[Op-Ed] A completely unbiased Android users opinion of iOS 7 - it sucks

Image courtesy of Apple.com

So...yeah.  I'm an Android guy.  Have been for a long time, and its still my current phone.  But as many already know, I DO own Apple products.  Yes, even me.  For all my bashing of their not really being a tech company more than a marketing company and not having had an innovation since the iPad first debuted, I do like and purchase (or ask for as gifts) some of their devices.  This puts me in a unique position: to be on the outside looking in.  No "iSheep" fanboiness here...I'm looking solely at how the device works best for me.  And I have to be honest - I wish Apple would have left my iPod touch the way it was before iOS 7.

[News] T-Mobile to carry iPhone in 2013

Last of all the major carriers, T-Mobile announced during their annual investor conference they will carry the iPhone in 2013.  This is surely good news for T-Mobile customers as well as T-Mobile themselves, since no doubt many folks interested in T-Mobile's low price point for voice and data plans will likely be attracted now that the iPhone can be had on their service.  Also announced at the conference was that T-Mobile plans to end carrier subsidies for their phones, likely meaning that new customers may have to pony up between $300-700 for a new phone (depending on device).

There is no firm date for when the iPhone will be offered, as well as how much it might cost on T-Mobile.  If it is released in the middle of next year, it might coincide with the release of the so-called iPhone 5S, if Apple does do a mid year refresh to its flagship device.  Without a carrier subsidy, the iPhone would probably run somewhere in the $399 range to start however.  Speaking of removing carrier subsidies, this represents another change in the way the mobile wireless industry does business, and is something that was first embodied by Google offering their Nexus 4 device unlocked for as little as $299.  This selling of devices direct to consumers (see our article here) is something new to the US shores, but is fairly common in Europe and the UK where carriers operate much differently.  If T-Mobile is looking to stand out from the crowd, this new business model might be a really good start.  It would likely take the American smartphone buyer a while to get used to, but the profits it brings to the carrier and the freedom it gives the buyer make this situation a true "win-win" scenario.

*Source:  Digital Trends

[Op-Ed] How the iPad mini dilutes Apple's brand

iPad mini (front and rear)

I heard a report on the local news Friday morning about how there weren't the same long lines for the iPad mini (which launched on November 2nd) as there were for the iPhone 5 and iPad 3, and it got me thinking.  With legions of Apple fans around the world, why would the iPad mini go on sale with less fanfare than other devices from months or years past?  Is there a crack in the facade of a company that can seemingly do no wrong when it comes to the launch of a new product?  Let's dig deeper and see if there is evidence of what I believe to be true:  by making the iPad mini, Apple has diluted their own brand and potentially made a serious business blunder.

[News] iPhone 5 jailbreak "Close" and Class-Action Suit filed against Apple

Photo courtesy Macrumors

So you have the iPhone 5 and have been patiently waiting to get your jailbreak on. Well, you may be in luck. Recently a member of the Chronic Dev Team announced that a full tethered jailbreak for that iPhone 5 of yours is "close" to being done. Unfortunately for now, a developer account is needed to run the jailbreak.

Sorry to disappoint you regular users such as myself but since the iPhone 5 has a completely new chip as well as a completely new operating system, it's simply not an easy task.

The good news is that even if the tethered jailbreak won't work for everyone this more than likely means an untethered jailbreak may be just over the horizon.

If you do have a developer account then good luck with your jailbreak. The rest of us will try to obediently wait.


To piggy back on that news, a pair of iPhone users Zach Ward and Thomas Buchar filed a class-action suit against Apple in San Francisco. The complaint lists a single count against Apple of "Conspiracy to monopolize the iPhone voice and data services aftermarket in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act."

The suit alleges that Apple conspired with AT&T to lock iPhone users to the AT&T network for five years without receiving consent from the consumer. The plaintiffs are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, treble and exemplary damages, legal costs, and the software unlock codes. It also seeks to force Apple to disclose that the iPhone is locked to specific network.

According to CNET, previous lawsuits against carriers have been unsuccessful thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2011 that found consumers no longer have the right to file class actions suites against wireless carriers.  That's probably the reason that the plaintiffs are attacking Apple rather than AT&T.

 Source: Slashgear, CNET, iphonebuzz

[Op-Ed]In defense of the iPhone 5

Like clockwork the new iPhone 5 was announced and the naysayers came out in force.  Where's the innovation they asked?  A 4" screen - welcome to 2010.  An LTE modem - welcome to 2011.  Only 1GB of ram?  No NFC?  How can anyone possibly consider the iPhone 5 to be anything other than an incremental upgrade?

While some of these points are valid, to say the iPhone 5 is anything but one of the top 3 smartphones on the market using any criteria is ridiculous.  It has a brand new cutting edge A6 CPU.  It has three PowerVR SGX543 GPU cores.  It has one of the absolute highest quality screens in the business and is the first phone available with in-screen touch sensor technology .  It gets excellent battery life, has a fantastic camera, and is built from premium materials (something Samsung could learn from).  By the way, it's also one of the thinnest and lightest smartphones currently in existence.

(Photo courtesy of apple.com)

I had a chance to use an iPhone 5 on launch day and came away impressed.  It's an excellent phone and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

What it isn't is the unquestionable best smartphone on the market anymore.

From the time the first iPhone was launched in 2007 through the iPhone 4 in 2010 the iPhone was the best smartphone on the market and everything else was playing catch up.  Sure some of the Android phones were great, but as an overall package the iPhone was better.  Part of this was due to software, but the hardware was also behind.  Whatever the newest iPhone was had the best CPU, the best GPU, the best camera, and the best screen.

Then a funny thing happened.  Between the release of the iPhone 4 and the 4S the Android manufacturers started to close the gap.  The Samsung Galaxy S II was the first Android phone that felt like it was every bit the equal of the top iPhone at the time.  It had a beautiful Super AMOLED Plus screen, a fantastic camera, a cutting edge CPU and GPU and was also quite a bit thinner than the iPhone 4.

(Photo courtesy of Androidauthority.com)

When the iPhone 4S was announced in October of 2011 the general reaction was disappointment.  It didn't have LTE (something Android phones had since March of 2011) and looked identical to the iPhone 4. It moved to a dual-core processor, but Android phones had been dual-core for almost a year by this point.  It still had the best GPU of any phone on the market, but again the gap had been closed by phones like the Galaxy S II.  By the end of 2011 multiple Android smartphones had 720p screens, dual-core processors, state of the art GPU's, more ram, removable batteries, sd card slots for expandable storage and LTE.  The iPhone 4S lacked many of these features and was no longer the undisputed leader of the smartphone market.

In many ways Apple is a victim of its own success.  The iPhone was years ahead of the curve, but it was inevitable that other manufacturers would catch up.  Over the last couple years that's exactly what's happened.  The backlash against the iPhone 5 stems from the fact that most people still think it's light years ahead of the competition when that's no longer the case.  In fact, in a lot of ways the iPhone 5 was catching up to the current crop of Android flagships.

Does that mean that the iPhone 5 is no longer one of the best phones on the market?  The answer is clearly no.  The iPhone 5 is an absolutely fantastic device and still one of the top phones available.  But the fact that it is one of the best, and not the best, is a relatively huge shift in the industry.

Apple has forced all the other manufacturers to step up and produce better phones, and the other companies have responded.  Now Apple needs to step it up with the iPhone 5S if they want to be the undisputed king again.  I look forward to seeing what they come up with.