Andriod not the only open source mobile os out there now

[Michael Haney]

What bothers me is the people gush on the iPhone like its the Second
Coming.  Its a good phone, but there are WAY too many caveats to it.

Caveat #1:  Its locked to AT&T - The iPhone is locked down to one
carrier, and a mediocre one at best.  AT&T may have spent a lot of
money and time upgrading their network but there is so much on carrier
can handle.  AT&T's coverage isn't all that great either.  The iPhone
wouldn't have to be jail broken if Apple would just open it up to
other carriers.  They're limiting themselves staying with AT&T.  I'm
betting that Verizon and Sprint would jump at the chance to have the
iPhone now.

Caveat #2:  Its functionality is locked down so you can only do what
Apple allows you to do - This means no Bluetooth keyboard support, no
USB tethering, no Bluetooth tethering, no Bluetooth syncing with
iTunes, no Wi-Fi syncing with iTunes, no multi-tasking ... I see a
pattern growing here.  Apple wants to control what users can do with
the hardware, and the functionality that consumers want they aren't
delivering.  There is no reason why the iPhone can mutli-task, there's
no reason why they can't allow a Bluetooth keyboard or syncing via
Wi-Fi.  Eventually people are going to get frustrated with the
limitations and look elsewhere the smart-phone market is getting
extremely competitive.  Apple needs to pay attention!

Caveat #3:  No Flash support - Steve Jobs's arguments about Flash are
redundant.  The Web isn't going to roll over and suddenly dump Flash
for HTML 5 simply because he doesn't like it.  Its unrealistic for him
to think he can cause change that way, and it just hurts his customers
who get a cripple Internet experience as a result.  An estimated 90%
of the web uses Flash.  HTML 5 has been around for about a year or
more and adoption isn't even at 1% yet.  Browsers which can handle
HTML 5 haven't been available for very long, either.  Youtube, one of
the biggest users of Flash, is only just now beta testing HTML5 video.
 Plus, there's a standards war going on.  Apple wants to force the
standard to use H.264 to be compatible with their mobile media
devices, and the rest want to use the license-free/royalty-free Ogg
Theora standard.  The main reason why the resistance to Theora is so
high isn't because its not as good as H.264 (it is as good actually)
but that the Entertainment Industry can't make money off of it.  They
can't get money from licensing it so they're fighting it tooth and
nail.  Apple's refusing to allow Flash on the iPhone is starting to
look ludicrous and laughable, and gives their Flash capable
competitors serious ammunition to use against them.

Caveat #4:  The inconsistency of the iPhone App Store approval
guidelines - There are no set guidelines on how to get an app approved
in the App Store.  I've read dozens of horror stories about developers
loosing everything because Apple didn't approve their app.  I
understand that Apple wants to maintain some level of quality control,
which isn't a bad idea, but they're going about it all wrong.  There
is no consistency in which apps are being approved and which are being
denied.  Two apps that do roughly the same thing, for example, are
submitted.  One is approved, and the other denied.  The reason for the
denial is often for most asinine of reasons.  I've heard everything
from Apple didn't like the color of the UI to the buttons were too
shiny.  They've banned the use of the word "Android" in the App Store,
and you can't get a red HAL-9000 app because its associated with
Google.  Oh, and lets not forget the Google Voice app being denied,
yet apps from Skype and another VoIP service were approved.  If
Micro$oft did some of this shit there would be riots in the streets
and the FTC would be frothing at the mouth in rage.  The point is,
iPhone developers are being treated like shit by Apple and they're
getting away with it.  How long does this need to go on before people
start to wise up that there are better alternatives out there?  Which
there are.

Don't get me wrong, the iPhone is great, but its artificially imposed
limitations and Apple's own senseless shenanigans ruin what should
otherwise be a great product.

-- 
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
"The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking
of morality by religion." ~ Arthur C. Clarke
"The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion and
politics, but it is not the path to knowledge, and there is no place
for it in the endeavor of science. " ~ Carl Sagan

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