Yeah, I hope what we have seen thus far is not all there is. However, I have a funny feeling, it is. It's going to be something so stupid that comes out as the next "MMS" BS like last year or something.
You're right. The same crappy screen that was on the 2G was on the 3G. Guess what? That same crappy screen again, was on the 3GS. Yeah, innovative!
To call video editing and cut/copy/paste a "major upgrade" is a joke to say the least. Was it welcomed? Yes. It was SOFTWARE. Nothing "major" about it. Is cut/copy/paste on the iPhone the BEST out there? So far, it is. Still doesn't make it "major" by any stretch. The hardware performance between the 3G and 3GS is different, yes but hardly worth drooling over.
You forget you're talking to someone that had a 3G and now has a 3GS and loves his iPhone. However, I am also not blinded by the BS that Apple peddles to everyone about this and that. I have a brain and use it. I see how Apple works and I see what they have done thus far. I am not impressed anymore. Give me something SUBSTANTIAL! Quit with the minor tid bit bull **** they are doing now by unlocking this, bumping up that a tiny bit or whatever other "magical" words they have to spew.
Apple needs to adjust the way they are doing things and if they don't, people will defect. It's that simple. If you are charging a premium for a product/device, that damn thing better be up to snuff or EXCEED expectations and beyond. Not a simple "rehash" of the last model. Remember, this is the MOBILE world. Things move fast and technology is outdated as quickly as it's discovered. Keep up or GTF OUT!
Care to explain why I still, to this very day CAN NOT change my damn SMS tone to something I want (custom)? Please explain that to me. I would love to hear it. My phone from like 5 years ago that's sitting in my drawer that cost $50 bux does it. You know what else it does? It allows me to change my wallpaper on the front display and inside display. AMAZING isn't it? Yet, my $600 dollar iPhone does not have that feature (not fully anyways).
I love iTunes and the central location it provides me for syncing and backing up. I like it for housing my digital copies I get with my blu-ray's. I like it for my music, apps and the like. It helps keep me in love with my iPhone. However, I also realize - I can get an iPod Touch. Cheap. Updates or not, no sense paying a premium for something that isn't.
Those that realize that Apple is a business and they are in it to make money - they are the wisest of folks. Those that are oblivious sheep - will always end up sheared. Apple is a defiant company. They resist change and do so ONLY when outcry is great enough to do so or they can no longer justify it.
Example - the damn mighty mouse. That one click POS. Whats out now? Another POS mouse. Apple doesn't learn.
Perhaps my previous post was a bit harsh so I'll treat you with a little more civility and as if you have more sense than I previously gave you credit for. With that said let's walk through your post and I'll try to explain reality of the situation at least as I've seen it in my 12+ years in the technology field.
1. You're right. The same crappy screen that was on the 2G was on the 3G. Guess what? That same crappy screen again, was on the 3GS. Yeah, innovative!
ANSWER: At the time that the phones came out they weren't 'crappy screens' they were still pretty much industry standard specs for screens with only a few phones in this sector being an exception. At this point you're basing a screen that came out 1 - 2 years ago with the industry standard of today... That's not a sensible comparison mate. Also you explain how the screen was not innovative yet you don't look at the fact that the development and success of the iPhone caused the capacitive screen boom in the mobile phone market. Also along the lines of innovative, the development at success of the iPhone caused the MULTITOUCH capacitive screen boom with finger based gestures. So while the resolution of the screen wasn't innovative, the technology the developed and used behind the in the screen certainly was. Notice I didn't say they came up with these ideas, I just said that their innovation was the design and implementation of these ideas in a mass consumer product. There are a lot more innovations in the iPhone but I'll limit this response to the screen since this 'gripe' was about the screen.
2. To call video editing and cut/copy/paste a "major upgrade" is a joke to say the least. Was it welcomed? Yes. It was SOFTWARE. Nothing "major" about it. Is cut/copy/paste on the iPhone the BEST out there? So far, it is. Still doesn't make it "major" by any stretch. The hardware performance between the 3G and 3GS is different, yes but hardly worth drooling over.
ANSWER: I'm not sure why you're under the impression that software can't be considered a major upgrade. If that is your mindset then I hate to say it but you won't be happy on any platform. Most android phones since inception have been the same hardware wise except for adding or removing a physical keyboard the Nexus One was the first real 'huge' hardware bump they say but I would still consider some other Android phones major upgrades that came out before the Nexus One. With that being said the performance between 3G and 3GS was stellar. I don't know what nature of apps you use/have used so I can't speak to your experience but I have several very intensive apps graphically or data intensive that not only loaded at least 50% faster but performed much better once the app was launched. Literraly some apps that took 40 seconds some time to load on mine and others 3G's, took 10 or less on the 3GS.
On the OS level video editing front this might not seem like much of a major upgrade or innovation until you take a video in an Android device or Windows Mobile device then try to send that video as an MMS only to realize you can't. On both of those platforms you have to specifically take an "MMS VIDEO" to be able to send it at MMS. This means if you want to take a video and have a high quality version but also share it with your friends, you can't... not out of the box anyway. You have to either remember to set your phone to MMS before you shoot and settle with the crappy quality of the MMS video OR take a higher quality video without being able to share it. On the iPhone you can take a video at the max quality and when you want to share it, you get the option to edit it and then it also converts it to MMS for you automatically. On the other platforms when you take video at a higher quality and try to send, you hit a brick wall in the form of an error "this video is too large to be sent" and then no other recourse is offered. So while this might not seem like a 'big deal' on the surface and it's something that 'OMG Apple is so stubborn they should have put this in a long time ago' I appreciate them taking extra time to do something until they can do it "right" (which is subjective of course) or at least do it in a way that makes sense from a usability stand point. I'll tell you this, when it wasn't there I didn't really care and didn't miss it but when it got there it was a welcome addition because it made functional sense. Call a major update or innovation or don't label it at all, but I like it when it works WELL; not just works. On the same vain cut/copy/paste that is a system wide implementation seems like a small thing until you get your Droid Incredible (like I did) and first realize that HTC's new cut/copy/paste implementation is strikingly similar to what Apple did with theirs (actually it's identical) but THEN realize it's not system wide so with 5 different apps their could be several different implementations of cut/copy/paste so in each app you have to figure out how each individual developer implemented it which is annoying when you just want to get something done.
3. Apple needs to adjust the way they are doing things and if they don't, people will defect. It's that simple.
If you are charging a premium for a product/device, that damn thing better be up to snuff or EXCEED expectations and beyond. Not a simple "rehash" of the last model. Remember, this is the MOBILE world. Things move fast and technology is outdated as quickly as it's discovered. Keep up or GTF OUT!
ANSWER: Exactly how I feel about the usability of other platforms. Except hardware doesn't give me a hard-on and I don't consider hardware a reason for something to be a premium product. I consider performance a premium aspect of a product and hardware DOES NOT equal performance.... See the above to examples and let me know if you need more because there are plenty. Adding 'feature' upon 'feature' without any thought into usability of these features really doesn't amount to keep up... Anyone can throw the kitchen sink at something. Companies that make good products make sure that faucets on the sinks actually work first. If android chose to make the next update about fixing bugs and usability as well as fixing the market and other aspects that are just UNACCEPTABLE with products from a company like Google instead of just adding features, I would commend them for it and be excited about their new products much more than I am now.
4. Care to explain why I still, to this very day CAN NOT change my damn SMS tone to something I want (custom)? Please explain that to me. I would love to hear it. My phone from like 5 years ago that's sitting in my drawer that cost $50 bux does it. You know what else it does? It allows me to change my wallpaper on the front display and inside display. AMAZING isn't it? Yet, my $600 dollar iPhone does not have that feature (not fully anyways).
ANSWER: No explanation for this. You're right. Apple dropped the ball here. I can say that, I can do this on my phone since it's Jailbroken, there are also apps out there that you can use with even non Jailbroken iPhones that will add custom sounds to your library. HOWEVER this is no excuse and Apple should fix this. For me it's not a big deal so it goes into my 'Some functionality of other platforms you have to Jailbreak an iPhone to get and some functionality of iPhones you have to root other platforms to get so meh' category.
5. Those that realize that Apple is a business and they are in it to make money - they are the wisest of folks. Those that are oblivious sheep - will always end up sheared. Apple is a defiant company. They resist change and do so ONLY when outcry is great enough to do so or they can no longer justify it.
ANSWER: They don't resist until there is outcry. The resist until they cane figure out a way for it to functionally make sense. There is a difference. Sometimes they wait too long on some of this stuff I do agree and I think that is a part of the business model. I don't think it takes them a long time to make a lot of features functionally make sense but if those features aren't completed in time for this release they wait until next years release to actually release it instead of releasing it (whatever the new feature is) in the middle of the year or throughout the year even if it's a minor change. That is annoying to me... but I'm willing to endure it because my other option is another platform where I could be waiting for years for something simple and functionally appropriate to be corrected but it never comes (see previous examples).
6. Example - the damn mighty mouse. That one click POS. Whats out now? Another POS mouse. Apple doesn't learn.
ANSWER: You must be one of those people who listens to off the wall articles written by people who've never used a Mac but then they regurgitate their ignorance in the form of 'perceived informed journalism'. I say this because there have been many articles written about the ones mouse button thing even though the fact of the matter is Apple mice for the last 7 years have had two buttons... They are designed with a unibody form but if you click the right and left side you do get a right click and a left click respectively.
In conclusion, I'm not a sheep; I'm a realist. My bread and butter for the last 12 years has been and will continue to be Windows with a little Linux mixed in (I'm an IT project manager for one of the larges government agencies in the US). This gives me the opportunity to use all platforms daily and create an actual real world informed opinion on things based on not only what I experience but other users in my organization that I support.
