Paying off a $5 iPhone bet
Earlier this year, when I was preparing to head out on Road Trip 2008, my journey around the American South, I arranged for a loaner iPhone because I was curious how it would perform deep in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and the like.
Having watched friends and colleagues jump on the iPhone bandwagon, I was of course curious about the device, but given that I was still deep in my Verizon Wireless contract--due to whatever funny look I happened to give my phone that caused a re-up of the two-year contract--and because I already had an iPod and way more music than would fit on an iPhone, I was determined not be lured into the cult.
(Credit:
Apple Inc.)
But my colleague Stefanie Olsen, herself an iPhone convert, didn't believe I would have the discipline to use the device for a month and not come home desperate to get one of my own. And with that in mind, she bet me five bucks that I couldn't resist the temptation upon my return.
Certain in my ability to withstand the peer pressure and the lure of a shiny and admittedly cool new gadget--and determined not to have to pay Verizon its extortionate early-termination fee (sorry, Declan)--I walked away from our handshake thinking of the many things I could buy with the five dollars I knew I'd be winning.
Shortly thereafter, I set on on Road Trip for what turned out to be 30 days driving nearly 4,600 miles through nine Southern states. All along the way, I toted my loaner iPhone, using it in as many ways as I could, and depending on it as my full-time cell phone.
What struck me right away was how nice the iPhone's user-interface is. The voice mail was so easy and intuitive, and it was little things like the phone's alarm clock feature, which is so simple and elegant--and frankly, pleasing--to use.
I had thought that the iPhone's larger size would deter me, but over time, I got used to it. And, yes, the mapping and easy Web surfing were very compelling.
Suffice it to say, by the time I arrived home, I knew I was won over. But by now, the iPhone 3G had come out, and so my only hope for not losing the bet was to hide behind my refusal to wait in long lines to buy consumer electronics. That seemed to be a winning strategy, as the lines stayed long for the first few weeks.
But this last weekend, I will confess, I finally crumbled. I drove to my nearest Apple Store, found that the line was only about 20 minutes, and I did it: I bought an iPhone.
I must say, however, that Apple's clever marketing of the phone as inexpensive (with AT&T's subsidy) didn't quite play out when I saw the bottom line. While the phone's retail price was indeed just $299 (for the 16 GB model), when tax, the $69 cost of AppleCare, and the $110 Verizon termination fee were all added up, I saw my bank account take a $518 hit.
Plus, of course, the $5 I had to pay Stefanie when I got to work this morning.
Daniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between. E-mail Daniel. 
By the way, I was also an iPhone convert. I was first of the mind that there's no way the iPhone is that great or anything like that and while I still have gripes with the phone, it still is one of the best you can get in its category. It is *not* for someone who receives lots of MMS messages though. I receive them on occasion (not enough to justify not buying an iphone), but it is really annoying when I receive them.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/maps.html
its assisted gps, and apple doesn't give out any tech specs on the gps chip used, which pisses me off. what is the warm start up time, what is the cold start up time, how many satellites can it lock to, can it get a 3d lock... list goes on
i wanted the new iphone a lot, before i read its reviews.. and so far its not so different than the 2g version. it still has the old processor and specs the old one had (way to go apple, why the hell did you buy PA Semi if all they were gonna do was to sit on their lazy butts). the only difference is an assisted-gps chip and 3g networking, which doesn't even support hsupa.. i wouldnt even call it 3g. more like 2.7g... all that bandwidth iphone promises is useless since the app processor is still the same, it doesnt matter how fast you stream data to the phone, as long as the damn processor can't render it to display in a reasonable amount of time. plus add the overhead data, and bottlenecks in the crappy att network, you wont have a lot of speed over the 2g version.
and the gps function needs a complete overhaul.. at least in the software side. if you announce a product to be able to act as a navigation device, you need to make sure the map application you have follows the location dot on the screen.. jeez
oh and the bluetooth upgrade... where the hell is the upgrade? what is the upgrade? if anyone knows pls tell me what they changed that matters? it only has headphone support, and crappy even at that. still no A2DP profile.
if anyone is actually using the gps function for navigation on this thing, you are asking to get t-boned on the highway
and the old current location function that used the wireless networks, and gsm towers around, calculated your location by triangulating the signal strengths worked just as good to find where u are (not turn-by turn navigation), to find movies, shopping, and all sorts of crap
jobs, get your act together... a lot of us dont care if apple earns more money or not (mainly because we dont have apple shares), its earning more than enough without all this nonsense. what we care is when we pay double the price for a product "that just works" we want it to just work.
to end my rant (im hungry, I could write a complete research paper on this), what the hell was that last 2.0.1 update?!!! half the iphone users crashed their phones and lost all their data because itunes corrupted the firmware before uploading it to the phone, just to find out that they had to update itunes first (dont anyone tell me to backup, i can transfer easily over 100gigs of data in less time than to back the phone). and what did that fixed exactly? my 2g iphone still locks the sim card twice everyday, all the applications crash occasionally, and the whole phone is as slow as sony-ericsson's old T series (i have to remind you, that was a software mistake by ericsson that was 7 8 years ago)...
Care for some cookies with your haterade?
Just a few points:
1. All the reviews I've read have said that the iPhone 3G gets a GPS lock faster than standalone GPS devices.
2. The iPhone can handle data at 3G speeds just fine, even without a change in processor: An iPhone on Wifi is still much faster than an iPhone on 3G.
3. The iPhone 3G has not been announced or claimed to be a navigation device.
Finally: More features, like A2DP and GPS navigation, are sure to be coming. Apple has been consistently adding features to all iPhones over time, and the 2.0 OS release was a significant update, even if it was released a bit prematurely. At this point, one could say that they're going to wait for those features to be added, or wait for Android or OpenMoko or whatever. Or one could take the iPhone as it's available right now, and start using the best mobile platform out there, knowing that it'll only get better.
- by arblaw August 12, 2008 6:26 AM PDT
- "I was curious how it would perform deep in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and the like."
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- by arblaw August 12, 2008 8:48 AM PDT
- Oh, yeah, AT&T Wireless is headquartered here, too. So we do get a faint signal way down here in the depths.
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(12 Comments)Why would an iPhone not work in Georgia? Believe it or not, we have now learned to communicate without using our tin-can telephones or riding our mules all the way up to the house. We actually have 4 of them thar Apple stores right here in town.