News: Bad Apples - But Some Will Still Bite Them

Straits Times Digital Life 22nd September 2010

- Oo Gin Lee

There is something about some Apple fans that I find really hard to understand.

Usually, when a gadget is less than perfect, consumers will scream, shout and swear they will never ever touch another product made by the same company ever again.

Not so with Apple fans.

Take the iPad, which has sold millions and has many fans swooning over its clean design and high-resolution screen which displays vivid images. Of this, I am in total agreement with my iPad-loving friends. But what about the fact that the 3G version of the iPad is "gimped", which means that your 3G speed is throttled by the the device? You can view YouTube clips in high resolution on the iPad through its Wi-Fi connection but have to put up with really awful low resolution versions via 3G.

Additionally, iPad owners cannot download apps larger than 20MB when they are on 3G. There is no such restriction over Wi-Fi.

If you ask me, it makes no sense to buy the 3G version at all. And at least two of my friends realised this too late. But it turns out that there is a workaround. Just buy one of the credit card-sized mini 3G routers, commonly known as a Mi-Fi device and create a portable Wi-Fi hotspot for the iPad to tap on. Devices like the iPad and netbooks cnoonect to the Mi-Fi device over Wi-Fi. The Mi-Fi device in turn connects these devices to the Internet via the dta link from the 3G SIM card inside.

When you use an iPad with a Mi-Fi, the iPad sees the connection as a Wi-Fi connection, not 3G and therefore lets you watch YoutTube videos in HD glory.

But when I asked my friend how she felt about her gimped 3G iPad, there was no sign of anger. She just whipped out her Mi-Fi device and proclaimed: "It's OK, I use this!"

Then there is the iPhone 4 "Antennagate" problem, which happens when you hold the iPhone at a certain angle. Your signal strength will do down a notch or two and sometimes you end up dropping your call entirely.

There is no problem, as some iPhone fans have told me. Just buy a case, problem solved.

Such forgiving reactions go against the rational and practical minds of Singaporean consumers which I have grown accustomed to.

I put it down to Apple's incredibly polished marketing savvy.

The the taxi-driving uncle whose cab I was in a fortnight ago. I was chatting over the phone to another friend in the cab about the pros and cons of the Sony Ericsson X10 phone. When I ended my call, the taxi uncle turned around and told me, apparently with years of experience as a user, that Sony Ericsson phones are lousy and would break down after three years.

I did not want to question his authority seeing that he was all fortified in his belief but I could not resist asking him - when I noticed that he was still using his "lousy" Sony Ericsson - this question: "So what phone are you changing to, Uncle?"

His answer: "iPhone lah."

"Why ah?" I asked again.

"It's the best lah," he asserted. Never mind he had not even owned one yet.