Time for an I phone

[VINMAN]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Crap, looks like I'm going to be the last hold-out.

Wrong! It will be a cold day in hell when i ever own an "I" anything.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Crap, looks like I'm going to be the last hold-out.

Sammy, take a drink of the kool-aid. It is good. You will wonder why you waited. I can't imaging going back to the olden days of no smart phone.

[foxpaws]

I have an iPhone 4 16gb I bought used - 2nd iPhone - a few androids and blackberries before that.

I only own Macs - however initially I purchased anything but iPhones. I only buy my phones outright (no contract), and the other options always ran a little less than the iPhone - and I thought 'what difference can it make - it is just a phone'.

I will probably never return to android. As Z said - iPhones just work. Simple interface, but can do complex tasks if necessary.

Anecdotal - I was at a 'trade-show trade-show' a couple of months ago, almost every woman there had an iPhone - the men had a variety of phones. The women I talked to mostly said the same thing - the iPhone was simple, and just got the job done. Men who had other phones like to tweek. I think it comes down to the jiffy lube analogy:

WOMEN:

1. Pull up to Jiffy Lube or Valvoline Instant Oil Change when the mileage reaches 3,000 miles since the last oil change.

2. Drink a cup of coffee, take out iPhone and answer email, while they change the oil.

3. 15 minutes later, write a check and leave with a properly maintained vehicle.

Cost: $29.99 oil change, $2.00 coffee. Total $32.00

MEN:

1. Wait until Saturday, drive to the auto parts store. Buy a case of oil, oil filter, kitty litter, hand cleaner (don't forget a little tree air freshener). Write a check to the auto parts store for approximately $50.

2. Stop by 7/11 on the way home, buy a case of beer. Write a check for $20.00.

3. Drive home with oil and beer.

4. Open beer, enjoy it.

5. Spend 30 minutes looking for the jack stands.

6. Find the jack stands (finally) under the kid's pedal car, jack the car up.

7. Open another beer, drink it.

8. Place drain pan under engine.

9. Look for 9/16" box end wrench for drain plug

10. Give up looking ten minutes later, find crescent wrench.

11. Unscrew drain plug.

12. Drop drain plug into pan of hot oil. Splash hot oil onto your hands and face in the process. Cuss and swear.

13. Crawl out from under car, wipe hot oil from hands and face. Throw some kitty litter on the spilled oil.

14. Open another beer while watching the last drops of oil drain.

15. Spend 30 minutes looking for the oil filter wrench.

16. Give up looking for oil filter wrench, crawl under car and hammer a flat-head screwdriver through the oil filter and twist it off.

17. Crawl out from under car, splashing hot oil everywhere from newly made holes in oil filter.

18. Cleverly hide used oil filter in trash to avoid those pesky environmental penalties. Open another beer.

19. Install new oil filter, making sure to apply a thin coat of oil to the gasket.

20. Pour the first quart of new oil into engine.

21. Oops! Now remember the drain plug (removed in step 11). It's still swimming in the now-warm oil in the drain pan.

22. Throw more kitty litter on the quart-sized oil puddle on the floor.

23. Open another beer and drink it.

24. Find drain plug with a minimum of spillage, hand-tighten in drain plug socket. Drink beer.

25. Crawl under car (getting oily kitty litter embedded in neck and arms). Tighten drain plug with crescent wrench, but this time, it's slippery. Bang your knuckles on the frame while tightening drain plug.

26. Throw crescent wrench across the garage in anger. Throw a fit because crescent wrench hits bowling trophy (which wife wouldn't let stay in the house).

27. Open another beer and drink it.

28. Clean hands, bandaging where needed to stop blood flow.

29. Pour in five quarts of fresh oil.

30. Lower car from jack stands. Smile at your handiwork. Open another beer and drink it.

31. Move car back to discover oil puddles you missed; apply more kitty litter to missed areas.

32. Test drive car to make sure oil doesn't leak.

33. Get pulled over a block from the house by local police, get arrested for DUI.

34. Call loving wife and bail bondsman.

35. Next day, get car out of impound yard.

Cost: $50 parts, $20 beer, Impound fee $75, Bail $1500, DUI $2500 minimum. Total $4145 (but you know the job was done right!)

[Head416]

3. 15 minutes later, write a check and leave with a properly maintained vehicle.

Are you going to take technology advice from somebody who still writes checks at Jiffy Lube?

[motion]

Is this an iPhone vs Android thread? In!

We have a few of each. Androids suck big. Absolute junk. Maybe OK for a 20 year old male nerd.

I bought Sim cards in Ukraine and Russia for a month of unlimited everything. Cost: $7 each. US carriers are not going to be getting away with this stuff much longer. Things are a changin'.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Just so y'all know: having an i-device will NOT magically turn you into a "latte liberal" and compel you to wear trendy square glasses and sandals whilst hanging around coffee shops. I wasn't sold on the whole "smart phone" craze until 2010 when I bought an iPhone 4 to replace my aging Motorola SLVR that had been giving me fits. I loved it and never looked back. These devices are simply amazing in what they can do. The iPhone can do about 80% of what I can do on my laptop, and a few things the laptop can't. They're very good devices but (yes) the competition is fierce and a lot of it has caught up.

Personally I really like the integration ability of the i-devices. There is seamless portability between my Macbook, iPhone and iPad (and my Apple TV box to play videos and movies and such...). They just work and they work brilliantly. The interfaces are fantastic and you don't get the feeling like you're being boxed into "programmer think" like one does (or used to) with Windows-based applications. The weakest aspect of the iPhones (IMHO) is the carrier networks, which pretty much all suck and all are shameless about absolutely flat-out ripping off their customers (hence my earlier advice about going to a prepaid carrier like ST or SimpleMobile or whomever else).

Once you start using them, you'll wonder how you ever survived without them. I don't know how I'd manage contacts, appointments, e-mails, etc. without my iPhone. Fabulous little piece of hardware (and I can browse Pelican, do my budget spreadsheets and a whole lotta other stuff too).

[recycled sixtie]

It depends what you want your phone for. I have been using an LG phone and I text and use the phone function only. No email or internet on it. Costs me $21 a month.
I know that if you need internet it jumps in price per month.

My daughter just switched to an i phone. She has internet etc - pretty much everything on it. She is in the work/study world now and needs it. It is a touch screen phone and easy to use. About $50/ month fee. I am retired and I don't need as much tech stuff. What are you going to use it for?

Me? Luddite! Cheap to run.

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by motion

Is this an iPhone vs Android thread? In!

We have a few of each. Androids suck big. Absolute junk. Maybe OK for a 20 year old male nerd.

I bought Sim cards in Ukraine and Russia for a month of unlimited everything. Cost: $7 each. US carriers are not going to be getting away with this stuff much longer. Things are a changin'.

I certainly hope so. I am bent over a barrel with 4 family smartphones. Sucks.

You are a confessed Apple user and investor. What in your experience qualifies the non Apple devices as absolute junk?

[motion]

David, the big issue I have with Android is the fragmented versions between phones, and the fact that stuff is hidden away. You have to go online and Google how to do certain things. They're not intuitive. It took us 2 days to figure out how to answer a call with our Google Nexus 4! Beyond that, the interface is quirky and non-intuitive. I was ready to throw the thing in the trash after using it a few days.

[PorscheA]

Originally Posted by motion

It took us 2 days to figure out how to answer a call with our Google Nexus 4!

[JavaBrewer]

I give you the fragmented versions - Apple's model of owning the hardware and software is better suited for updates. That said the trend to 'upgrade' phones every year or so sorta makes that irrelevant.

My decidedly non nerd wife and daughter have zero problems interfacing with the Galaxy S2 phones. Email, text, pictures, music, browse, I'm just don't see much difference in the UI across the popular platforms.

How do you answer a call on a Nexus 4?
What stuff is 'hidden away' on the Android phone?

[island911]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Sammy, take a drink of the kool-aid. It is good. You will wonder why you waited. I can't imaging going back to the olden days of no smart phone.

I can imagine it.

I recently gave an employee one of my old flip-phones. I couldn't help but look at that little thing longingly. Straight-forward design with tactile buttons. ZERO risk of butt-dial. No need to look at it to call any of the 10 speed dials. Small. Light weight. Low theft-bait quotient.

It used to be that the traffic-app on a smart phone was the killer app. Now, that everyone has it, not so much. Email? Yeah, that's nice to have immediate access to sometimes. Usually, it's just an annoyance. (better to handle that in bulk from a desk cmptr)

Seems to me that smartphones are more a security blanket for most. I mean really, how many people get SO damn lost in their stopping-grounds that they NEED GPS?
How about those who need constant reassurance that their Facebooks photos are getting sufficient 'Likes'?

The integration of electronics into fabrics is just around the corner.
I'm putting dibs on the name iLinus

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by motion

David, the big issue I have with Android is the fragmented versions between phones, and the fact that stuff is hidden away. You have to go online and Google how to do certain things. They're not intuitive. It took us 2 days to figure out how to answer a call with our Google Nexus 4! Beyond that, the interface is quirky and non-intuitive. I was ready to throw the thing in the trash after using it a few days.

Riiiiiight.... Like you don't have to sign onto iTunes and the iCloud to do anything with a iPhone.

We have iPads here at work... absolutly nothing intuitive about them.

They are just operating systems... if you take the emotions out of the equation and take a few minute to learn how to operate any device it can be easy or hard depending on the attitude you bring to the table.

My brother is a fanboy and has his whole family on "i" devices and they are far from infallible.

[GH85Carrera]

I was one of those that resisted a smart phone. They were expensive and all I wanted was a phone dang it. I did not need all that new fangled stuff. My flip phone was just fine.

Then my dad let me have his old Iphone original. I just played with it with no cell service. The apps seemed interesting. I drank deeply of the kool-aid. I activated that phone and after a few months upgraded it to the 4. My wife got a iPhone 4 at the same time. I bought her an iPad then as well.

She would fight a Ninja to keep her iPad. I feel the same way about my iPhone. I am sure other brands of phones can do similar tasks.

Right now I have every CD I have ever bought (over 120) on the phone. I have several old favorite movies and hundreds of photos. All my contacts are synced with my computer. I can't imagine going back to a dumb phone.

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Right now I have every CD I have ever bought (over 120) on the phone. I have several old favorite movies and hundreds of photos. All my contacts are synced with my computer. I can't imagine going back to a dumb phone.

More brilliance from Steve Jobs. Once you are assimilated into the ecosystem it is very difficult to make a change. iCloud is in no way superior to competing cloud offerings other than marketing. What I find interesting is that recent Apple updates (latest iOS) are not backward compatible. You want a new iPhone...well to make this "seamless" all your other Apple devices need to update as well.

[VINMAN]

Originally Posted by motion

We have a few of each. Androids suck big. Absolute junk. Maybe OK for a 20 year old male nerd.

Seriously??
If anyone qualifies as a nerd, its the "I" fanboys that camp out on the sidewalks in front of Apple stores every five months to get the "newest version". You don't see droid users doing that.

Until Apple comes out with the fellatio app, Ill stick with my flawlessly working droid..

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

More brilliance from Steve Jobs. Once you are assimilated into the ecosystem it is very difficult to make a change. iCloud is in no way superior to competing cloud offerings other than marketing.

I don't use the cloud at all.

[island911]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

..
Right now I have every CD I have ever bought (over 120) on the phone. I have several old favorite movies and hundreds of photos. All my contacts are synced with my computer. I can't imagine going back to a dumb phone.

Yeah, I get that. I have a stack of smart phones in an office drawer. I've just started to re-task them - like song library on one, leave it in the 911. Another set to stream music off the office WiFi. ...

Essentially what is happening is an off-load of what a smart-phone brings. It's a departure from having ONE device do it all, and everywhere. Which makes me rethink the necessity of a smart-phone as a 'phone.'

If I could find a Flip-phone with an integrated hotspot to support my various tablets, I would jump on it.

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I don't use the cloud at all.

A few more 'updates' and you won't have a choice

[Z-man]

Originally Posted by Head416

Guess what? You pick up an Android, and it just works! Just like an iPhone! You don't have to be into customizing your phone to enjoy an Android. You're just free from having Apple ram their choices down your throat. The idea that iPhones are somehow more stable is BS to me.

I'm stuck with an iPhone because of work. Read the recent IOS hater threads to see how frustrating it is to deal with Apple. No device is perfect and they all work, but Apple just gets under my skin. The fact that they refuse to have a removable SD card is probably #1 on my list.

Several of my friends have andriod devices. One in particular hasn't jailbraked it, or done any extra programming on it. It is a Samsung Salaxy 3S with I believe the Jelly Bean OS. Every once in a while his phone magically resets itself and plays that annoying noise/song at full blast. Wonder how many times that happens during the night while he's slepping.

A couple of other friends of mine have done 'customization' on the phones -- one in particular has done significant tinkering with the phone. His phone needs to be reset daily to keep it alive. That said, I do know of a couple andriod users that don't have any issues with their phones.

I upgraded my iPhone 4 to iOS 7 when it came out -- and yes, I don't like the new look and feel, but after getting used to the new features of the OS, I find it close to the previous version, but with some extra stuff in there that admittedly, should have been there in the first place. After figuring how things work on the new OS, I really haven't had an issue with my phone at all...

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Just so y'all know: having an i-device will NOT magically turn you into a "latte liberal" and compel you to wear trendy square glasses and sandals whilst hanging around coffee shops.

Hmm - while using my iPhone as I sit in a trendy square and wear square glasses and socks with my sandals, does that still make me a 'latte liberal' ?? (Or does that make me a German?!? )

-Z