“The hardware (which is Motorola’s) mostly works. The keyboard is horrible and I’ve never used it, which means that it is a real design flaw given how much weight and mechanical operation it adds to the device. (The software keyboard works well enough that I’ve found it adequate but the other problems with the software make it barely useable.) The camera button on my Droid doesn’t work and never has, so I call up the camera from the home screen. The on-off button is poorly placed for one-handed operation and requires real force to actuate,” Alsop writes.
“The software (Google’s Android plus apps both from Google and from other developers) doesn’t work and is unacceptable on a mobile device. First, the operating system doesn’t work well enough to be considered a mobile OS. A mobile phone needs to have an OS that is really tied down and ready to perform at all times, like for receiving phone calls. This one isn’t,” Alsop writes. “The process management in the OS stinks. Press on an app icon; maybe it will come up and maybe the phone will just not respond. Who’s to know why?”
Alsop writes, “I’m not actually joking. The software is so bad that, for instance, when you open the phone app and click on search, there are multiple opportunities for the software to not respond or to respond incorrectly, which means that the phone is not useable unless you are starting intently at it and very, very patient about waiting for something to happen. If you want to search your contacts, you type the first letter and the phone will stop responding for 20-30 seconds. Don’t know why.”
Alsop writes, “After a month of using the phone (or trying really hard to use it) as my primary device, I have concluded that it’s a bad product and I have to get rid of it. It is plenty clear that Motorola was so desperate to get it on the market that it didn’t take time to test it properly and pushed or pulled Google into releasing crappy software on it.”
Full article – highly recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s always nice to see the truth in print, however rare it may be.
QUOTE: “Video recording was enabled on the 3GS not 3G phone. You have to jailbreak the 3G to enable video recording.”
haha… I rest my case.
Apple made them pay for a hardware upgrade to get a software feature that could have easily been available on the 3G. Suckers.
I’m biased: I own an iPhone, AAPL stock, and I work for AT&T;. HTC almost makes a great phone, but they all run WinCE, so game over for those fools.
The iPhone is still the best smartphone. Blackberrys are cool too. Well made and useful. But there is nothing else in the same league. Certainly not the Google Adphone that Verizon is pushing.
I’ve had Droid owners come back and look at iPhones. Problem is, Verizon doubled their ETF to $350.00.
We take Verizon subscribers at a 3:1 clip. So AT&T;’s network can’t be all bad. I live on an island in the middle of Puget Sound and have 5 bars and never a dropp call. YMMV of course.
“the iphone can barely make phone calls”
This depends on the region you are in, it has nothing to do with the iPhone itself. Verizon’s fault for not accepting Apple’s offer in the first place. Where I live, I rarely ever get dropped calls.
“can only run one app at a time”
I can be listening to music while browsing the web while getting push notifications for an IM conversation. What do you define as “multi-tasking”?
“doesn’t support true background processes/notifications”
Wrong. Many new apps are utilizing push notifications, a feature added in the 3.0 software update. MacDailyNews’ app is one of them. It was thanks to a push notification I saw this article.
“has a glorified app store where useful apps are rejected for no good reason and at the same time is dominated by useless apps that make fart noises”
A app that glorifies the Droid/an app where I shake babies are considered “useful”?
“rarely receives updates and is slow as balls (at least the 3G is)”
The iPhone 3G was released in summer of 2008. Please compare the latest version of the iPhone, or I can simply compare the 3GS to some crappy cell phone released in 1998. Also, I own an iPhone 3G, and it’s fast enough for me.
“has a crappy camera, apple won’t allow you to record video with the camera even though it is capable”
Once again… Compare the latest iPhone to other phones. It can record and edit video, it has AF, etc.
“can’t replace your battery, can’t upgrade your memory…”
Why do I need to do this? After the battery starts to give out, it’s probably time for an upgrade.
“okay, I am holding an iPhone 3G in my hand right now, please tell me where the video recording option is, because I can’t find it.”
For the third time… MAKE COMPARISON USING THE LATEST IPHONE.
I have come to the conclusion you have no idea what you’re talking about.
@cuz i’m the taxman
HTC makes a whole bunch of Android phones. Like most Apple fanboys, you are grossly mis-informed.
@Ben,
Not certain about the 3g, but the 3Gs has had it since it came out. So that would be a “yes.”
He may not like the Droid, but he’s still an asshat.
He can’t write his way out of paper bag. it’s a shame what passes for journalism these days.
And using a phone while driving? He deserves to have a fatal accident.
Maybe his automobile will spare us from his further drivel.
I do get tired of the constant bitching about AT&T;’s network, but I know the problems are real. Do me a favor though, call 611 from your phone, and report your dropped calls. We take down the exact location and time of your network problem. That info goes into a database that network engineers use to target resources for improving and repairing the network.
If you’re not reporting your dropped calls, you should be. AT&T;is spending $15 billion this next year on network upgrades. Your input is used to decide where to spend that money.
“Apple made them pay for a hardware upgrade to get a software feature that could have easily been available on the 3G. Suckers.”
I can tell you’re not the best informed.
The 3GS brought voice control, a compass, faster hardware (yeah, it’s faster:
and
), increased battery life, a vastly improved camera (I’m talking beyond the video recording) and larger capacity.
@411-RED
” What do you define as “multi-tasking”?”
I dont know about you but multi-tasking to me is using an application, say a game, getting a text message or email, pause the game, reply to said email or txt, then return to the game exactly where u left off without having to restart the app
Can your PHONE on your NETWORK do that???
@Ben
HTC may make a sh1tload of Android phones, but AT&T;doesn’t offer them. That’s my perspective. Frankly, I don’t care enough about also-rans like HTC to learn their entire catalogue.
@cuz i’m the taxman
I dialed 611 and it said “Called Failed”
@cuz i’m the taxman
and why should you care about HTC? Their phones don’t have an apple logo and therefore don’t appeal to you fanboys.
Unless you live in the middle of nowhere I find it hard to believe that anyone is missing “70%” of their fuckin calls. Gimme a break. I have two dead areas in the entire Los Angeles region and one of them has never given me a signal regardless of the network I was on (sprint, tmobile, at&t;). Quit whining. The network isn’t as bad as everyone makes it out to be.
I have a Blackberry Bold and I love it. RIM is the only legit competition for Apple. WinCE is as good as dead. Symbian? Please.
Google Adphones may one day get there. I’m betting they will. However, the Motorola hardware is just sh1tty, and the Droid UI is a clusterfsck.
@ Birdman and others
Stop whining about ATT’s cellular service. Absolutely ridiculous. There are a few spots in the US that ATT does not serve well. There are a few spots in the US that Verizon does not serve well. ATT has never let me down and I switched from Verizon, which I think was inferior. Customer support wise, technically wise, network wise, every which way inferior. Now, all their iPhone wannabe phones are inferior too.
The problem with Verizon and everyone else trying to “catch up” to the iPhone is just that – catching up.
How about making something new Verizon and Motorola? Stop copying and start creating. Breath some life back into the market for smartphones. The iPhone is light years more advanced with a better OS and integration for apps, etc. So, don’t play catch up to 100,000 apps, make something different and bring out a product that is truly great.
Stewart Alsop is an idiot.
Stewart Alsop for Fortune Magazine February 3, 1997
Apple did precisely the wrong thing. Now the only future for the company is to get smaller and smaller until there’s nothing left. In fact, the only sensible conversation to have about Apple is the one in which you argue about how long it will take to die.
It takes a long time to kill an $11-billion-a-year company. Apple’s already down to around $8 billion a year. I give it another three years, until the millennium, to fall the rest of the way to the ground.
@Planar
Wake up buddy. The AT&T;complaints are far too many to not be true. Congratulations that you have good service with them, that sadly is not the case for a large number of number. AT&T;failed to invest in their infrastructure and is now paying the price. It is a commonly known fact. Yes, fact.
Also, congratulations on your 100,000 apps… 95,000 of them seem to be made with childish amusement in mind. I’ll take quality of quantity any day.
@ umm:
To a certain extent. Many games do not, but some (like Rolando 2) save automatically when you log out.
Oh, and your compairson is flawed. I can’t do that on the other smartphones because they don’t have any games.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
Still waiting for that reply, Ben.
@ Ben:
I’d like to drop 15 million data hungry phones onto Verizon’s network and watch what happens. I promise you, the result wouldn’t be pretty.
Cut AT&T;some slack.
@411-RED
AT&T;should have seen that coming and prepared adequately. Simple as that.
Please go away. This is an Apple forum, so yes there will be a lot of Apple product fans here. You like your Droid phone, great, we don’t care.
I live in Dallas, a major US market, and I have never had an issue with dropped calls or bad service with my iPhone; not one. I understand there are regions within the US that have problems with AT&T;. If you live in one of these areas then it would be wise to use a different phone.
The iPhone is a game changing device and that kind of success always invites detractors and people who hate for no reason. Michael Jordan was a game changer for the NBA in the 90’s and is arguably the greatest of all time. And yet people boo’d him for no other reason than he was a winner. It makes no sense, but it happens.
Nobody saw the success of the iPhone coming… nobody. In fact everyone predicted epic fail. Cut AT&T;some slack.
@ Dave:
While predicting the iPhone’s success is one thing, predicting how massive a success it was is another. Besides, making massive accommodations for the phones in a span of two years (and seeing as you’ve all been whining for a long time, I could say one year) isn’t easy.
Next year I’ll be moving to an area where apparently Verizon has the only decent coverage. So until ATT increases their coverage or the iPhone moves to Verizon, should I get a Blackberry? It seems they only have the Storm…
“Motorola’s Droid sucks”
And C-3PO’s drive stays hard.