Thursday, October 27, 2011
Apple Fanboy Part 2 / The Death of webOS
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Apple
Let's follow up on a previous post...
If there was any doubt as to my status of Apple fanboy or not Apple fanboy, there should be no doubt today.
Tomorrow makes the two week mark with my new iPhone 4S. Guess what I am thinking now... why didn't I do this years ago? I bought in to a great promotion Verizon was running back in April of last year. They were offering the Palm Pre Plus for $50 to existing customers that never had a smartphone before. The one thing that lured me to this offer, though, was the fact that they were also offering the mobile hotspot service for no additional cost. I also thought that I would be paying an additional $29.99 a month to have a data plan on my phone line. However, it came out to be around $23 more a month because of a company discount that I was not aware of. That was all I needed to hear. I was convinced. It was time to go into the world of the smartphone.
The Palm Pre was nice... for awhile. I loved having the ability to have the web, email, Facebook, and everything else in the Palm of my hand (pun not intended). However, there were issues with the keyboard. You were very lucky if you typed out a short text message and it actually said what you wanted it to say. The phone became very slow too. I quickly discovered homebrew hacking possibilities for the phone at precentral.net. Hacking non-approved software onto the phone brought new life to it, but it got to where I couldn't handle it anymore. The keyboard and GPS problems it had (another saga you can read about at precentral.net) just brought the phone to the point where it was not usable for me anymore.
Palm then released the Palm Pre 2 with webOS 2.0. Mr. Jon Rubinstein himself also announced that the Palm Pre and Palm Pre Plus would get webOS 2.0 by the end of 2010. I wanted it! The new update to webOS 2.0 would be what would really make my phone rock! I looked forward to the day when I could run it on my phone. Well, they ended up backtracking and announced in February that webOS 2.0 would not be released for the older devices. That was it... I was done. HP ended up buying Palm and promised a lot things. I don't know if this was HP's decision to not release the update or what it was.
Actually, I wasn't done with Palm yet it turns out. I expressed my frustration that my less than a year old Palm Pre Plus would not get anymore updates to the local HP representative. He managed to work out a deal to send me a Palm Pre 2 at no charge. I was sold again on Palm (or should I say HP) devices. They bought my loyalty at the cost of a new Palm Pre 2.
Needless to say, it didn't last more than about six months. Don't get me wrong, the phone was great. The hardware was a breath of fresh air compared to the Palm Pre Plus. It still had GPS problems, but I had learned to live without it. Additionally, the keyboard problems were gone and the software was buttery smooth. I was in love with my phone again. However, in August HP announced the death of webOS devices. That was the end of webOS as we knew it, as far as I was concerned. If HP didn't care anymore, why should I invest my time, energy, and money into this platform? I made my decision that I was going with a Google or Apple platform from now on.
Having used an iPod Touch 3rd generation and also an iPad I decided that it made sense to go with an iPhone. It obviously didn't make sense to get an iPhone 4 when a new iPhone announcement was right around the corner, though. Fast forward to October 7, the day iPhone 4S pre-orders became avaiable, where I stayed up until midnight to pre-order my black iPhone 4S.
The iPhone 4S has been outstanding! It more than exceeds my expectations. The camera is great, the virtual keyboard just works, and amazingly I have functional GPS now! Siri is surprisingly useful too. I won't give a full review here. The reviews are out there on the web if you want to read them.
My home now has my old 13 inch aluminum MacBook and 3rd generation iPod Touch, which my wife primarily uses; an iPad 2; a MacBook Air; and now an iPhone 4S. Yes, I admit it now. I am an Apple fanboy through and through. I have totally bought in to this ecosystem that Apple has created. Now I'm just wondering when I can afford to get an iMac, an Apple TV, and a Time Capsule. It won't be any time soon, but I look forward to buying more Apple devices.
Again I say... why didn't I do this a long time ago!
Read More
If there was any doubt as to my status of Apple fanboy or not Apple fanboy, there should be no doubt today.
Tomorrow makes the two week mark with my new iPhone 4S. Guess what I am thinking now... why didn't I do this years ago? I bought in to a great promotion Verizon was running back in April of last year. They were offering the Palm Pre Plus for $50 to existing customers that never had a smartphone before. The one thing that lured me to this offer, though, was the fact that they were also offering the mobile hotspot service for no additional cost. I also thought that I would be paying an additional $29.99 a month to have a data plan on my phone line. However, it came out to be around $23 more a month because of a company discount that I was not aware of. That was all I needed to hear. I was convinced. It was time to go into the world of the smartphone.
The Palm Pre was nice... for awhile. I loved having the ability to have the web, email, Facebook, and everything else in the Palm of my hand (pun not intended). However, there were issues with the keyboard. You were very lucky if you typed out a short text message and it actually said what you wanted it to say. The phone became very slow too. I quickly discovered homebrew hacking possibilities for the phone at precentral.net. Hacking non-approved software onto the phone brought new life to it, but it got to where I couldn't handle it anymore. The keyboard and GPS problems it had (another saga you can read about at precentral.net) just brought the phone to the point where it was not usable for me anymore.
Palm then released the Palm Pre 2 with webOS 2.0. Mr. Jon Rubinstein himself also announced that the Palm Pre and Palm Pre Plus would get webOS 2.0 by the end of 2010. I wanted it! The new update to webOS 2.0 would be what would really make my phone rock! I looked forward to the day when I could run it on my phone. Well, they ended up backtracking and announced in February that webOS 2.0 would not be released for the older devices. That was it... I was done. HP ended up buying Palm and promised a lot things. I don't know if this was HP's decision to not release the update or what it was.
Actually, I wasn't done with Palm yet it turns out. I expressed my frustration that my less than a year old Palm Pre Plus would not get anymore updates to the local HP representative. He managed to work out a deal to send me a Palm Pre 2 at no charge. I was sold again on Palm (or should I say HP) devices. They bought my loyalty at the cost of a new Palm Pre 2.
Needless to say, it didn't last more than about six months. Don't get me wrong, the phone was great. The hardware was a breath of fresh air compared to the Palm Pre Plus. It still had GPS problems, but I had learned to live without it. Additionally, the keyboard problems were gone and the software was buttery smooth. I was in love with my phone again. However, in August HP announced the death of webOS devices. That was the end of webOS as we knew it, as far as I was concerned. If HP didn't care anymore, why should I invest my time, energy, and money into this platform? I made my decision that I was going with a Google or Apple platform from now on.
Having used an iPod Touch 3rd generation and also an iPad I decided that it made sense to go with an iPhone. It obviously didn't make sense to get an iPhone 4 when a new iPhone announcement was right around the corner, though. Fast forward to October 7, the day iPhone 4S pre-orders became avaiable, where I stayed up until midnight to pre-order my black iPhone 4S.
The iPhone 4S has been outstanding! It more than exceeds my expectations. The camera is great, the virtual keyboard just works, and amazingly I have functional GPS now! Siri is surprisingly useful too. I won't give a full review here. The reviews are out there on the web if you want to read them.
My home now has my old 13 inch aluminum MacBook and 3rd generation iPod Touch, which my wife primarily uses; an iPad 2; a MacBook Air; and now an iPhone 4S. Yes, I admit it now. I am an Apple fanboy through and through. I have totally bought in to this ecosystem that Apple has created. Now I'm just wondering when I can afford to get an iMac, an Apple TV, and a Time Capsule. It won't be any time soon, but I look forward to buying more Apple devices.
Again I say... why didn't I do this a long time ago!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Cell Phone Choices
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Verizon
The news that AT&T is buying T-Mobile has got me thinking about how evil cell phone companies appear to be. There seems to be an evil side to a lot of corporations in America, but not all of them get to the level of trying to squeeze every cent out of Americans that they possibly can. This seems to be even more true when it comes to cellular phone carriers in the United States.
Of the remaining big 3 carriers in the US, only Sprint has not announced plans to get rid of unlimited data plans. Data and tethering pricing on cellular devices is the one of the largest forms of screwing over American consumers. My "unlimited" data plan with Verizon is $30 per month. Unlimited really means don't go over 5 GB a month. By comparison, my Comcast dedicated connection does not have these limits and I only pay $10 more a month. I get a connection that is at least 15 times faster than my cell phone that is always on for not much more money. Something is wrong with this picture.
When the iPhone 4 was released on AT&T, they announced tiered data pricing. You no longer get your "unlimited" connection, but you can get 2 GB of data for $20 a month. My mom uses 2 GB a month on her connection at home just checking her email. AT&T is screwing people over. They are going to make a lot of money on data overage charges
Verizon is going to do the same thing, as they have at least hinted that they will have the same kind of plans when they finish rolling out their LTE network. Why do they have to squeeze every last penny that they can out of their customers?
When the T-Mobile acquisition is complete, surely AT&T will find a way to get T-Mobile customers to pay the same rates that current AT&T customers pay.
So why do we even have cell phones? Why do we let the carriers push us around like we do? I am just as much at fault here as everyone else is. Can we not live without our mobile devices?
I want to hear from people as to why they pay what they do. Why do you have a cell phone? What phone and on what carrier do you have service? Do you have a smartphone with data capabilities? If you don't, is it because of the high premiums you pay for data? Have you considered getting one?
Read More
Of the remaining big 3 carriers in the US, only Sprint has not announced plans to get rid of unlimited data plans. Data and tethering pricing on cellular devices is the one of the largest forms of screwing over American consumers. My "unlimited" data plan with Verizon is $30 per month. Unlimited really means don't go over 5 GB a month. By comparison, my Comcast dedicated connection does not have these limits and I only pay $10 more a month. I get a connection that is at least 15 times faster than my cell phone that is always on for not much more money. Something is wrong with this picture.
When the iPhone 4 was released on AT&T, they announced tiered data pricing. You no longer get your "unlimited" connection, but you can get 2 GB of data for $20 a month. My mom uses 2 GB a month on her connection at home just checking her email. AT&T is screwing people over. They are going to make a lot of money on data overage charges
Verizon is going to do the same thing, as they have at least hinted that they will have the same kind of plans when they finish rolling out their LTE network. Why do they have to squeeze every last penny that they can out of their customers?
When the T-Mobile acquisition is complete, surely AT&T will find a way to get T-Mobile customers to pay the same rates that current AT&T customers pay.
So why do we even have cell phones? Why do we let the carriers push us around like we do? I am just as much at fault here as everyone else is. Can we not live without our mobile devices?
I want to hear from people as to why they pay what they do. Why do you have a cell phone? What phone and on what carrier do you have service? Do you have a smartphone with data capabilities? If you don't, is it because of the high premiums you pay for data? Have you considered getting one?
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