Top Reasons not to get the 3G iPhone
Apple lately has done a great job hyping the world about their new 3G iPhone The advertising has worked and the iPhone is one of the hottest cell phones to own. For those interested in keeping up with the Jones’ the iPhone is a must have item this year and probably next year too. The question is does the Apple iPhone live up to the hype. Is the iPhone really worth top dollar? What do the users say? Here are the top 4 reasons not to own an iPhone.
The first reason is the price. This is a very expensive cell phone. The average price for an iPhone is between $500 – $600. That is a lot of money for a phone. At this price it is really a luxury item as there are phones that offer similar features for a lot less money. For Internet and email capabilities you can get a Blackberry or Motorola Q for a lot less than an iPhone. If you are looking for touch screens and music, there are hundreds of phones that will suit these requirements without having to shell out so much money. Although the iPhone’s advertising is geared toward teens and young adults, does a teenager really need a $500 cell phone? This is the fist reason in our Top 4 reasons not to own an iPhone: Price.
Reason number two in the top 4 reasons not to own an iPhone, the battery. Did you know that you cannot replace the battery in your iPhone? If that battery dies, you are out of luck. Even if Apple decided that it shouldn’t be soldering in like the first version the battery still isn’t user replaceable! A huge miss IMHO since this isn’t an iPod that you have to recharge only once a week. It’s power hungry device that will often needs daily full cycle charges. This way when your battery dies, and without a doubt it will in under two years, you have to get a new iPhone or pay big bucks to get it fixed. Apparently many users did not realize this as Apple made no effort to make this common knowledge. Now they are in litigation over the battery issue. Therefore, if you are considering buying an iPhone be sure to get a warranty that covers the battery if you can. Otherwise you will be paying for another phone within 24 months which is the average life of a cell phone style battery.
Reason three not to own an iPhone is memory. You can purchase a 8 GB? or 16 GB model. When you use up all of your available space on the iPhone, you must delete or back off content to another device like your PC or Mac. Many iPhone proponents claim that this storage capacity removes the need for a separate MP3 player, such as an iPod, therefore saving you money. In reality, teens can download 16 GB of music and video in an amazingly short amount of time. This leaves no memory for other applications or photos. You will still need a separate MP3 player so there are no real savings to be had here. There is no ability to upgrade the memory via a memory card or flash drive. This is another area where the iPhone is lacking.
Finally, reason number 4 in our top 4 reasons not to own an iPhone is the service provider. You are limited to AT&T’s cell phone service packages for the iPhone if you wish to use it. These packages are expensive as they all include data and internet. AT&T has no incentive to change their iPhone service pricing because they have exclusive rights to provide service to the iPhones. This has led to a great number of hacked iPhones on the market that can be used on other networks. As long as Apple and AT&T’s agreement stays exclusive, you will have hackers.
Comments(18)
Try getting your facts straight:
It costs 200-300 for the iPhone, not including the contract.
There are only two models.
You said 5 reasons and ended on number four.
This may be “Smartphones today”, but is is not intelligent writing.
The average price of an unlocked iPhone is 500-600 dollars worldwide (I would even go to say its a conservative price). You probably live in the US and thats the only option available to you is to buy it with a contract. To give you an example from a country ( the global trends are the same) who has the option that allowed to sell both:
FRANCE:
unlocked iphone: 609?
locked with 24 month contract: 399?
locked with 18 month contract: 499?
locked with 12 month contract: 509?
You are right that I mentioned 5 instead of 4. Error corrected, thanks
I agree with PV, this is little misleading.
1. Please compare price of unlocked iPhones with unlocked cell phones of similar capacity (including internet access, true MP3 capabilities, video, and advance gaming amongst others). I do know that iPhone pricing locked with the ATT&T calling/data plans are competitive.
2. No need to buy a new iPhone if the battery dies? This is incorrect. Good news: the battery can be replaced. But the bad news, I will note, is that it must be done by an authorized dealer. That being said, I’ve never had to replace a battery on any of my iPods, so…
3. Memory- iPhones come with significantly more memory onboard than other phones. Expansion would be nice. But that being said, I used to hate using memory cards with my Palms as I couldn’t remember which cards had what on them. Also, don’t worry about youngsters downloading too much music. iTunes has very nice ways of handling music and video lists. While that means you can’t carry around your entire video collection on the go, there’s no need to “delete” songs. (I have about 50Gb worth of material on iTunes, and I actually only carry around 8Gb of data on my 32 Gb iPod…and that’s without much music management as most of my items are videos).
4. ATT as service provider – a valid point perhaps, although I currently use Sprint and am not convinced ATT is all that bad. But why quote the iPhone price in point #1 for an unlocked phone if point #4 concerns the problem of being locked in with ATT? In any case, the iPhone plans seem competitive with other smartphone data plans, except perhaps the need to pay more for SMS.
* The lowest-priced model is $199, not $500.
* There are 2 models (8GB and 16BG), not 3
* The battery on the new 3G model is NOT soldered in place.
* The battery IS replaceable; it’s just not an easy do-it-yourself job. Apple will replace the battery for free if it holds less than 50% after 1 year (or 2 years if you get the extended warranty). If it’s out of warranty, they charge $79 (plus shipping) to replace the battery, or you can get it done at a 3rd-party repair shop, or if you’re handy you could try it yourself with a mail-order battery replacement kit. Granted this may be a deal-killer for folks who like to routinely swap out batteries while on the road, but you were saying that DEAD batteries couldn’t be replaced, which is incorrect.
Ken,
Correct. The battery is replaceable but only by a dealer. if it’s like for iPods it’ll be 100$ for a simple battery. The fact is that an iPhone and iPod are very different in their need of power. MUCH MORE quickly will you run out of the maximum charge cycles with an iPhone that’s recharged daily than an iPod that goes for a whole week.
James,
You are right about the 3 models, my bad. Error corrected, thanks!
James,
Incorrect again…. last check on the price for a replacement battery for iPods are in the $29-$79. This is true in the US. maybe different in your neck of the woods but, it seems that most of your arguments are based on inaccurate assumptions.
Ipod replacement in the EU = 69 euros or 109.385 USD
Ipod replacement in the US costs $59, plus $6.95 shipping. The program cost is $65.95 per unit.
http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/service/battery/
The program costs is $85.95 total per unit for the iPhone in the US.
http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/service/battery/
UK: 55.00 GBP or $109.92 USD
http://www.apple.com/uk/support/iphone/service/battery/
Rest of the EU: 79 ? or $125.23 US
http://www.apple.com/fr/support/iphone/service/battery/
I dunno in your book but to me anything more than 100$ (or 86$ even) for a simple battery is considered expensive. Not to even consider the wait of to get your phone back…
Top 5 Reasons NOT to buy Organic Meats & Produce
REASON #1: THEY’RE VERY EXPENSIVE. Over a month’s worth of eating, you could spend hundreds of dollars. In contrast bulk rice or dried beans, which are also food, can be had for less than one tenth the price.
REASON #2: THEY REQUIRE EXPENSIVE STORAGE / MAINTENANCE. Freshness is always problematic with fresh food, requiring expensive “refrigerators” if you want to shop more than a few hours before you eat, or keep leftovers.
REASON #3: NOT ENOUGH CALORIES. Unlike a BigBurger, shake and fries, which will give you almost a full day’s worth of calories, trans-fats, starch, sodium and preservatives in a single sitting, so-called “organic food” requires you to eat many different servings; even then, you may have to patronize specialized chemical stores to get all the ingredients you find in the SuperSizedValue meals.
REASON #4: LIMITED PROVIDERS. In most cities of the world, you can count on a fast food sugar-salt-and-fat hit (with a good shot of caffeine) on most corners, but at least in the US, there’s a sharply limited supply of fresh organic foods?there be NO coverage in some geographic areas.
CONCLUSION: EAT JUNK. OBVIOUS AS CAN BE.
OK Ken, I’m not an expert on the “worldwide” price, but state that in your article. That what good reporters do. You managed to change your original mistake in stating that there were three iPhone models, but you should have acknowledged that in your reply to me and to the other readers. That’s what good reporters do. And this last point may help the most: find an editor.
You can’t have your cake and eat it too… If you are discussing unlocked prices, you cannot complain about provider (and you shoud compare it to other unlocked 3G phones). If you go with the provider you are complaining about, you get the price you are not complaining about. All in all, you don’t have one, I don’t even know if you played with one, you just want to gripe about it. I own one, and have plenty of gripes – chief among them is no copy/paste, minimal quality SMS, etc.
Your rant would be much more credible if it did not seem like you were a knee jerk iPhone hater
Oh, and the new iPhone, while still not containing a “User Replaceable” battery, now has screws to get it open and the battery is not soldered – looks like it will be easier for an end user to replace the battery on this than it was on any ipod (and I have done that for a friend’s iPod). With the guides available on the web, for me to replace the battery in 2 years time for $15 does not seem bad at all…. ($15 is the price of many after market batteries for the current iPhone – although replacing on those requires a VERY scary opening of the 1st gen iPhone and even more scary soldering [or splicing] of wires…) I had the 1st gen iPhone for a full year and 10 days (bought 1st day, sold the night before the 3G came out for $300!!!) and my battery life was still excellent when I sold it. It was used everyday and the battery was at 90-100% capacity when I sold it…
Lastly, I have one of these on order for my iPhone 3G for when they come out:
http://fastmac.com/iv.php
That will alleviate for me any battery worries or problems….
Eytan,
I have my 1st iPhone in Feb 2007 when the 16GB version came out. Coming from a 60GB iPhone that’s the very minimum I could downgrade in size to. Now why didn’t they put out a 32GB iPhone now? Because they want you to buy a new one again in Feb next year when they release an upgraded version. Why didn’t they put a 5MP pixel camera in it (like my old Nokia N95 from 2006) which seems what other models offer today? Because they 6 months after the 32GB version is out they will want you to buy the V3 with it.
I am neither a iPhone hater or Mac Fanboy. Strangely enough I’ve hardly had any reactions when I posted favorably about it..
Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly about the size – but I don’t think the iPhone could ever replace my iPod for music storage – because I always want more (I am a long time taper and music enthusiast). I find I use my iPod when I go out of town on trips, or road trips – and the iPhone would never store enough for me (160 GB is not enough for me either). The 16 GB (a worthy upgrade for me) was a compromise for how I DO use it – the bus to and from work, while listening to Podcasts. Going out on a Saturday night in my car or without and just wanting to listen to stuff. Entertainment value.
Same goes for the camera – heck, a phone 5 MP camera would never do it for me either. When I want to take pictures, I have a real camera with a real lens, not a 2 mm lens that phone cameras have. Just because it is 5 MP, or even 7.2 does not really matter much when your lens is 2 mm in size and the depth of the phone only allows for minimal quality with ANY phone, regardless of the number of MP.
Look, the iPhone is not perfect, I will agree with you. But compromises need to be made in media features (camera, amount of audio, etc). In those places, I think Apple made the right choices. As I said – give me MMS (or at least make the link to viewmymessages.com a little more useful by making it a live link that SHOWS you your MMS) and a lot of other things I would like, but yes – Apple, in my opinion, has made a good compromise between what is needed and what is not for a phone. And with my ability to sell my old phone for the EXACT AMOUNT that a new, twice as large phone cost means I made the transition with no hit to my pocket book (when I purchased it, I found out that my company once again gets a discount on rates via iPhone plans which they did not last year, so my rate has not gone up).
For me, if I can resell the old one each year, unlocked, for the same price as a new phone, I will do it and not complain…
Oh, BTW, I debated buying the Apple Care on the last phone, but let it expire 11 days before the purchase of my new phone – so my new phone now has a year warranty. All in all, if that is what I do each year – upgrade for no cost and get a new warranty and twice the storage, I WILL buy a new one each year…
All-in-All I am very happy with my iPhone as well. I wouldn’t downgrade back to my Nokia N95 since when I need to take pictures I bring my Canon 40D or at least my PowerShot SD700. This said the Nokia N95 will deliver acceptable quality on that unexpected shot while the iPhone is just plain disappointing. Of course my 1st interest when getting the iPhone was to merge the iPod experience with a phone (and internet) and not a get the best Camphone. Still I truly believe they didn’t put the 5MP to have something worth while to upgrade next year.
Just to note – they increased the size of the lens slightly with the new iPhone, and I notice a DRAMATIC quality improvement on the images. In all my reading about CCD tech, lenses, and MP, I have read that the quality improvement I would see in a 5 MP camera on a phone is not that dramatic.
That said, would I like 5 MP? You betchya….
Oh, and my 1st digital camera, the 1st one I bought? it was 2 MP……
Let’s get real about the battery not being user replaceable.
I have owned various cell phones for over 8 years now and not one time did I ever buy an extra battery to carry around as a spare. I have never had to buy a battery to replace the original battery in cell phone.
You are really reaching with your so called opinion about what is wrong with the iPhone.
You must be a hater.
I have the iPhone and it OFTEN won’t last the whole day if I surf or use the GPS. If i had a battery I could swap would be very nice !
Yeah, the battery pretty much sucks. Can’t wait for the fastmac unit….