iGerard FTW

Okay, so I said I wouldn’t do reposts of articles but this is just bollocks!

Evidently an AT&T kiosk in a New Jersey mall has had employees hand out anti-iPhone propaganda to customers requesting the out-of-stock iPhone 3G. When a Gizmodo reader’s mother went to the Moorestown Mall in New Jersey to ask about iPhone insurance they “laughed at her face.” They they proceeded to hand out articles written against the iPhone and for the Blackberry – from sites such as Crackberry.com and Pocket PC Magazine.

The documents have the same old arguments that even iPhone users have complained about: no MMS, stereo bluetooth, user replaceable battery, video record, etc. The list seems to go on. I think on the article there was even an argument about no voice dial. I’m not too sure how many people use voice dial, but I just use my Favorites for speed dialing. Also, there IS a voice dial app in the App Store …

You know, I’m going to break down the reasons they give in the slander, one by one.

1. No removable battery
   

   This does bother me a little bit, but the battery works just fine if you know how to control your usage and utilize the on/off switch for each service (3G, WiFi, Push/Fetch, Bluetooth). Yes, there does come a time when the battery needs to be replaced, but there are some people out there who could even mess that simple task up. Also, you have to go through the trouble of buying a battery on Ebay or whatever your place of purchase may be. When you buy the battery, you have to have the correct type and match all of the specifications of the original battery. It may seem an easy task, as I said, but you could inadvertently destroy parts inside of the device or, over time, do so. The design of the iPhone would also fail if we could have a user replacable battery. The awesome part of the iPhone’s design is it’s minimalism. No doors or compartments to open (with the exception of the SIM tray that can only be opened with a paper clip) means less ways to break the iPhone. Yes we could get a “juice pack” for our iPhones, and it works just fine. Not to mention we can charge at ANY USB 2.0 port we can get to. Can Blackberry do that? In addition, I think I’d rather have an Apple tech replace the battery even if it were user-replaceable. I, personally, have had no problem with Applecare.

2. No video record / no flash
   

   Yes, there is indeed no video recording capabilities or flash. Now, to solve the former, there’s something wonderful that every iPhone comes with… APP STORE! Guess what people, the iPhone SDK has access to all of the API’s that Apple uses. That includes… THE CAMERA API!!! So, what does this mean Gerard? Well, reader, it means that someone can create an app to record video from the camera. Isn’t that nifty? Boy that SDK is pretty awesome. Now, flash is something that cannot be solved with App Store. I’m not going to say that the iPhone has the best camera, because it doesn’t, but it takes excellent indoor/outdoor photos. Usually when you use a flash, it’s because either it’s dark, or you need to flash the subject in the foreground. If you had a flash for the former, is it REALLY going to make the shot THAT much better? The answer is no. As for the latter, the camera already does a great job taking in light and focusing on the subject.

3. No Voice Dial
   

   I sort of already touched on this a little bit before I got aggravated and decided to break these arguments down. Yes, there is no voice dial but, like the solution to the last argument, there’s App Store. In the App Store there is already an app that does just that. So if you REALLY need that voice dial, you got it! Wow, isn’t the App Store just swell?

4. No Expandable Memory
   

   Okay, honestly, I think that 16GB is just fine. This is enough to fit a modest amount of music, podcasts, and some video + the slew of apps you will download from App Store. So, what if I need more room? I’d love to have that expandable memory Gerard!… No you don’t. Honestly, it won’t be as fast and efficient as the on-board memory that the iPhone has. Also, it just adds another part of the phone to be broken. Oh but wait… all of the parts stay as a whole, just like you said in the battery argument Gerard! That is right friends!

5. No MMS
   

   Honestly, MMS was cool when we weren’t sending rich text and picture messages. I’m sorry but if I want to send someone my 2 mega-pixel shot I took, I don’t want to send it through MMS, get it compressed horribly through whatever service they use, and them get some grainy, sorry excuse for a photo on their small handset. So, how did Apple solve this problem? EMAIL. It’s a smart phone, and email has never looked so good on a smart phone as it does on iPhone. kthxbai.

6. No CDMA
   

   CDMA people are complaining that it’s not on your network? Hmmm… lets see.. CDMA = North America, GSM = Worldwide. I think that solves the problem. Why pick a network that isn’t everywhere you go? On CDMA, before leaving the country you have to have a special phone and a whole mess of things have to happen. With iPhone and going overseas, you just turn off Data Roaming (for the most part)

7. No UMA
   

   Well, they do admit there will be 3rd Party apps that will allow calling through Wi-Fi (Skype or in my case Fring) but they say you won’t see it on T-Mobile or Rogers. How much of the international market is covered T-Mobile and Rogers? I believe Rogers is Canada only and T-Mobile covers part of Europe. No where in there does it say USA. Also, just because these carriers in their small markets (compared to rest of the 70+ countries iPhone 3G is going to) you shouldn’t get the iPhone? No. No. No.

8. No Stereo Bluetooth
   

   Yes, there is no A2DP on the iPhone 3G. What do you expect though? With the battery already having to power manage 3G, wi-fi, EDGE, push/fetch, the last thing it needs is to power manage stereo bluetooth. With stereo bluetooth it’s not just a quick connection for a few minutes or so, it’s a constant connection pushing audio. This would drain the battery immensely, along with 3G, Wi-Fi, etc. Yes, it is a wireless world, but how can we be wireless if the darn device doesn’t have battery?

This is only one part of the slander that the AT&T reps handed out at the NJ store. The next page is an argument on the incredible “rich” apps you can use on the Blackberry – none of which are up to par with the quality apps from App Store. Tagged on the end is also a page on why a Windows Mobile phone is better than the iPhone 3G. Skimming the article I saw a few petty excuses such as no physical keyboard (people just don’t give it a chance, best keyboard I’ve used in a smart phone), not much apps (because App Store has been open as long as windows mobile software has been out), and no BG processes (which is a double-edged sword honestly, the push notification service should solve most problems). I don’t have enough time to rant on those, but here’s my take on everything. Feel free to post your comments below.