Since Norlander asked us what kind of phone to buy, I've had reason to reevaluate my current choice of smart-phone.
I've always been a firm denier of the iPhone, since I've always found its limited functions, crass marketing schemes, difficult and troublesome methods of inter-device communication and transferrals and absolute "give-me-your-money-before-I-let-you-do-anything" terms of use despicable and just to much bother.
However, I've been looking at new cars, trying to find one I can possibly buy as a new taxi, and it seems modern phone technology has caught up to the automotive industry.
Several of the new cars have entertainment systems aimed at direct or bluetooth linkage with smartphones, direct internet access and in-car use via 3G or smartphone, as well as direct car-control and setup via apps for smartphone.
Promising as this sounds, I've found one major problem with choosing these options. They are mostly all fitted exclusively for iPhones, once again showing the wide grasp and disregard for personal choice of the evil empire of Apple.
Therefore I ask for help. Can any of you give me some proper reasons or arguments as to why I should consider caving in and joining the dark side, or should I just stick it out, and remain amongst the free peoples of Android, with the loss of gadgetry that it entails?
(Edit:Typo)
No decision is so fine as to not bind us to its consequences.
No consequence is so unexpected as to absolve us of our decisions.
Not even death.
-R. Scott Bakker. 'The Prince of Nothing'
Apple and the iPhone can be quite polarizing, but they're companies like the rest of them, and there really isn't that much difference, per se. Yes, Apple has a very different approach to making products, but as a consumer, you should be excited about that. Their philosophy is that if you build great products, the customers will buy them. Other companies seem to have the philosophy that if you make a cheap knock-off you can capitalize on others' innovation. This seems to particularly be the case in Asia, where HTC and Samsung are from. This will eventually end up with pretty good products, as seen with Hyundai and Kia, but were still not talking innovative, top quality products. It seems to me that a capitalist would dislike the latter philosophy? Anyway, that's not really what you asked about, so I'll leave it there, and try to argue for the iPhone instead.
The mega/giga-pixel/hertz/byte race has virtually ended. This should be apparent if you look at cameras and computers today. Many top-of-the-line camera models actually have lower megapixel count than they did before. The reason is that the previous models simply took worse pictures with higher pixel count. The reason for this is quite technical, but the biggest reason is that the pixels themselves get smaller, and therefore pick up less light, which is the whole point. SLR's get better pictures with the same pixelcount as a point-and-shoot because the bigger housing means they can have bigger pixels (broadly speaking). Obviously, in a mobile phone the pixels have to be minute. Looking at processor speed, the hertz count has all but stopped as well. Doesn't mean we're stopping with Moore's law, though, but that's getting technical. My point is, numbers shouldn't be the most important thing to look at. Apple doesn't sell their products based on numbers, in fact they often hide them away somewhere, because what matters isn't the number, it's how you use it.
An example of this is the camera on the iPhone. The iPhone 4 has a 5 MP camera, but is better than many other, higher MP mobile phone cameras. One test found (a year ago) that the only better mobile camera was the one on the Nokia N8 (which btw is a horrible phone), and that was only in some categories. This is because the 4 has a back-lit camera sensor, which means each pixel absorbs more light than a comparable size, non-back-lit pixel. The 4S has an even better camera, which even shoots 1080p, motion-stabilized video.
With regards to Android, I hate to burst people's bubble (actually, I don't), but Android isn't free nor open. App developers can't do what they want, and the Android Market (or Google Play, whatever) doesn't accept all apps. So, arguing about closed platforms versus open is a mistake. We might argue to which degree one platform is more something, but we're kinda splitting hairs now. Google has also gradually imposed more and more restrictions on Android, as they realized their former policy was a mistake (malware in the market, etc). Or maybe, this was a clever ploy to make customers think that Android was the open platform, and then gradually lock it down, but keeping the image? I think actually the latter is more plausible.
In fact, Android actually has a big problem when it comes to being 'open' (in the sense that other handset manufacturers can use and modify it). This is called fragmentation, and you can read all about it on the internet. In short, this means that each manufacturer makes their own changes, applies their own look-and-feel, and their own update schedule. This means that going from one manufacturer to another is not quite the same. It also means that Google loses some control over their OS, and this particularly an issue when they want to push updates, especially security updates. Most Android phones are never updated(!). Fragmentation also means app devs need to take a plethora of hardware into account, and some apps will look or feel weird on some handsets, or even not work.
Android phones also follow the old model of letting the phone companies control a lot. Apple has gone to great lengths to limit this control, to the consumer's advantage.
The iPhone outsells the biggest Android model by 5:1. This means that accessories, car links, etc. will be much more prevalent than for any other phone.
But more than anything, I want to point to circumstantial evidence that the iPhone is the better phone. iPhone users use the internet more than Android users. They download more apps. Buy more apps (apropos: Android apps are more expensive). Use more apps. Spend more time using their apps. iPhone are more satisfied with their phone, than other phone users. iPhone users are more likely to buy a new iPhone than switch to another phone.
(You may argue, that this is because iPhone users are all brain-washed fanboys etc. but that really isn't true. Even if it was at one point, it certainly isn't anymore. The iPhone went mainstream a long time ago. It might be true that iPhone users become fanboys, but that only speaks to how good the phone is, no?)
So the iPhone actually seems to encourage usage. And if you're buying a smartphone, I presume you want a phone that's so good and easy to use that you actually want to use it all the time, right?
But why is that? Well, my guess is it's because Apple cares for every detail, both in their hardware, and in their software.
So, you might ask why should you buy a Mercedes when you can get a much cheaper Skoda with comparable engine size, etc.? Because the Mercedes is so much better in so many ways you can't measure with numbers. And you can't compare the numbers, because two engines with the same CC can be wildly different. And depend on the entire rest of the car as well. Actually, you wouldn't ask that question, because you know the answer. And if money wasn't an object, you'd choose the Mercedes over the Skoda every day of the week. It's just better.
When I kill her, I'll have her
Die white girls, die white girls
Eg brúki bara hendan tráðin at svara spurninginum hjá Roffen.
OKJones, eg umhugsi at keypa eitt Canon 600D ella 650D. Er tað eitt gott væl. Ella skal eg umhugsa Nikon ella Sony?
Kanska vit byrja við Sony. Persónliga hevði eg ikki keypt eitt Sony DSLR myndatól. Tað hevur sum so onki við myndagóðskuna at gera. Eg kenni faktiskt onki til Sony myndatól. Men eg hevði antin keypt eitt Canon ella Nikon, tí at hesi hava stórst úrval av linsum og øðrum tilhoyri. Av tí at hesi eru so nógv nógv tey mest seldu, fær tú eisini meira fyri tað um tað skal seljast aftur. Í mínum føri so kenni eg eina rúgvu av fólki sum eiga Canon myndatól, hetta ger tað lætt at líka "lána" eina linsu.
Canon ella Nikon ?
Kenni ikki so nógv til Nikon, men tað sigst at hesi eru við at yvirhála Canon tá tað kemur til performance, features o.s.v.
Canon 600D ella 650D ?
Bæði eru góð til ein amatør sum teg
Tað sum 650D hevur frammum 600D er, Touchscreen ið sigst at vera funktionelt og ikki bara ein gadget. Eitt annað sum mær dámar er, at tað hevur autofokus á video eisini, tað fyrsta myndatóli hjá Canon ið hevur hetta. Annars so er sensorurin tann sami sum í 600D, men processarin er nýggjur, skjótari. Iso håndtering er betri á 650D. Mítt val hevði verði 650D, um eg skuldi valt eitt consumer myndatól.
Prompted by Yutani's inquiry, I'd like to shortly expand on my previous post in this thread, based on the apparent desire for a good camera phone.
I don't want a mediocre phone with a great camera. I'd rather have a great phone with a mediocre camera, but what I really want is a great phone with a great camera. You all know which phone I think comes closest to that
But the fact is that the iPhone has driven the smartphone market, and the app market, and the smartphone camera market for that matter, since I want to focus on the camera in this post.
Think of the flood of new photo styles, often retro, that has popped up in the last few years, with Instagram leading the charge. You may hate it, but it shows that people are inspired by their phones and their apps. Inspired. Consider that for a moment. Inspiration doesn't come easy.
Take a look at Flickr’s camera stats. Flickr used to be dominated by professional cameras. Not since the iPhone. Why is that, do you suppose?
There will always be some phone that has a better X than the best iPhone, if, for no other reason, than because the other manufacturers race to top Apple in some regard. What makes the iPhone different is not that it is the best at any one thing, but that it is good in all regards, and combines these aspects into something special. I don't want to claim that it is "magical" or anything, but I do think that the iPhone is more than the sum of its parts. Something inspirational.
Final words: The best camera is the one you have with you. The best picture is the one you take, not the one you could have taken, if only...
(Apropos, The Lumia 1020 is slow to take pictures)
