The Smart Phone

The release of the new iPhone has brought a great deal of excitement, panic, impatience and now…lawsuits. The mobile giant has been caught off guard, for sure. One of their major bragging points has been that the antenna is built into the steal frame, giving it an even more sleek approach and style. The problem is that some people are complaining that the reception goes away, depending on how the device is held. Other people counter that the antenna sucked the same way with the iPhone 3G. Maybe 2 straight models with the same problem omits the lawsuit all-together? Instead of double jeopardy it’s something else. When I think of something clever I’ll tweet it.

The other big defense for Apple is that AT&T reception sucks. This is a tough defense for Apple though since they are tied into AT&T exclusively. Or should I say, they were tied in with AT&T exclusively. It was recently announced that come January 2011 Verizon would get to play the iPhone game. This is big news on many fronts, maybe even the lawsuit front. Questions about the stability of the iPhone 4 when these iPhone 4 repair guys did this drop test. What this proves is that when you double up the glass (now front and back) the glass will still shatter and probably at a faster rate. Immediately (just like previous models) people began breaking their iPhones. There have been other complaints, like a yellowing screen.

The reality is, in my estimation, that there are many similarities between the new iPhone and the older models, including how they broke and fail to perform. Of course, there are many great things too but its funner to complain to lawyers.

Reality of the modern world dictates that electronic items are made with one purpose: to sell, to be outdated and to break. If they are lucky the breaks before it is outdated, that way you buy the same thing from them again until it is outdated.

You always here parents talk about “The old refrigerator that lasted 60 years..” and we ignore them, asking coyly if it had an ice maker built-in. The thing is, I have a couple friends that have had the same cell phone for over 5 years. In that time I’ve had about 5 cell phones, all of which were ‘fancier and smarter’ than my friends’ but they would break on me (or get wet).

It is confusing in a way but the answer is money, like everything else. I get the cool gadgets that break every year, my friend uses his ‘dumb phone’ that only sends and receives calls/text. I remember my first blackberry over five years ago, it seriously made me feel cool. I thought my friends with dumb phones would be a little jealous. I’m serious, I thought that and some people may have jumped on the blackberry gravy train because of me.

Over the next 5-7 years I spend $1000 on the products themselves and he spent $30. I can’t really say my past phone experience was all that ‘productive’. Maybe I can make my future phone life more productive, in the social-digital-realm….but still…I have to ask myself, “Who is the smart one now.”