Mobile phones & tablets thread

[CaptainRaiden]

[CaptainRaiden]

[CaptainRaiden]

[ArrowsFA1]

This is just like playing Top Trumps. Fun, but ultimately pointless.

[CaptainRaiden]

So basically when you buy into the Android service like you and myself, expect them to release an even more powerful version of the software 8 months down the line that our phones aren't powerful enough to run? That sounds great, I'll just buy a better phone every few months then. My wife bought her iPhone in October 2010 and it runs iOS 5 which was a later update. She had no problems with her hardware not being powerfull enough to run it. It may well be fantastic to have an OS that is very customizable like Android, but we're in danger of going down the route PC gaming went down where consumers have to keep spending alot more money on hardware to keep up with the software. Maybe Apple charge a premium, but you are guaranteed to have a device that is compatable with updates for up to 2 years as is presently the case with the iPhone and iPad. It sounds like for me to have kept up with the latest Android OS, I would have needed to spend alot more money on phones that are capable of running this amazing customizable software.

The S2 was released a couple of months after my Incredible S and my phone was instantly out of date hardware-wise. People ask you what service you have and you say Android, to which they reply what phone do you have, whereas an iPhone is an iPhone and is as good as anyones elses iPhone. No hardware battles which IMO is a bonus. To you with your techy preferences I can imagine its your worst nightmare.

Obviously I forgot to add that the Cyanogen Mod (based off of Android 4.0 ICS) is optimized to be installed even on phones which are 4 years older. I have seen it running fine on a crappy 500 Mhz Samsung Galaxy 5. So, it will work like a breeze on your HTC henners. Does Apple allow modding of their OS? Can you customize your home screen on an iPhone with whatever you can throw in there? No.

The S3 is priced in the UK at present for the handset only at £499. That is the same price of the iPhone 16gb on launch and this has been the case for the past 4 handsets Apple have released. Why do you keep repeating this notion they are suddenly going to add $200 to the price when they haven't in the past? They are very clear about their aims when releasing a new product and they always keep it inline with the last outgoing product. At the end of the day they want to keep their customers and are not suddenly going to bump it up 40%. I think you are adding this spin to it yourself to be quite honest, because you know as well as I do that Apple haven't done this before.

First question is, why is the iPhone 4S at the same price as the Galaxy S3?? That is, for everything that is pure and holy, just blatant robbery by Apple. The Galaxy S3 is twice the phone the iPhone 4S can even dream of being, then why do Apple charge more?

Second, confirmed on Amazon.com, the difference of price between the 16 GB and 32 GB version of Samsung Galaxy S3 is $100.

The difference of price between the 16 GB and 32 GB iPhone 4S is $250. So, again, I repeat my question. Do I get golden eggs along with extra physical storage from Apple? The point about how good the operating system is, is moot here. The fact is Apple charges twice the price for even stupid storage increase for apparently no reason whatsoever. And the fact that it has no expandable memory is the icing on the cake.

Another example:



Price of iPhone 4 right now - $570
Price of Samsung Galaxy S2 - $450

Source: Amazon.com

Hmm. $120 more for an inferior phone, feature wise AND hardware wise. Wow, such a tough choice!

Because not everybody who buys a new laptop gives a toss about every bit of detail concerning its hardware. You obviously do and I have no problem with that. I really don't understand why you are so frustrated with people buying what they like and don't have the same gripes about hardware as yourself. I've been unlucky with my Dell like many others. We've had Dell failures at work on desktop machines that are a few months old. I do get the impression you don't believe I have had a HD failure? As long as PC World believe me and fix it soon, thats all that matters to be honest.

Well, henners, so are you saying that Apple charging $800 more for a lesser speced Macbook is OKAY? Yes or no? Are you saying they're justified in asking that price, and that if given the choice, you would buy the Macbook?

Here's another example:

Mac's were never designed to run games and have never been aimed at the gaming community.

Whether they're aimed at gamers or not is irrelevant. If I'm paying freakin $2000 for a PC, it better well play games.

In my opinion PC gamers are amongst the sadest people on earth ...

I don't know why console players suddenly think they're cooler for playing the same games that PC gamers play on PC. Societal pressure? Consoles are low definition b@stard kids of PC. Whichever game you can think of, will run better on PC. You can attach a wireless controller to a PC, but you can't play with a mouse and keyboard on consoles.

Seriously though, Mac's have always been aimed at design and music developers along with creative businesses and gaming is not even on their radar. I don't think its a market they've needed to enter and even PC gaming is less popular than it used to be. I gave up trying to keep up with that years ago because it cost too much money and girls became a more fun interest lol.

I'm sure your wife would absolutely LOVE to read this.

I get the impression you are so passionate about hating Apple, you may influence any conversation you have about it and people may just agree with you rather than get into an unnecessary verbal debate. If we were face to face I'd probably just say "yeah iPhones are Sh!t, are you watching the GP later?"... This personal friend of yours understood from what you are saying that hardware is important, but she bought a phone without researching it? Sounds odd to me considering that information is readily available for those wanting to know. It also sounds like the iPhone is perfect for her because she probably wouldn't be too bothered about customization if the interface is considered confusing.

That friend and a lot of other folks that I know, somehow remind me that a lot of iPhone buyers and users, without sounding too condescending, are not very technologically savvy. This enables Apple to promote their products with flashy ads and with really unrealistic expectations. With their advertisement campaigns, they can even make a turd look like a diamond ring, an example that I'll show you in my next post. I would consider myself a bit more knowledgeable in techy stuff, not an expert though, and simply knowing how the way Apple charges a premium is criminal, annoys me. Rant over.

[CaptainRaiden]

If Apple is so loved and they make such amazing products, why are they the target of ridicule and are being made fun of by the tech crowd?

[CaptainRaiden]

Interestingly the BBC have just had a segment on their news covering the launch of Microsofts Surface tablet. Apart from the already covered 'crash' on launch, the tablet appeared to be greeted with underwhelming enthusiasm by the British journalists. They said the tablet certainly packs in the features, but they asked if it will scratch the 'surface' lol of Apples domination. It doesn't look as stylist on first glance and the menu system is not as aesthetically pleasing from my point of view. I'm sure people will buy it but will it be as trendy and have a cult demand like the iPad? I think they are a little late to the party myself.

USB Port! Apparently Apple has never heard of it before!

[CaptainRaiden]

[CaptainRaiden]

Another example of Apple advertising:

[donKey jote]