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"There's iPhone. And then there's everything else."

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Ninja Scooter said:
He got it direct from Google so really where is the difference? You buy your phone directly from Google for $200 and have to sign up with a carrier at the usual $70-100 a month. I buy my phone subsidized from the carrier for $200 and have to pay the usual $70-100 a month. Like I said, it's great and flexible for some people to be off-contract, but for most people, it's doesn't offer much of an advantage.
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Or you can go with a prepaid service that costs much, much less. Like $50 a month for data, text, and voice with no contract.
 
Ninja Scooter said:
He got it direct from Google so really where is the difference? You buy your phone directly from Google for $200 and have to sign up with a carrier at the usual $70-100 a month. I buy my phone subsidized from the carrier for $200 and have to pay the usual $70-100 a month. Like I said, it's great and flexible for some people to be off-contract, but for most people, it's doesn't offer much of an advantage.
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$70-$100?!!

Madness....
 
Ninja Scooter said:
He got it direct from Google so really where is the difference? You buy your phone directly from Google for $200 and have to sign up with a carrier at the usual $70-100 a month. I buy my phone subsidized from the carrier for $200 and have to pay the usual $70-100 a month. Like I said, it's great and flexible for some people to be off-contract, but for most people, it's doesn't offer much of an advantage.
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gonna guess the type of people buying an unlocked Nexus 4 from Google are paying a lot closer to $30-55 a month than $70-100 a month
 
Some weeks ago I jailbroken my iPhone. It was fun. Then I updated it, removing the jailbreak. It has been a long time and I still haven't done again (although it's pretty fucking easy and fast, the worst part is really getting rid of it).

The thing is, dicking around, having other ways to interact with the core OS is fun. But it's not necessary or needed in any way conceivable.

What I thoroughly enjoy is to have amazing apps, with sweet new ones popping every fucking week, great wireless speeds, fast phone, nice camera, everything seamlessly backup'd and safe in a sweet sexy package with a nice display. And the iPhone excels at that.
 
Ninja Scooter said:
He got it direct from Google so really where is the difference? You buy your phone directly from Google for $200 and have to sign up with a carrier at the usual $70-100 a month. I buy my phone subsidized from the carrier for $200 and have to pay the usual $70-100 a month. Like I said, it's great and flexible for some people to be off-contract, but for most people, it's doesn't offer much of an advantage.
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You don't know what you are talking about.

Im not trying to be an ass (any more than usual) but you do not understand what you are talking about. I have a Nexus, I bought it from Google, I pay $50 a month pre-paid for 5GB of data at 4G, unlimited data after the first 5GB throttled, 300 minutes and unlimited text.

I could also choose to pay $40 next month for 5GB of data 200 minutes and unlimited text, or I could pay $30 a month for 100 minutes and 5GB of data. Or I could pay $60 a month and get 400 minutes and 5GB of data.

If I ever need more minutes, I can just pay .10 per minute to eclipse the minute cap in real time.

Oh, nd I'm on no contract, so I could decide the following month to skip over to AT&T's prepaid service and pay $45 a month for unlimited minutes and text and the standard 2GB of data a month for $45 a month.



Stop it....
 
border said:
I'm talking more about software support as well as replacing or fixing busted-ass hardware.

Can you get an Android phone serviced locally? "Maybe, depending on the store and salesperson" is a pretty poor answer, when compared to just going to an Apple store where you know the issue will be solved. The odds of some random Verizon store being able to do a same-day replacement for older hardware is also going to be pretty spotty at best.....most of them probably will not have inventory beyond the lastest and most popular models of the last 12-18 months.
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Well OBVIOUSLY it's going to differ between one store that specializes in one line of brand-name products versus one that has several different brands and items. Apple stores only deal with Apple hardware/software. All other phone stores are dealing with a much broader range of products, effectively reducing the odds of having your old, obscure phone able to be repaired that very same day.

Yes, I can get my Android phone serviced locally. Most places I know of have tons of phone repair stores available.
 
Ninja Scooter said:
He got it direct from Google so really where is the difference? You buy your phone directly from Google for $200 and have to sign up with a carrier at the usual $70-100 a month. I buy my phone subsidized from the carrier for $200 and have to pay the usual $70-100 a month. Like I said, it's great and flexible for some people to be off-contract, but for most people, it's doesn't offer much of an advantage.
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Hey, look! Above is the answer to the question "Why don't more people use Prepaid Wireless in America?"

For some bizarre reason, I guess people think that there is no alternative to paying the major carriers $80-100 every month.....so you apparently might as well sign up for the contract.

Contract-free wireless carriers allow you to save literally thousands of dollars.
 
border said:
Hey, look! Above is the answer to the question "Why don't more people use Prepaid Wireless in America?"

For some bizarre reason, I guess people think that there is no alternative to paying the major carriers $80-100 every month.....so you apparently might as well sign up for the contract.

Contract-free wireless carriers allow you to save literally thousands of dollars.
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Indeed. I was personally slow to look over the information and realize the massive price differences, but I would have thought that by now people understood.

The big road block to pre-paid service used to be that you couldn't get a recently released, decent, and new phone. The Nexus program selling these great phones at low cost killed the one and only weakness. You save a ton of money, get a great phone, and for your trouble you get day 1 OS updates and no carrier bloatware, no contracts and the freedom to move carriers if you want without asking anyone or paying penalties.
 
Dicer said:
ios_title.png


Bwhahahaa...
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Worst version of iOS ever, unless you like bugs and crashes. It's the main reason why I'm tempted to jump ship.

Wilester said:
$70-$100?!!

Madness....
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In canada that price range is the norm on iOS or android and your stuck with it for three years. Most people think they're getting a great deal.
 
BigEvilTurtle said:
Well OBVIOUSLY it's going to differ between one store that specializes in one line of brand-name products versus one that has several different brands and items. Apple stores only deal with Apple hardware/software. All other phone stores are dealing with a much broader range of products, effectively reducing the odds of having your old, obscure phone able to be repaired that very same day.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's why I'd say their customer support and service is inherently superior. You go to one place for all problems, and they actually understand the software/OS. If the phone's hardware is fried, you get it replaced the same day.

Nor do you have some commission-hungry sales rep pressuring you to just re-up your contract and get a brand new phone because it's going to take them a week to mail you a replacement anyway.
 
Apples marketing has a history of rubbing me the wrong way. Product wise, they are getting left behind. The iPhone needs a shake up, big time!
 
Soyongdori said:
Joke of the year. Pretty sure even apple wasn't very serious about that message.
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They are probably referring to something more than having a "fun" UI, like all the underlying structure of the OS, the amazing tools and APIs, what is in general possible for both consumers and developers to do on that OS platform, regardless of being inside or outside an app.

For example, Native Instruments just brought Traktor DJ to iOS. Which is amazing.

According to the developer:

Additionally, because of the powerful Core Audio engine built into iOS, TRAKTOR DJ also offers ultra-low latency playback, manipulation and recording while also supporting professional class compliant hardware audio interfaces, such as the TRAKTOR AUDIO 6 and 10, something currently not possible on any other mobile platform.
Click to expand...
 
jts said:
what is in general possible for both consumers and developers to do on that OS platform, regardless of being inside or outside an app.
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Its just PR, theres plenty of things devs and consumers can do on both OS's that the other OS cannot.
 
Android fans are really salty in this thread about some pretty banal marketing comments.
 
Easy_D said:
Retina is to the mobile phone world what 8gB GDDR5 is to gaming.

My Lumia 920 has a higher ppi too.
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What? That's stupid as hell.

Sony just told it straight by announcing how much, and what kind of, RAM they had in their console. They didn't try to market it as something like "Lightning Mountain Memory" or some bullshit like that.

Just because people have latched on to that to prop up the PS4, doesn't mean it's anywhere same to the nonsense that is "Retina," which even Apple doesn't have a consistent definition for.
 
Poimandres said:
Apples marketing has a history of rubbing me the wrong way. Product wise, they are getting left behind. The iPhone needs a shake up, big time!
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There's not too much left to shake up in the world of smartphones at this point. Most new features are going to be incremental upgrades or moderate conveniences.

The Android world has been far more experimental, but nothing there is really world-shattering either.
 
Zefah said:
What? That's stupid as hell.

Sony just told it straight by announcing how much, and what kind of, RAM they had in their console. They didn't try to market it as something like "Lightning Mountain Memory" or some bullshit like that.

Just because people have latched on to that to prop up the PS4, doesn't mean it's anywhere same to the nonsense that is "Retina," which even Apple doesn't have a consistent definition for.
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It was the closest thing I could think of. Though yeah. Blast Processing is a better parallell :P
 
Cipherr said:
I would hope thats not what they are referencing, they would get eviscerated there as well. Its just PR.
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There's federal rules against false advertising though, but it's probably hard to prove Apple otherwise. Just like there's apps not possible to make outside of iOS, the same is valid for certain consumers use cases.

Although the system is not without its weaknesses. But pretty much all mobile OSs are (heavily?) flawed right now.
 
love my iphone, best overall phone ive had the pleasure of using, especially with the superior google apps for iOS. android fanboys are salty as hell in this thread lols
 
border said:
There's not too much left to shake up in the world of smartphones at this point. Most new features are going to be incremental upgrades or moderate conveniences.
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Not sure I agree. Times like this are the best time for something to pop up IMO. I think we have a long way to go in terms of things like pricing, contract and carrier issues (radios in the phones) and there are always UI advancements, hardware (battery life, storage) and software based advancements (Nokias Image stabilization, Google Now).

Maybe by themselves they aren't monumental, but neither were things like multi-touch until it had phones/tablets and software intelligently designed around its use. Altogether I think there is still plenty of room for leaps here and there instead of just small steps.
 
Apple is trolling the internet with a standard marketing page.

I love it.

Hate on with your plate sized phones.
 
The only thing that's really setting us back is battery technology. Once we can develop a battery that is light weight, compact, and can have a charge lasting us weeks of heavy use while recharging in seconds, then we'll start to really see crazy technological advancement in the mobile industry.
 
Cipherr said:
Not sure I agree. Times like this are the best time for something to pop up IMO. I think we have a long way to go in terms of things like pricing, contract and carrier issues (radios in the phones) and there are always UI advancements, hardware (battery life, storage) and software based advancements (Nokias Image stabilization, Google Now).
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I just tend not to think of things like "better camera," "longer battery life," and "more storage space" as major shakeups. Those are expected, incremental improvements in the quality of existing features.

I think there's plenty of room for there to be niche features that are incredibly compelling to enthusiasts of a certain variety. But the likelihood of another big feature with mass appeal seems unlikely for right now.
 
border said:
I just tend not to think of things like "better camera," "longer battery life," and "more storage space" as major shakeups. Those are expected, incremental improvements in the quality of existing features.
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Perhaps.

I on the other hand, think those three things, among others, will be absolutely instrumental to the success of the entire "Post PC" movement thats currently sort of in its infancy. Individually they are minor things that we expect, but the sum of the whole will radically change computing in general. The bigger picture is huge IMO.
 
I've always wanted an iPhone but after my girlfriend bought the 3G, by the time I was able to buy a phone (last year), iOS got pretty stale. I know it's had a few updates but visually it has stayed the same. I really do wish there was more customization :\ maybe next time.

Hardware design is beautiful though.
 
Apple is shooting themselves in the foot here. Consumers are getting more knowledgeable about new tech and wont be lead on by simple marketing strategies like "retina display" anymore
 
Schiller giving those interviews to the AP and WSJ last week was really defensive and out of character for Apple (he even got his facts wrong on which OS The S4 would ship with, thought it was shipping with last year's, but is shipping with 4.2.2) and that refresh of the iPhone page only continues that stance. I'm a happy iPhone owner, but one thing Jobs was really good at was talking shit about the competition without (always) sounding defensive, usually he came off as derisive or dismissive. I don't think Phil's as good at it as Steve was. Of course, part of this is how far Android has come and how they're pretty much parallel to Apple at this point, if not inching past them in features and usability. Google voice search blowing Siri out of the fucking water is the biggest example I can think of.

Regarding iOS, the big thing Apple needs to work on is the fucking dependability of their web services. Make it less of a goddamn hassle for me to transfer shit from device to device. Make iCloud not the bane of my existence. Make iDropbox. Something. But those of us hoping for a total revamp for iOS7 I think are destined to be really disappointed.
 
As much as I want to move from my ip5 to a Xperia Z, it's all about the iOS App Store for me.
Until android have the exact same apps and games released on the same day then I can't ever see myself moving over to android.
But yes I'll agree that iOS has gotten more boring for me because of my resilience to change.
 
Ninja Scooter said:
Not to most people who are going to simply sign up with Sprint/Verizon/ATT anyway and pay the same monthly fee. It's not like your Nexus magically works without a cell contract. I'm sure to some people that's a plus, but for the vast majority of people, the costs of the phones are the same.
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Wut

You can get a 10+% discount signing up with an unlocked phone, atleast in Canada.
 
KillGore said:
I've always wanted an iPhone but after my girlfriend bought the 3G, by the time I was able to buy a phone (last year), iOS got pretty stale. I know it's had a few updates but visually it has stayed the same. I really do wish there was more customization :\ maybe next time.

Hardware design is beautiful though.
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iOS is great as long as you're completely happy doing nothing but purchasing and using content/apps purchased from the iTunes and App stores. As soon as you want to get content outside of that onto your device, or want to move content from your device to anything outside of it, iOS becomes one of the most frustrating things in the world.
 
Zefah said:
iOS is great as long as you're completely happy doing nothing but purchasing and using content/apps purchased from the iTunes and App stores. As soon as you want to get content outside of that onto your device, or want to move content from your device to anything outside of it, iOS becomes one of the most frustrating things in the world.
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What kind of content? It's pretty easy to move pictures, files, etc off of your device without the use of itunes. Dropbox for instance is pretty damn useful.
 
I can agree with this. Apple's marketing is complete wank but the polish on their phones is evident after a year with the competition.

Android was great for the most part but had a few issues, for me. Stuff like AirDroid was amazing. The main reason I switched back was iMessage for pics/video, and the Android bugs that just got to me. Once you settle into daily use the customisation and stuff wasn't so important and I just wanted a reliable phone.

I'd get issues like no text coming up in text fields when I was typing. The phone would randomly unlock from the lock screen and make emergency calls in my pocket because some idiot thought putting 'emergency call' as a button and not a slider was a good idea, so the screen would come on and that button would get pressed. Sometimes I'd walk around and I could hear phone tones like when Homer was mashing the phone keypad, which was sometimes kinda hilarious.

Stuff like lock screen music controls occasionally not coming up when they were supposed to. Music randomly playing in my pocket when I hadn't touched anything. Last week I was riding to a mate's place - stopped at the lights and could hear music. Oh wait, it's my fucking phone playing music in my pants again. I'm at the lights trying to take off my riding gloves off before the green light so I can get the phone out and stop it blaring.

Obviously these aren't issues that would affect everyone, but for me it was just like 'ah, just fucking work!'. So I'd had enough.

But then, this 4S i picked up has horrific battery life issues when connected to 3G. Lucky I'm on Wifi most of the day. So, whatever. Pros and cons :P

And re; content only from iTunes - that's not really true. You can use something like Buzz player to play any format under the sun. I use Rdio for music and just wirelessly sync music from that down to my phone. Though I will agree the drag and drop stuff from Android was pretty awesome and far superior.
 
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