem that ends up affecting a large number of people. There have been some problems like that with the iPhone but if you are worried about any one of them then you need to focus your thread on specifics. Then you need to realize that many Apple users are a little short on technical smarts and a lot of what you will hear about a specific issue is total B.S.
So in summation, yes there have been issues but I don't see any of the as being product fatal.
So my question: Is the iPhone a substandard product?
No not at all. Apple seems to be supporting the product better than any cell phone manufacture in existence. The question is always how do you measure or define "STANDARD". Considering there is very little in the market place that can reasonably be compared to an iPhone then what is the standard you judge it by?
I feel it has been 'rushed' into production, to the detriment of build quality.
I agree that it has been rushed into production, there is no doubt about that at all. But that is really a software issue and has nothing to do with the build quality. Mechanically and electrically the iPhone is very well done.
If apple was hoping to win over non-mac fans to the apple cause, I feel the iPhone may have done more harm than good.
In countries where people value the results over any technical check list iPhone has been a huge win. Here in the states we wonder why sales of iphone have been so lackluster in Great Britain. Frankly many of us simply believe you have gotten the value equation wrong over there.
The question is which do you value more a cell phone with an excellent software stack or one with the latests and greatest hardware but no reasonable software? Mind you I'm saying right now that he iPhone simply has the best software stack going even if it wasn't released in a finished state. Further Apple has stood behind that software stack with a huge number of updates compared to the average cell phone that gets none.
Apple has literally changed the view of the market as to what is acceptable with respect to software on a cell phone.
(in addition, ALL of my non-iPhone loving friends have cited no MMS, bad camera and lack of bluetooth connectivity as main reasons not to get an iPhone)
Again you can always find a yardstick that will indicates something coming up short. MMS is one of those yardsticks that people like to use. Of course at the same time they totally ignore that iPhone has a web browser and mail program light years ahead of almost all cell phones.
As to the camera it is a cell camera and as such is wanting. Apple certainly could do better both from the software and hardware standpoints. The reality is though that most people don't have big expectations when it comes to a cell phone camera. There is a lot of research and technology going into making better cell phone cameras and maybe that opinion will change in the future. Right now though I see many other things needing improvements.
Which brings us to the Bluetooth stack. This is one of the bigger unfinished aspects of the iPhones OS. Frankly it is frustrating as one doesn't know where Apple is going with Bluetooth support. It is one issue that has kept me off the iPhone along with the economy and a few other technical glitches. As a developer I'm also worried about what I can deliver via Bluetooth. I also have to acknowledge that many people don't give two hots about Bluetooth. In any event Bluetooth is one of those items that indicates to me that iiPhone is still an unfinished product.
Now given all of the above am I negative on iPhone? Not at all, iPhones biggest problem is its expense not its software or hardware. The software could be better and that will be greatly improved with version 2, but it is still a bleeding edge product with respect to the industry as a whole.
So when getting a load of B.S. from your friends across the pond just ask them about the yardstick they use to measure their hardware. Then tell them everyone can have 18" if they use the right yardstick. What ever you have you need to have the performance to back it up and that is what the iPhone has.
Dave
