I owned an iPhone for less than 24 hours
I purchased an iPhone 4 directly off Apple for use with my existing O2 contract. After the required two weeks wait, the phone turned up. Direct from Shenzhen. It didn't take 30 days, or even 14 days, to decide the thing was going back.
The screen? A thing of beauty.
The OS? Snappy and intuitive.
Generally a great phone.
Yes. A couple of niggles. I found the thing somewhat heavy and uncomfortable when held to the ear. I saw some signal attenuation - but no worse than that I see on mobile phones in general.
But overall a great phone.
So what was the problem?
It comes in two parts.
Firstly, O2 recognised that I was using an iPhone and remotely disabled tethering.
If we get into the nitty gritty of my contract with O2, I'm not allowed to tether my computer to my mobile phone. I understand why this is in the contract but, by and large, it's not enforceable.
Except Apple has given some magic sauce to O2 so now it is enforceable. Talking with O2, they want another £10 per month to enable tethering. I'm expected to pay twice for my data because I have an iPhone?
For me, tethering is something I rarely need to do (I work from home in range of a good WiFi network when I'm not wired into my desk) but when I do need tethering, it's really quite important. What's more, when I need to use tethering, generally I'm abroad. At £3.00 per MB (or more), the phone company is generating enough revenue thank you very much.
More to the point, my new, expensive phone is being hobbled such that it offers less than the old Nokia E71 it's replacing.
Not acceptable.
Which brings me on to part 2.
In any other ecosystem, I'd install some third part app and be back in business.
Not in Apple World. The App Store Police Don't Allow Applications Like That.
Which made me realise that while I want to be kept moderately safe, I don't want to be molly coddled.
The iPhone's gone back.
Now I've got a Samsung Galaxy S (an Android phone). The OS isn't as polished as that in the iPhone.
But it's not Apple's Phone.
It's not O2's phone.
It's my phone.