7 ms·

Now let me put on my troll face for a minute. My Sharp SH001 has an autofocus 8.0MP camera, GPS, TV receiver, microSD card port, flashlight, bluetooth, infrare

by ramchip 17y ago

Now let me put on my troll face for a minute. My Sharp SH001 has an autofocus 8.0MP camera, GPS, TV receiver, microSD card port, flashlight, bluetooth, infrared emitter/receiver, internet & emails (via cellphone network), built-in japanese & english OCR and QR code reader and misc apps (GPS maps, train planner, dictionary, banking, alarm, calendar, etc). Of course it can play music/videos, install apps and do what a phone does. All that for a flexible contract (costs me 15$-20$ per month, I email a lot, do a little internet, but almost never call) for 2 years and the phone itself is free. Sure, there's no WiFi and the user interface is sometimes frustrating. But I'm not impressed by the iPhone. What makes it so great? The usable interface and the app market? Sorry for the trollish post. I have a hard time understanding the hype for some american phones when a generic, free phone in Asia has better specs and decent design. Why don't they import them back home? :/

jsz0 17y ago
Mostly the UI and App Store but more importantly Apple has done a huge amount of advertising which serves to educate consumers on why they might want a SmartPhone. They show really compelling & practical uses for the iPhone. They show off impressive games. They show how easy it is to use. I kind of feel like the average consumer may not even be aware other phones offer similar features at this point. Apple just leaped out ahead on marketing SmartPhones to a wider market. Meanwhile their competition is spending their money on weird ads like the Palm Pre & Droid marketing campaign that don't bother showing off the device/software much at all.
- ramchip 17y ago
  Thanks. That's quite it I guess. I'm still puzzled by Sharp though. They do sell phones in America, but the models they sell are vastly inferior to their Japanese offer. Perhaps as you say people in general don't see a practical use for the extra features yet. Compare http://k-tai.sharp.co.jp/lineup/d/ http://k-tai.sharp.co.jp/lineup/d/ and http://sharp-world.com/products/smartphone/index.html http://sharp-world.com/products/smartphone/index.html . They have waterproof 12.1MP camera smartphones...
onewland 17y ago
I do not own a smart phone, and I think your position is basically reasonable. That said: "Sure, there's no WiFi" to me is actually a complete deal killer. Even in areas with great 3G reception, I would always prefer to be using WiFi. You say yourself that you rarely use the phone functionality. That means that, of the functionality you use most, you can't do it as well as an iPhone. Maybe you'd be doing more than "a little" internet if your phone supported WiFi. This is characteristic to me of the philosophical divide between Mac and PC users (I'm actually not allied with either one). PC users just don't expect things to be perfect, but they expect any feature they want, and they're not disappointed with a lackluster UI or faulty design decisions like a lack of WiFi. Mac users are OK with limiting functionality, so long as what is included is designed well and comprehensively (here I mean interconnected components work well together). With phones, it seems people value that design more than computers. You can't take apart a phone and fix its problems. For the most part, you can't download hacks to sidestep poor design decisions. If you have the "Mac" mindset, everything else seems like death by a thousand paper cuts.
dagw 17y ago
For the vast majority of users (ie people who aren't tech geeks) usable interface trumps all. Look at all the features missing on the first iPhone, and it still sold like hot cakes simply because of its interface.

by ramchip 17y ago

jsz0 17y ago

Mostly the UI and App Store but more importantly Apple has done a huge amount of advertising which serves to educate consumers on why they might want a SmartPhone. They show really compelling & practical uses for the iPhone. They show off impressive games. They show how easy it is to use. I kind of feel like the average consumer may not even be aware other phones offer similar features at this point. Apple just leaped out ahead on marketing SmartPhones to a wider market. Meanwhile their competition is spending their money on weird ads like the Palm Pre & Droid marketing campaign that don't bother showing off the device/software much at all.

ramchip 17y ago
Thanks. That's quite it I guess. I'm still puzzled by Sharp though. They do sell phones in America, but the models they sell are vastly inferior to their Japanese offer. Perhaps as you say people in general don't see a practical use for the extra features yet. Compare http://k-tai.sharp.co.jp/lineup/d/ http://k-tai.sharp.co.jp/lineup/d/ and http://sharp-world.com/products/smartphone/index.html http://sharp-world.com/products/smartphone/index.html . They have waterproof 12.1MP camera smartphones...

onewland 17y ago

I do not own a smart phone, and I think your position is basically reasonable. That said: "Sure, there's no WiFi" to me is actually a complete deal killer. Even in areas with great 3G reception, I would always prefer to be using WiFi. You say yourself that you rarely use the phone functionality. That means that, of the functionality you use most, you can't do it as well as an iPhone. Maybe you'd be doing more than "a little" internet if your phone supported WiFi. This is characteristic to me of the philosophical divide between Mac and PC users (I'm actually not allied with either one). PC users just don't expect things to be perfect, but they expect any feature they want, and they're not disappointed with a lackluster UI or faulty design decisions like a lack of WiFi. Mac users are OK with limiting functionality, so long as what is included is designed well and comprehensively (here I mean interconnected components work well together). With phones, it seems people value that design more than computers. You can't take apart a phone and fix its problems. For the most part, you can't download hacks to sidestep poor design decisions. If you have the "Mac" mindset, everything else seems like death by a thousand paper cuts.

dagw 17y ago

For the vast majority of users (ie people who aren't tech geeks) usable interface trumps all. Look at all the features missing on the first iPhone, and it still sold like hot cakes simply because of its interface.