Friday, June 29, 2007

I Don't Want An iPhone



I have to admit the ads showing flying fingers transforming the screen (which on TV looks pretty big) from the NYTimes.com homepage to a list of phone numbers to a display of song covers to, to, to, is fascinating.

But, I have a computer in my office. Since I have DirecTv, it will play XM radio, which I also get at home through the not-state-of-the-art, but adequate, home theater system. The computer at the office of course gives me access to the internet.

I have a laptop that has broadband wireless internet and WiFi access. It will play the same XM stations, and like the office computer has access to the hundreds of streaming radio broadcasts available. Both computers have all the obligatory programs to crunch words, numbers, pictures and other important stuff.

My car has a radio. AM/FM/CD/MP3 and even a cassette player.

My cellphone makes and takes calls and text messages. If I wanted it to, it would Email and surf the Web.

All of these devices have a main function that they do pretty well.

From what I’ve read, the iPhone doesn’t do all of these things, and what it does, it does marginally. I read that if you turn it off, the screen doubles as a pretty good makeup mirror. If I ever need one, there are several available at the office, in the car and at home. And, it’s too big to hang on my belt or slip into my pocket. Does look cool though. Oh, did I mention that it’s $600 of cool?

Besides it’s 90 some degrees in Atlanta; too hot to stand in line.

11 comments:

Ray said...

It's OK Dave. I don't want to ask my wife for $600 dollars either ;-)

Let all those early adopters get the bugs worked out. After the swell of users we will be picking up that 2nd Generation phone and we will be the smart ones.

That's what I did with the iPod. Just got one this year.

Oh, and I work in the tech industry.

Dave said...

Hey Ray, thanks for stopping by.

I still don't have an iPod or a PDA. Your point about early adopters though is right.

I'm usually about two or three generations behind in computers, audio-visual stuff and cell phones. By that point, they are new to me and the price is right.

emmapeelDallas said...

My younger daughter is endlessly amused that I don't use speed dial to call her and her sibs on my cellphone...but if I did that, I wouldn't know their numbers. And there's something to be said for knowing their numbers...

Judi

Pile Of Nothing said...

I heard iPhones cause brain cancer anyway.

Pile Of Nothing

Posol'stvo the Medved said...

I hadn't wanted an iPod when I first heard of them. I didn't see the point. But then I borrowed one and immediately started looking for the necessary seed capital.

I hadn't wanted a blog when I first starting hearing about them, (again, what's the point? who wants to read about my midlife crisis?) but a client asked me to put one on his site, so I had to look into what that entailed. I am still posting to that original experimental site.

I could keep going on and on. I am not a luddite, but I am by no means an early adopter either, and I need to have the utility of a new device demonstrated before I am willing to commit myself to a bout of technolust.

As it is, my phone has a digital camera, but it is a piece of crap compared with my separate Canon digital camera. So, although I could see the value in having all my toys in one device, I doubt it would do them all as well as my current devices do. And if I sit on one and break it (which I have done), I currently don't have to live without or replace them all. Which is prefereable to me...

Life Hiker said...

I'm waiting for a cranial implant that will do everything an I-Phone does, plus have HD-TV and an effective spam filter. Maybe next year - the "I-Brain".

fermicat said...

I don't want an iPhone. But I do want to replace my phone that is now six years old. It's big, it's ugly, and it is a battery hog. The antenna has been broken for two years. I still have a Massachusetts area code and number, even though I moved back to Atlanta in 2004. Yeah, I procrastinate just a bit.

JLee said...

I agree. I don't stand in line for much of anything...well, except a good cup of coffee. ;)

Kami said...

Love this post.

Memphis said...

I keep hearing how excited everyone is about the iPhone, but I just can't care. I haven't even bothered to learn all the features on my cell phone. And I only just this year bought an iPod Nano. I guess technology doesn't excite me like it used to. If I don't need something, it's hard to get excited over it just because it's new and shiny.

Dave said...

Judi, it is kind of annoying not to know phone numbers anymore. I keep telling myself I need to download the numbers in the SIM card so that I'll have them if I lose the phone.

Pos, I tend to get new tech when my life demands it. Though I had an Osborne back in the early eighties, after getting out of law school I had a secretary and she got the computer. I didn't get one until too many clients started asking for my Email address. Same with a cellphone. "What's your cell number?"

LF, the answer lies in RDIF chips.

Fermi, I have a couple of sleek little phones sitting in the junk drawer, your's for the asking. They're set up for Cingular.

Jlee, get a coffee press. Better than Starbucks and no lines.

Thanks for stopping Kami. Are you traveling in tandem with Steve?

Steve, every now and then I accidently switch from vibrate to ring. I then have to spend ten minutes figuring out how to reverse the process. Still don't know how to send a picture.