Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

fsf.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 91 posts

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#71

Post by jrockway »

swombat wrote: post #2

Blah blah blah... Can anyone say "broken record"? FSF claims to be about choice. Well, I exercise my choice by choosing to buy the phone that I prefer.

FSF claims to be about choice. Well, I exercise my choice by choosing to buy the phone that I prefer.

Theoretically, by buying an iPhone, you are giving power to people that want to make sure you can only use your computer to run "approved" programs. Those people will then use their power to make sure that things like the FSF go away, and then there will be no "choice" for you to make. Then you have this:

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html

It's probably not going to happen quickly, but every time closed platforms get good press, we're one step closer. As a programmer, it's not "good for business" for me to support people that want to regulate my trade. So I have an OpenMoko phone instead. (I don't care what you choose, just as long as you're aware of the potential long-term consequences of your actions.)

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#72

Post by jrockway »

felideon wrote: post #15
ozanonay wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps because it's a delight to use and look at? Occasionally, when something is designed better than any other comparable device, you have to pay to use it. In this case, you pay by following a few of their rules.

Right. And unless my main reason for buying a mobile phone is "for hacking," I don't see why I should pay $400 for the alternative (i.e. the Neo FreeRunner) when the iPhone "just works"--and nicely at that. How sure are we that the Neo FreeRunner would even be stable enough for use as a main phone? When the day comes that I want to hack my phone, I'll get the FreeRunner. (Hopefully by then it'll be cheaper.) For now,…

I just want to use my phone.

You know, you can get "just a phone" for about $5 these days. Why are you shelling out for an iPhone? (The answer is because you don't want "just a phone".)

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#73

Post by jrockway »

chrisbolt wrote: post #59
yummyfajitas wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have quite a few ogg files. Converting to mp3 before using on an mp3 player is very annoying. Plus, libogg is BSD licensed, so why not include it?

Because it doesn't have a chip to decode ogg, so it would have to use the main CPU which would quickly drain the battery.

Maybe. I have Rockbox on my 4G iPod, and the battery lasts plenty long playing Ogg (and FLAC) files. It may be an hour shorter than MP3s on the stock firmware... but you only pay for what you use. If you don't have Ogg files, you don't drain the battery.

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#74

Post by jrockway »

Mistone wrote: post #33

that free runner neo phone is ugly and obviously far far from being market ready, sorry fsf but your alternative looks lame.

I have the older version (Neo1973). It works fine; I can browse the web and make phone calls. The browser is WebKit-based, so it's basically like the iPhone browser. Same codebase.

But basically, OpenMoko's icons aren't quite as pretty as the iPhone's. I know most people value icons more than their freedom, so that's why the iPhone is doing so well.

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#75

Post by jrockway »

SwellJoe wrote: post #65
matthewking wrote: post #17

Anyone else think the FreeRunner looks like crap? Aside from the hardware, the UI looks like Windows Mobile on the top, and iphone on the bottom..

I don't think it looks all that bad. But, I couldn't figure out how to buy and use one. There seems to be no actual way to purchase one, or any way to activate it with any carriers. I'm sure it's possible...but it's not obvious to me how to do it.

But, I couldn't figure out how to buy and use one. There seems to be no actual way to purchase one, or any way to activate it with any carriers.

Here's the page to buy it from:

http://us.direct.openmoko.com/products/neo-freerunner

(It's linked from the main page, BTW.)

Once you have one, get a SIM card from your carrier, and put it in the phone. That's it; GSM doesn't require that your carrier has any idea what phone you have. They only care about the SIM card.

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#76

Post by aditya »

jrockway wrote: post #74
Mistone wrote: post #33

that free runner neo phone is ugly and obviously far far from being market ready, sorry fsf but your alternative looks lame.

I have the older version (Neo1973). It works fine; I can browse the web and make phone calls. The browser is WebKit-based, so it's basically like the iPhone browser. Same codebase. But basically, OpenMoko's icons aren't quite as pretty as the iPhone's. I know most people value icons more than their freedom, so that's why the iPhone is doing so well.

jr, what image and ui are you running? it's almost impossible to make calls on a 1973 (or FR) from what I've tried so far.

FSO (http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/FSO) is the only thing that reliably lets me make calls but that's ALL it does.

What're you using?

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#77

Post by allenbrunson »

jrockway wrote: post #74
Mistone wrote: post #33

that free runner neo phone is ugly and obviously far far from being market ready, sorry fsf but your alternative looks lame.

I have the older version (Neo1973). It works fine; I can browse the web and make phone calls. The browser is WebKit-based, so it's basically like the iPhone browser. Same codebase. But basically, OpenMoko's icons aren't quite as pretty as the iPhone's. I know most people value icons more than their freedom, so that's why the iPhone is doing so well.

i really doubt openmoko's browser is like the iphone's. does it have multi-touch? i'm pretty sure it doesn't. that means no pinching, which is a vital part of the iphone experience.

and then there's the tired old argument that the only difference is that apple's products are prettier than everybody else's. not so. the difference is that apple's products are more fun to use, easier for people to figure out, and easier to get the most out of.

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#78

Post by brk »

nonrecursive wrote: post #20
crescendo wrote: post #14

A snake oil salesman not satisfied with his business of pushing proprietary software and Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology into your home, Jobs has set his sights on getting DRM and proprietary software into your pocket as well. Is it just me, or does the rhetoric from FSF often times border on spiteful? Snake oil salesman? Come on, guys. You're not going to win over sensible people with this kind of a…

"into your home... into your pocket as well." Lock your doors! ...Sew up your pockets! This has to stop, before Jobs has DRM technology dating our women.

We have women???!??!

Shit... I'll be right back...

Re: 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

#80

Post by boucher »

SwellJoe wrote: post #58
tlrobinson wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The mobile phone industry is traditionally very restrictive, it's not just Apple. The iPhone has brought lots of innovation and benefits to the industry, namely the concept that cell phone interfaces shouldn't suck. Things like visual voicemail are great. And AFAIK the first affordable unlimited data plan. Apple originally wasn't even planning on having a native SDK. So I'm willing to let them do it their way as long…

And AFAIK the first affordable unlimited data plan. Not quite right. My Sidekick on T-Mobile has had a $20 unlimited data plan for many, many years (total price of service including data is $59/month, vs. the $69/month price of the 1st gen iPhone with unlimited data, or $79/month in the 2nd gen iPhone). The Palm has also been available for several years from a few carriers with a $10-$20 unlimited data plan.

The iPhone makes better use of the data plan than anyone has before. Disagree with anything else about it, but MobileSafari is by far the best browser on any phone.
Post reply on HN