Recently, I was asked a question in the comments that would have taken me a lot of time to answer – in fact, I’m not sure if there are limits on how long comments can be, but if there are, my answer would surely surpass it. SO, since more than one person has asked me a question in the comments before, I will be starting a “series” of sorts – you guys go ahead and ask any tech-related question in the comments of any post you want and I’ll go ahead and give a verbose answer in a new post. Sound good? Good. On to the iPhone. Julien asks:
silly question for you whitson, but what is your opinion on jailbroken iphones? i’m still debating after having my first ipod touch for just 3 weeks of just going ahead and slapping down the too much cash so i can have one on t-mobile
Ha. This may have seemed silly to you when you asked it, but you’re about to get a much more detailed answer than you expected.
To start, I’ll admit that the iPhone really isn’t that crappy of a phone – it really does have some great things going for it. It’s got good guts – fast processor, good RAM, and a fantastic camera for a phone. The sensitivity and intuivieness of the touch screen is superior to that of ever other touch screen phone on the market today (seriously). And the App Store, while it’s my biggest beef with Apple, also is one of their biggest strengths. The competition it has created has led to the development of some amazing apps – Facebook’s newest iteration of their app, Tweetie (seriously the best Twitter client on the face of the universe), NetNewsWire and Pro RSS – the list goes on. Now, to be fair, that’s not really because of Apple, in fact they they just hinder the App Store from being even better. The reason so many amazing 3rd party apps exist is because of the competition created by the iPhone’s massive market share, so Apple really doesn’t deserve credit. The App Store rejection/acceptance process is still convoluted, closed, and downright ridiculous and offensive to me as a geek and a consumer. But that’s just me. If you’re not a geek or a Google whore like me, you may have no problem with the App Store’s business practices, and thus one of the biggest flaws is not a problem.
That said, a lot of the iPhone’s other flaws belong to none other than AT&T, such as crappy crappy service. And, were you to jailbreak and unlock (two different processes, the latter requiring the former to be done first) your iPhone and use it on T-Mobile, you might bypass a lot of those issues. BUT, I would warn you – it is a scary process. I would be wary of attempting this, not because you couldn’t succeed, but unlocking is dangerous territory – if you mess up badly enough, you could brick your phone (render it unusable). So you need to decide if the benefits outweigh the risks.
Now, that’s me trying to be objective. You asked for my opinion, so I’ll give it to you. If you really want that iPhone badly, consider it, but I won’t stop you if you think that you want to plop down the cash and take the risks. It’s okay, I won’t berate you at all BUT, before you do so, I’d consider the other options. If you’re on T-Mobile, you have access to some of the greatest smartphones on the market today – Google Android, as of right this second (but not as of two months from now) is exclusive to T-Mobile (aaaaaand there’s the Google bias coming through). The MyTouch is supposed to be a pretty great phone. The G1 is supposed to be mediocre, if I am right. And Motorola’s newest Google phone, the CLIQ (which I think should be out on the 11th of November) actually looks pretty sweet – especially if you’re really into social networks like Facebook and Twitter (look up MotoBlur on line and see what I mean). And if you’re willing to switch to Verizon, the Droid might prove to be one of the greatest smartphones in existence upon it’s release in November.
Of course, no matter what you do, no phone will have apps as good as the iPhone, even with MotoBlur’s social networking features – BUT, seeing as you have an iPod Touch, you can pretty much get the best of both worlds. I, too, have an iPod Touch, and I plan on getting a Google phone and getting all the perks of that, and using its mediocre Facebook and Twitter apps on 3G, while enjoying the iPod’s gloriously powerful apps when I’m near wifi. And, of course, no phone beats the iPod as a music player, so there’s also that.
So my suggestion? Before you go venturing to riskily hack a sometimes-good device, look a bit closer to home. Head on over to a T-Mobile store and check out their selection of Google Android phones (and, if you’re not already against them, Blackberries). If you find something you like, you still have the iPod Touch and I don’t think you’ll miss the iPhone all that much. BUT, if you are unsatisfied with T-Mobile’s offerings, getting an iPhone and unlocking it isn’t a horrible idea – you may be very happy with that set-up. I know I’ve just given you essentially a homework assignment (actually two, if you count reading this ridiculously long post as one), but you’ll be much happier in the end knowing what is out there. Good luck!
P.S. One final note – if you are a Mac user, and you want the iPhone because of it’s seamless integration with the Mac as far as Mail, Contacts and Calendars go, don’t let that stop you from getting a Google phone. Snow Leopard’s release has seen the vast improvement of Mac-to-Google syncing ability – both Address Book and iCal on the Mac sync really well with Google now, so all you need to do is turn it on and you’ll have everything synced wirelessly to your Google phone.
