25 Jun 2010 : The iPhone 4, a few thoughts
My mobile contract expired last month, I'd seen the leaked iPhone 4 pics through Gawker, and was pretty convinced my next phone would be the HTC Desire. So why did I find myself outside the Kilburn branch of O2 at 8.00 in the morning awaiting the iPhone 4?
I've never queued for a product launch before, and to be fair I didn't this time. The queue was well established, 30 or so hardy soles patiently awaiting the 8.02 opening time.
I thought "bugger this" and went to work.
At work I was asked, "What is it that's so great about the new iPhone?", I floundered, "Erm, its got a better screen, and its erm just better." It was at this point I realised I'd been sucked in by the Apple marketing machine.
You can say what you like about Apple products but they certainly know how to market them and build up media frenzy. I'm sure its no coincidence either that there's never enough product on launch day, as noted in this hilarious post.
I have to say of all the various Apple products I've owned over the years, the iPhone has been my favourite (my MacBook Pro the least, broken graphics card, broken fan, broken battery…). Your mobile phone is something that you carry around wherever you go, you form more of an attachment to it than say a tv, so its probably not surprising I temporarily forgot the most important rule about buying Apple hardware:
Never buy the first generation of anything. EVER.
There's always problems, which are invariably solved by generation two, leading to a much better product. This time around the guinea pigs (sorry, paying customers) are complaining about lack of reception, the external antenna (which forms part of the case) is affected by people, shock horror, holding the phone.
Apple seem to be aware of this, as they've produced a special case to hold the phone (they usually leave cases and other crap to 3rd parties).
Me? Well i'll be waiting a couple of months for them to iron out that particular problem before I upgrade… Or maybe i'll finally join the ever growing numbers of android users….