It changed my life, and frankly it changed all of our lives. iPads, Tablets, Netbooks, and the expectations of smart phones in general were blasted up into a billion bits and reformed by the technology breakthrough that was the iPhone.
The first 12 months of owning it, I loved it beyond belief. No need to go into detail, but it was incredible. But then, as the newer versions were released, and features were enhanced, more and more folks bought the phone, and the first thing I started to notice was my service getting worse and worse.
The principle that more people on a network the same size means a more downgraded and slow network, it makes sense. This past summer, I really came to the conclusion that I cannot own the iPhone anymore. It was something that wasn't manageable in my life anymore, and the network was so slow, and so unreliable, and I couldn't make a call without a 65% chance of the call being dropped.
Advance to today, and the news about Verizon getting iPhone looks more official than ever, and I have the following emotions:
- Happiness for fellow Verizon subscribers, however, for those who use GMail and Google Calendars, I cannot imagine why you'd choose to avoid the Droid.
- Joy that AT&T is going to be visited by an angry ghost that will steal all of its non-contracted subscribers, about 80% of those who have 6 mos. or less on their contracts, and about 50% of the rest of the people to Verizon.
- Fear that my perfectly pristine, 100% connected, never a dropped call network will go through the same fate as the '08-'09 phase of the AT&T 3G network.
Verizon may have convinced everyone that their network is inherently better, but the world of Apple hasn't come in full force and shown how quickly the inundation and overpopulation of a network can really put a wrench in the gears.
I love my Droid X, I have no reason but to have faith in Verizon, but I am at the same time cautiously optimistic when I say, "I really hope my network doesn't suffer the same fate as AT&T's 3G did."
