Iphone 5

[Varinn]

What's the deal with American cell phone plans? I keep reading on here about some of you guys complaining of slow data performance and usage limits when on unlimited plans. How does that shit work? Some of my friends have and swear by American cell plans even when they live and work up here in Canada, they just use family or friend's adresses' down in the states to register for their plans.

Up here in Canada things are a bit different, all of the companies offer extremely expensive data plans that never even remotely approach the idea of being unlimited. When you are on a contract plan, the company will never cancel it, void it, change it, etc without your permission for as long as you continue to make payments on time. I'll use mine as an example, I have what Roger's calls the "Super Plan" so I get:

300 weekday minutes
Unlimited evening/weekend minutes
5PM PST evenings (so unlimited after 5pm)
Unlimited text/picture messaging within Canada/USA
"My10" (choose 10 numbers within Canada and get unlimited calling anytime)
6GB data
Call display
Video voicemail (as in it's built into the iphone, not a call-to-check service)
all the other usual bullshit features that every phone gets

This all costs me $85 a month, my old plan was exactly the same and cost me $65 but had only 1GB data per month. If you have a data plan for your phone, regardless of what your usage cap is you can use LTE, 3G, EDGE, all the other crap data services out there. Whatever your phone can handle, you can use. Anything BEYOND your data cap and you start paying something like $0.25 per MB (which adds up very quickly). Upgrading my phone does absolutely nothing but refresh my contract for another 3 years, my plan remains unchanged.

[R3Z3N]

^^I was grandfathered in to this as I had it before, but I couldnt get it again, nor can I when I upgrade. For about $45/mo I get unlimited calling, unlimited data, but texts are 10 cents.

I use youmail for voicemail, which is similiar to the iphones visual voicemail.

[James Crivellone]

Nothing will pry my Galaxy Nexus out of my hands at this point.

The Samsung SIII Developer looks really nice, but too similar to what I have.

IPhone5 is comical to me, however if you are a die hard IPhone user it is a better phone for you. Having LTE since 2011, 4inch Display since 2010, I don't see the fuss, however if I was stuck with a 3G/3GS/4/4S and on horrid 3g I would upgrade as well.

Apple lost me at the 4... IOS is too locked down for my tastes, having a removable battery is great for me to swap and go when away from power, and Android....well, to each his own there.

I think JB 4.1 is a much more flexible and capable OS in comparison to IOS5/6, however with less than 2% of the Android population running 4.1 (hell, even ICS 4 is a joke) I can see tons of people upgrading.

Google needs to fix Android fragmentation. I swear by it, however I have a freaking developer phone with the latest and greatest software..which is amazing.

My parents on the other hand? Gingerbread...2.3, Froyo 2.2.. hell compare that to an Iphone5 and i'd take the damn Iphone.

[RUFFLZ]

does anyone know if they're taking away the grandfathered unlimited plans?
my sister has one and if I end up swooping an iPhone, I'm tryna get in on the hype

[Swanny]

Nothing will pry my Galaxy Nexus out of my hands at this point.

The Samsung SIII Developer looks really nice, but too similar to what I have.

IPhone5 is comical to me, however if you are a die hard IPhone user it is a better phone for you. Having LTE since 2011, 4inch Display since 2010, I don't see the fuss, however if I was stuck with a 3G/3GS/4/4S and on horrid 3g I would upgrade as well.

Apple lost me at the 4... IOS is too locked down for my tastes, having a removable battery is great for me to swap and go when away from power, and Android....well, to each his own there.

I think JB 4.1 is a much more flexible and capable OS in comparison to IOS5/6, however with less than 2% of the Android population running 4.1 (hell, even ICS 4 is a joke) I can see tons of people upgrading.

Google needs to fix Android fragmentation. I swear by it, however I have a freaking developer phone with the latest and greatest software..which is amazing.

My parents on the other hand? Gingerbread...2.3, Froyo 2.2.. hell compare that to an Iphone5 and i'd take the damn Iphone.

Qft.


Oh and as said before unlimited still exists as of this time for grandfathered plans.

[CabbE30]

Nokia Lumia 920

[giantkeeper]

I like the summary James!

Another issue I always had was the OS updates. The android family has so many phones and updates that a 6 month old phone can be obsolete and in danger of not receiving an upgrade. That always bothered me.

I believe the IOS updates often cover 3 generation (ie 4, 4S, 5). That's your two year agreement right there.

I used to use custom roms on my Hero and always had problems. It got to the point where it was more trouble than it was worth. On my EVO I never changed from the stock OS and still managed to have similar conditions as the unstable OS's that were available. Phone wouldn't work, crashing and restarting all the time.

I realize the IOS will have some problems. If I can get two contracted years of reliable phone use from both the OS and hardware I'm happy.

I know 2 times as many people that have 2+ year old perfectly functioning iPhones, than Android users.

[InuFaye]

I cant throw this fucking droid razr far enough away from me.

[Ryan Stewart]

I like the summary James!

Another issue I always had was the OS updates. The android family has so many phones and updates that a 6 month old phone can be obsolete and in danger of not receiving an upgrade. That always bothered me.

I believe the IOS updates often cover 3 generation (ie 4, 4S, 5). That's your two year agreement right there.

The funny thing is the old Android phones are still more up to date, even if they aren't getting new whole version numbers. Its psychological and Apple is great at it. Google releases major updates in the .x releases so the difference between 2.0 and 2.3 was pretty big but phones got up to 2.3. Most phones released on 2.3 get 4.0.

Apple plays the numbers game, "everyone gets IOS6" but their trick is its 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3 and only the most recent model actually gets the full bird features of the OS, stripping away the enhancements as you go back. So, yes, your two year old iphone gets IOS6 but its a shell of the OS.

Id rather take my risk with Google, they push features to older versions through incremental upgrades instead. Also, I am with JC on the Nexus. I wont be getting another Non-Nexus. Its the integrated experience of the iPhone but the more powerful/flexible OS, its the best of both worlds.

[gtdragon980]

Okay, I think that iPhones are great!......for people that are not tech-savvy enough to use their phone to their full potential. I for one had an iPhone 3g and 4 and both phones were awesome. I could jailbreak them, customize and download free apps. What could be better? But, once apple locked down their iOS and made it supremely hard to hack the phones and what not, not forgetting how they even tried to make it illegal, that is what made me pissed.

I switched to a galaxy s2 after my 4 and I shit you not, this phone blew the iPhone 4 out of the water. I can use it just like how I use my computer, accessing files, installing roms, downloading shit directly to my phone without the usage of a shitty music player (itunes), etc. That being said, I cannot hate the iPhone because of one thing. It is the most stable phone on the market. The reason being that android has so many phones to support that, of course, there will be issues with one or the other. I feel the safest with my Samsung and I believe it is the best android phone out there. Everything else is shitty in my books.

But seriously, the iPhone 5 is probably the stupidest thing for someone to buy. I love how apple users are so easily sold on this phone! Some of them even admit that they buy the phones because of their marketing. IMO it's sad that people will buy this phone, even though it is essentially a longer iPhone 4 with a faster processor and better cam. It just now is incorporating GPS, and even that, I bet there is some bullshit to it.

[Thizzelle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdIWK...layer_embedded I will just leave this here.

do the people in the video really look like they know what it looks like or does? They seem like the folks that just buy stuff because everyone else does (sheep).

got mine on order, going from first iphone to this will be a releif.

and fuck a stylus on your samsung

[Thizzelle]

you don't lose unlimited if you upgrade.

why do so many people have phone trouble? I have the first iPhone and it still works just as good as other iphones and has no cracked screen.

[Mr. Tasty]

im still using my 3s. My dad is most likely upgrading to the 5, and I get to snag his 4s fo free yo.

[Mr. Tasty]

I know 2 times as many people that have 2+ year old perfectly functioning iPhones, than Android users.

I have had my 3s for 3+ years, and I still don't want to pay to upgrade. It's still a phone I can do anything on. It's never going to let me up. Never going to bring me down.

[Rsully70sev]

iPhone ftw.

Unlimited data, unlimited text, basically unlimited minutes (we have a million "roll over" minutes) and the service is impeccable (referring to apple). If you have a problem with your droid do you have the option to walk into your neighborhood "droid store" and be greeted by 20 electronically savvy employees?

My "lock button" arbitrarily stopped making the "click" noise. It still worked but it turned into a soft button rather than a reaffirming click. I brought it into Apple, the rep said he'd be unsatisfied too, and immediately got me a new 4s from the back no questions asked. Have fun with your Droid and penny pinching AT&T or sending your phone in for evaluation.

And the battery isn't removable? Anyone with a small screw driver can replace the battery, I did it last week.