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Smartphones: What's Hot??

Discussion in 'Techno-Magic' started by Barmy Army, Jun 8, 2011.

  1. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    Anyone who loves an iPhone, loves it because they don't know any better. Sorry, but that's how it is. There is so much better out there, for cheaper. Apple are the masters at using very good marketing to sell sub-standard products at over-inflated prices.
     
  2. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    What's better and cheaper? That's really very relative. My Nokia looked great on paper for instance but was so damn buggy that the most basic function - talking - was a pain in the ass for more than a year until they fixed it up via firmware updates.
     
  3. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    It's really, really not relative. Hardware power is cold hard fact, and no iPhone has ever had it compared to other top-end smartphones. The OS is unbelievably restrictive, comically so, even after you jailbreak it. A middle of the road HTC has more bang for buck than an iPhone 4, not to mention the higher end devices. Even Samsung are releasing devices which piss allover iPhones over the last few years. The SGS was better than the iPhone 4, and we're now on SGS2. I myself have a Galaxy S2, which is currently the highest spec phone on the market (1.2ghz dual core, 1080p recording, dedicated 400mhz GPU). The iPhone 5 to be fair is boasting the ARM dual core processor, which is great... but the SGS2 already has it, and is on the market now. Even if the iPhone ever competes with other premium smartphones in terms of firepower, the fact of the crappy OS remains, which can not be replaced. They sold a bucket load because they got to the market first, but are losing market share to better devices by the day. Android is a vastly superior OS, in every way.

    Oh and Tal, Nokia just really aren't worth talking about these days :cool:.
     
  4. Morgoth

    Morgoth La lune ne garde aucune rancune Veteran

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    You have never used a Mac then have you?
     
  5. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    I'll assume that's sarcasm :D.
     
  6. Chandos the Red

    Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

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    Don't get your panties in a wad just because someone disagrees with what you think is a good phone.

    :lol: Samsung???? Wait. I think my piece of junk is a Samsung. :hmm:
     
  7. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    If only 'think' came into it :shake:. Itz fakts innit bro. Think monster gaming PC against some crappy ass Dell office PC.

    You're really arguing with the wrong person, about the wrong thing here. If there's one thing I know, it's phones. I might not know much about anything else, but I know my smartphones. If you really want to go down this road, then find me a better phone than an SGS2. Well, you can waste your time trying if you want, but I promise you won't. The only worthy SGS2 competitor is the HTC Incredible, which isn't even out yet. The custom roms are starting to whirl out for the SGS2 as well, including the Cyanogen 7 nightly's - which is an epic win.
     
  8. Death Rabbit

    Death Rabbit Straight, no chaser Adored Veteran Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    I have an iPhone 4. Love it. Best phone I've ever had.

    My wife has an iPhone 4. She went through 5 different Droid phones in a single year, all of them crap-tastic. Then she got an iPhone 4. Best phone she's ever had.

    There are probably "better" phones out there, by one measure or another. I'll keep my iPhone, thanks.
     
  9. Chandos the Red

    Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

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    Great. Because I think my provider has that Samsung junk as well as the Apple. I'm not a big fan of Apple anything, but Mrs. Chandos "loves" hers and if she's happy with it then I don't give a damn about much else regarding a cell phone. Every once in a while I load some music for her on it off of my PC. I don't think much of ITunes software, but so what? Even Winamp is not that great anymore.

    You believe that is a good phone, Barmy? It should be because it is more than twice as much as Mrs. Chandos' IPhone. I think it's just too expensive for what it is. I guess I will keep my old Samsung for a while longer [4 years old]. Unless you want to convince me that there's anything worth while on that phone. I won't blame you though if you don't want to bother with it. :)

    Sorry. But I still recommend the Otterbox.
     
  10. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    Noooo DR, you're a rabbit, not a sheep!

    Seriously though, I can see why some people like iPhones. The are easy to use as the OS forces you to use it a certain way, so you can't go wrong. This is OK for your Joe Public who doesn't know much about phones, however for your more discerning user or phone enthusiast this is just annoying. Phones are such powerful things these days, you want to use your phone how you want and do with it what you want. Not have your hands tied with some ridiculously restrictive operating system. The first iPhone 3 didn't even have 3G; yea cracking idea that Apple. the iPhone 3GS did, but then couldn't play Flash. Another master stroke. The iPhone 4 is 'ok' but the simple fact is, you can do better, so why spend an inordinate amount of money for a sub-standard product?

    Where you find people interested in phones, you'll find people who hate iPhones. I'll grant that they are OK for a lot of people who don't know enough about phones to know better, but all this does it serve to irritate the phone-geek crowd even more.

    Did you know Apple also track your movements and activities with the iPhone software? They're a godawful company, they really are. And God help your wallet if anything ever goes wrong with it!

    If you want a real eye-opener, go to the biggest and best phone developer site out there, XDA Developers, and make a post bigging up the iPhone. Just make sure you put some flame-proof pants on :lol:.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 9, 2011
  11. Chandos the Red

    Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

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    I didn't want to step on the "IPhone 4 Cover" thread.

    Barmy said:

    The Apple IPhone was only 199.00. I thought that was a pretty good deal.
     
  12. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Barmy, nobody's buying iPhones for the hardware power or because they want to break away from its own OS. It's the ease of use, design and "wow" factor that Apple's famous for and so far I don't think that anyone's surpassed them there yet.

    The "best" smart phone is the one that works best for every individual. There's no "one phone fits all".

    Anyway, I'll move all this to Chandos' thread.
     
  13. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    Which one, when? Find me the iPhone 4 for that price pal, it's more than 2 times that, and that's in British Pound Sterling! I'm not talking about by-gone phones; the smartphone market is a cutting edge one and changes quickly. I'm talking about the newest of the new. You could have at least quoted my whole post as well - it's not often I make a post over 10 words long on these boards lol.

    Look, all this boils down to is knowing enough from the other side of the fence to feel annoyed on someone elses behalf when they are buying something not as good as something you know is better, and paying extra for the privilege.

    How can I put this in a way that might hit home on this message board? Imagine watching someone who doesn't know much about RPG's being persuaded to buy Pools of Radiance for £50. You, knowing a lot about the ins & outs and pro & cons of RPG's know that BG2 or PS:T are much better purchases, and you can pick them up at the the same price, or probably cheaper. You try and tell this person and all they do is go 'No, this is what I've got, it works great for me and I like it, so ner' and you're like 'Buuuut, this is better! that's a load of crap!' *fingers in ears* 'la la la la la la, not listeniiiiiing'.

    Oh, and yes, the SGS2 IS the best phone on the market right now. I can dig out specs and stuff if you want, but I don't see the point. Just take my word for it laddo! It won't be in probably less than a year, but that's the beauty of the smartphone market. It's moving along ridiculously quickly.

    ---------- Added 0 hours, 6 minutes and 32 seconds later... ----------

    Which was my whole point to begin with. They're OK for your everyday user who doesn't know any better, but for someone who does, the restrictiveness of it is annoying. Like I say, find a phone-geek community and watch the iPhone flame go up like Hiroshima. That doesn't mean it's not OK for Joe Public, but it doesn't change the fact it's over-priced gunk. I'd detest having to pay for every little bit of gunk on the market too, and being forced to use the crap that is iTunes. My God how I can't be doing with Apple - it's a really bad idea to get me started on it lol.
     
  14. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    OK, so now we're getting to the crux of the issue. YOU hate iPhones and they're no good for YOU.

    However, many OTHER people love them and they're all that they ever wanted or needed in a phone. Which means that they're great for THEM.

    You see where I'm going with this? Obviously iPhones will always be put down by phone enthusiasts who love to hate Apple... but guess what? You're not Apple's core audience. Apple is following a philosophy that works very well for them and their users. But for those who don't (want to) subscribe to their ideas, nobody is forcing them to buy iPhones.

    So your analogy is really completely off as it doesn't take into account the users' preferences, experience and actual needs (not your own perceived needs).

    When somebody's very happy with their iPhone and you're trying to convince them of so many reasons why they shouldn't be... well, that's obviously kinda pointless, isn't it? People know well enough on their own when something's actually not working for them.

    I view the attempts at trying to reduce the huge phone market to one "best phone" to be as absurd and futile as trying to come up with a "best car". The best car for YOU is the one that best fits YOUR needs. The same goes for any mobile phone.
     
  15. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    No, it's not just me, it's anyone who knows enough about the whole scene to know better, and really dislike Apple for what they do and stand for... iPhones are great for people content to use an crappy over-priced device that just can't stand up to superior devices, but don't know enough to make an informed decision otherwise. More power to people like that. For the millions, MILLIONS of others who know enough to know better? They'll be content to use their superior devices, with their superior roms and get an infinitely better experience from their phones (and laugh at iPhone users whilst they do it, and watch Apple continually lose their undeserved market share). Like I say, take a trip over to the wonderful site that is XDA Developers and have this debate there, it might be a real eye-opener.

    I don't think there's much more to add to that, to be honest. It's doing my head in banging it against this brick wall; I love you guys but you're really the wrong people to be having a phone debate with! It's like going to the 'Womens Own' forums and having a discussion about beer and football.
     
  16. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    FYI, I edited my previous post and added a few lines while you were already writing a response.

    And I didn't mean it was just you in the whole word Barmy, only in this thread so far. ;) I know all about the Apple hate, thank you... I also know a few people who used to constantly ridicule Apple until they bought one of their devices. And another. And another... they're routinely trying to get me to switch to Apple now. So excuse me if I take all the Apple bashing with a grain a salt. I know very well what the iPhone's strengths and weaknesses are. I'm not likely to buy one simply because I feel that they're overpriced, but if I were in the US where they're a lot cheaper it might be a different story. Because, like the majority of people, I wouldn't need even a quarter of the phone's features and if any that I didn't have a need for were missing, well, I couldn't care less.

    For the record, I don't own any Apple devices.
     
  17. Chandos the Red

    Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

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  18. joacqin

    joacqin Confused Jerk Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    I am pondering buying a smartphone and I really do not like the Apple cult but the fact of the matter is that Iphone customers seem to be extremely satisfied more or less all the time while people who buy other smart phones generally spend the time Iphone users spend lavishing praise on their phones whining about this or that crappy feature.
     
  19. Cap'n CJ

    Cap'n CJ Arrr! Veteran

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    Grab an HTC, the Desire S is a damn nice phone.
     
  20. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    The HTC Incredible is out soon, which has a seriously beasty spec. If you don't want to wait then the SGS2 is an absolute beast - they are pretty much on par. There's the Motorola Atrix which also has a good spec, but I wouldn't recommend it (not quite as good as other phones out at the moment). The Desire series is good, but a little bit old now (in phone terms). So really, if you're looking for the best of the best at the moment, you've got a choice of the Incredible or the SGS2. If you're not bothered about having the very latest, then there's a **** tonne of different options, far too many to go into.

    The good thing about HTC's is that the bootloader is ALWAYS unlocked. Like, always. So all you need to do is pop over to XDA and get a hold of one of the multitude of amazing ROMS to make your phone even better. If there's something about your phone that annoys you, or that you don't like, it's not a problem. Just find a ROM you like better.

    Chandos, that's not a link. There's absolutely no way you're getting an iPhone 4 for that price, unless you're paying for a contract as well. If you want an iPhone 4, SIM free and PAYG then you're looking at LEAST £450 pound, which translates as at least $750-$800. Don't believe me? http://www.google.co.uk/products/ca...=X&ei=maHwTYfHIoao8APQltDrAw&ved=0CIEBEPMCMAQ. God, why am I doing the legwork when I know I'm right to begin with lol.

    Last night before I went to bed I streamed a film via DNLA to my TV from my phone. Do dat on your iSheeps then boyo's! Give me a ring if you manage it - just make sure to hold your phone in the 'right way' or you might lose signal :lol:.
     
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