I Quit The iPhone

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/31/i-quit-the-iphone/

by terpua • 17 years ago

191 99 17 years ago

lallysingh2• 17 years ago

I'm feeling pretty disillusioned about my iPhone recently. I'm basically waiting for a sufficiently-captivating Android device. I'm curious to see what the Hero will be like, once I have a chance to hold it and they've had a chance to smooth out (and speed up) the software stack.

adammarkey• 17 years ago

Unfortunately the Hero looks like it has some "lag" issues when navigating around the screen in the production models out in Europe right now. I hope it's a software fix to make it better, but I imagine we're going to have to wait for a faster processor to take advantage of that slick UI it has.

Also, T-mobile said that they won't be carrying the Hero because they are releasing the "myTouch" that Arrington was talking about in that article.

Let's hope someone gets on the ball in the US and gives the iPhone a run for it's money with Android. I think it will eventually happen, but we're probably going to have to wait another year.

pxlpshr• 17 years ago

I still really love my iPhone but the Android is the second most attractive to me. Like you said though, the devices just haven't been that great yet.

My girlfriend has the Palm Pre and I don't think it's that great at all. It's extremely frustrating to use and the navigation is not that intuitive. My buddy also got the Palm and dropped it a 2 weeks later for the iPhone.

pgebhard• 17 years ago

Those Pre keys are way too tiny. I didn't like how it felt after using it for a little bit, and I don't think I'd like it for a long time. I'm really glad Apple went the software keyboard route. It was definitely a smart idea (and it's much easier to type with, too, I feel).

kirse3• 17 years ago

I've owned my trusty Nokia N95 (8gb) since late '07 - before the original iPhone came out, and it's been funny to watch the evolution of comments on HN... It's like a bunch of people bought into the iPhone hype and have slowly come to realize they're left with a subpar phone that provides poor service. Not to mention the iPhone has actually gotten better since it's initial release, so that tells you even more.

And here I am, still taking 5 megapixel pictures and quality VGA video with my 2-year-old N95-8gb, something the iPhone still can't do. Sure, it's a bit thicker, but I get 3G, crystal-clear reception with AT&T, and get my Google Voice.

All one has to do is browse GSMArena or PhoneScoop to realize how far behind the iPhone is to the majority of phone manufacturers. Apple does UI extremely well, but they've largely proven that they're really just the next Motorola RAZR... A cutsey little fashion phone that breaks often, performs poorly, and hardly gives the end-user what they're really looking for.

Just looking at phones like the Samsung i8910 (which does 720p HD video) helps one realize how far behind Apple is on the phone-tech curve:

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i8910_omnia_hd-review-380.ph...

dkarl3• 17 years ago

What the iPhone taught me is to ignore cell phone reviews that dedicate most of their space to listing specs and features. Whoever wrote this review is not experiencing the phone the way I would, or the way any typical user would. Does he really need to tell us that the calculator has "a very limited set of functions" but that "Luckily, you can find third-party alternatives?" What kind of readers does this guy have that he's not afraid of losing them to boredom at this point?

Another case in point: I found the section about the web browser buried on page six underneath a larger section devoted to audio quality, which includes frequency response graphs and a table of audio measurements. And when it comes to the web browser, it says it "would have used somewhat more user-friendly interface" and "could certainly use a bit of fine tuning." It describes how to bypass the "unresponsive" and "slow" zoom feature by tapping a text section to zoom it but notes that it "is sometimes a hit and miss thing as the web browser fails to fit the text on screen." If you ask me, you don't want to use this review to illustrate that Apple is "behind" on cell phone technology.

lallysingh2• 17 years ago

Frankly my iPhone service has been substantially better than the Treo 650p I had before. Reception anywhere I go is full-signal, even in the elevators in my building.

colinprince• 17 years ago

That's exactly why you haven't left the iPhone yet.

It's still the best phone for you. Sure, you're looking around, you'd be a fool not to.

But, as you've said, you're waiting for something better.

Apple has created a great phone and they're definitely going to try and stay on top.

By all means switch to the better phone when it comes out -- that's the best way to keep Apple and everyone else on their toes.

rimantas• 17 years ago

The title should be "I quit AT&T".

alaskamiller• 17 years ago

Should have titled it "Fuck You, AT&T." I would have done it. The company deserves no sympathy, not just for cell phone coverage.

zackattack3• 17 years ago

I hate most phone companies, I hate most credit card companies, and I hate most banks. Evil corporations.

Edit: Love the groupthink voting against my relevant comment. Keep it up please!

spatulon• 17 years ago

AT&T is just one carrier of many and yet, as far as I can tell, the Google Voice app has been denied approval from all the iTunes app stores, not just the one for the US.

A few possibilities come to mind:

- Apple doesn't have the ability to allow different apps into stores for different regions. - iPhone carriers in other countries also threw their toys out of the pram about GV. - AT&T (and the US market) is so big that it defines the rules for the whole world.

terpua• 17 years ago

This Google Voice fiasco by Apple and/or AT&T is slowly mushrooming into a nuclear cloud. I wonder when CNN, BBC et al will start picking it up...

When this hits mainstream, who knows what kind of public backlash will ensue.

cesare• 17 years ago

For what is worth, yesterday the news was on the home page of the 2nd most read italian newspaper:

http://www.repubblica.it/2009/01/sezioni/tecnologia/google-w...

tedunangst• 17 years ago

Public backlash ensues when there's the possibility of something affecting them. How many people actually have (or care to have) a Google Voice number?

medianama• 17 years ago

I Quit TechCrunch!

jeremymims4• 17 years ago

This reaction doesn't make any sense to me. I think it's become fashionable (especially on HN) to bash on the startup world's "paper of record" with pretty poor evidence.

So we end up with comments that start with:

"I hate Tech Crunch as much as anyone else but," "Arrington pushes startups he invested in" "Everything's about twitter" "I don't read Tech Crunch because of their focus on x but," "Tech Crunch doesn't break real news" "Tech Crunch needs a real editor" "Tech Crunch only does favors for friends" "Tech Crunch only wrote this as linkbait"

And now, with no relevance whatsoever to a meaningful discussion about the article, we get a knee jerk, play to the haters, "I quit Tech Crunch!".

In this community, I feel there needs to be a base line of respect for entrepreneurs and the people that help them. And make no mistake, Michael Arrington is both. If you have a legitimate gripe, write something constructive. There is little or no value, however, to reinforcing this idea that everything Tech Crunch does is wrong or bad.

inaka2• 17 years ago

But, why not just jailbreak the phone? The article is so hyperbolic... 'i quit tech crunch' is the best one sentence critique of Arrington i've seen yet.

jm4• 17 years ago

Ok, I'll take a stab at this. I know basically nothing about Arrington. I don't know what he's invested in or who he's friends with, nor do I care.

What I do know is that TechCrunch publishes utter trash. It's a tabloid that caters to the geek crowd. The articles are poorly written and even more poorly researched. Some of them are based on sources as flimsy as a single sentence fragment of a tweet if not a complete fabrication or speculation.

What is purported to be news is heavily editorialized. What is purported to be analysis is the kind of tin foil hat stuff one could expect to see in the typical Slashdot comment. Simply put, the TechCrunch writers are lousy journalists- if you can even use the word "journalist" at all.

In my opinion, some of the people at TechCrunch have questionable ethics. Revealing a company's internal documents in piecemeal over the course of a week to give readers some little voyeuristic thrill while raking in the advertising dollars is wrong. It would be one thing if they were blowing the whistle on something illegal or immoral that was going on there, but those documents revealed nothing of real value. It was simply a peek behind the curtains.

TechCrunch is not in the business of information and certainly is not the "paper of record" for startups and entrepreneurs. They are in the business of selling controversy where it doesn't necessarily exist. It is for this exact reason that they often have a headline designed to stoke the nerd rage fire on top of an article that is little more than some asshole's opinion or wild guess about how something is going to play out. When TechCrunch actually does publish something newsworthy there are usually several other sources with better coverage and better writing.

I will continue to flag TechCrunch submissions.

marbletiles• 17 years ago

There does need to be a base line of respect, and Arrington doesn't give it. He knows he doesn't as well -- according to his last Twitter post, he's "ripshit mad" (http://twitter.com/arrington/status/2949113649) that people are talking about "unauthorised" crunchpad info -- yet he's happy enough to do precisely the same thing to other firms.

(As for your NY Times analogy, it doesn't hold up. It's more like saying "I think the Sulzbergers are dreadful people who are destroying something that should be good, so I refuse to read their paper".)

It's so frustrating that more people don't demand better tech journalism than that provided by TC. Tech was one of the first areas where online news swept away traditional media, but the service we get now is much, much worse.

Having given it a few years now, I rather think I'd take a copy of Byte every 30 days than 30 up-to-the-minute days of coverage from TechCrunch. We deserve better.

blhack2• 17 years ago

Seeing snarky comments like this voted up to near the top of the page really illustrates the decline that HN has seen over the past week or so...

I wish that there was a way for HN to meta-moderate. That is, give specific moderators a heavier influence over things (and new users almost none at all). I think his would help curtail the reddit culture migrating onto HN.

eli3• 17 years ago

What would you expect? It's a story about Arrington's opinion. I think it's valid to question whether or not we should even care.

There's not much else to say. The AT&T/Apple/Google issue has already been the subject of several submissions here, and I don't think this post adds anything to it.

niyazpk• 17 years ago

Michael Arrington does know how to keep things interesting. Even if we resist, somehow articles from TechCrunch reach the front page of HN. Not that I have any real problem with it, but can we somehow filter the front page to contain a maximum of 5 or so sensationalist articles?

TweedHeads• 17 years ago

So he's been using the perfect phone for two years then a new service comes and gets rejected and he drops the best mobile computing platform ever?

I know everybody is milking the GV fiasco, but this borders on stupidity.

jonknee2• 17 years ago

He's got a phone that drops calls, doesn't work well in his home and can't run the apps he wants to run. Stupidity eh?

axod4• 17 years ago

>> "a phone that drops calls"

This whole "The iPhone drops calls" thing it like blaming Ferarri because your car keeps skidding on the dirt track roads in your country. If you want a telephone system that works, don't live in the US.

easyfrag• 17 years ago

Steven Frank "quitting" the iPhone is a bigger deal. If the rumours are to be believed then Arrington is about to be a competitor to Apple (in the tablet space). That plus his history of histrionics kind of tempers my interest in his opinions of the iPhone.

onreact-com• 17 years ago

This is the link about Steven Frank quitting the iPhone: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=734182

zackattack3• 17 years ago

Who is Steven Frank?

jcl• 17 years ago

He's an independent developer of Macintosh (but not iPhone) software.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Frank_(developer)

(I didn't recognize the name, either, but I remembered his startup -- Panic -- from an earlier story about how they almost got bought by Apple: http://www.panic.com/extras/audionstory/)

imgabe3• 17 years ago

I can't help but feel that if you consider your phone just a phone, rather than a defining characteristic of your personality, you're less likely to be so outraged at its shortcomings.

troels• 17 years ago

Maybe it's neither. Maybe it's just that some people consider their device as a hybrid personal computer / phone. Then it becomes rather annoying that you can't control what's installed at it.

scotch_drinker• 17 years ago

The irony that you're talking about an Apple product and control in the same sentence is truly rich. Since when has Apple been concerned in the least with giving users full control?

imgabe3• 17 years ago

You may consider it part personal computer, but the people owning the network it needs to function don't. They made this pretty clear when you bought it, and the cell phone industry in America has behaved this way since it's inception. It really shouldn't be a surprise.

I agree it would be desirable to have a hybrid personal computer / phone that would give me as much freedom of software as my desktop, but the iPhone isn't that, nor did it claim to be.

I also can't install whatever software I want on the cable box I got from Comcast. Nobody's ranting about that though.

praptak• 17 years ago

"I can't help but feel that if you consider your phone just a phone [...]"

... then you will not buy an iPhone in the first place.

mcantelon• 17 years ago

I think it's the shortcoming of Apple, rather than the phone, that are the source of the outrage.

jsz02• 17 years ago

I think there's a lot more to this situation than we know right now. Apple hasn't commented officially on the situation yet. Has Google? I read some (second hand) reports that AT&T denied any role in the removal of the Google Voice applications which makes sense since they offer various models of Google Voice capable BlackBerries. This leads me to wonder if Apple isn't working on a deal with Google to officially support Google Voice in the iPhone OS. It certainly makes more sense than Apple making this huge anti-competitive strike against a company they are otherwise friendly with over a product that is invite-only and not even a blip on the radar to Apple. A deal between the two companies opens a lot of interesting possibilities especially when you consider Apple is looking beyond carrier exclusivity and is rumored to be launching an iPod Touch with a built in microphone -- along with the rumored tablet device. Until both Apple & Google release a statement on this I'm convinced they're working on a deal. Apple has been known to withhold information for PR purposes even if it's causing them bad PR. (ie, copy & paste in iPhone 3.0. They could have just said yeah, we're working on it -- but instead they refused to comment)

gdee• 17 years ago

Even if you're right and we'll soon see a 180 turn on Google's app, it will still leave a bad taste in many mouths due to the way they booted the other related apps from the store.

angstrom• 17 years ago

Possibly, but don't forget that the person who controls your mobile number controls your mobile commmunication. The devices and towers are just the medium.

maryrosecook• 17 years ago

Apple and Google working on a deal doesn't fit. If that were the case, why would Apple spit in Google's eye by rejecting their app? If that were the case, why would Google develop and submit their app in the first place?

jsz02• 17 years ago

That is a mystery. It doesn't really make any sense either way does it?

tybris• 17 years ago

How dare they stop our Google overlords from collecting even more information on us.

10ren• 17 years ago

Voice transcription sounds pretty cool (in Google Voice). It's speech recognition, but the nice thing about this particular application is that it doesn't matter if it's not real time.

kingkawn• 17 years ago

They've got quite a lot of bugs to work out of it before its ready. I've had google voice for about a month and have yet to get a single transcription that was useful.

blasdel• 17 years ago

It's pretty good for recognizing telemarketers and wrong-number collections calls at a glance, and then banning their numbers.

jasongullickson4• 17 years ago

If I understand correctly...he's "quitting the iPhone" because it's an unsatisfactory VOIP handset...

Of all the things Apple claims the iPhone to be, I don't think this is one of them; so I'd say that the problem has more to do with his purchasing choices than anything Apple and AT&T are up to...

ben_straub• 17 years ago

Google Voice ain't VOIP. Here's what it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Q9MJdT5Ds

bonsaitree• 17 years ago

Looks like Mikey is looking for some filler for a slow end-of-week news cycle. Plus, he can continue to add more follow-up "content" on Pre & Android experiences.

Just more "jurinal"-istic pablum. Next.

jasongullickson4• 17 years ago

I have loved the Automobile, but now I am quitting the Automobile.

This is not an easy decision.

I was there in January 2007 when it was announced and I bought the first Automobile as soon as it was available. I happily bought the Automobile 3G a year later. I’ve proudly yelled “I Am A Member Of The Cult Of Automobile.” I’ve been an unabashed cheerleader for this mode of transportation to all who’ll listen. And I’ve scoffed at drivers who said they’d abandon the platform.

But I’m not going to upgrade to the Automobile 3GS. Instead, I’m abandoning the Automobile and DOT. I will grudgingly pay the $175 DOT unregitration fee and then I will move on to another mode of transportation.

What finally put me over the edge? It wasn’t the routinely congested highways, something you can only truly understand once you have owned an Automobile (and which drove my friend Om Malik to bail). I’ve lived with that for two years. It’s not the lack of parking spaces at home. I’ve lived with that for two years, too. It certainly isn’t the lack of a feed bag, that has never bothered me. No, what finally put me over the edge is the speeding debacle.

Most of you won’t know what I’m talking about, so I’ll explain.

Speeding is a way to get where you're going faster than everyone else. Here’s an overview of the service if you aren’t familiar with it.

I’ve always wanted to use speeding but there’s a big switching cost - crashing your automobile and dying. Too many roads are not built well enough to operate an automobile at sustained high speeds and are too dangerous to use for speeding.

But now Firestone is planning on rolling out a new line of tires that are supposed to handle well at high-speed, so I can drive as fast as I want no matter what condition the road is in.

Or so I thought. Chevrolet and the DOT are now making speeding illegal. Why? Because they absolutely don’t want people doing exactly what I’m doing - driving as fast as they want and using their roads as a racetrack.

So I have to choose between the Automobile and speeding. It’s not an easy decision. Except, it sort of is. Firestone isn’t forcing the decision on me, Chevrolet and the DOT are. So I choose to work with the company that isn’t forcing me to do things their way. And in this case, that’s Firestone.

So what mode of transportation will I use next? Well, that decision is easy, too. I’d move to the goat because I believe it is the best vehicle out there other than the Automobile 3GS. But Firestone hasn’t created a tire for the goat yet, just motorcycle and bicycles. So for now I’m going to use the new bicycle speeding tires. As soon as something better comes out, or Firestone makes an tire for the goat, I’ll switch. And keep on speeding. No long commute to work for me.

And Chevrolet, if you ever decide to put the hammer down on DOT and do the right thing for your loyal customers, I’ll consider switching back. In the meantime, I’ll just use one of many go-karts parked in the garage to test out new roads.

jasongullickson4• 17 years ago

I knew I'd take a beating on this comment, but I think it's a valid point, and I'm willing to bleed for it.

krschultz• 17 years ago

Valid point? It looks like you played mad libs, I don't see your argument.

wglb• 17 years ago

This is a little petulant, but the plot over why kill GV is interesting. Since skype is on the iphone, and GV is on other phones with AT&T, it is curious why GV was rejected.

lpgauth• 17 years ago

Boohoo! Cry me a river Arrington...

amjith• 17 years ago

Wow! There is a pretty strong reaction against Apple. OSNews released an editorial yesterday that promises to publish news for the next 1984 days that works against Apple's PR. http://www.osnews.com/story/21918/The_Camel_s_Back_Broke_198...

keltecp11• 17 years ago

Has anyone elses 3G Iphone SLOWWWWWED down like 10 fold?

czstrong• 17 years ago

I'm not sure exactly how the tech works, but if GV works over the data network, similar to skype, I'm concerned the quality, connection time, and amount of dropped calls would be worse than a regular call. The iPhone drops enough calls as it is, I imagine it could get much worse if the phone had to open an app, third-party or not, and place calls over the data network.

And what about SMS? For me to use GV full time, I need the ability to send SMS's from my GV number. MMS as well. I hope this functionality will be built into the app, if one ever makes it to the device.

stanleydrew2• 17 years ago

GV only uses the data network to initiate the call. All the actual calling is done over the voice network. And SMS is free with GV.

pstinnett• 17 years ago

Just thinking through this problem some, I had a quick thought that would be neat to see: "Carrier Apps". These apps would have lower level access to the iPhone and to allow true background processes (listening for calls, texts, setting a data connection). You would download a carrier app and it would "install" itself as a preference pane. Basically I would like to see carriers treated more like preferences/apps than partners. I know this couldn't happen until after AT&T exclusivity came to an end. I think it makes sense: Apple could then converge the iPod touch/iPhone into one product. Don't want a cell service? Don't install the app. Makes room for the tablet to be dropped in for use with a 3G provider or just as a wifi device too. Just a thought. I'm sure there are plenty of holes in it.

mrshoe• 17 years ago

I think Arrington is bluffing here and I'm calling his bluff.

I would probably do the exact same thing in his position. There's no way I would quit the iPhone, and I bet he won't either. He's just using his powerful voice to put more heat on AT&T and Apple to reverse this decision.

And I'm glad he is. I hope it works.

axod4• 17 years ago

No, he's using his 'powerful voice' to get more hits to his website.

warrior• 17 years ago

I Quit HN!

joubert• 17 years ago

I'll take your iPhone then.

teeja2• 17 years ago

I'd only own a phone for the computer/WiFi part. And I won't have some freaking manufacturer telling me what software I can and can't run on MY computer.

That HTC Hero that's in the pipeline looks awesome. (Price??) I saw an advert & review for it yesterday for the first time. (It runs Flash! uses SD card.)

teeja2• 17 years ago

OK, I can answer my own question: Price: 435 Pounds, SIM-free. Ouch.

I Quit The iPhone

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