MacLochlainns Weblog

Back in June, I considered replacing my iPhone with an HTC Evo.. I didn’t do it then for two reasons. The battery life of the Evo was too short to make it worthwhile and the cost wasn’t too different. My son Joseph’s passionate sentiments for everything Apple and his membership on the family plan helped dissuade me.

When I dropped my son from the family program, AT&T took all my accumulated minutes away. Truly, it was not a customer centric moment. At the end of the day, my bill went up 15% relative to the cost of half of the family plan.

Last summer, I didn’t have an iPad nor did I foresee buying a first generation one. That was then, but I caved as summer went on and I considered writing an eBook. Notwithstanding my January comments on the iPad, I bought one in late July. It’s features made my iPhone a little jealous and me a little less enticed by the iPhone. The only thing my iPhone could do that it couldn’t was connect to the AT&T network.

Today, I bid my iPhone adieu. I made the move to economize from AT&T’s rates to Sprint. I went with the LG Optimus S. You can read a review if you’re interested about it here. The LG Optimus S is a nice mid-range Android 2.2 smart phone that cost $49.

I suppose that one of my kids will get the iPhone now. The 16 GB unit can serve as an iPod or WiFi device for email and music. These truly have become ubiquitous devices, and we owe Apple a debt for that! By the way, I love the iPad and won’t lament its lack of a camera when the next generation arrives with the new year. 😉

The REST OF THE STORY, as of February 2012, is:

1. I couldn’t live on the Android. It was an awkward interface after the iPhone.
2. I couldn’t return to AT&T, the coverage where I’m at is horrible and their prices are absurd.
3. Sprint sells the iPhone and the coverage and price work.

My return to the iPhone and recommendation for a case is in this blog post.

For almost two years, I’ve loved my iPhone. That’s amazing, since I live where AT&T has never provided 3G coverage. The contract expires this summer.

Admittedly, business trips were refreshing because I generally always had a 3G connection. That is, until the last six months or so. During that period of time, I’ve been experiencing some random dropped calls. For example, AT&T dropped my 3G connections about 8 times in less than 30 minutes in April. All three calls went over 5 minutes before they were dropped, and they were made from a hotel in Anaheim, California (near Angels Stadium). Those drops certainly made it appear that their system couldn’t handle the volume of concurrent calls, but it could have been something else. 😉

The final straw was AT&T’s unlimited data plan change announcement. Wow! It caught me by surprise. Their back peddling with a subsequent announcement of qualified renewed contracts doesn’t work for me. They’ve lost what little trust I had for them.

Fortunately, I’d deferred buying an iPad. I’d planned to order an iPad 3G model this last week, but now it will definitely be a Wi-Fi only device! I’m also deferring the purchase now to see if there’s another surprise in the wings.

When I compare the cost of my iPhone against the HTC EVO, the iPhone loses. I found Daniel Lyon’s article Phone Fight! interesting for many reasons. While his comparison of Microsoft versus Apple of yesteryear to Google versus Apple of today is interesting, this quote strikes me:

The mobile Wi-Fi hotspot means my iPad Wi-Fi works virtually anywhere. That alone is probably the single most important reason why I considered dropping my iPhone. Alas, I was disabused of the notion today by David Pogue (6/17/2010). The battery life is pathetic.

Let’s face it: the iPhone interface is AWESOME! Therefore, my idea of replacing my iPhone with an EVO will be a nearly forgotten memory, like my HP-25C of college days and Star Wars IV premiere gone by …