Oh, joy! Another cell phone rant!
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Thursday, September 23, 2010
So I looked at a new cell phone the other day. I don't know why I torture myself with this stuff. I was tired, it was my birthday, and I was distracted by the shiny. Thankfully, Paul talked me into thinking about it. I love that man.
I was looking at a Samsung Epic, an Android 2.1 phone with a keyboard, HD camera, and an AMOLED display that will knock your frickin' socks off. I have to admit that I've been drooling over Paul's Evo ever since he got it. Then I picked up the Android tablet and have had a blast fooling around with it. Windows Mobile 6.5 has been abandoned, and my handset won't play nice with Mobile 7. Not that I want a Mobile 7 handset. Microsoft has fallen hook, line, and sinker for the Steve Jobs school of shiny. Make something cool, then keep the consumer in your special walled garden. I'm not falling for that one. (And I suspect Chris isn't, either. He's experimenting with Android on his two year-old WM handset.)
What in the name of Alexander Graham Bell is it that makes U.S. cell phone carriers treat their customers like this? It has to be the money. Maybe it's the government (lack of) regulatory environment that allows it. Here I am sitting with a one year-old phone that seems to have been completely abandoned my its manufacturer, my carrier, and the folks who designed the OS. I look over at Europe and Asia and see all the cool handsets coming out with super support. Over here? Hey, we've got your money, now frak off.
Case in point: the Samsung Epic. It doesn't have the new version of the Android OS (even though it's a shiny new phone that was released after Froyo hit the streets) and it has problems that the carriers have yet to address, like 3G uploads that are capped at an insanely slow speed and a GPS that doesn't lock. Oh, but they got an update last week - with software designed to generate more revenue. Froyo is being released for the phones in Europe, but we have to wait for the American manufacturer to decide to release it, then the carrier to spend ages "testing" their crapware before we get it. How in the hell can they get away with charging all that money for something that doesn't work out of the box, and might work six months later? The next shiny will be out in two months, and this will be abandoned. Yet, customers are stuck with a two-year contract. What are we paying for? It certainly isn't innovation.
I've been trying to get the life promised out of my current phone by flashing new ROMs. These are all put together by volunteers and are kind of cool, but are not without their own set of problems. We have no choice but to look beyond the carriers because they won't support our frickin' phones.
Yeah, I know. I'm just ranting. It simply ticks me off that we have no choice but to bend over and take it.
Filed under: Phones
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