Wow. Haven't posted anything in a while. Almost a year to be exact, or even longer . Well, even though I love my G2 and it works great (95% of the time since , but I think it's time for a new phone, and I have been researching my options.
As someone who loves smartphones and CANNOT picture myself going back to a traditional phone, starting my love affair with the BlackBerry Charm in '06, HP iPAQ, G1 since the days of RC29 and loving it ever since, and now the G2 that I love and works great... 95% of the time since I have a VERY unofficial/beta version of CyanogenMod 10 running Android OS 4.1 Jelly Bean that developers are still working on. Before you ask, NO... There's too many things that impress me on 4.1 that would make me want to switch it back to OEM 2.3 :-) .
While there are LOTS of things that are very enticing on the Samsung Galaxy S3 and it sure looks like it can kill the iPhone 5 times before it hits the ground, I'm not a big fan of Samsung... My 2nd ever phone caught fire within a week of owning it, I spent many sleepless nights trying to fix a friend's Galaxy's camera (which I found that many "Samdung" rigs had camera issues), not to mention their long history of having quirky user interfaces... Starting from the not-so-intuitive TouchWiz down to the the "girly" feel to their dumbphones (almost too lightweight, pink/purple default theme, dainty ringtones, and many other factors where you'd have to tweak the f**k out of it to get it at least guy-friendly).
Anyway, back on point... So as a gadget guy, I'm very picky about what I choose, and I lose sleep getting excited over new features. I can (in order of preference):
- Forgive Samsung, give them a chance and get the Galaxy S3.
- Check out the new iPhone 5.
- Wait until the next AOSP Android phone to come out (AOSP = unmodified Android) or find the newest root-friendly phone... I loathe Samsung's TouchWiz's "reversed" look-and-feel and HTC Sense... Doesn't make sense sometimes.
- Drive my G2 into the ground.
So... While pondering option 2, the main reason I made this blog post is that I am almost certain I found a theory of why Apple decided to sue Samsung... Although I am a 9GAG fan and know that I shouldn't take things too seriously (such as this hoax that had me roaring in laughter until it was debunked), I found another 9GAG post that, with my own research, has made sense; lots of the latest and greatest features have been around even before iOS, and when comparing the iPhone 5/iOS 6 to Android AOSP Jelly Bean or even the the Samsung Galaxy S3, there's nothing that's really new and impressive, and I'm even beginning to wonder if it's Apple COPYING Android, and if Google appealed or filed a counter-suit, Steve Jobs would be spinning in his grave (and just to think I even put iPhone stock ringtones on my phone as a tribute to his death... Yes, I did draw some confusion when an HTC was playing Marimba*).
Back to my theory... Why did Apple sue Samsung? I'm sure they'd anticipate iOS sales tanking and decided for another stream of income... Filing what is quintessentially frivolous lawsuits. Think about it:
- Hardware-wise, except for a bigger and slightly different screen, longer battery life, and a few newfangled communication/media features that are becoming standard issue (new Bluetooth radio, enhanced Wi-Fi) or even mandatory anyway (4G LTE, IPv6), there's nothing significantly different. Now if it somehow was able to incorporate a high-end camera and lens (like slapping a Leica heart and soul into it. NOTE: Panorama is more or less of a software feature on camera phones) and the ability have a taser built in or something, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. However, even if I had an iPhone 4S, have enough money right now to ditch my T-Mo contract and get the iPhone 5, there is nothing new enough to wow me enough to go and get it, whether it's waiting outside stores in the middle of a Californian heat wave (even right now it's 104°F so zero frickin' way) or even when the crowd dies down and the prices drop, or even if there's an iPhone 5S/iPhone 6 and this is quintessentially a clearance item. Unless of course, my phone fell in the toilet and I don't have a backup *knock on wood*.
- Firmware/software: Not only is it a catch-up to Android, and the only thing that I can somewhat give props to is coming out with Siri first (which we answered with Jelly Bean's enhanced voice recognition that is actually more intuitive in some regards)... But guess what? Almost all of the iOS 6 enhancements are going to be available as a free download for iPhone 4S users! There's nothing left to motivate people to switch the hardware! 3GS to 4G? Siri and a few other things. 4S to 5? As far as what I can tell, hardly anything!
So, with that in mind, does Apple have any other brilliant ideas? I doubt it. If The People's Government had stricter copyright laws, I think it'll be safe to say our economy will recover overnight and China will be the ones begging us for help since there are TONS of counterfeit products.
*If the Apple execs are reading this and calling for their lawyer, don't worry, I changed it many months ago... Sandro Silva's Epic sounds MUCH cooler anyway.
