Former Apple-atheist turns Apple-agnostic
Posted by derfen on March 2, 2008
I’ve always been an Apple© atheist. When iPods were fresh and sexy etc, and everyone wanted one i preferred MP3 players, and shelled out for one of these :
——— 
It’s a Cowon A2, and was perfect for me, with drag and drop ease (no syncing or itunes or any of that bollocks), it has a 30GB drive and plays anything i can throw at it, music and movies. I got a rubber case for it with a heavy duty screen protector and so it was Liam friendly too, perfect for keeping him occupied on road trips etc. It’s got a ton of features like TV-in/out, voice recording and more. See here for more if you’re interested, they have a newer version now called the A3.
Anyway, lately i had been looking at Smartphones/pocket PC’s and such, with the intention of having an all-in-one Phone/MP3 player/Wireless browser, and of course my first criteria was “Fuck a fuckin’ iphone, proprietary Apple shite……blah……blah “. So after looking around and checking specs, reviews etc i plumped for a HTC 8525 running Windows mobile 6.
Off i clicked to ebay, found myself a deal on a new one, and thus began the purchase from hell ! Turned out the seller was a prick, (just look at the bastard’s recent feedback) , never answered emails or calls, took 2 weeks to ship it and when i finally got the thing i opened the box to find it was far from “new” , with scratches and a couple of dings and the unresettable call timers showed over 50hrs of use. Accessories he had advertised were not included, and if he didn’t live so far away, i would have gone to his house to bate my money out of him and stick his fuckin’ “new” phone up his arse.
I opened up a paypal dispute and am getting my money back, but i did use the phone for about a week to check it out anyway. I unlocked it to work with T-Mobile and was having fun playing around with it, but did find that the thing was a bit on the heavy side and kind of clunky to work with, and so wasn’t sure about looking for a replacement of the same model. In the meantime, Alex at work has an iphone, and i played around with that a bit and while some of the features were cool, i wasn’t totally sold on it because of my previously stated opinion of Apple shite in general.
But, the seed was planted, and so the other night, on an impulse i said “fuck it” and went and bought the 16GB iphone. Over here in the US, iphones are locked to the AT&T mobile carrier, but i had already checked into how to unlock it, so the first thing i did when i got it home (after admiring the box it came in for a while ) was hook it up to the PC , do some jiggery-pokery, and in 10 mins i had an unlocked iphone working with my T-Mobile Sim card.
The unlocking was a doddle by the way (don’t even bother with the “we can unlock your iphone for $30″ shite sites out there) . It can be done quite easily & safely for free.
I’ve had the thing for 4 days now, and just can’t put it down. I love it. Best Tech purchase I i’ve ever made.
I keep getting these ooooooh 
and aaahhh 
moments when i discover some subtle feature or install some 3rd party app that does something i wouldn’t have expected on a mobile device ( guitar simulator , anyone !?! ) .
I’m still not ever planning on buying a mac, lappy/tower/imac, they just don’t have the flexibilty or modifyabilty ( yes, not a real word ) i want and need when it comes to computers. Right now i’ve got 4 “spare” PC’s I mix/match/mod whenever the mood takes me, and the price is right when it comes to parts etc, as compared to Apple.
But if you are pondering an iPhone, take it from this convert. Just go out, stick it on the credit card and enjoy.
Oh yeah, just in case you think i’m in Apple’s pocket and writing this shite for anything other than personal reasons :
Steve Jobs is a cunt, right.
EDIT : Hey, if i say Bill Gates is a cunt as well, will my blog just asplode ?
………………………….and don’t even get me started on that Linus Torvalds cunt.
Steven said
It’s nice to see that someone who ordinarily does not have a particularly high opinion of Apple in general or Steve Jobs in particular can still take time to appriciate a particular product and write a reasonably objective review of it.
You might call me a fanboy, but I can certainly understand that if you require tinkerability (probably not a real word) in your computer, today’s Macintosh is not for you.
derfen said
Thanks Steven, butt-munch. I await with bated breath (yawn) Frank’s response to my “idiot” question too
Alex said
Hey, are you richer than Steve Jobs? No. Do you have a massive fan base that practically worships you? No. Did you practically birth and make portable digital audio what it is today? No. Are you the CEO of a HUGE company that has the most digital downloads of any online music store? No. So that cunt, Steve Jobs, must be doing something right. Oh, fyi, I don’t even own an ipod. But Steve Jobs is a lot smarter than you, so looks like you’re the cunt.
derfen said
Ah, bollocks. I forgot that only rich, successful people are entitled to opinions.
BTW even if someone is smarter than me, it doesn’t automatically disqualify them from being a cunt.
Thanks for reading the whole post though, and totally missing the point.
Oh, and go buy a sarcasm detector while you’re at it, cunt.
chaz said
cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt.
Heh, that was fun.
You’re not the cunt, btw, and probably SJ isn’t either. But cunts are still running the world.
matthew said
Arguable.. but hey
Ha! lol, Apple not proprietary enough for you it seems? You have to go for possibly the MOST DRM’d and locked down OS out there – Windows!
Nice, way to ’stick it to the man!’
depends what you want to do, hardwarewise theyre basically off the shelf part, OS wise theyre UNIX under there so you can do, well pretty much anything you can do on *nix. Install KDE, Gnome, package installers like Fink etc etc Look into it, just takes a Google.
derfen said
Chaz – That sounds about right.
Matthew – It’s not about “sticking it to the man”, the HTC 8525 has a memory card slot, standard usb connector, replaceable battery, and all sorts of programmable buttons and navigation options, nothing to do with the OS, Just a nice device, and when it comes to being “DRM’d and locked down” maybe you should use google yourself and have a look around for custom ROMs, and thousands of 3rd party apps available for WM. I didn’t buy it ‘coz “ooooooh it’s Windows mobile 6″…….i bought it for the the fact that it wasn’t just a sealed “magic box”.
Yeah, i’m sure all those imac owners crack open the case and tinker around in there all the time. As for your comment on the OS, i am aware of “what’s under the hood” . “They’re UNIX under there” – No shit, Sherlock. You really got the impression that i need that explained to me ? You gonna tell me about the Birds & The bees too, while you’re here ?
Condescending cunt.
derfen said
*Comment moderation turned on…….some of these cunts don’t understand a tale of personal experience when they see it. They wanna flame me and start geek-arguments, and i couldn’t be arsed engaging with these basement dwellers.
It’s my ball and i’m taking it home.
kraftymiles said
Nice review. Couldn’t agree more about the locked-into-itunes bollix that comes as standard with Apple products, that alone held me off getting an iPod for years, prefering instead the Archos Jukebox range.
Keep up the good work, and the swearing.
matthew said
ahh sarcasm, nice. Well probably not, they wont tinker but thats kind of the point, you dont need to, Itll work quite happily with out tinkering. Ive been through enough reinstalls of OSX having tinkered in the command line to know to leave well alone – as you ask, once. Once was enough.
I did yes, maybe you didnt make your level of Mac expertise clear enough.
What can I say? I try.
Kraftymiles –
You ARE aware that the iPod/iPhone will happily play regular MP3s arent you? Youre not buying into the popular spread of Apple-disinformation. Its only iTunes store AACs which wont play on other MP3 players, but they will play on PCs – unlike any WMA files you buy for your Archos which WONT work on a Mac.
6 of one really.
Mike Cane said
Heh-heh-heh. Apple wins another one.
Seriously, I’m jealous. Haven’t got one of my own yet.
And did you see this for it?
http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/02/17/iphoneipod-touch-can-be-a-piano/
derfen said
Matthew – Alright i’ll bite…………
Well, if that’s the first time you’ve spotted sarcasm here, you might want to sit up straight and pay more attention.
Yes, and that’s my point too ! I WANT to tinker. I don’t just dick around with hardware because something’s broken, I like to play around in there and mod stuff.
I’m talking hardware, like I said, pay attention.
I have quite a low level of Mac expertise actually, but I do know what’s under the hood.
Pretty successful at it too.
BTW……..I get it.
You’re an Apple fanboy and your identity is built around that.
Good for you. Whatever makes you happy.
We disagree, woo fuckin’ hoo……let’s rehash the the old Apple Vs Whatever arguments for the millionth time………yawn ……fuckin’……yawn.
derfen said
Mike – Yeah, i was playing around with that piano app last night, cool, but the novelty wore off pretty quickly though
derfen said
Matthew – i deleted your latest comment. You miss the point every fucking time. It’s got to the point with you where it’s like one of those ridiculously frustrating arguments i occasionally have with my wife(rarely these days – experience is a wonderful teacher).
The iPhone is a great device. It’s a MOBILE device. I don’t want or need to tinker with it, hardware-wise. When i talk about tinkering, i’m talking about computers. I advised you to pay attention, you didn’t.
So, since you are not my wife, i can sincerely tell you to…….. Fuck-right-off.
Jeff said
you’re so angry!
but i’m glad you’re enjoying your iPhone.
Those “ooohhh and aawww” moments are why i buy Apple products.
derfen said
Jeff – Me…..Angry ? I wrote the post because i was happy about something, and still am. I just feel like swearing a lot today, and if i annoy some people, the more the merrier. If i was angry, i wouldn’t be on here. I’d be out batterin’ grannies and little kids.
dennis said
man who in the hell are you?
what a waste of my time
fucking irish puke
derfen said
Quality comment there Dennis, pure quality. I mean, it’s got everything; wit, humour, in-depth analysis and a definite elegant style that is hard to fake. Quality.
Go eat some more cheeseburgers, you fat cunt
Seth Manapio said
Mac towers have now, and always have had, plenty of drive bays and PCI slots, are built to be opened up, are WAY easier to work on then any PC chassis I’ve ever touched, and use components that can easily be purchased from third party sources.
And yes, that kind of expandability and tinkerability, as well as being able to get to anything you want without pushing a single cable out of your way and install any operating system you can think of short of Haiku, comes at a high price. So does a visit to a high class escort… but you should avoid street hookers for exactly the same reasons you should avoid cheap, shitty PCs.
derfen said
Seth Manapple –
What good’s a PCI slot when half the PCI cards out there won’t work on your system ?
So you’re willing and able to pay bigger bucks coz It’s got a picture of a fruit on it……..yay……you’re cooler than me.
And so, anything other than a Mac is a cheap shitty PC …………….doesn’t even warrant a response that one.
As for the hookers metaphor, no problems there for you then, as you probably get satisfaction enough from whackin’ off in front of your life-size Steve Jobs wall poster every night.
Wes Priest said
Bwa ha ha! This shit is too funny! And I’m an Apple fanboy!
Derfen, you da man!
Enjoy your fucking iPhone, you cunt!
Alashimself said
“As for the hookers metaphor, no problems there for you then, as you probably get satisfaction enough from whackin’ off in front of your life-size Steve Jobs wall poster every night.”
NICE