Senior Contributing Editors:
Jesus Diaz
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Mark Wilson, Reviews
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Contributing Editors:
Matt Buchanan | AIM | Twitter
Adam Frucci | Twitter
Sean Fallon | Twitter
Jack Loftus | Twitter
John Herrman | Twitter
Dan Nosowitz
Chris Mascari
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Rosa Golijan | Twitter
Chris Jacob
The map wasn't even really what bothered me about these commercials at all (even though it's actually a bit outdated, obviously in verizon's favor). No matter what they were saying, the message I got was "Don't be the douche on the left... be the slightly less douchey guy on the right!"
Verizon: "Look. Not here. " AT&T: "Chickening out, eh?" Verizon: "Of course not....but come on. We are both public figures. Neither of us needs this bloodbath to be public. Oh, and there will be a bloodbath, friend. Make no mistake about that. But you and I? We'll do this as men. Barefisted in the back alleys. No cameras, no lawyers." AT&T: "I accept."
*mutually-menacing handshake*
I really wonder what the next feature that we will be begging for once apple implements this. I mean, we begged for 3g, then for recording video, now for Video conferencing. What is the next I wonder...
@zaneboy40: I'm rather impressed with HTC's offerings these days, although I'm still waiting for my Crackberry to die until I upgrade... RIM always seems to let me down.
I like the signature on the image! Classsssy. Almost as classy as the word "assclowns." I prefer "fucknuts" myself. Or..."harlequin buttocks."
The camera on the backside wouldn't be a problem if you just hold it up and talk in front of the mirror. Or if you video yourself from the neck down...
Not surprising, but I am surprised Verizon is number 1 when I have had recurring paperweight status inducing errors to my phone (On 4th one) for the last 3 months, and when I went to verizon they told me NOT A SINGLE SOUL has suffered this error before (Though I brought printouts from their site of people reporting it, they refused to see them) and blamed me repeatedly for the error, refused to comp my bill any for the downtime their incompatibility with the phone THEY SELL caused.
"We can replace your phone, but we'd need you to sign up for another two years and to move your upgrade date."
"But, you broke my phone, that isn't fair. This is a amss defect and another one will do it as well."
"We can replace your phone, but we'd need you to sign up for another two years and to move your upgrade date."
"... I'm going with AT&T, they'll give me a refurbed iphone for 50$ and charge me less a month anyway."
@Demonbird: the same exact thing happened with my first gen chocolate years ago. The touch buttons stopped working on 3 different phones in 3 months and each time they would bitch and moan about replacing it. The last time they didn't have any in stock and they refused to even give me a discount on a single phone, even with signing a new contract. Since I was going on vacation the next day I was forced to pay full price to replace the piece of junk LG.
I vowed to never buy another LG and to leave Verizon as soon as my contract was up, which I did when it ended around the time the iPhone 3g came out.
Everyone is always hoping the iPhone comes to Verizon but I am praying any carrier but them gets it. The 2 years I was with them their customer service was so bad I could really care less how great their service was. No customer should be treated with such blatant disrespect.
@crsrc:
Same deal with me, but they wanted to extend my contract just to replace with the same phon, said if Iw anted a different one I myself would choose I would have to pay full retail, though the Nokia Intrigue I have, that they sell, has incompatibilities with their network that renders it unusable.
@Demonbird: I haven't run into any problems with ATT (other than shitty coverage, but I rarely can't make a call and I have decent 3G at least half the time in the Bay Area).
With the iPhone, you just deal directly with Apple for hardware problems so that side I can't really say. Apple is pretty good with replacing a broken iPhone though. I've known several people that have shattered their screens and many have gotten it replaced for free and at the very least they'll give you another for the subsidized price (although it seems that if you politely complain enough they'll always give it to you for free)
I have to say some of the problems with the iphone, seem to be the PHONE.
I have a jailbroken 2g running on tmobile, I used to have a blackberry pearl. From the day I got the iphone it started dropping calls, crap call quality etc. Problems I never had with the blackberry.
Fortunately I use my phone more for text, internet and email because it pretty much sucks as a phone and unfortunately that isn't ALL att's fault.
@veronykah: Hm, all of your points on the iPhone being jailbroken on tmobile SOUND like valid reasons as to why the quality of my call experience suddenly plummeted.
However, my roommate also has an iPhone [she made the switch to ATT and has a 3Gs] when I mentioned my issues she agreed.
Said the call quality is crap and she now drops calls all the time and barely gets service in our apt [I magically get service where she does not though...guess its my unlocked phone working "much worse than one on its proper network" huh?]
I think the issue in the iPhone, ATT just makes it worse.
Jesus, video streaming takes a considerable amount of cellular network bandwidth - namely, a high upstream. International networks that already have excellent 3G deployments - like Vodafone or DoCoMo, can support high upstream speeds required for video calling.
Now, tell me, knowing AT&T's '3G' network reliability, would you rather a video call or a voice call?
I have the FUZE - a VideoShare equipped phone. Both callers need to be in a 3G area, you need the plan, etc, yadda yadda yadda.
All conditions were met... and the phone's Video Share icon was disabled for no particular reason. So if that's the ONE-WAY video experience, I'm sure 2-way is long off.
And at $0.25/min pay-per-use VideoShare, I'm sure it'd be much worse for 2-way calling.
(And for those of you WITH Video Sharing on your phones, 2-way is *semi-close* if you keep switching the sending caller throughout the call.)
@zaneboy40: WiMAX is not 4G. More pre-4G than anything.
But, well, yeah.
Once we see LTE in the actual real-world and not dimly lit laboratories in the middle of New Mexico bound to be destroyed by government cover-up, then we can see video-chat possibilities.
Maybe it's because nobody wants it besides maybe 5 people on this planet? Mobile video conferencing seems cumbersome as hell to me.
As for milking upgrades... Apple doesn't owe you anything, nor does it force you to buy a new phone each year. Seriously. What were your phone purchasing habits like before the iPhone came out?
Try the new "Knocking Live Video" [itunes.apple.com] app, the first streaming video application for the iPhone over 3G or Wi-Fi! It's buggy, but it does work. Read the [www.9to5mac.com] article for more information on how it even got released in the first place!
Video phones still aren't popular. People don't want to hold the phone in front of them and have myspace-angle conversations, especially out in public. You'd have a sore arm, you'd make the other party uncomfortable, and you'd lose the privacy afforded by headphones or holding the phone to your ear.
Consider this - last time you used a webcam, did you wear a headset? And can you remember the last time you used a webcam? Just try to picture everyone on speakerphone, holding their phones out at arm's length.
How dare Apple not invest time and money in making that scenario possible!
@Joe Stoner: Hey, just because people will only use it a couple of times and then forget their phone even has video chatting capabilities is not a valid reason for not including it. However, not giving the feature so you can force Apple fans to purchase yet another iPhone upgrade in a year when the useless feature is added is a very valid reason to hold off.
Your points are excellent ones. I have had a web cam attached to my computer for years and have only used it a handful of times. Whether it is the need for a headset or happening to find someone on the other end that has the right configuration to hold a video conferencing session - let alone the issue that many people do not want to be seen -- it is clear this feature is over-rated.
That said, Jesus' points are good ones, and the conclusion that Apple is purposefully not including it to milk the customers for yet another upgrade seems very reasonable. After all, we are still waiting for a camera in the iPod Touch, too, and there was no valid reason for excluding it on that device - except to force another upgrade.
@Joe Stoner: While I agree with you on most of everything, I'm sure there is a time or a place. It certainly wouldn't be an extended conversation like I have on my web cam, but propping it up on my desk at work, sans myspace angle isn't impossible to conceive. Nonetheless, I don't think it would be very effective by itself. No matter what and accessory will be required to use the front-facing camera, unless the phone learns how to stand up on end, or cling to the side of a monitor, wall, etc., with no support.
02:20 PM
01:50 PM
12:47 PM
12:30 PM
12:05 PM
AT&T: "Chickening out, eh?"
Verizon: "Of course not....but come on. We are both public figures. Neither of us needs this bloodbath to be public. Oh, and there will be a bloodbath, friend. Make no mistake about that. But you and I? We'll do this as men. Barefisted in the back alleys. No cameras, no lawyers."
AT&T: "I accept."
*mutually-menacing handshake*
11:49 AM
11:49 AM
05:42 AM
07:36 AM
08:23 AM
04:54 AM
The camera on the backside wouldn't be a problem if you just hold it up and talk in front of the mirror. Or if you video yourself from the neck down...
12/01/09
"We can replace your phone, but we'd need you to sign up for another two years and to move your upgrade date."
"But, you broke my phone, that isn't fair. This is a amss defect and another one will do it as well."
"We can replace your phone, but we'd need you to sign up for another two years and to move your upgrade date."
"... I'm going with AT&T, they'll give me a refurbed iphone for 50$ and charge me less a month anyway."
"..... uhhhhhhhh"
01:28 AM
I vowed to never buy another LG and to leave Verizon as soon as my contract was up, which I did when it ended around the time the iPhone 3g came out.
Everyone is always hoping the iPhone comes to Verizon but I am praying any carrier but them gets it. The 2 years I was with them their customer service was so bad I could really care less how great their service was. No customer should be treated with such blatant disrespect.
01:30 AM
Same deal with me, but they wanted to extend my contract just to replace with the same phon, said if Iw anted a different one I myself would choose I would have to pay full retail, though the Nokia Intrigue I have, that they sell, has incompatibilities with their network that renders it unusable.
How has AT&T treated you?
03:55 AM
With the iPhone, you just deal directly with Apple for hardware problems so that side I can't really say. Apple is pretty good with replacing a broken iPhone though. I've known several people that have shattered their screens and many have gotten it replaced for free and at the very least they'll give you another for the subsidized price (although it seems that if you politely complain enough they'll always give it to you for free)
12/01/09
I have a jailbroken 2g running on tmobile, I used to have a blackberry pearl. From the day I got the iphone it started dropping calls, crap call quality etc. Problems I never had with the blackberry.
Fortunately I use my phone more for text, internet and email because it pretty much sucks as a phone and unfortunately that isn't ALL att's fault.
12/01/09
03:49 PM
However, my roommate also has an iPhone [she made the switch to ATT and has a 3Gs] when I mentioned my issues she agreed.
Said the call quality is crap and she now drops calls all the time and barely gets service in our apt [I magically get service where she does not though...guess its my unlocked phone working "much worse than one on its proper network" huh?]
I think the issue in the iPhone, ATT just makes it worse.
03:50 PM
I've used plenty of other phones that were unlocked and never had issues like this....
12/01/09
Now, tell me, knowing AT&T's '3G' network reliability, would you rather a video call or a voice call?
I have the FUZE - a VideoShare equipped phone. Both callers need to be in a 3G area, you need the plan, etc, yadda yadda yadda.
All conditions were met... and the phone's Video Share icon was disabled for no particular reason. So if that's the ONE-WAY video experience, I'm sure 2-way is long off.
And at $0.25/min pay-per-use VideoShare, I'm sure it'd be much worse for 2-way calling.
(And for those of you WITH Video Sharing on your phones, 2-way is *semi-close* if you keep switching the sending caller throughout the call.)
07:40 AM
02:50 PM
But, well, yeah.
Once we see LTE in the actual real-world and not dimly lit laboratories in the middle of New Mexico bound to be destroyed by government cover-up, then we can see video-chat possibilities.
12/01/09
As for milking upgrades... Apple doesn't owe you anything, nor does it force you to buy a new phone each year. Seriously. What were your phone purchasing habits like before the iPhone came out?
12/01/09
12/01/09
Consider this - last time you used a webcam, did you wear a headset? And can you remember the last time you used a webcam? Just try to picture everyone on speakerphone, holding their phones out at arm's length.
How dare Apple not invest time and money in making that scenario possible!
12/01/09
....and that is the only argument one would need to make to demonstrate how ridiculously cumbersome video chat is.
12/01/09
Your points are excellent ones. I have had a web cam attached to my computer for years and have only used it a handful of times. Whether it is the need for a headset or happening to find someone on the other end that has the right configuration to hold a video conferencing session - let alone the issue that many people do not want to be seen -- it is clear this feature is over-rated.
That said, Jesus' points are good ones, and the conclusion that Apple is purposefully not including it to milk the customers for yet another upgrade seems very reasonable. After all, we are still waiting for a camera in the iPod Touch, too, and there was no valid reason for excluding it on that device - except to force another upgrade.
12/01/09