Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng
Really? Seriously? You guys want less carrier control?
Then stop whining every time when you see a phone's unlocked price is at US$400-500.
If you cannot except the carrier rebates you'll never escape their control.
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Dude - what we're talking about here is the fact that the phone's OS has been customized by the carrier to the point that upgrades are difficult to roll out.
Besides, if you get an 8GB iPhone
from AT&T, it only costs you $199, and it has no AT&T customizations on it that prevent you from receiving OS updates from Apple. Sure - you can't stick a T-mo SIM in the thing and expect it to work, but the fact remains OS upgrades are available and supported (we've already seen one come out for the new 3G iPhones this week)
A Q9 Global
from AT&T has not had a single update since it came out (LAST YEAR!). Same price range, but heavy customizations that keep us from getting updates.
If you compare the frequent iPhone updates that come from Apple, all of which can be applied to AT&T iPhones, to the one or two official updates that came from AT&T for the 2125, 3125, 8125, 8525, BlackJack, Treo 750w, etc., I think you'll see the pattern. Carrier logo updates, like the first update for the BlackJack where they simply changed Cingular logos and such AT&T equivalents, don't count as they didn't change the OS version or provide any bug fixes.
$199 Subsidized AT&T iPhone - No AT&T customizations that stop you from getting all updates FROM APPLE
$199 Subsidized AT&T Tilt - Heavily AT&T customized, and only one update FROM AT&T since it came out in October 2007