[Macworld]

Post your comments for The Macalope Daily: Maybe it's not for you here

[ingus]

Your right, it's not for everybody. And it's a shame, because it could be.

"and the Macalope is happy not to pay for a feature he isn’t going to use."

There's another way to look at that. At the premium pricing of Apple's products, you're paying for it AND not getting it. I could see that argument applying (somewhat) to the Nexus 7 at $250 for the 32 GB version (even there it should still have a memory slot). Still, an "a la carte" option isn't available so that you could pay for it IF you want it.

This post has been edited by ingus: 23 November 2012 - 07:58 AM

[hayesk]

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Still, an "a la carte" option isn't available so that you could pay for it IF you want it.

A la carte means a completely new design, and customer confusion. Do you want the one with 32GB of internal storage, or for the same price, the one with 16GB and a lost? Add a SD card "option" to all 18 models of iPad, 18 models of iPad mini, and you've got 72 models of iPad, not including the iPad 2.

Not to mention the support burden of customers calling because they copied apps from their friends iPad and trying to run it on theirs.

Yeah, no thanks. Internal storage is much better.

[GadgetDon]

Actually, I'd agree with two of the five complaints.

For storage - this is something that is very useful and would personally make my experience better. It's a little trickier for iOS, since the storage system is more hidden. But I'd like to carry more of my audiobook collection, and sometimes more videos, and I'm sure Apple can make it elegant. More, the ability to take pictures with a camera and easily transfer it to the iPad without a silly dongle would be nice.

And user interface customization - it would be good to have some "live" elements on the home page. I'm not saying duplicate the functionality and definitely not the design of windows or android, but start with the concept "let the user display info he wants to show on the home page" and do the work for doing it right.

These are two features that can help a lot of people, even not particularly technically savvy people, and have no downside other than figuring out how to fit a slot into the industrial design (Unlike back button where every app has to figure out what that means for them, replaceable battery which adds to thickness, and the connector has its benefits). Would the lack of them make me jump to Android? No, but they're definitely sitting on the Android side of the "things I like" scale.

[ingus]

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Still, an "a la carte" option isn't available so that you could pay for it IF you want it. A la carte means a completely new design, and customer confusion. Do you want the one with 32GB of internal storage, or for the same price, the one with 16GB and a lost? Add a SD card "option" to all 18 models of iPad, 18 models of iPad mini, and you've got 72 models of iPad, not including the iPad 2. Not to mention the support burden of customers calling because they copied apps from their friends iPad and trying to run it on theirs. Yeah, no thanks. Internal storage is much better.

The option would be the card itself. Just supply the slot.
If a customer finds using a card confusing, they are entirely free not to use them. Memory slots and drives have been around since forever.

[ibrewster]

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Just supply the slot. If a customer finds using a card confusing, they are entirely free not to use them. Memory slots and drives have been around since forever.

And what would you like removed to make room for the slot? Several hours of battery life? One or more of the wireless technologies? Or perhaps they should just make the phone fatter at one point in order to leave a gash in the side?

[ingus]

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Just supply the slot. If a customer finds using a card confusing, they are entirely free not to use them. Memory slots and drives have been around since forever. And what would you like removed to make room for the slot? Several hours of battery life? One or more of the wireless technologies? Or perhaps they should just make the phone fatter at one point in order to leave a gash in the side?

It would have made it thicker, or wider, or taller. Or some combination of the above. I'm sure that it can be accomplished without turning the device into a brick (especially on the iPad). I think it could be done, and you would have to measure it to see the difference. Others can do it, I'm positive Apple can.

This post has been edited by ingus: 23 November 2012 - 10:43 AM

[kitko]

About that battery... I'm on an iPhone 4 purchased in March 2011, running the latest iOS.

My stats from the last charge is 5:38 usage, 13 days and 10 hours standby. Normally, I have 10 hrs usage for 10 day standby. 13 days is more than Apple claims for standby only.

Generally, I'm not a heavy user but not even my Palm Treo and HTC Desire with large capacity batteries (2400 and 3200 resp. resulting in a humpback) could pull this out :-) So I count iPhone's battery life as class leading and pretty much untouchable.

I'm ready to supply screenshots from the phone to substantiate the numbers.

[mc4o1993]

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More, the ability to take pictures with a camera and easily transfer it to the iPad without a silly dongle would be nice.

apple can't do this alone. is there an industry standard that supports this? i suppose the camera guys could make their own apps.. but in the field, w/o a network - how do you do this wireless? yeah, I suppose ad hoc networking, but even a 64GB ipad would fill up pretty quickly... i have the camera kit.. it's hell on the ipad and camera batteries.

[spanky]

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1. User interface can't be customized.

I don't need a bunch of useless moving backgrounds draining my battery without adding any real functionality.

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2. No storage expansion.

Not really a problem with cloud storage.

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3. No back button.

Please name one app where this applies, I'm calling BS on this one.

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4. Too many proprietary interfaces.

If Seltzer doesn't like FaceTime, he's welcome to use Skype.

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5. The battery.

Seltzer apparently never heard of battery cases, car chargers, or power adapters.
What a ridiculous diatribe.

[Hologram]

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Just supply the slot.

[snip]

. I think it could be done, and you would have to measure it to see the difference. Others can do it, I'm positive Apple can.

"Others" haven't made a phone I would buy. Apple has.

[Hologram]

ingus, on 23 November 2012 - 07:57 AM, said:

Your right, it's not for everybody. And it's a shame, because it could be.

"and the Macalope is happy not to pay for a feature he isn’t going to use."

There's another way to look at that. At the premium pricing of Apple's products, you're paying for it AND not getting it. I could see that argument applying (somewhat) to the Nexus 7 at $250 for the 32 GB version (even there it should still have a memory slot). Still, an "a la carte" option isn't available so that you could pay for it IF you want it.

You know, there was a time when Super Sizing your Happy Meal was considered a great value. If you looked at the dollar cost versus how much more food you got, how could you say no? It hardly cost anything, right?

Well, not all cost is measured in dollars and cents, and a whole generation of cost conscious overeaters can attest to that.

Your comment brings to light how pervasive and ingrained the Super Size mentality remains thanks to the marketing efforts of mass merchandizers. Quantity over quality, more features over fewer but better integrated features. That's been pounded into us for decades and, for many people, getting a bargain is more important than getting value.

Personally, I'd rather have a thin, light, elegant looking phone than a big fat plastic anchor with all the bells and whistles others think are important. I'm not saying you have to like the same thing. Just saying that there are more than enough alternative options out there to satisfy those who absolutely need all those features.

Don't mess with my option to not have all those features.

This post has been edited by Hologram: 23 November 2012 - 04:27 PM

[Barholder]

Samsung Galaxy Nexus NS HTC III Motorola DS Em Oh You Ess Eee

Nice touch, MIckey!!!

[TheHeeNow]

The bottom line is don't buy with a feature checklist in mind. It's too bad that's what's ingrained into the minds of tech writers. Automobile writers have no such mindset.

If nobody bought premium products, Mercedes, BMW, and Audi would not exist.

Buy according to the features, performance, and reliability you need or want.