The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

It can get quite annoying when a corporate giant like Apple can hype a product as much as they have with their iPhone and create insatiable demand for it, while the consumer completely ignores its shortcomings. What drives me mad about it is that Apple can fix the problems, make a solid product even better, and still make their billions of dollars all at the same time.

Now I don't have a cell phone, don't plan to buy one, and can live the rest of my life without ever having one to call one my own. For many though, the cell phone is their life line, so if they hear of a product that can make the cell phone experience so much better, hey, sign me up!

There are several problems with it that I would not consider a huge deal so I'll ignore those, but for the few considering dropping $500 for a 4G or $600 for an 8G iPhone, please remember these facts when you buy:

1. No replaceable battery. This is the biggest problem even a casual cell phone user will be annoyed with. It has an 8 hour talk time an 24 standby battery life. Apple says it can take about 400 charges before needing "service". What this means according to some, is that a person who buys the phone and who is then required to sign a 2-year contract, may have to return the phone to Apple for "service" on the battery before the contract is up. And for many who can't live without their cell for one day much less the time it takes for repair, this is a disaster.

2. One provider. In the States, it's AT&T. It won't come to Canada for awhile (insufficient inventories to meet demand, so Apple is just releasing it in the USA) but I heard Rogers will be providing the service for the iPhone. I HATE ROGERS. Like the iPhone? That's where you have to go. This has anti-trust written all over it, in my opinion.

3. No Flash or Java. These two programs are a STAPLE for internet browsing. How many sites DON'T have at least one of these applications? Absolutely brutal.

4. No keyboard. The touch screen sometimes covers up part of your text when you're trying to type. How annoying is that? Blackberry users will have a hard time getting convinced to switch.

5. No expandable memory. It cannot be upgraded, so you'll probably just throw it out once the iPhone 2.0 comes out for your consumption.

And that's another thing: I read people were lining up days before the product's release to get their hands on one. It's almost a given that the first version of a product will have tons of bugs to weed through, so I think people are just begging for problems when they insist they get theirs ASAP.

And there's my rant. Pardon me while I now listen to my 8G iPod Nano that I purchased 2 1/2 years after my 4 G iPod Mini's 8 hour battery life was cut down to about 1/2 that length.