Not personally knowing much about electromagnetic fields, I tend to leave the conclusion to the experts. Most research studies have concluded cell phone usages has no link to brain tumors or other adverse health defects, however Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute has sounded the alarm on this topic.

“Really at the heart of my concern is that we shouldn’t wait for a definitive study to come out, but err on the side of being safe rather than sorry later,” Herberman said.

Herberman suggests we use our speakerphones or hands free devices more often and try to limit our public cell phone use, in order to limit others’ exposure.

But my question is, can our society live without our phones? Mobile phones have become such an iatrical part of everyday life, I am not sure people could walk away from the devices that not only serves as their alarm clock, but also a map, a mini computer, and the main connecting point to all social contacts. I think mobile phones are now engrained so deeply into our society and everyday behavior that walking away is not an option. Our society would be lost without the constant connection.

Source: Pittsburgh cancer center warns of cell phone risks

For those of you that do not remember I praised Chase for stepping up to the mobile marketing platform but criticized the campaign for its lack of interaction and conversation.

After sending the text message “WIN” to “CHASE” and loosing you basically reached a dead end. No mention of Chase’s mobile services are even mentioned. My past post is much more informative.

Well looks like someone from Chase read the post. The text message reply which once read

Sorry, try again tomorrow. No purch reqd. For a sure way to get tkts go to chase.com/tickets. Quit? Txt STOPWIN. Help? Txt HELPWIN. Other chgs may apply.

Now reads

Try again tomorrow. No purch nec. Quit? txt STOP WIN. Help? Txt HELPWIN. Other chgs may apply. Chase Mobile - Text UR account. It texts you back. Chase.com/mobile.

Now they got my attention! What is this Chase Mobile> If I have a Chase account I may try this out? But what do I text? My account number? hmmmmm I do not know how I feel about that. But anyways, its goo to know people are listening.

Would have been nice if the website they provided was linkable to a mobile webpage.

And why did they get rid of explaining the other way to win tickets? I still that they should have added a “text back your zip-code to find out where the nearest Chase bank is and ask them how else you can win tickets.” That would be cool. And would justify a two text return. And also a good way to collect information.

Technorati Tags: chase, sms, text messaging , us open, marketing

Tune in next week when MOpocket hosts the Carnival of the Mobilists right here! Its been way to long!

To learn how to submit a post or host a Carnival of the Mobilists make sure to visit the Carnivals homepage here.

See you next week!

Technorati Tags: vision mobile, iphone 3g, 3g

Palm fanboys lamented the day Palm announced it had embraced Windows Mobile in their lineup of devices, and after the Foleo fiasco, many enthusiasts gave up any hope of Palm re-emerging as the undisputed king it once was. Some speculated this was the beginning of the end for Palm as we know it.

Palm is not going out without a fight, however.
The release of the wildly popular Centro breathed some new life into the Palm OS by breaking free of the average Treo design, and making a device that was more attractive to a younger crowd- choices of colors, a slim and polished body, and it more than made up for any lack of new features with a $99 price tag on release.

But, this didn’t mark the end of the Treo line of handsets. Last week, Palm released the Treo 800w, a Windows Mobile 6.1 handset with all the fixin’s:
GPS, EVDO Rev A, 128Mb of ram, WiFi, a sharp, high resolution (320×320) screen, and despite being almost as thick as the older Treos, the curved new stylings and button layout of the Centro.

It’s interesting to note that the Centro runs Palm OS, and is geared towards the low-end younger crowd consumer, whereas the Treo which runs Windows Mobile is geared towards the advanced user / corporate professional.

What is Palm trying to say about its own OS?
Are they going to make any Palm OS based Treos anymore?

With the talk of new open platforms giving even WinMo a run for its money, where does that leave Palm?

Are they destined to become merely hardware engineers for other platforms?
And if so, will they be able to compete with HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and all the others already creating devices with identical OSs?

Well, I played with a Treo 800w, and I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the build quality, despite the fact that HTC already has devices on Sprint with similiar features.
There is hope…

You can read my mini review on the Treo 800w here.

But I could have also have started commenting by the end of the second day after my second recharge. But, I held back, thinking to myself that I am just overusing the phone because of all the new features. After day 3 and 4 and reading review after review I realized that the battery life of this device was indeed a problem and a big problem at that.

At some point, Steve Rubel pointed out a web page that Apple put up to help users “optimize” their iPhone 3G settings to improve what is evidently becoming an iPhone power failure.

While the tips are “commonsense” issue’s to a phone guy like me, to the average user they are pretty daunting.

Here are Apple’s iPhone 3G “optimizing” recommendations with my comments:

Turn off 3G: Using 3G cellular networks loads data faster, but may also decrease battery life, especially in areas with limited 3G coverage. To disable 3G, from the Home screen choose Settings > General > Network and set Enable 3G to Off. You will still be able to make and receive calls and access cellular data networks via EDGE or GPRS where available.

This is why I upgraded to 3G, to remember and reenact the iPhone’s lovely EDGE experience. As I understand it, one of the reason why the iPhone did not come out with 3G originally was because of problems with battery power. What changed here? Or did Apple just rush out a product to stay ahead of the iPhone-like competition. I will tell you this, turning 3G off has vastly improved my battery life. But, sometimes I yearn for that faster speed. So I go and get a little naughty and turn it on for a specific action or so. But to continuously turn it off and on again is a real pain. If they are going to tell me to turn 3G on and off they should not have made it 3 pushes and slides away. It should be more automagic. Essentially, My 3G iPhone is 3G no more.

Minimize use of location services: Applications that actively use location services such as Maps may reduce battery life. To disable location services, go to Settings > General > Location Services or use location services only when needed.

This is true. I was excited about the GPS (Location) feature of the phone and used it throughout the day, as anyone else would, to find directions from where I currently was or to Geo-tag pictures I have taken. While doing this I could literally watch my battery bar fade. Now, if I am traveling long distances or doing stuff where I know I wont be near an electrical socket in the next three hours I just avoid opening up LBS services all-together… which kinda of defeats the point of a “location” based service.

Fetch new data less frequently: Applications such as Mail can be set to fetch data wirelessly at specific intervals. The more frequently email or other data is fetched, the quicker your battery may drain. To fetch new data manually, from the Home screen choose Settings > Fetch New Data and tap Manually. To increase the fetch interval, go to Settings > Fetch New Data and tap Hourly. Note that this is a global setting and applies to all applications that do not support push services.

Yes, this was recommended for the iPhone 2G or iPhone 1.0. I personally had it fetching every 15 minutes for mail and my iPhone would last for the better part of the day. So far with 3G turned off this has not been a problem. Nevertheless, this is a disturbing recommendation for what is supposed to be the all purpose always on portable computer.

Turn off push mail: If you have a push mail account such as Yahoo!, MobileMe or Microsoft Exchange, turn off push mail when you don’t need it. Go to Settings > Fetch New Data and set Push to Off. Messages sent to your push email accounts will now be received on your phone based on the global Fetch setting rather than as they arrive.

Wait didn’t the above optimization hint tell me to fetch data less frequently? Also if I should turn off Push then why would I pay 99 bucks a month for MobileMe or use my iPhone an an Outlook enterprise device. Even without 3G i noticed that the Push was draining my battery a bit even on EDGE. By the way this also means turn off all of MobileMe’s other “push” capabilities for Calendar and contacts

Auto-check fewer email accounts: You can save power by checking fewer email accounts. This can be accomplished by turning off an email account or by deleting it. To turn off an account…

Well one thing is for sure, whatever account your left using will not be a Push email account and should only be checked every year or whenever they come out with a new iPhone. Because if you have multiple E-mail accounts thats your problem. Pick one, your others are not important.

Minimize use of third-party applications: Excessive use of applications such as games that prevent the screen from dimming or shutting off or applications that use location services can reduce battery life.

I am sure this is exactly what the people who built those applications want to hear. Way to support them Apple. If I cant use them as much why would I pay $9.99 - $19.99 for an application I want to or need to use as part of my mobile lifestyle. So much for this revolutionarily open 2.0 platform. If you make me decide extra applications on a phone versus the ability to call my wife, while tempting, I will always prefer the latter.

With All these limitations why am I paying an extra 30 bucks a month for unlimited data?

Turn off Wi-Fi: If you rarely use Wi-Fi, you can turn it off to save power. Go to Settings > Wi-Fi and set Wi-Fi to Off. Note that if you frequently use your iPhone to browse the web, battery life may be improved by using Wi-Fi instead of cellular data networks.

Ah! Thats why! But also, how more confusing and burdensome can they make that for the average user? Turn off Wi-Fi so that your phone is not constantly scanning for Wifi networks thus draining the battery. But, Oh! using Data services on WiFi saves battery life. Searching for Wifi is a battery drain, doing all your data stuff on WiFi keeps the iPhone’s juices going longer. At least the ability to turn off and on Wifi is one push less than turning of 3G

Turn off Bluetooth: If you rarely use a Bluetooth headset or car kit, you can turn off Bluetooth to save power. Go to Settings > General > Bluetooth and set Bluetooth to Off.

This also is very true. The battery last much longer when you do not use bluetooth. Problem is, myself and many other savvy iPhone users do you use Bluetooth and would find, like i did, a suggestion like this to just be annoying. Maybe its a good thing they have not yet opened up the iPhones bluetooth for other purposes.

As I was reading this list, my always insightful wife cut me off saying “Basically, pretend its not an iPhone.” And that, it seems, is Apple’s own solution to their big battery problem.
Even if these tips are commonsense and work they just do not match the reasons why someone is supposed to buy this phone: WHy didn’t they just say:

Always be near a wall-socket or car charger: If you are near an electrical outlet you can also plug in and power up. Or to be Eco-Friendly try a solar charger.

Use as a paper-weight: Because just using the iPhone in its off state to make sure the fan doesn’t blow the papers of your desk doesn’t use any power at all.

In an earlier post-iPhone 3G Friendfeed post, Rubel amusingly quips “As the iPhone begins to resemble and be used like a computer, we will have to contend with challenges like crashing and battery life.”

This is true, but only if you focus on the glitz and glitter. Its important to point out that Apple is only making 3G, WiFi and GPS (Location services) on a phone popular. But other phone makers and carriers have been doing this all over the world (and even here in the States) for some time now.

MOpocket writer Mordy Gilden’s HTC Titan running Windows Mobile off the Sprint network has all the abilities the iPhone 3G does in terms of infrastructure, it runs tons of applications and, as Mordy pointed out to me this past Sunday (as I learned my old iPhone car charger was not compatible with the iPhone 3G) it will run all these services and last at least a full day if not longer.

There are many other phones out there with 3G, WiFi, Push, frequent data-syncs and whatever, that do not have these problems. Mordy complains about having to charge it every night, I worry about getting mine through the day.

Some reports are coming out saying that the iPhone 3G beats the competition in terms of battery life over 3G. These tests indicate talk time and not other phone usages.

But that is not really the point. its very much not like Apple to join the fray of building inferior (if they are inferior) products. And then have to make battery usage explanations like this? The iPhone 3G has been anything but Apple’s usual clean cut stylish goodness. Usually, they let everyone else try to surpass them while the technology and market is not ready. Then, when they see the magic formula they pounce. Its not like Apple to release a product till it works well. Apple fanboys know that and respect that.

Also, even if other 3G/GPS/WiFi devices are only marginally better in battery life, as some places are reporting, at least the other phones have replaceable batteries!

So I am sorry to say this, but the fault lies entirely with Apple. I am sure they will come out with a solution like, for example, a new better battery that they will replace for 39.99. In the meantime I think my iPhone playtime is over and its time to go back to Nokia.

Apple may have introduced the rest of America’s common (non-Sprint/Verizon) users to 3G. But with great power comes great responsibility. So far they are giving 3G a bad taste.

Nevertheless, there are many amazing things about the Phone that I will report on soon, as the “living with the iPhone 3G” series continues.

Here is an interesting link I just came across at posting time

Technorati Tags: 3g, apple, battery, battery life, iphone, iphone 3g, marketing, sprint, steve rubel

This year Chase is going the incentives marketing route again but this time via what appears to heavy mobile play. An interesting choice do to all the hype around mobile technology and commerce as of late and Chase’s advertisements showing text message account alerts. But thats just my way of telling you that Chase has a functional mobile play for a latter point. As I was saying, from June 9th to August 9th all over New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, ads on top of taxi cabs, on bus shelters, on payphone kiosks, on billboards and in the subways Chase advertisements are drawing your attention (in text speak) to send the text message “Win” to the shortcode “CHASE (24273) for a chance to win free tickets to the Open. The exact reading being something like “Tennis ne1?” or “Cu @ the Open” followed by a much smaller print saying

“You could win US Open Tickets.
Text ‘Win’ to Chase (24273) Now”

Chase will immediately text back entrants to notify them if they’ve won or lost.

First off, I have to tell you that I have seen these advertisement for a while now but for some reason the text speak threw me off and I ignored them. I thought it was an advertisement for technical data base enterprise solutions mumbo jumbo. Nevertheless, adding the numerical value to the Shortcode “Chase” is a sure sign that the interactive marketing people at Chase have done their homework. The numbers without what they spell-out no would not be remembered. And just saying “Text ‘Win’ to CHASE” would have been to confusing. Text win to Chase what, I might ask? What am a chasing? A leprechaun? An Elephant on safari? The American dream? But they did it right and they deserve a bravo for that.

As to where these ads appear I found it a little troublesome. The first place I saw this add was while driving down the NJ Turnpike at 70 miles an hour. This is where I first ignored the signs as a tech advertisement. When I began to realize what they were saying (my interest sparked by catching the word “Text” and the semblance of a shortcode) I did not have enough time to take out my phone and remember what or how to text even though I slowed down to 60 miles an hour to try and do so (do not try this, I am a texting expert). Simply put, put these banner adds where there is a lot of standstill congestion. In NY its not to hard to fine. And it will give people something to do.

The adds on top of taxi cabs work for the most part, when you are standing in front of a parked one that is. But by the time I saw the advertisement and told myself ‘lets do it this time,’ the cab was already 5 blocks away. Once I got into a cab that had the advert on top and I stopped to take a minute to text but, in typical New York fashion, the cab driver told me to more or less get in or out of the cab. I was hoping to see an advert for it on the new TVs they have in the back of cabs now-a-days but no luck. Thats when I would have time to do this.

Finally I began to come across the ads on the subway platforms and trains. Finally I whipped out my phone, opened the text message app…entered the short code, entered ‘Win” but alas no cell found cell signal underground (a problem soon to be solved).

The subway stops and payphone adds work just fine although… if you have a cell phone that you are going to send the text message from what do you need a pay phone for
Chase also is also providing information about the ticket giveaway on ATM screen messages, in brochures at bank branches and with statement inserts. So, advertisements at Chase banks do exist but I have not noticed as many and, unlike like last years ATM campaign, there is nothing about the text messaging incentive campaign that drives me to a Chase bank to look at them.

And that is what I am getting at here. My main wonder about the campaign has nothing to do really with the placement of their advertisements. Although if they used more keywords other than “Win” they could track which ads were more effected, and that would be interesting. Nevertheless, for the most part they work, eventually. My wonderment is what, beyond product placement, does this text message campaign do for Chase?

Its important to point out that the text-to-win campaign does not stand alone. There is a chance to win Open tickets by opening a Chase Free Checking account with direct deposit with a minimum $500 deposit or depositing $15,000 into an existing savings account or brokerage account. Additional tickets to the Men’s and Women’s finals, semi-finals and quarterfinals are also available for larger deposits. But that is a far cry more demanding than the from the ATM withdrawal of yesteryear.

The mobile medium and text messaging are part of the New Media way of marketing… its about using the tools to create conversations and interactions that in the end draw people toward your brand physically and/ or digitally.

According to Chase spokesman Michael Fusco the promotion is a great way “to highlight our mobile banking service, Chase Mobile.”

Other than the fact that it is a mobile campaign that uses the shortcode “Chase” lets see what he means.

When I texted ‘Win’ to CHASE (24373) I got the following message:

Sorry, try again tomorrow. No purch reqd. For a sure way to get tkts go to chase.com/tickets. Quit? Txt STOPWIN. Help? Txt HELPWIN. Other chgs may apply.

Lets break down this text message for a second.

“Sorry, try again tomorrow.” - Ok I get it, I lost.

No purch reqd. - Purchase what? I do not have to purchase a ticket to win a ticket? Thats good.

For a sure way… - By the time I am in front of my computer I have already forgotten this and probably just went to the US Open website to get tickets. The webpage in the text is not even linkable (which is a good thing since I doubt it will bring me to a mobile webpage. And there is nothing about the making a deposit way to win…. get me while I am out an about and near a Chase bank. Not when I am home on my computer… unless I can open a checking account online and get free tickets that way. Winners, by the way, will also be directed to Chase.com/tckets to redeem their prize.

Quit? - Now, I know that they have to put this in their text as part of Mobile Marketing Guidelines but still it begs the question What am I quitting? I thought I was just entering a text and win contest are you going to send me more information (aka SMS spam) on what Chase can do to my phone? Damn straight I will quit.

Help? Again I realize that this is needed to comply with MMA guidelines. So I was curious. I did it. I texted ‘STOPWIN’. Here is what I got [my comments in brackets]:

Chase: Reply text to enter.[Didn’t I already do this and was told to try again tomorrow?] Questions? See Rules/FAQ’s at chase.com/tickets. [Again, not linkable] Quit? Txt STOPWIN. Other charges may apply. [What? To quit?]

The point here is not to chastise their use of text space, which is not perfect but gets by ok. Hey I understand that 160 characters is a limited amount of space. The point here is to express wonderment at how Chase is using a tool with such great possibilities of marketing interaction-ability without any other types of interaction or conversation concerning Chase products or banks. While they are creating conversation in the sense I am talking about how many people are really going to make the connection to Chase’s mobile offerings? The only web reference has no mobile web link and the reply text message provides no opportunity for any other Chase goodness to come about where I am standing with the phone in hand. After texting in to win nothing about it is, in a sense, mobile.

A text message campaign should always be interactive and ubiquitous. It should always have something to do with where I am and the fact that I am mobile. In the end it should pull me into a willing and deeper interaction and conversation and tie in together the brand and brand product. It it must do this organically.It must be organic. It must not be about the company or the product but about the user and the product. It must let me share, interact and act upon or comment upon if I want to. If it is not something that I can act on or follow through on immediately wherever I am with my phone then it is a dead message. And text-to-win will soon become a novelty that that will ware off.

While the campaign itself is a hint or, as Fusco put it a “highlight” of Chase Mobile service, no other mobile tie in is apparent and their is no mention or pull toward a conversation of Chase’s Mobile Banking offerings. The bank is, however, promoting its mobile banking options through a $70 million campaign begun this year that includes television commercials pitching Chase Mobile and texting for balances and transactions. Perhaps I do not watch enough television but its has bin a while since I have seen one of those ads. Hopefully, from now till August they have a more than just 3 second announcement at the end of the text to win campaign.

Do not get me wrong, I think its wonderful that Chase is using a Text-to-Win strategy. And they are doing a great job of getting me to text them wherever I am for the chance to win something. I am just disappointed that that is all it is. That after that nothing happens. The the return message is static.

Unlike their ATM-to-Win campaign (which included anyone who could use an ATM machine and did not require a deposit of 500 dollars to a free checking account) the Text-To-Win message does not draw me into Chase. It seems more like a dead end product placement for my phone, a sort of “hey look at us, we are hip, we get the new technology sort of play.” Which is fine and a step in the right direction. But, with the ATM campaign I had to walk into a Chase. After getting the (loosing) text message I simply put the phone in my pocket and go about my day. A missed opprtunity.

I just wish it could have been more and better tied in all that mobile marketing and the wonderful stuff that Chase Mobile has to offer (its really is a great and innovative product).

This post is already to long but if anyone asks in the comment section bellow I would be happy to share some thoughts as to how else they could have leveraged this. How about, for example, texting in your zip code to get the nearest Chase branch to inquire on more ways to get a free ticket. Or better yet allowing people to reply to the short code via a mobile devices many upload-able media ways.

In the meantime I will leave it with this: Mobile marketing is not a good stand alone strategy… as an always on technology it works best when it is tied into other new media and social marketing plays. Its not about putting all of Chase services on a phone or Chase using a phone. Its about how Chase can best leverage the mobile medium for an already existing product or campaign in order to drive more interest and interaction with Chase. In this case Chase leveraged the mobile phone for their already existing US Open Product placement. After that the conversation and interaction stops, which is a shame since Chase has so much more, on the mobile end, to offer.

By the way, if you are a winner then everything I just said above goes right out the door. With the exception of winning, I am not pulled into Chase any deeper. When I unscrewed a Coke cap to look underneath it to see if I am I winner at least I got to partake of the refreshing sugar water beverage if I was not. With my loosing text message I am only left with a kind of negative feeling since I did not win and was left with nothing else to do but the sterile assurance that I can by tickets or get more info at Chase.com/tickets if and when I get in-front of a computer. With that the campaign ends. Doomed to the static product placement grave that is the “erase this message” option. Not a good place to end a “conversation.”

More info from Mobile Marketer

UPDATE 7/28/08 Chase Responds (Well, Kinda)

Technorati Tags: chase, chase bank , marketing, mobile marketing, sms, tickets, us open, win

Its no secret that HTC is behind some of the first handsets to run Android, so that got people thinking- will Android be available on current HTC handsets when it is released?
And if not, how hard would it be to port over, assuming HTC uses similar architecture in their manufacturing?

Well the phone hax0rs extraordinare over at XDA-Developers and PPC Geeks didn’t want to wait to find out. Apparently they have been working on ways to port leaked versions of the OS and all its open source linux-based goodness over to current HTC devices!
Now, its not a full port, and still relies on the Windows Mobile OS underneath for device drivers and what not, however after loading itself into RAM, the Android OS takes over the GUI and presents the user with an early look of things to come.

The problem with this, however, is that you need enough RAM after Windows Mobile boots to load the Android OS into and run. On the new devices with 128+mb of RAM, (such as the HTC Tilt, Vogue, and Diamond) there is plenty of memory to go around, however on many current devices including the Sprint Mogul (Titan), the 64Mb limit is far too tight.
People have managed to get it to boot, but portions of the OS, such as data connections, didn’t work.

That is, until now.

PPCGeeks forum member “l33tlinuxh4×0r” with the help of “dzo” have managed to get it to boot and be functional despite the limited 64mb of RAM.

“Android boots, The touch screen works. You can make phone calls. You can browse the internet.

This will NOT mess up your phone. It runs from ram and there are no permanent changes.”

(Copied from original thread here)

The needed files and instructions to make this work can be found here.

Its still not perfect- apparently not all the hardware buttons work, but this is very exciting for current HTC users who are interested in Android.

MOpocket is of course mentioned. So go on over there and check it out.

For more information on the Carnival visit here.

Technorati Tags: mippin, blog, carnival of the mobilists

However, my Blackberry (which I loved very much) went missing a couple weeks ago, and with that event, I realized it was time for an upgrade in my technology.

Since, I was due for a new phone, I figured I could sign up to get an iPhone. I went to an AT&T store to try to do this. The sales associate was nice; he said I could buy a Curve temporarily and then return it for an iPhone two weeks later.

This sounded good to me, and this is what I tried to do this morning.

I showed up at the AT&T store at 6:00 a.m. and waited with other patient iPhone-hopefuls for two hours for the store to open.

When I got inside, what seemed like some exclusive club, the sales associate told me an exchange was going to be too hard and too slow because their systems were moving very slowly. He suggested that I get some slip or some other thing and then come back a few days later. I said no, I have been waiting here since 6:00 a.m.

So, with that, he exchanged the phone. But then said their printers were down so I could not get any physical paper work to sign. I don’t know about you, but I like to read contracts before I sign them. I also like a representative to outline the terms with me. Since, I have never had an iPhone, I really would have liked to get extra time and attention with a knowledgable tech guru.

He said he would email me the paperwork.

Then he handed me the phone and told me to set it up at home. I said I wasn’t going home; I was headed straight to work, so I’d like them to set up the phone right then and there.

They said because the system was overloaded and they could not do that, and that I needed to set it up at work or home.

I was nervous. Again, I am no tech guru and I certainly wanted a working phone right away. I didn’t understand how a piece of shiny plastic they just sold me was going to automatically sync up with my old phone number from my Blackberry.

Confused, I left the store, feeling half-assured as the rep said: Call me if you have any questions and I will walk you through this.

Well, I tried to set the phone up at work and still…I sit with no phone. (And no voicemail apparently…once that rep took that sim card out of my Blackberry, I guess my voicemail was deactivated).

I called the store. They couldn’t walk me through it.

Hmmm…my feeling right now: this is a tough economy, and while $199 is a good price for a new phone, I expected better service. I expected the process to be seamless. I mean, this is Apple, right? King of all things modern, clean and streamlined?

I should have walked into AT&T with a Blackberry and walked out with a working iPhone and a smile.

-A frustrated friend of mine

Ok, fine, so it has a GPS chip too… but I think most people would rather have a storage card slot or removable battery than GPS.

The iPhone is a great phone, but its far from perfect, and missing several “key” features that many standard free-with-contract phones have.
I think the top of everyone’s list was 3G and 3rd party App support, which they appear to have addressed. But what about the other shortcomings and missing features?
Is apple doing this on purpose, perhaps to make you buy a new iPhone every year?
Read more about it here.