randalllewis
10-18-2008, 04:30 AM
I almost bought an iPhone last week but thankfully Apple and AT&T teamed up to prevent me from switching away from Windows Mobile.
Months ago, I bought my daughter an iPod Touch as a gift. She loves it and uses it all the time. I have played with it some when I visit her and find it a nice product, though not without its own little quirks. I haven't had any desire for an iPod Touch for myself, but my experiences with the Touch contributed to part of my flirtation with the iPhone.
I have owned the UK version of the HTC Touch Diamond since it was released. I was impressed from the moment I first saw a pictures of it with the Diamond's sleek appearance and the intuitive Touch Flo 3D interface. I have installed the two firmware upgrades that HTC has released, and this has eliminated the few issues the phone had at first. I am very pleased with my UK Diamond. I purchased and then returned the US version of the Diamond. The bulkier size of the US version was an issue, and there were a handful of other differences from the UK version that were nitpicky but added up. To top it off, I just wasn't seeing 3G service frequently enough in my home area to bother with a phone that just didn't have the "wow" factor I felt with the UK version.
I have travelled on both the east and west coasts with my Diamond and had no issues with it. Since the last firmware upgrade opened up the 850 band, I have gotten consistent 3 and 4 bar Edge service everywhere. I was, in short, happy with my Diamond and content to stick with it.
Earlier this month, I travelled to the Philadelphia area. My trusty Diamond developed mysterious issues. The Touch Flo 3D interface suddenly became sluggish, data connections were dropped and needed to be manually restarted or required a restart of the phone. Weather updates would take several minutes to load, if they loaded at all. I couldn't get the GPS to work, not on Windows Live or on Google Maps. I hadn't downloaded any new software to the phone so I was baffled by this sudden change in behavior. After four days of these problems, I happened to be in a suburban mall that had both an Apple Store and an AT&T store. Thinking back to my experience with the iPod Touch, I thought maybe it was time to consider something new.
I started at the Apple Store. Here, a nice clerk greeted me, steered me to a laptop to answer some questions and left me alone. I thought that was odd customer service, but oh well. I noted that my cell phone account was a business account and entered my number. The laptop responded that I was not eligible to purchase an iPhone and would have to contact my employer. I told the clerk that I apparently couldn't buy a phone- even if I was willing to pay full price. She said "sorry" and I left the store.
I use my Diamond on my employers account. My employer provides an unlimited data account but wants everyone to use really ugly phones likes the Blackberry 7100. Several years ago, I started buying my own phones and inserting the company's AT&T sim card. I also have a personal AT&T account that has my wife's cell phone on it. It does not have a data plan as she uses very little data and has a pretty basic phone.
After Apple said no, I went to the mall AT&T store. Here, my plan was to purchase the phone for my personal account, but then simply insert my employer's sim card into the iPhone. My personal account isn't ready for a phone upgrade until next spring, but again I was willing to pay the full price of the iPhone. At AT&T, I wasn't left alone like at Apple, but a representative asked me questions and we seemed to get a lot further into the process. At some point, the clerk said I needed to sign up for the mandatory $30 a month data plan. This stopped me cold. My employers plan already has unlimited data, my personal account does not and really doesn't need it. I was willing to pay full price for the phone, but not $30 a month for data I was already getting. Once again, I left the store without the iPhone.
This was a new experience for me. Here I was, a customer who impulsively wanted an attractive product and was even willing to pay the non-subsidized price for it but the retailer and service provider have teamed up to make it so I can't get the product I want. Not for poor credit, or lack of resources, or poor coverage in my area. I mean I wasn't trying to buy a $100,000 car or a million dollar house or something else way out of my league, it is a freaking phone. When the 3G iPhone was released I had read stories about the mandatory data plan but it really didn't click with me until I ran into what exactly it meant.
Interestingly, after I returned home to Washington state, my Diamond has returned to normal behavior. I can't explain what was going on with the Diamond in Philly, but all is well again now. The urge for the iPhone is gone. The iPhone is an attractive product but the tight control Apple and AT&T have over it will, in the end, be an artificial limit on its success.
Months ago, I bought my daughter an iPod Touch as a gift. She loves it and uses it all the time. I have played with it some when I visit her and find it a nice product, though not without its own little quirks. I haven't had any desire for an iPod Touch for myself, but my experiences with the Touch contributed to part of my flirtation with the iPhone.
I have owned the UK version of the HTC Touch Diamond since it was released. I was impressed from the moment I first saw a pictures of it with the Diamond's sleek appearance and the intuitive Touch Flo 3D interface. I have installed the two firmware upgrades that HTC has released, and this has eliminated the few issues the phone had at first. I am very pleased with my UK Diamond. I purchased and then returned the US version of the Diamond. The bulkier size of the US version was an issue, and there were a handful of other differences from the UK version that were nitpicky but added up. To top it off, I just wasn't seeing 3G service frequently enough in my home area to bother with a phone that just didn't have the "wow" factor I felt with the UK version.
I have travelled on both the east and west coasts with my Diamond and had no issues with it. Since the last firmware upgrade opened up the 850 band, I have gotten consistent 3 and 4 bar Edge service everywhere. I was, in short, happy with my Diamond and content to stick with it.
Earlier this month, I travelled to the Philadelphia area. My trusty Diamond developed mysterious issues. The Touch Flo 3D interface suddenly became sluggish, data connections were dropped and needed to be manually restarted or required a restart of the phone. Weather updates would take several minutes to load, if they loaded at all. I couldn't get the GPS to work, not on Windows Live or on Google Maps. I hadn't downloaded any new software to the phone so I was baffled by this sudden change in behavior. After four days of these problems, I happened to be in a suburban mall that had both an Apple Store and an AT&T store. Thinking back to my experience with the iPod Touch, I thought maybe it was time to consider something new.
I started at the Apple Store. Here, a nice clerk greeted me, steered me to a laptop to answer some questions and left me alone. I thought that was odd customer service, but oh well. I noted that my cell phone account was a business account and entered my number. The laptop responded that I was not eligible to purchase an iPhone and would have to contact my employer. I told the clerk that I apparently couldn't buy a phone- even if I was willing to pay full price. She said "sorry" and I left the store.
I use my Diamond on my employers account. My employer provides an unlimited data account but wants everyone to use really ugly phones likes the Blackberry 7100. Several years ago, I started buying my own phones and inserting the company's AT&T sim card. I also have a personal AT&T account that has my wife's cell phone on it. It does not have a data plan as she uses very little data and has a pretty basic phone.
After Apple said no, I went to the mall AT&T store. Here, my plan was to purchase the phone for my personal account, but then simply insert my employer's sim card into the iPhone. My personal account isn't ready for a phone upgrade until next spring, but again I was willing to pay the full price of the iPhone. At AT&T, I wasn't left alone like at Apple, but a representative asked me questions and we seemed to get a lot further into the process. At some point, the clerk said I needed to sign up for the mandatory $30 a month data plan. This stopped me cold. My employers plan already has unlimited data, my personal account does not and really doesn't need it. I was willing to pay full price for the phone, but not $30 a month for data I was already getting. Once again, I left the store without the iPhone.
This was a new experience for me. Here I was, a customer who impulsively wanted an attractive product and was even willing to pay the non-subsidized price for it but the retailer and service provider have teamed up to make it so I can't get the product I want. Not for poor credit, or lack of resources, or poor coverage in my area. I mean I wasn't trying to buy a $100,000 car or a million dollar house or something else way out of my league, it is a freaking phone. When the 3G iPhone was released I had read stories about the mandatory data plan but it really didn't click with me until I ran into what exactly it meant.
Interestingly, after I returned home to Washington state, my Diamond has returned to normal behavior. I can't explain what was going on with the Diamond in Philly, but all is well again now. The urge for the iPhone is gone. The iPhone is an attractive product but the tight control Apple and AT&T have over it will, in the end, be an artificial limit on its success.