Dry As a Bone

Partly due to Zelda, and partly due to my mood, I haven't been able to come up with much of anything to post lately. I'm reading the news, but nothing is just jumping out at me. I mean, Apple has made a fool out of themselves twice recently. I suppose that's something. Apple really grinds my gears. They are so full of themselves it's amazing that they are taken seriously. They are also treated so differently from other companies by the public, I'm always left wondering. Speaking of this, Apple announced that the iPhone is going to get up to 8 hours of talk time. I'm skeptical, at best. However, if this turns out to be true, then props to them. Maybe others will figure out how they did it and we can all start having incredible battery life on our electronic devices. Another thing about the iPhone: Jobs has said that it is the best iPod yet. I don't see how a portable media device with as little as 4 gigs of storage can be the best yet. Part of me really wants to see the iPhone fail horribly, just to knock Apple down a few pegs. The problem is that that won't happen. The over-hype about the phone will mean that it will be a success at launch, regardless. After that, even if it does start to fail, Apple will be forgiven and the masses will forget about it. Personally, I've got a few things I dislike about the iPhone, but only two that would keep me from buying one. The biggest is the price tag. People many places are saying that there hasn't been any firm evidence on what price will actually be, but I beg to differ. The slide at MacWorld 2007 seems to show that the $499 and $599 price will be with a required two year contract. Which brings me to my second item. There is no way I'm becoming an AT&T customer. I've heard horrible things about their wireless business for many years, and their latest bit about spying on people means that I won't be counting myself as any type of AT&T customer. I realize that the price is all but guaranteed to drop after a while, but I'm not talking about buying one later. Plus, I seem to remember seeing something about the AT&T exclusivity being five years. I could be wrong on that one, though.
Really, though, the iPhone does have some compelling features, but nothing that makes me think it deserves the price. They give their little comparison chart, but leave key features that many find important off of it. I also wonder how happy users of their onscreen keyboard will be. I think that the iPhone is a step in the right direction towards what people want, but I think it's a far way from the best thing ever. I know that none of this is new, but that's never stopped me before. I guess that only time will tell. Well, maybe. There just might be enough fanboys out there to keep it alive even if it does suck.