Yes, but you ignored the discount for signing a two year contract. The iphone is $600 or $700 without a contract, so the out of pocket on the Touch2 will be lower regardless.
No I didn't. The HTC is also discounted for a 2-year contract by sprint. You can't get the phone unless you have a contract, but you can pay for it at full price for ~$600 link in the examples
here,
here,
here, or (mother of hell $750)
here. That's no different than an iPhone without a contract.
1. It's $200 - $300 cheaper.
2. Yes, the Touch2 runs WinMo 6.5 (my phone could; it's the same hardware, but it's missing a "Windows button" that WinMo 6.5 devices are supposed to have).
3. I'm not fond of the keyboard, either, but at the time I thought I might use it. And Windows Mobile has a perfectly functional onscreen keyboard as well as stylus support for a notepad and writing recognition. Oh, and I can use my phone's touchscreen with gloves on.
4. My phone does all the stuff I want it to, principally with support for email and a full browsing experience (Skyfire), but also support for Office documents, VPNs and RDP/VNC. The iphone wins on sheer number of toys, but so far as I can tell most of the crap people do with iphones amount to just that: toys. Also, my phone has 16GB of removable storage.
1.) The HTC is still more expensive even with the 2-year contract discount, what am I missing?
3.) I don't want to be dealing with a stylus. They're just cumbersome and 1990's. It's just one more thing to lose. I've never needed to use my phone with gloves on, but I'm assuming you're taking a stab at it being all touch screen. Yep, you're right, I can't use my phone with gloves on.
4.) My phone also does all I need it to which includes office documents, exchange push email, VPN access, VNC (if I get the appropriate app), RSA SecurID tag generation, NPR news (ok, not a big deal, but I like it). Sure the memory is fixed, but for the price, at least it was included. I didn't pay $50 more for a phone and
then have to buy a 16GB SD card.
At some point I will be replacing my phone with either an HTC HD2 (WinMo) or SuperSonic, but for right now, there's certainly nothing wrong with what I have.
You're overpaying for service and the entirely dubious value of having AT&T's network and Apple's hardware. You want to make calls, use the internet and listen to music? Any smartphone can do those things.
In the long term, even somebody with a low six figure income would probably be happy to have a 50%+ reduction in a recurring monthly bill. That's just common sense.
Much like I want to drive to work, take a traveling vacation, or go visit family, so any car will do that. Yes, you're right, but they all do it differently. Just because a car suffices as transportation at a cheap cost doesn't mean it's ideal.
I'm overpaying compared to your special deal, yes. I'm also paying more for a service that's more usable in my area (IMHO) when compared to Sprint. If I was in your area, Sprint would be the logical choice, especially given all your positive feedback. Then again, I probably wouldn't like the phones Sprint offers.
What's the dubious value in the hardware? I've established that it costs less than other hardware and equally if not arguably more functional. It has zero moving parts, a glass screen, and a potential for endless applications both free and paid. I'm not bringing the value of the different application stores into this picture because it's an endless argument of value. it's certainly not dubious, there's ways to line item the functionality. The hard part is proving the subjective ease of use and productivity.
Anyone would want a 50% reduction in any bill. As a whole, maybe no cell phone service is truly worth $70+ month...fine that's completely valid. I'm paying for an extreme luxury in my mobile device which I can't get for significantly cheaper any where else with the same desired functionality. Compared to other services at their current (non SERO) rates, I'm probably slightly ahead of the game. I do get a 25% discount through my work. It's my choice to pay it and I value the luxury. Much like you've probably spent 100 times more money on audio equipment and terabytes of storage for porn than I have. I could argue you're getting raped...but you could just tell me that's what you enjoy and there is nothing I can say to that.
Anyone could have taken advantage of that offer while it was available. The posts on "deal" web sites that led me to get SERO service were around three years old when I first signed up, so it's not like this was a short-term offer. I suspect there are probably other, similar deals to be had nowadays for folks in the know, but I'm happy with the service I'm getting and the price I'm paying.
Vomit Box phones certainly exist: Motorola's RAZR platform, every phone I've ever seen from Samsung, anything sold as disposable (though in that case, that's kind of the point). The people who end up getting seriously raped are usually the people who go in a retail outlet and say "Give me a phone that's free", and that's the kind of crap they end up with."
Yes they exist...but the iPhone isn't a vomit box which is what I thought you were trying to argue. You may not like it which is fine, but calling it a vomit box is a stretch.
Another reason I love my fantastic SERO plan: I'm grandfathered into a plan that has truly unlimited downloads. Again, not available any more (Sprint changed when Verizon and AT&T capped theirs), but I know I've been well over 5GB/month several times in my account's history without consequence.
It's still rape. Rape of the rapey-est sort. The only difference is that lots of folks aren't interested in being good consumers and finding the holes in the system and/or bargains to exploit. The market tolerates a rapacious $70 monthly cell phone bill, so that's what cell companies charge. If Sprint could manage to offer a plan like mine for years on end, that suggests to me that the crap the general public is getting now is just rape on top of rape.
Of course, just like "more minutes", eventually things like internet access and tethering really will be part of the standard cell plan, but by then cell companies will probably be offering premium TV channels or something.
There has to be profit for expanding somewhere and some how. Sure, they want to make the most they can while spending as little as possible and obviously the luxury we get comes at a price. No one needs a smart phone...they're just fun to have. The market is tolerating it, so it continues.
