Read me in TIME Magazine defending the WM-based phone over iPhone!
 

I submitted an OpEd piece into TIME magazine in response to their giving the iPhone the title of "Invention of the Year". The article touting the iPhone was sooooo one-sided and unresearched that I couldn't keep my mouth shut.

Unfortuately, they butchered my letter into a one paragraph sidenote and omitted some very carefully chosen words I used in order to solidify my points.....BUT I'M IN TIME MAGAZINE, NONETHELESS!

My note is the first one...Eagle Bear Morgan, SEATTLE....Check it out.....http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...684550,00.html

Nice...can you post the whole response that you wrote?

I would love to, but it was a diret submission...and they own it now. I don't have it...:( But it basically picked apart every false statement made in the Nov12 issue. Everyone should definately read the IOTY article first. Then you'll immediately see why I had to write to them.

Here's a link to the IOTY article in TIME....http://www.time.com/time/specials/20...678542,00.html

Did they say the iPhone cures world hunger and reverses global warming as well? I'm pretty sure it does that.

I love the iPhone commercial where the guy checks out the wedding site to get the buddies new wife's name. Wow. That's amazing! I hear you can put contacts and calendar stuff in them too! Unbelievable! How could we have lived without it?

Congrats on getting the comment in.

I swear everytime I see one of those commercials, I laugh my a$$ off. Apple knows how to advertise though.

Yeah, I heard they figured out some way to integrate a camera on the iphone.... I can't wait to see what they invent next....

It is funny people that never seen a pda phone, see an iphone and think its the best thing since the potato. where I work a coworker bought the iphone, then my sup bought the mogul (after playing with my 6700). he told me that he payed less money for a phone that does more!

Dont get me wrong the iphone is pretty and has some good features. maybe next time they'll get it right. to me its just not worth the money right now.

Oh ya, dont drop the iphone, no insurance

this came from the article




. It's not a phone, it's a platform
when apple made the iphone, it didn't throw together some cheap-o bare-bones firmware. It took OS X, its full-featured desktop operating system, and somehow squished it down to fit inside the iPhone's elegant glass-and-stainless-steel case. That makes the iPhone more than just a gadget. It's a genuine handheld, walk-around computer, the first device that really deserves the name. One of the big trends of 2007 was the idea that computing doesn't belong just in cyberspace, it needs to happen here, in the real world, where actual stuff happens. The iPhone gets applications like Google Maps out onto the street, where we really need them


The whole article is onesided, kinda ridiculous.

All I can say is this, Every time I see an Iphone I pull out My Mogul, And in about 20 seconds after seeing all I can do and what they can't. They regret getting those overpriced hunks of junk. To date I think Im personally to blame for 4 or 5 Iphone returns, and at least 3 WM Device sales! XD

I was on an airplane and this guy pulled out his Iphone. He was showing off that the weather on Orlando would be 65 degrees. I pulled out my apache and started playing with the Touch Cube. Then I pulled out the keyboard.

Needless to say he was quite in only a couple of minutes :mrgreen:

Its all good. The Iphones freeze way more then ppc phones and they are barely usable for most things. The only input you have is the touch screen and its very very clunky. People that just dont want to bother learning how to use a phone fit into an Iphone perfectly. Those who dont mind a small learning curve and unlimited applications use a ppc.

Sorry oQo, the iPhone is the first genuine walk around computer.

I also wrote something, although as far as I know it wasn't published:

"I understand that the iPhone needs to exist in this world, however I think that it was a very poor choice for Invention of the Year. It did have enough marketing and hype behind it to deserve that title, however I would expect at least the likes of a journalist to have seen through all of that.
I would like to point out that there is not one single thing that the iPhone does that is revolutionary for a phone, with the exception of its easy to use interface.
Many enthusiasts have referred to this interface as "dumbed down" rather than "innovative".
All of the features this phone presents have been available on Windows Mobile and Palm devices for years, not to mention the myriad of features NOT available on the iPhone (stereo bluetooth, push email, custom intefaces, real hardware QWERTY keyboards... most importantly, third party application support!).

True, the average person has trouble understanding how to watch youtube on a windows mobile or Palm device. The iPhone presents you with everything you can do in a simple to use fashion, and for that it is to be commended. However, make no mistake, the things I do on a day to day basis with my phone (and the last 3 that I've owned) are not possible on the iPhone.

I dare to call it the "Smartphone for Dummies"."

Well, guys, I've got both a mogul and an ipod touch - and I admit I have fired up WMWifiRouter more then a few times to do some browsing on the touch instead of the mogul when there was no open wifi around... and to check imap email... but that's it really. I promise.

The mobile platform Apple has made is a pretty decent technical achievement - getting darwin to run well in 128mb of ram, creating a ui framework that works efficiently with low-resolution finger presses, getting decent battery life out of a machine with a battery half the size of the average winmobile machine... not too shabby, really.

Of course, the first thing I did was jailbreak mine, install the native toolchain folks have hacked together, and generally voided all legal agreements. But you just have to be able to ssh into your ipod and get your root shell prompt. Then install apache, and your custom php web-app. It's a pretty decent platform, even if apple doesn't want anyone to get to it.

Schettj u r very right here

i do this to its jsut easier sometimes but im a kid and cant even see myself ever wanting an iPhone....to me not enough features and im an obnoxious teenager who cares about his image and i carry around my apache....


with the lack of 3rd party support...like no slingplayer mobilee.....the iPhone is obviously not for me...without my Apache i would never get away with watching sportscenter during class

My best friend bought an iphone the week it came out, and I messed with him every day about how my phone was better and did more things. He said that my 8525 was too big and did too much. After about 2 months of using it, he realized every day more and more he started to hate it. He was always having problems with and found the case to be way to flimsy for his hands. He described to me as and empty beer can. He finnally got tire of it and smashed on his kitchen tile, and immediatley went out and bought the tilt. So far he is in love with it and now doesnt even use his computer anymore cause he can do everything he wants sitting on the couch.

Hey guys, please excuse my ignorance but... I own a xv7600 with wm6 on it. Now, I just read on the page earlier a wm based device can do more than an iphone. I know this is true due to countless people saying it, but what exactly can a pocket pc do that an iphone can't? Just curious, a friend of mine wants to buy an iphone and I want to persuade him into buying a pocket pc insted.

you can actually record video with it. and thats just the tip of the iceberg...

Re: Read me in TIME Magazine defending the WM-based phone over iPhone!
 

Yes they do own it, but you are the creator. It is your intellectual property. The fact that they own it doesn’t mean you can’t post it. It simply means they don’t owe you anything for any money they may make from the publication thereof.

Re: Read me in TIME Magazine defending the WM-based phone over iPhone!
 

Apple has a very good way of taking basic features that EVERYTHING has and acting like its the best reason to buy their product. I mean seriously, listen to music, view your pictures, an 'internet communications device?' Shiny interface, animations, and effects, that have nothing to do with the actual functionality (or lack thereof)

Re: Read me in TIME Magazine defending the WM-based phone over iPhone!
 

Well, at least they take the most commonly requested features that can be implemented well and they give you just those. It's a cross between the all-in-one PPC for the person who wants to do everything and the simple attractive phone for the person who wishes his device had less bells and whistles. Apple tends to focus on a few core functions and makes sure they work reliably and in a good-looking manner. For someone like me the tradeoff isn't worth it but for some it's a great device. I just want too many features to give any up for a slight learning curve or sleeker design.

Re: Read me in TIME Magazine defending the WM-based phone over iPhone!
 

This thread reminds me of this website: http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=iphone
He completely bashes the Iphone and makes comparisons to his Nokia E70, but they are well deserved bashes. It's pretty funny, too.

First of all, the E70 has a full keyboard, not some shitty stripped down, tap-and-pray smudgy piece of shit. Nokia uses a technology that's even more advanced than the iPhone's tap screen, allowing you to actually feel the keys you press as you're pressing them! The technology is called "tactile response," and it allows you to do things like dial a phone number without staring at your screen like a shit-chucking ape. In fact, every other cellphone ever made has this technology, sometimes called "buttons."

Absolute gold.

Re: Read me in TIME Magazine defending the WM-based phone over iPhone!
 

Congrats in getting a word in, in Time no less.

Re: Read me in TIME Magazine defending the WM-based phone over iPhone!
 

well,.i actually had an iphone,..i returned it yesterday and got my money back(thankfully, ATT has this thing where u can bring it back within 2 weeks of buying it, as long as its in brand new condition,...). About a week and a half ago my ATT 8525 messed up. It stopped turning on(which i believe could've been because the netfront browser or opera mobile-not opera mini- browsers as my phone was freezing occasionally after installing them) so I called ATT and they're sending me a new one tomorrow. But i bought an iphone the day it messed up. So i used it for a week and a half, and i can say after that week an a half, i missed my 8525. Lol. I cant wait to get my 8525 brand new tomorrow. The iphone just isn't that great. I mean, yea, at first, first day i got it, i was like "yea, this is way better than my windows mobile phone". But the first things that were disappointing was lack of video recording(which i use for recording myself covering rock songs on my guitar occasionally, u can look my screen name here on youtube if u want), and a back light for the camera. Meaning that any pictures i was taking had to be in light, which really sucked because on my moms 56th birthday, i was the only one with a camera(which was built in the phone), but it had no back light and we were inside red lobster and it was dark outside. It was kinda gay, to top it off, there's no camera button, u have to actually press the screen in which u risk dropping the phone(since its not an easily grip-able phone) and breaking the screen. Then the other thing was paying for ring tones, theres no way in hell ima pay for ring tones for CD's i bought. U have to pay 2$ for ring tones. 1$ to buy the song on itunes, and 1$ to create the ring tone. Thats horrible considering it has 8gb built in. It didn't bother me too much, since i don't use many ring tones, but i was used to hearing songs for people and figuring who it was and whether i should pick it up or not, lol. The internet is what was really annoying me. Yea, certain things were better(such as checking my bank account on the phone). But thats about the only thing that was better, ONLY MOBILE sites loaded fast. Mobile yahoo, google, banking, etc. Whenever i loaded a regular site, lets take IGN.com for example, it must've took 3-4 minutes versus less than 1 minute on my 8525 using opera mini. Obviously its because the edge network(its not 3g), i didn't think edge was so bad until experiencing a week and a half with the iphone. Edge also disconnects sometimes, much more unreliable. On a positive note, the iphone has a great ipod thing going. I loved turning the phone sideways(with its sensing) to scroll between artists and get better views on websites. Also video quality was top notch, its like a psp with its big screen. Youtube was pretty nice too, i liked that u could click anywhere into the clip and it loads up(something i believe they are still working to achieve on windows mobile). It was nice cuz sometimes when watching 10 minute clips, people would call me halfway, and i could easily be right back where i left off. The touch screen was really great for typing long messages as well. The touch screen keyboards on windows mobile are ok, some like touchpal are the easiest ones to work with for me but the iphone wins there. i also loved the touch screen for zooming in on things. It felt better when zooming in to read, and zooming out. Another thing on the upside for iphone, is when on wifi networks, its definitely a better web browser. The problem is that wifi is not available everywhere u go(yet i suppose), so unless ur a starbucks freak, u have to deal with edge most of the times. Another thing that was pretty annoying about the iphone is the physical volume. For me its sort of a big thing because when I'm at work, i like to play my music and i cant wear headphones. I was able to hide my headphones, but it was getting annoying that every day at work, i had to hide my headphones(under my shirt, and down my back), just to enjoy decent sound. I loved that the 8525 was so loud, i never missed calls hardly. I like playing video games like guitar hero loud with my surround sound, and on the 8525, i could at least hear the ring tones, especially with bluetooth. Or sometimes i like putting people on speaker phone, if im busy doing hw and i don't feel like using bluetooth, it was too low on iphone. On the iphone , i was constantly missing calls. Which brings me to my next thing, NO A2DP. What the hell is wrong with them not including A2DP on a phone, that is "supposedly" the ultimate ipod/music phone. I loved it for working out, wires get annoying constantly getting caught on things(my headset got caught on a womans purse in a crowded elevator at my college, lol, i missed A2DP when that happened). It was gay because i brought back my a2dp headset(this was when i first got the iphone so i wasn't thinking I'd want my 8525 back so fast) and had to exchange it for a regular bluetooth. Ima have to buy another A2DP on ebay for when i get the 8525 tmw. So all in all, the iphone is an ok phone. It mainly shines in youtube video and its ipod feature. Those are the ONLY places where it shines. Business/note taking is much better on a windows mobile phone.The interface is passable, i prefer my htc home. I seen no differences in google maps either. Except that u can do the "cool" zooming on the iphone, but thats a passable feature in google maps. Its also worth noting the call quality is worse on the iphone. I dunno if it was just the network for a couple days, but it was pretty bad sometimes when speaking to people, id have to ask them to repeat what they said a couple times throughout. Some times i couldn't hear them at all. The battery seemed pretty much the same on the iphone as my 8525. Maybe the iphones battery was slightly better(watching videos doesn't eat up the iphones battery as much as the 8525). But the 8525 has the option for an extended battery so that would definitely be a lot better for those constantly doing things on their phones. So if like me, u want to try the iphone out, and think that it might be better than a windows mobile phone, try it out. Buy it and a really good case(to keep it in good condition) for 450$ at the ATT store, and believe me, within a week or less, u will miss everything from ur old phone. The good thing is u get almost all ur money back. They charge a %10 stocking fee. So i got like $420 back. Its like i rented the iphone for $30, lol. U get 2 weeks to return it tho. But for those, like me, who just need to confirm its "supposed greatness", try it, but im sure u will miss ur windows mobile fast. Not to mention i can make a wifi access point on windows mobile for playing my Nintendo wii or ps3. No need for a seperate router. I was almost about to buy a router the other day but decided i was gonna bring the iphone back instead and not sell the brand new 8525 arriving tmw, on ebay.

One thing i forgot to mention is that you can hack the iphone. They have jailbreak things that do allow you to get ring tones, and other things. You can even play ps1 games(at like 8fps but oh well). There is some hacking that can be done on the phone. Thing is that Apple doesnt take kindly to this and they wont support you at all if your phone screws up so I didnt bother hacking the phone since i was thinking about bringing it back. I believe they could brick your phone with their itunes updates, but the updates are by choice, but it sucks because it has good updates(similiar to sony's psp). Personally i think it will take a while before the iphone will be as good as current windows mobile phones, but by the time it gets better than current windows mobile phones, windows mobile 7 phones will be rolling out. I think they are starting to finally allow 3rd party apps as well, i believe this month, so who knows. As it stands, the iphone is just a pretty phone with some interesting features at first glance. I would get the ipod touch instead of the iphone and keep my windows mobile based phone and just buy a 8gb micro sdhc(which i believe is supported now on WM6). I have to order one of those.

Re: Read me in TIME Magazine defending the WM-based phone over iPhone!
 

Dam...i just realized i wrote so much, should have just posted it in a separate thread as Iphone VS 8525. I think i might just do that. Lol.

Re: Read me in TIME Magazine defending the WM-based phone over iPhone!
 

Dude that was long winded.. maybe separate into more paragraghs would be good. Good post though.

Re: Read me in TIME Magazine defending the WM-based phone over iPhone!
 

yea,..lol, just pretty much stating what ppl may or may not know about the iphone and that pretty much, in the end, windows mobile phones(which im typing from my 8525 now) are better,..but they been out for years now, so who knows, soon it seems the iphone will finally be on wm's level or better from what i been seeing,..but when windows mobile 7 comes out, thats gonna pwn the hell out of iphone,..and i know ima wanna get one of those new wm7 phones too when the time comes,..

Re: Read me in TIME Magazine defending the WM-based phone over iPhone!
 

AHAHAHA.....my Mom got a copy of the issue my article is in and had the article custom framed for Christmas.

I'll post pics...AHAHAHAHA

Re: Read me in TIME Magazine defending the WM-based phone over iPhone!
 

I see this like We're Ultimately A Forum dedicated to The Personal pocket computer, and ya Iphones qualify, and even SOME phones, but we who want to get some actual work done while every one else only watches videos, texts, and plays solitaire, Do not want to lose the tactile response of a real keyboard, as well as the grip of a fine stylus....while away from our desks.

Re: Read me in TIME Magazine defending the WM-based phone over iPhone!
 

wow, necro bump eh? you dug this one deep out of the ground didn't ya? ;)