I hate to toot my own horn, really, but I can’t resist…

Now that I am phone shopping again…

Back on Feb 1, 2007, mind you long before the original iPhone was released, and about 18 months before the 3G was released I made four semi-prescient statements.

One:

The iPhone will invite critics for its touch screen. While I suspect the gesture interface will be a revelation, I think it is wrought with two huge problems. Fingerprints and people-grease will make it look stank, and unsanitary. Secondly, the lack of tactile feedback for control inputs will impact usability negatively. Particularly when typing emails.

Verdict: Everyone’s iPhone is disgustingly greasy or encumbered to the hilt with protective accessories. Cheesy.  Lack of tactile feedback on touchscreen makes iPhone clearly a second-runner platform for hardcore messaging users.  Score +1 for me, I’m 1 for 1 with a double.

Two:

Battery life will suck for anyone who actually uses more than one of its core features. Can Apple tell us how much talk time we get if we listen to the iPod mode for an hour? Or if we watch one episode of Lost? Or if we just fiddle with the cool GUI and never give the back-light a rest? Prediction… users will not last a day if they use it as a primary device for any two of its applications.

Verdict: Don’t even get me started.  Check this out.  Paraphrasing Apple here (not very much either), in order to improve your battery life, do the following:

• Minimize use of location services (GPS is not as useful as we said anyways)
• Fetch new data less frequently (don’t be totally up to date, chill out man)
• Turn off push mail (turn off the feature that is a huge differentiator for our rival, RIM)
• Auto-check fewer email accounts (don’t message for pete’s sake)
• Minimize use of third-party applications (yeah, most suck anyways),
• Turn off Wi-Fi (total power hog)
• Turn off Bluetooth (useless anyways, really)
• Use Airplane Mode in low- or no-coverage areas (i.e. turn the phone part of the iPhone off… so it’s just and “i”)
• Adjust brightness to dim the screen (no need to enjoy the really expensive display we put in there)
• Turn off EQ (yeah, and don’t use that “iPod” feature so much, you really should buy a separate iPod anyways)
• Turn off 3G (and undermine the very marketing message we just spent gagillions of bucks on, besides, who needs 3G when you aren’t supposed to be running your apps anyways?)

Or you can always get one of these “sleek” battery life expanders and be the envy of… wait for it… no one.Score +1 for me, I’m 2 for 2. Adding a homerun to my double in the first.

Three:

People will pay. The price won’t matter to the users who must have this device. AT&T (Cingular) customer service will be real problem though. The three years I used Cingular were the worst consumer experience years of my life. T-Mobile missed the boat… their service rocks, and they could have used the iPhone to generate new momentum for their market penetration in North America. I’m surprised Apple couldn’t negotiate a better subsidy from them. Tisk, tisk.

Verdict: AT&T is pricey as hell.  Especially the monthly fees… may everyone pay over 100 bucks for cell phone service!!!  Score +1 for me, I’m 3 for 3.  Infield single.

Four:

My BlackBerry Pearl is too awesome. Why switch? Apple never told me this.

Verdict: They never told me.  But what they did do was screw up the mobile phone market by encouraging the rest of the OEMs to build a ton of other crappy touch screen phones… LG, Samsung, HTC, I’m talking to you.  Also, RIM, be careful with the Storm… that thing looks dangerously douchey.

So when it came time to get a new phone.  I went with Verizon (king of coverage in NYC, and the silver EVDO-enabled BlackBerry Pearl).  Score +1 for me, I’m 4 for 4.  A line drive squarely up the middle… darn, just missed the cycle.

So I know, scoring myself is no fair.  So argue with me, and remember, I actually think the iPhone has great capability, but the battery life and the contradictions of Apple’s consumer marketing vs. technical support are simply too much for me to bear.

Products should deliver on their hype.  The iPhone sacrifices too much of the utility of the non-sexy basic things (texting, phoning) in order to do the cool (very cool) new stuff.

Uh… Jason Chen… no.

And if you didn’t believe me…uggg… lyyyyy