I am thinking about buying an iPhone and I was wondering if users or non-users could give me their comments.  I already know about the costs of the plans, etc.  I am looking more for pros and cons of it.  Are you glad you bought it ?  Would you buy one again? Any issues or problems?  

# The Phone Sucks
When I have a reliable 3G signal the iPhone sounds great… until it drops the call. We have had to activate my dad’s phone 3 times because it just stops working. There is something up with the iPhone radio and Apple needs to figure it out quick.
# The Keypad / Keyboard Sucks
I can dial a phone number without looking on every phone I have ever owned, except the iPhone. Typing URLs and passwords, etc is a pain. Typing email is so annoying that I don’t respond to as many emails as I did when I was using my blackberry. Think about that, the iPhone is making me less responsive.
# The Battery Sucks
When I first got my iPhone the battery only lasted a couple of hours. I knew it would improve when I quit playing with it non-stop, but it hasn’t improved enough. If I am in the car, charging my phone while talking on it, the battery goes down instead of up. It takes more juice than a car charge can put out to use the iPhone as a phone. I love streaming Pandora in the car but that burns the battery faster than my Ford F150 burns gas. Speaking of burning, the iPhone gets crazy hot too.
# Restarting Sucks
I used to have to restart my Treo almost daily because it would quit working right; the iPhone is almost as bad. Every couple of days the iPhone will either lose it’s ability to connect to 3G or the GPS quits working or it just freezes while using a third party app. The only way to fix it is to turn the iPhone completely off and then turn it back on (which is a process that either involves patience, witchcraft, or both).
# Being Special Sucks
The iPhone gets a special class of service with AT&T. Unfortunately, it is “short bus” special and not “14 year old olympic gymnast” special. Before making a standard change to your AT&T plan you might hear the agent say “let me see if we can do that on the iPhone”. WTF?!?! I thought the iPhone was the most capable phone on the planet?!? Why do we have to see if the iPhone can handle it? Because AT&T hamstrings the iPhone. If I could legally tether my iPhone I would pay for that feature and use it rarely. But I can’t, so I find a way around it. Want unlimited text? “I will have to check and see if the iPhone can have unlimited text messages”. Oh, and where the hell are the turn by turn applications? I could at least buy TeleNav for my Blackberry. The iPhone is special, and that is

I think  he hates it!

Quoted from Mrhide

# The Phone Sucks
When I have a reliable 3G signal the iPhone sounds great… until it drops the call. We have had to activate my dad’s phone 3 times because it just stops working. There is something up with the iPhone radio and Apple needs to figure it out quick.
# The Keypad / Keyboard Sucks
I can dial a phone number without looking on every phone I have ever owned, except the iPhone. Typing URLs and passwords, etc is a pain. Typing email is so annoying that I don’t respond to as many emails as I did when I was using my blackberry. Think about that, the iPhone is making me less responsive.
# The Battery Sucks
When I first got my iPhone the battery only lasted a couple of hours. I knew it would improve when I quit playing with it non-stop, but it hasn’t improved enough. If I am in the car, charging my phone while talking on it, the battery goes down instead of up. It takes more juice than a car charge can put out to use the iPhone as a phone. I love streaming Pandora in the car but that burns the battery faster than my Ford F150 burns gas. Speaking of burning, the iPhone gets crazy hot too.
# Restarting Sucks
I used to have to restart my Treo almost daily because it would quit working right; the iPhone is almost as bad. Every couple of days the iPhone will either lose it’s ability to connect to 3G or the GPS quits working or it just freezes while using a third party app. The only way to fix it is to turn the iPhone completely off and then turn it back on (which is a process that either involves patience, witchcraft, or both).
# Being Special Sucks
The iPhone gets a special class of service with AT&T. Unfortunately, it is “short bus” special and not “14 year old olympic gymnast” special. Before making a standard change to your AT&T plan you might hear the agent say “let me see if we can do that on the iPhone”. WTF?!?! I thought the iPhone was the most capable phone on the planet?!? Why do we have to see if the iPhone can handle it? Because AT&T hamstrings the iPhone. If I could legally tether my iPhone I would pay for that feature and use it rarely. But I can’t, so I find a way around it. Want unlimited text? “I will have to check and see if the iPhone can have unlimited text messages”. Oh, and where the hell are the turn by turn applications? I could at least buy TeleNav for my Blackberry. The iPhone is special, and that is

I have an original iphone from the States and have had no issues with it. I did finally upgrade it to the new software and still have no problems with my battery power but I have all apps turned off that run in the background. For me (a non-blackberry user) I love the phone but I use it primarily for surfing the net while waiting at skateboarding parks, toboggan hills and snowboarding hills for my son . I never bother texting and use my phone for calling out mostly (I refuse to be one of those people talking in restaurants or stores with a phone to their head ignoring the real people in front of them )

I was lucky enough tho to grab the huge 6 GB plan for cheap when the iphone launched on Rogers otherwise I don't think I would own one due to the cost of surfing. So I love my iphone but realize that I am definitely in the minority for how I use a cellphone. Maybe it was the first 16 years of my career being on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week for vet emergencies that makes me hate being able to be tracked down by cell now. I figure unless my son is not with me, nothing else is important enough to bother carrying a phone around for all the time!

My 0.02 worth
ME

AT&T? I thought you live in Canada? Unless, you didn't write that rant.

Pros:
I own an iphone, and I'm VERY happy with it. It is by far the best phone I have ever owned. Beign able to look up driving directions or businesses using google maps on the go has saved my a** numerous times. I use it to play audiobooks, podcasts, and music, and if someone calls while I'm listening, no problem, it pauses the music/podcast/audiobook and gives me the option to answer the call.

The keyboard does have a learning curve, but you get used to it after a few days, assuming you don't have MONSTER hands. Though, I doubt you'll be writing a novel on it. I've written many maaca posts here using my iphone. It's auto-correct catches 95% of the spelling errors that crop up due to the virtual keyboard.

The battery was a problem when the phone first launched in the US, but Apple has somehow fixed the problem with their firmware updates. I use my phone A LOT during the day, and by the time I go to bed I still have lots of charge left, I charge every night just in case. If I only used it to talk, not to websurf or listen to music, it'd probably last a few days. Not having the brightness at max helps a lot.

I've NEVER had a dropped call, then again I'm not using AT&T, I'm using Fido. Some people have fixed their dropped calls problem by getting a new SIM card.

No other phone can surf the web like the iphone can. It can display practically any website. And if the site was designed for the iphone (like Google's RSS reader site is), then it's even better. Every morning I wake up and open my Google Reader page, delivering customized news to me. Better than reading the paper.

My wife uses her iphone to listen to podcasts and play games while on the bus to work every morning. She can also watch video podcasts or TV shows too.

It carries all the photos I've ever taken. If I want to show someone photos of my trip to England 3 years ago, no problem, I can pull up a slide show and zoom in to photos, or flick them to go to the next one.

It has made my nintendo DS obsolete. The games available for it are starting to get quite good. I'm playing a game on it now called Rolando, and it's one of the funnest handheld games I've ever played. And games for the iphone are orders of magnitude cheaper than for the DS or PSP, plus can be downloaded and aren't on cartridges!

It's the only phone/mp3 player that works with itunes, the defacto music/podcast/audiobook software for PCs and Macs (I own a Mac). No other phone works well with Macs, so it was a simple choice for me.

The screen is bright (even with brightness turned down to less than half), colourful, and detailed. The screen also never scratches, I never put any kind of screen on my iphone, and after 5 months of use, not a single scratch!

You'll be amazed by all the little details thought into the design and interface of the phone. If you want to go 'silent', just flick the switch on the side of the phone, and it'll make a small inaudible buzz to let you know it's now in vibrate only mode. The RAZR I used to own would make an audible beep when I wanted to make is silent, which is super lame. Also, the phone is smart enough to mute games that you start while in silent mode, genius! Every other phone will start blaring sound from a game if you decide to fire it up while in a meeting, or while on the can. There's hundreds of other really smart choices made to the design of the phone. You'll have the phone for over a month and still discover cool little things that it can do. (Like being able to skip a song by double clicking the little mic attached to the headphones, or pause it with a single click)

Cons:
The plans are expensive. But then again, so are the data plans for every other phone. And having to sign a 3 year contract sucks, but I thought it was worth it.

Careful! If you crack the screen, it'll cost ~$200 to fix it. I accidentally cracked the screen of my first iphone, had to get it fixed, and gave it to the wife. It cracked because I had the iphone in my pockets, with the screen facing outwards, and probably got smacked by something. I've kept my new one facing in, and no trouble yet. My wife is super clutsy, and she's had one for a couple months with no problem, maybe she's extra careful with it.

It's tied to itunes. This can be good or bad depending on if you like itunes. I happen to love itunes, so it's a plus for me, but there are people out there that refuse to use it. You can't really use the iphone properly without itunes, it's how you get music onto it!

Conclusion:
I bought an iphone because I wanted my phone and ipod in one device; it has provided that and sooooo much more!

Update: I forgot to mention that with Fido and Rogers, in order to use voicemail you have to buy a $15 features package. This also included call display and unlimited text messages. You shouldn't have to pay for these things separately, but I blame Rogers, not Apple.

I currently pay: $17.50 (voice) + $8 (system access fee+911) + $15 (iphone features pack) + $30 (6GB data plan, not available anymore, it's 300MB now IIRC) = $70.5 + tax per month

Considering a home phone line costs $20-30 a month, it doesn't seem so bad considering what you get for it.

/flame suit on
I didn't write it.  I'm an apple hater so I just googled " iphone sucks" and there's a bunch of sites with good reasons...

yes I'm one of the person who refuses to install quicktime now that it force feeds itunes with it and it's 12 unneeded services.  use the alternative instead. I'll never use itunes.

$70.5 + tax per month   wow man .. that's a lot of money to make a call. for 3 years? that's 2500$ ... + tax

Quoted from medvet

I never bother texting and use my phone for calling out mostly

That is refreshing.  Same here. IT'S A PHONE. CALL PEOPLE INSTEAD OF TYPING. Geez!

So, an iphone can only be used for making phone calls? You have such little imagination! I guess I'm not allowed to use my TV for watching DVDs or playing video games either, since TVs are for watching only TV!

If you only care about phone calls, I recommend this:

On the other hand, if you want one portable device that does it all, the iphone is an excellent choice!

Also, I'm sure that the original poster could have googled what you did, he was looking for the opinions of the members here.

Quoted Text

(I own a Mac) No other phone works well with Macs, so it was a simple choice for me

I rest my case.

Apples with apples and everything else away from it.

Save yourself the grief.. buy an iPod Touch and stick with your current phone (or get a Blackberry).


iPhone sure does look pretty, but I'll bet there's a new model just around the corner (and 2 more within a year)

Apple.  The choice for yuppies all across the world.    

(no offense intended for those who actually USE their Apple products, but you have to admit that 95% of owners out there own 'em because it's "cool")

Man I can't believe the attention this piece of techno bum wipe gets.

First off I would like to relate back to Diamond Dave's pager concerns. The man is feeling a distinct lack of liberty through having to carry this POS pager. IPhone, think POS pager on steroids. Who wants any of this stuff? It's a phone dammit, put a bottle opener on the side and you might have something there.

Oh I can turn the screen. Oooh look at my fake lighter. Wow it can pick out shitty music playing in a bar and try and sell you it. Look it's necro's HB pf on youtube on a two inch screen.

IPhone is the flavor of the week. When it can get up and get me a beer out of the cold cellar I will be impressed. Beyond that... who cares.

You all are voicing your opinions as opposed to giving  the original poster what he asked for. If he wants an iPhone then let him make up his own damn mind based on others experience and not on opinions.


as far as technology goes some people want it, some don't. I am ok with my little LG 6200 (a fricken tank by todays standards) and don't need an iPhone but there are those that just have to have the latest because it makes them feel cool as mentioned above or they just think they need it.

Quoted from necro_nemesis

Man I can't believe the attention this piece of techno bum wipe gets.

First off I would like to relate back to Diamond Dave's pager concerns. The man is feeling a distinct lack of liberty through having to carry this POS pager. IPhone, think POS pager on steroids. Who wants any of this stuff? It's a phone dammit, put a bottle opener on the side and you might have something there.

Oh I can turn the screen. Oooh look at my fake lighter. Wow it can pick out shitty music playing in a bar and try and sell you it. Look it's necro's HB pf on youtube on a two inch screen.

IPhone is the flavor of the week. When it can get up and get me a beer out of the cold cellar I will be impressed. Beyond that... who cares.

Amen to that, brother. I believe we as a society did just fine without cell phones. I consider them leashes. I do own a cellphone, and 98% of the time, it stays off. I have it for emergencies.

I find that with time, technologies have gotten somewhat more accessible to all, now everyone jumps on it like a bunch of junkies. Man, i couldn't believe what I saw on boxing day... people walking out all wide-eyed because they bought LCD tvs, digital cameras and all that crap. I will be honest... if I don't play pinball (one of the few technological things I do) or look on the internet, I am like Glen on this... crack open a cold one and enjoy the now. I enjoy playing with my kids, and having a long conversation with my wife or friends.

Now, like Glen said, back to Dave, yeah... work phones and pagers do take away from your daily freedom. Best advice? Look for this symbol, and press on it:




... then crack open a cold beer.


Ok OK... Dave, get a pager AND a cheap cellphone. Leave the phone off. Filter the incoming calls with the pager. WAY cheaper than an IPhone.

Indeed, the only reason I have one is for the kids. If anything happens at school I get the call. Other than the school, only close friends have my number.

Quoted from Sparky

Amen to that, brother. I believe we as a society did just fine without cell phones. I consider them leashes. I do own a cellphone, and 98% of the time, it stays off. I have it for emergencies.

I find that with time, technologies have gotten somewhat more accessible to all, now everyone jumps on it like a bunch of junkies. Man, i couldn't believe what I saw on boxing day... people walking out all wide-eyed because they bought LCD tvs, digital cameras and all that crap. I will be honest... if I don't play pinball (one of the few technological things I do) or look on the internet, I am like Glen on this... crack open a cold one and enjoy the now. I enjoy playing with my kids, and having a long conversation with my wife or friends.

Now, like Glen said, back to Dave, yeah... work phones and pagers do take away from your daily freedom. Best advice? Look for this symbol, and press on it:




... then crack open a cold beer.


Ok OK... Dave, get a pager AND a cheap cellphone. Leave the phone off. Filter the incoming calls with the pager. WAY cheaper than an IPhone.

Quoted from 1

You all are voicing your opinions as opposed to giving  the original poster what he asked for. If he wants an iPhone then let him make up his own damn mind based on others experience and not on opinions

Well excuse me but please take the time to reread his original post ... and I quote

Quoted Text

I am thinking about buying an iPhone and I was wondering if users or non-users could give me their comments

Two of my friends have one and they love it. Personally, I find the $$$ monthly costs too much but to each their own.

Phil:  Last time I installed Quicktime, it allowed me to disable the Itunes portion on the install process, so AFAIK your concern isn't valid.

Quoted from Mrhide

Well excuse me but please take the time to reread his original post ... and I quote

Any post should still be base on experience. A non user could still have had some experience with the product.

.

OK... seems like I have been told that I shouldn't post about what I know nothing about.

Fine.

Looks like I have to spread out my credentials everytime I voice my opinion.

Fine.

I have had phones and pagers for the last 20 years. My first was a pager working as an assistant in an office. My second as an assistant chef on call at a local restaurant (I closed up the place a lot, hence the pager). I worked for a communications company owned by my late aunt from 1993 to 2000. I have had various phones for my job as a technical communicator and supervisor for Hewitt. Mikes... regular cellphones... pagers... and more recently on trial, a Blackberry 8830 (not bad) and an IPhone. I didn't like the IPhone. Too many apps for nothing. It ends up being more of a distraction than anything.

So no... I am not talking out of my a**. I am talking by experience. Expense-wise, best to have a small pager to filter the calls and a regular cellphone you keep off, and only turn on when making a call. Or merely use the voice mail on the phone. A pager/cellphone plan is way cheaper than an IPhone plan. My last pager cost 3$ a month, combined to my cellphone business plan which was 28$ a month.

I hope my answer is more satisfactory.

.

You just won't quit will you?

hehe slow boring day at work !!  got to do what you've got to do !!  


This one is good:

I dont care about either platform as long as the mess breaks or users are idiots, I have a job.

END OF LINE

This one is funnier

Quoted from machine.slave

Save yourself the grief.. buy an iPod Touch and stick with your current phone (or get a Blackberry).


iPhone sure does look pretty, but I'll bet there's a new model just around the corner (and 2 more within a year)

Apple.  The choice for yuppies all across the world.    

(no offense intended for those who actually USE their Apple products, but you have to admit that 95% of owners out there own 'em because it's "cool")

iphone does look pretty, and works really well too. What's wrong with that?

So what if a new model comes out in a year, will you iphone stop working? The first model is still getting all the new software features, what other cell phone gets tons of new features every six months or so? Also, should you never buy something because something better is coming sometime in the future? In that case, NEVER buy a TV or a car, a better or cheaper one will be coming out soon, I guarantee it!

I'm amazed by the amount of pure hate people are putting on this phone. No one has actually offered constructive criticism of the phone. Something to actually help the original poster with his decision. It's just been lame uninformed arguments like 'people who like apple stuff are stupid yuppies', or 'cell phones shouldn't do more than phone calls'. Ya, that's really helpful.

Quoted Text

Oh I can turn the screen. Oooh look at my fake lighter. Wow it can pick out shitty music playing in a bar and try and sell you it. Look it's necro's HB pf on youtube on a two inch screen.

Sure, the iphone can do a LOT. Some more useful than others. I guess that's supposed to be bad? If you don't want to use a particular application on it, then don't. That doesn't mean the device is no good.

Quoted Text

$70.5 + tax per month   wow man .. that's a lot of money to make a call.

Did you purposely ignore everything I wrote? It isn't 'just' a phone. If that's all you are going to use it for then obviously it's not worth the price. But why would you consider buying it in the first place? I use the device to do plenty of things, and it's totally paid for itself. I can check the price of goods at other retailers when I'm in a store. I can look to see if the library has a book I'm considering buying while at Chapters. I stream music from a customized internet radio station (last.fm) while I'm driving, no need for commercials or satellites. I can show photos of my wedding when I visit my grandmother who was in the hospital at the time, and I hadn't had the photos developed yet. I used it to stream my wedding live online so my aunt who has cancer and couldn't make it could watch in real time. Oh ya, and it does phone calls  

This must be a generational thing. Seems like older people just have trouble understanding new technology and its potential. Mobile internet devices like the iphone are gonna change the world, and in fact already changed mine.

Quoted from The Loafer

I find the $$$ monthly costs too much but to each their own.

Someone was telling me by the time you ended up paying for contracted services this thing was going to run you thousands by end of contract.

There is all sorts of movement in the 3G/Wifi/WiMax area of provision of information services. Information is the key element not the fact it's an "I" device. Ooh it's white and Steve Jobs blessed it before it went in the box. Right now your paying for R&D as far as I am concerned and I have a policy of virtually never buying something brand new for just that reason. I would wait for the competition to heat up and R&D to get covered before buying this overpriced piece of soon to be abundantly re-engineered technology.

Your too late to be cool with it at the NYE party..... You want to be different? Get a bag phone, analogue and 3 watts of power baby!

I'm a Mac guy, but I don't have an iPhone for the same reason I don't have the Blackberry Storm - I don't care for the virtual keyboard.  I think at this time the Blackberry Curve is the way to go - just get an iPod touch to go with it and you'll be all set.

Quoted from jonny_eh

This must be a generational thing. Seems like older people just have trouble understanding new technology

ouch man.  that really hurted!  I'm 10 year older then you.  I was playing Atari and programming vic20 when you were just a gleam in your daddy's eye!!  Don't tell me about having trouble understanding new technology... I make my living with it.

some are good and some are bad.

You are looking WHILE at chapters to see if they have a book ?!  did you know that you can actually interact with another human beeing WHILE at chapters and they will tell you FOR FREE if they have the book or not?!

You can check the price of another store while shopping ?!  We old people actually have the cash to just buy what we like!!  

Why don't you tell me WHY I SHOULD buy an Iphone versus something else? what could be so important that I can't live without it ? please illuminate an old foggie who still plays with pinball from the last century.

Quoted from necro_nemesis

Someone was telling me by the time you ended up paying for contracted services this thing was going to run you thousands by end of contract.

How much does a pinball machine cost? It doesn't even make phone calls  

Quoted from jonny_eh

This must be a generational thing. Seems like older people just have trouble understanding new technology and its potential. Mobile internet devices like the iphone are gonna change the world, and in fact already changed mine.

ROFL!!  You and I are in the same generation and I don't see the need for an iPhone.  The price doesn't justify what it offers as far as I'm concerned.  Yes the things you mentioned are all nice to haves, but by no means are they "World Changing" as you mentioned.  If the iPhone has litteraly "Changed your World" as you put it, you must live in a really small fish bowl.  The Internet, that was world changing, the first mobile cell phone device, that is world changing.  The iPhone is just another gadet to add to the list of existing gadets it offers nothing that hasn't been done before and since the "Phone" feature is it's weakest point, your better off getting a phone that works properly.  

The only advantages I can see with the virtual keyboard is one it gives you more space for viewing and two if done properly you can have hotkeys that change to best suit your current application. In terms of a keyboard though I find it really sucks in comparison with actual buttons. There is a lot to be said about the confirmation you get out of pushing a physical button versus what I have experienced with these virtual ones.

Quoted from jonny_eh

How much does a pinball machine cost? It doesn't even make phone calls  

SURE IT CAN !! LOOK:

I don't think there is a generation left that doesn't understand electronic devices and information technology.

I do think there is a lot of people who have made an informed decision as to whether or not half this mess is needed. My BB is a tool but when I don't need to have it on me I am quite happy to leave it on the shelf.

By the way my RFM calls the mothership every other day with a status report.

Quoted from jonny_eh

This must be a generational thing. Seems like older people just have trouble understanding new technology and its potential. Mobile internet devices like the iphone are gonna change the world, and in fact already changed mine.

Have you seen the movie WALL-E? I personally thought the image it portrayed of a bunch of fat people sitting in a moving lounge chair, talking to a screen through a wireless connection to another person, even though the person is right beside them, to be accurate, even for today.

Actually, what you are saying is that the future is about having the most info possible at your fingertips... I disagree. It is not how much info you get... it is the quality of info and what you do with it that is productive. Hence the business AND social theory that we are eventually going to leave the era of "perfection" and enter the era of "good enough".

Take what Dave said for instance... if all the info comes in, like a bunch of calls, he said it himself that he can't get anything done. But filter the info or cut the excess info entirely, and you get things done. AND more importantly, you have time to enjoy yourself more. I can equip myself with all the latest in technology tomorrow... but I choose not to. Why? ... simple. Because I don't need it.

90% of the stuff in an IPhone I found to be frivolous and non-productive. Sure... I can listen to music... but I have a radio in my car with CDs. Worse case scenario, I get a Sirius... still cheaper than a phone.

Technology is becoming as addictive as any drug out there. Don't believe me? I suggest you do like I do every fall. I head for a log cabin for a week... no electricity, no phone, no TV, nothing. I brought a wired-up friend once, and after a couple of days, he started to get the shakes. Let's see how long you last.

... like the fat guy in the WALL-E movie says after he falls out of his robotic chair... "hey... we have a pool?"... funny when he's been living by that pool all his life, and never noticed it. Too busy online I guess...

Quoted from jonny_eh

This must be a generational thing. Seems like older people just have trouble understanding new technology and its potential. Mobile internet devices like the iphone are gonna change the world, and in fact already changed mine.

You know the other funny thing about this statment as a Tech guy I've allways felt that Mac's/Apple is basically the technology for dummies.  Rather then taking the time to actually learn about a piece of equipment like a PC, they would rather just have their Mac and have it work.  

I like my PC. Load it with trash, run trash, runs like trash... but still runs. I never liked the fact that Mac wanted you to run "their" version of what a computer should be.

Look at the guys running Linux. Now that's what it's all about. Build your own trash!

Quoted from Vengeance

You know the other funny thing about this statment as a Tech guy I've allways felt that Mac's/Apple is basically the technology for dummies.  Rather then taking the time to actually learn about a piece of equipment like a PC, they would rather just have their Mac and have it work.  

Ditto, I prefer to work with the machine rather than on it. If that means I am a dummy then so be it. At least I am a happy dummy that is not afraid of what will be lost the next time I turn on my machine.

Quoted from necro_nemesis

I like my PC. Load it with trash, run trash, runs like trash... but still runs. I never liked the fact that Mac wanted you to run "their" version of what a computer should be.

Look at the guys running Linux. Now that's what it's all about. Build your own trash!

Bogus, OSX is Linux.

Quoted from 1

Ditto, I prefer to work with the machine rather than on it. If that means I am a dummy then so be it. At least I am a happy dummy that is not afraid of what will be lost the next time I turn on my machine.

Then I guess your a happy Dummy.  I've never once worried about what I might lost next time I turn my machine on as it's never happened.  I have a PC I built myself, built it 6 years ago and it stiff runs great not a single problem, give me a PC any day.  

Quoted from Vengeance

Then I guess your a happy Dummy.  I've never once worried about what I might lost next time I turn my machine on as it's never happened.  I have a PC I built myself, built it 6 years ago and it stiff runs great not a single problem, give me a PC any day.  

Then you are out of the norm.. Everyone I have known, even the savvy individuals  have had some sort of issue with something or other. Things like, internet won't connect or  application won't launch because it can't find the dll file that was there  the day before. This is my experience with PC's, more specifically, Windows. So may time i will be chatting with people on msn and they just disappear to come back 5 min later saying their machine crashed (AGAIN).

Yet again, this is my experience and may not reflect yours or others as well.

Quoted from 1

Bogus, OSX is Linux.

nice.  not only are you blinded, you're also uninformed.

Quoted from Mrhide

nice.  not only are you blinded, you're also uninformed.

unix, linux, darwin, WHATEVER. they all come from the same place

Wow, I didn't realise one simple question would turn into such a big deal.  I do admit that I am a sucker for technology.  Always have been and always will be.  I am an IT Project Manager and before that I worked on databases and coded.  I have built my own PCs but I also like Apple products.  Does that make me part of the uneducated consumer masses? Maybe you think so but I don't.  I can see the advantages of using different solutions, different platforms, different technologies. You have to find what works best for you or the situation.  The main goal of my thread was not to have people insult eachother regarding using this technology or that technology.  To each their own.  I have a Motorola razr and I have decided to upgrade to something that can do a little more.  I was just looking for people experiences or comments that they have heard from real users.  I have been comparing the iPhone, the Blackberry Storm, and the Blackberry Bold.  I am leaning towards the iPhone due to some of it's features.  You can look at them all from a price aspect but in the end, how many things do we buy (i.e. car) that you outlay a fair amount of cash on only to have it rust away or wear out.  

Quoted from 1

unix, linux, darwin, WHATEVER. they all come from the same place

Space travel!?!  ... so THAT's why we're talking about it here at MAACA!

Ok, I'm all for the Mac love, reminds me of my old Amiga fanboy days, but PC's are a heck of a lot more stable than is let on here.  Vista's tarnished the reputation somewhat (deservably, sure) but I've had two crashes in 4 years with my XP, no joke, as have most of my friends. A solid XP install does not randomly delete DLL's MacPhreak, that's some bad koolaid juice you're using to further your point. I'm sure that's happened, but that could as much be a result of the dude's afinity to run something that's given him a virus.

For the record, I've worked in IT in the feds for over 14 years and there's not been any massive issues with PC installs. It's not a perfect OS but gimme a break!

Mac and PC's, can't we all be friends?  Now, if someone dares to say their Atari ST is better than my Amiga, dem's fightin' words!

oh man.. look, Apples, PC's.. guess what, they're the same thing now.  You can run OSX on a Dell, you can run Windows Vista on a Mac.  Crazy, I know.. the only difference being the extra $1,500 you'll pay for the nice aluminum case and keyboard.

Windows boxes are prone to viruses.  Biggest problem right there. Let alone other things like compatibility issues and botched installs thanks to the millions of different hardware configurations.  Also, when you're buying a pre-configured machine you're usually getting the worst of the worst when it comes to parts.  However, Microsoft has the best software support, hands down.  

Macs rarely get viruses, if ever.  They're extremely reliable workhorses.  Their parts are always top notch, a Mac will probably last longer than you will.  They're also easy to use right out of the box.  However, the software designers at Apple have no idea what they're doing.  When going off the beaten path of the OS (to do things like.. I dunno.. WORK), the OS tends to degrade over time.  Preference files go corrupt, or simply disappear.  Spotlight, Apple's prized file search utility, is broken.  Oh.. and I had to do something on my Mac the other day that I've never, EVER had to do before... I had to update the firmware in my keyboard.  MY KEYBOARD.  Oh, and my wireless Mighty Mouse tends to freeze up once in a while, forcing me to take the batteries out just to get it working again.

Also, with all the bells, whistles and glitter apple throws into their OS (like iPhoto, iTunes, iWhatever), they fail to offer the simplest of things out of the box, such as built in disc burning software and file compression and decompression.

Both machines have their places, IMO.  PC's in the home, Macs at the office.  

MacPhreak, you know as well as I do how powerful Macs are... it sounds like you use them as they're intended;  to do high level design and editing.  You have to admit, it's pretty sad that 95% of the Mac owners out there buy these $5k machines to check their email.. oh, and because they look great in the family room.  It really is a waste of raw power.

What I don't get is, whomever I talk to, be it someone new or an old friend. and they start talking about their PC locking up for this or printer not working or internet not connecting or applications not loading up or taking  5 min to load or can't find the server or network files not installed or I caught a virus and so on.

I would like to believe its not that bad because it would cost me less in the end and It makes me  wonder if all of these people are idiots and have no clue what they are doing or there is something really wrong with the OS. The only person as far as I know that does not have issues with his Windows machine is JD and guess what, he is a tech therefore not an issue.

I am beginning to wonder if people are so used to fixing those little bugs I keep hearing about and seeing some for myself that the problem is no longer a problem. When this happens just do that instead. When that happens do it this way to go around the issue. I guess if you know how to fix those little issues then it not a problem but why should we have to fix them in the first place. I JUST DON'T GET IT and DON"T WANT TO GET IT. Why stress myself with that mess when I know what works every time.

I guess I am a Happy Dummy. A Happy Dummy that  does not want to complicate his life with the idiotic nonsense of having to put up with Viruses and spyware and trojans and worms and who knows what else.

Space travel here I come!!

Quoted from machine.slave

MacPhreak, you know as well as I do how powerful Macs are... it sounds like you use them as they're intended;  to do high level design and editing.  You have to admit, it's pretty sad that 95% of the Mac owners out there buy these $5k machines to check their email.. oh, and because they look great in the family room.  It really is a waste of raw power.

Intended for Graphics oriented users??? an old cliche if you ask me.

Fine but where are you getting the 5k from. If your buying a MacPro yes indeed but most buy an imac that is 1300$. Some HP's cost that much. Granted people buy way more than they need be it Mac or PC.



Actually i am thinking of getting a box built by JD and installing OSX therefore getting a great price with my OS. Just have to figure out which parts would be best suited for the task. IMO hardware is hardware right?

Quoted from sensfreak

I was just looking for people experiences or comments that they have heard from real users.  I have been comparing the iPhone, the Blackberry Storm, and the Blackberry Bold.  I am leaning towards the iPhone due to some of it's features.  

I'm getting the Samsung Instinct which is somewhat similar to the iPhone (should have it next week).  For me it wasn't about getting the latest and greatest but rather have 1 device that does what 3 or 4 devices did before.  I realize it won't be as good as a PSP for gaming, and a Garmin for the GPS feature but I'm OK with that.  It does satellite radio, GPS, phone (obviously), full internet browsing, MP3, streaming TV, MP4, and a few other things.  Granted I'll only use about half the features but still I think it's better than carrying 3 different devices to do those things I want.

Am I tethered to my phone? Yes. But that's a personal choice and it's for FAMILY communications only.  Nobody else has my number.  I use it ALL the time.  I find the convenience too useful to ignore.

Can I go without it?  Of course!  I spend a lot of time at the hunt camp in the summer and it's out of range of cell phones and that's fine and I don't even get the shakes.

A good analogy is that you don't NEED indoor plumbing to live.  But it sure beats going outside to the outhouse at -30.

Oh and BTW in reference to the PC/Mac thing.  I've been using Vista Ultimate for 6 months now and would never go back.  WAYYYY more solid than XP ever was for me.  It wasn't an upgrade on an old PC (which I've heard is usually a bad thing).  Built a new PC and went with Vista. Best move I ever made.


Mike

Quoted from machine.slave

Windows boxes are prone to viruses.  Biggest problem right there. Let alone other things like compatibility issues and botched installs thanks to the millions of different hardware configurations.  Also, when you're buying a pre-configured machine you're usually getting the worst of the worst when it comes to parts. However, Microsoft has the best software support, hands down.  

you know why there so few viruses for mac? CAUSE THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH MAC for the virus programmer to make a profit from ! that's why !

compatibility issues?! c'mon, that's what Microsoft is built on!   what about compatibility in the mac world?! a big zero... snow leopard will drop support for the powerpc architecture and require a intel cpu ... ô how ironic

the worst of the worst for parts....    you know what? at least YOU HAVE THE CHOICE !! unlike Mac which has well let's see... vanilla AND vanilla !


You mac lovers are really bad.

We do this argument once every few months, lets just agree to disagree, really no point in arguing since neither side is going to buge at the end of the day.  Use what you want and shutup about it, myself included

Quoted from Vengeance

Use what you want and shutup about it, myself included

I prefer this.

Quoted from 1

Intended for Graphics oriented users??? an old cliche if you ask me.

I didn't say that.. I said design and editing, be it graphic, sound, film.. even 3D rendering.  But you're right, I'm talking mainly of Mac Pro's.

Even $1,300 for an iMac is too much, IMO.  It's still an extremely powerful machine for what the average user would ever use it for.

Buuuuuut I'm not going to argue.

Quoted from Mrhide

you know why there so few viruses for mac? CAUSE THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH MAC for the virus programmer to make a profit from ! that's why !

compatibility issues?! c'mon, that's what Microsoft is built on!   what about compatibility in the mac world?! a big zero... snow leopard will drop support for the powerpc architecture and require a intel cpu ... ô how ironic

the worst of the worst for parts....    you know what? at least YOU HAVE THE CHOICE !! unlike Mac which has well let's see... vanilla AND vanilla !


You mac lovers are really bad.

You're missing my argument completely.. I wasn't supporting either format.  I was merely stating that there are good and bad aspects to either platform.

I'm far from a Mac lover.. I prefer to consider it as, I hate both platforms equally.  If only they could combine the best of both worlds.

and by the way, you have a choice for Macs.. as I said before, you can buy a Mac and load Windows XP or Vista on it if you like (and same goes for PC's with OSX)

I give up.  You guys carry on with your OS Fanboy wars.

Ahhhh, MAACA... definitely the more mature forum.  

Since my thread has been high jacked, I might as well join in.  Does anyone have a TZ or a MM for sale?

I guess the iphone can be a little TOO powerful