Quote:
Originally Posted by bornl33t
That's because the other phones can. Apple choises the look, price, features, apps, music and even carrier for you.
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Very, very true. The iPhone has some serious limitations out of the box. If you think its users aren't looking for something more then explain the 100,000+ apps in the app store. If the iPhone had any of those features built into the phone then the need for the app store wouldn't exist. This doesn't just apply to the iPhone, though, the limitations of the iPhone provide users with more reasons to jailbreak (aka: coming to the light). I own the iTouch, which is a great device, but I can't even change the wallpaper without jailbreaking.
However, I am only one person in a rather large market. In this market there are two types of people. On one side you have people who will never want their device to do anything outside its normal range of function. On the other, you have people who really want to dig in and see what a phone is capable off. People who really enjoy the iPhone are the people who aren't going to mod or hack their phone under normal circumstances. They are the people listed first. The iPhone has a small amount of limitations out of the box, and the app store offers a user-friendly way to more or less hack the device into doing something it wouldn't normally do - but it does come with the iPhone; technically filing it under "normal functions" for the device. This really just tricks people into the mindset that the iPhone really does everything from the get-go. If you were to ask these people what the perfect phone would be they would answer: a device that does everything I need straight out of the box, and does them well.
This isn't going to fly well with the other guys. I can't change my wallpaper? I can't create my own themes? I can't do this, I can't do that? It's simply too much to take in all at once. The Android community (and pretty much any other mobile OS) is about hacking your device. Most people claim a jailbreaking argument for the iPhone is simply invalid because it goes against the very nature of Apple. Well, a rooting argument for Android is the very basis of its nature. It begs you to find limitations in its open source nature. And if you do it challenges you to do something about it! Android phones do much more out of the box than WinMo phones do. The WinMo community is probably
THE hacking community, and that's not necessarily a good thing (Microsoft really leaves them with no choice. 6.5? Really?), but for this group it's a great thing. They aren't looking for the best phone out of the box, but for the best potential hardware as they have the power to make it shine. To make it unique and their own. If you were to ask these people what the perfect phone would be they would answer: a phone with the capacity to change into whatever I want it to be, with a great community to support it, and most importantly, room to grow. Because it's not enough to be great, and there is always room for improvement.
Brand loyalty isn't the only reason people get so upset over these iPhone vs. Android (insert other MOS) debates. What people are really debating is one mindset over another, and to come to a conclusion on this debate is to completely write off the other. You're saying it's better to be closed minded rather than open minded (and vice-verse). So before you start carelessly throwing around this vs. that, please take the time to consider your fellow phone enthusiasts. We are a community and here these
are more than just phones.
I have no idea where this came from. Guess I just felt like writing.
