With Apple’s announcement that a new iPhone will be released on September 10, the tech world is all abuzz with speculation about how the new phone will compare with Samsung’s new release, as well as Google’s Android phones.
Yawwwwn…..
As a consumer, I just want a phone that works.
A few year’s back, I very enthusiastically joined the rest of the technology herd by purchasing an iPhone 3GS that came complete with a two-year service contract with AT&T. I loved the concept of being able to access email and the internet from my phone and apps that would let me do everything from banking to watching Netflix or Major League baseball, or even to develop a Scrabble addiction.
Heck, I even got over the creepy “Big Brother is watching and knows exactly where I am at every moment” paranoia of utilizing GPS.
But quickly I found out that the race for market share between the major smartphone players meant obsolescence came faster than an LED flash.
One by one, the apps were updated and no longer designed for my now antiquated device. Baseball was the first to go. Then my Scrabble. Then several newspapers. Most recently, one of my banking apps.
Of course, I am constantly reminded by AT&T that I am eligible to upgrade my phone, and all I have to do is sign up for a new two-year contract for the same over-priced, sporadic coverage.
Here we are, in 2013, and my phone drops calls faster than you can say “over-hyped” or “swindled.”
The early rumors on C-Net and other sources seem to indicate that the biggest change will be an upgraded LED flash. Hardly earth shattering. My guess is that the new phone will still have the revamped adapter that folks have found more annoying in its incompatibility with other Apple products.
What I am most reluctant about at this point in time is getting locked in to a new two-year contract, whether that again be with AT&T (I just don’t see that happening…) or Verizon or whoever else might be out there. If I’m going to be locked into paying for a smartphone for the next two years, I expect that it will actually be for service that will be reliable.
No more dropped calls in the middle of Silicon Valley, please! (Or in San Francisco, Los Angeles, or anywhere else, for that matter.)
I’m actually feeling nostalgic for the good ol’ days — those heady days of the early 21st century when my rock-solid Nokia phone worked everywhere and anywhere, no matter how many times I dropped it.
Oh, for those ancient days of beepers, calling cards and pay phones.
Sighhh…. anyone remember when those pay phones had dials?