Apple finally convinced me that it’s time to move on. My iPhone 4S is now obselete with the release of the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, that came out on Friday. Bigger screen, thinner body, faster processor – blah, blah, blah. Thanks for the free U2 album, Apple, but I’m out of here as soon as my contract makes it possible.Â
Even though it’s actually lagging behind other smartphone makers in some respects, Apple still has the ability to create market excitement. Customers lined up at stores overnight in anticipation of the Friday morning release of the new 6s, even though many were turned way empty-handed because demand far exceeded availability. That’s also by design, I believe. The new phones can cost up to and over $1,000.
I’m thinking about going with a Samsung Galaxy. Tech geeks say it’s faster and its storage is expandable to compare to the new iPhone. And at one third of the price, it looks pretty sweet to me.
But I’d love to know your experiences with smartphones. And please don’t suggest that I get rid of one altogether. My work demands that I have something that keeps up with the times, to use social media while on the go and other things. I’m not brand loyal at all. And I don’t care to create smartphone envy. Apple has become too much like a religious cult and I want out.
Smart Phone obsolescence is a fact of life with an annual new product refresh cycle among all the players. The main difference between the Iphone and IOS platform where you’re locked into the Apple Eco system and their phones, under the Android Eco system you have access to a number of hardware providers with the leader being that of Samsung but HTC also has a very popular product which is widely used as well as many others. While the media and analysts focus on the two leaders in the smart phone arena, some of the smaller players do have some very fine products suitable to the needs of many and are equally viable to the big players. At the end of the day, which Eco system do you wish to be tied to determined by the hardware you choose.
Smart phone advancements, is very much a leap frog game, being who can bring out the latest new thing, but the latest new thing rarely is a value added proposition when it comes to productivity, it’s more for entertainment. Identify your core needs and requirements and then do your research, and that should be good for the next couple of years.
The new Blackberry Passport, officially announced this morning, looks promising. I miss the Blackberry keyboard – still!
You may not have to wait very long. Blackberry is planning to release a Blackberry Classic which takes the features of the past and merges them with the features and new OS of the Q10 which will come with the traditional querty keyboard. It was announced at todays release of the Passport that the Classic is coming soon, possibly by year’s end.