Odell

At least the complaints aren't coming from anti-Apple folks in this case. It's actual Apple consumers who are having the problem. It's not a dig against Apple on my part. I remember all the hardware concerns folks were having with the OG Evo upon launch. If I were an Apple die-hard, I would be being to wonder if the "small things" are indicative of a larger shift in the demand for excellence within the corporate culture. For years the company has prided itself on products that "just work" flawlessly right out of the gate and for superior build quality that justified the price premium. Now that prices for iPhones are coming in line with competitors you have to wonder whether some corners have been cut in build quality to compensate.

My HTC Evo LTE has been case-less since I bought it on launch day and I've dropped it, put in in my pocket with keys, etc and I don't have any scuffs of the anodized aluminium parts. I'm sure some scuffing should be expected but it does seem a bit odd that folks are reporting significant scuffing so soon after launch. I've had mine since July without any problems.

At least that's what Phil Schiller would have you believe... http://www.bgr.com/2012/09/25/iphone-5-aluminum-scratching-apple-response/

http://www.androidcentral.com/major-security-vulnerability-samsung-phones-could-trigger-factory-reset-web-browser Sent from my EVO LTE using Forum Runner

A reviewer on Amazon talked about being able to connect via FTP Sent from my EVO LTE using Forum Runner

The iPhone status symbol thing seems to be resistant to reality. I've seen everyone from grandmas to migrant workers with iPhones yet somehow it is still seen by many to be a status symbol. The whole idea of a cellphone as status symbol is absurd to begin with but such is modern life. I wonder how many Apply line campers would be willing to camp out in order to vote...

Was there ever a time when everyone wasn't up in arms about something around here? I kid, I kid! The craigslist option is def one to consider as long as you're smart about it. Here in Maryland we just had a father and son team busted for selling fake iPhones to folks in a strip mall parking lot. Nitwits actually thought they were getting real, new in box iPhones for under $200. Some dummies when to the Apple store to get them activated and got the news. PT Barnum was somewhere smiling.

The 4S was an excellent buy for my wife. She could care less about LTE and she didn't want a bigger screen. She's getting used to using Siri for things. @pyroscott as for looking like a douche for talking to your phone, I hope you never make or receive calls via speakerphone because you pretty much look exactly the same then. Besides, phones are meant to be talked to; they're....phones. Now talking to your iPad...that's suspect!

I'm glad to see that Sprint seems to have handled this preorder process smoothly. Sent from my EVO LTE using Forum Runner

The more I think about this the more I see that Apple has realized that once you establish yourself in the marketplace as an innovator and create a demand that wholly disconnected from the specs of a particular device then you don't need to continue to revolutionize to be successful. If Apple can grab 2 million pre-orders in 24 hours on a device that doesn't have NFC, simultaneous voice and data over LTE, a true HD display or any number of the other features that techies drool over why would they decide to do anything differently? If I were an Apple shareholder I would want them to keep doing what they're doing until the marketplace makes them do something differently. I work in what is essentially a service industry. We manufacture a product but at our essence we provide a specialized service for our clients. Most in our industry compete on price. We are able to charge a higher price than many of our competitors for what is essentially the same product/service because we have created a unique value to our clients. Some of it is actual value and some of it is perceived value. Some clients that we pursue don't work with us because they shop strictly by price. Any other value is meaningless to them. We rarely pursue those clients and we don't spend our time concerned with satisfying their demands. Most of the folks I see screaming about what the iPhone 5 is lacking are folks who probably would never by an Apple product anyway. So if it doesn't matter to your core customers and the people to whom it does matter likely wouldn't buy your products anyway, why bother? Anyway, this is all good stuff but all I really want to know is if my Evo will be able to connect to LTE reliably once it is live in my area. Can you help a brotha out on that score??

AJ, that is a very valid couterpoint and I just wish I would see more of that kind of response coming from the anti-Apple side. My guess would be that the folks with the kinds of concerns you express are in the minority. Many of Apple's current business practices are open to criticism and should be a part of the discussion on their space in the marketplace. Unfortunately, that gets lost in all the "look at those mindless sheep" sort of commentary. What you said about lack of competition being bad for Apple innovation seems to fit right in line with the mindset described in your Tragedy of the Commons post. Apple devotees cheer Apple hamstringing Samsung, Google, et al., but they don't see how that actually harms themselves in the long run. If Apple clears the marketplace there is no longer any impetus to innovate other than whatever internal drive is left in the corporate culture. With no competition for consumer dollars that inner creative drive quickly loses out to the profit driven side of the business. The larger discussion in my mind is how do we rightfully protect intellectual property without stifling a creative industry that is driven, in many cases, by borrowing and tweaking ideas?

It depends on where in Laurel. There are towers that are only about a mile apart yet one is in the DC market and one is in the Baltimore market. Most of the southern parts of Laurel are DC market sites and most of the northern parts are Baltimore market sites.

This willingness to make value judgments about someone based on their choice of wireless device has always been baffling to me. Does it really matter to you what another person chooses to carry around as their phone? And if it does, doesn't that say more about you than it does about them? As for the review, it's not surprising that Engadget reviews tend to be more Apple friendly. I wouldn't be surprised if most of their staffers are using Apple products throughout their workday (macs, macbooks, etc.). If you take it's intent as a review of the iPhone and not as a comparison between the iPhone and Android phones then there is less to get heated about in my opinion. The OP of this thread mentions the "non-tech" reader several times in his comments but I doubt there are many folks reading engadget who fit that description. Tech savvy readers are well able to understand and decipher the finer points of resolution and other things and if they're not tech savvy then they likely don't care about them anyway. I just think that folks on both sides should just relax a little bit. The tendency of many Android fans to immediately discount ANY positive statements about Apple is not very different from Apple fans disregarding ANY negative statements about the product. It might be helpful and take some of that vitriolic energy and channel it into some introspection to discover why another man's electronics choices matter so much to you.

The key phrase in that status report is "on or around". I suggest you focus more on the "or around" part. I just saw this on an ABC News post; As we all saw with the EVO 4G LTE, Sprint can be, shall we say, a bit fast and loose with their pre-order ship dates. They always include some verbiage that lets them have an out. My guess is that you can probably stop watching your email so closely for the next few days. Just a suggestion.

I mentioned this in another thread but I just purchased my wife's iPhone 4S at an Apple store and the experience was excellent. Despite the crowds I was served within minutes of walking in and the guy was swapping contacts within 10 minutes of me making the purchase. I never had to get in a queue or go searching for anything. It helped that the price was cheaper than Sprint's. If I ever buy another Apple device I will probably choose the corp store over something like Best Buy, unless the price was significantly higher at Apple.

I have used Otterbox on past phones and my wife's iPhone is in an Otterbox. They make some of the better cases on the market in my opinion. The Defender series is a little more bulky than the Commuter series and usually comes with a belt clip. Commuter series has a silicone type inner case with a hard plastic outer, exo-skeleton type case. If you don't like the more bulky case look, I would go with a Commuter series. I might not have completely protected against what happened to you but it would have certainly taken more force to bend it than it did without the case. That might have been enough to save the phone.

Doesn't matter now because the deal is done. The Apple Store was packed yet this shopping experience was head and shoulders above anything I've ever had in a Sprint store. They blow Sprint away in the customer service department! Sent from my EVO LTE using Forum Runner

I could not duplicate this issue. I even removed the widget and put a new one in place and it worked perfectly.

Well it looks like the Apple store will be getting my business. Sprint is still showing $149 for the 4S and my local store said that there are no plans to match the Apple store offerings. I may tweet Sprint and see what kind of response I get.

If Apple is willing to make all their accessories vendors retool their manufacturing then don't be surprised if they do something to the detriment of their carriers. Sent from my EVO LTE using Forum Runner

Cool. Thanks for the reply. Sent from my EVO LTE using Forum Runner

Ok. I was just in a Sprint store at the end of August, just before labor day and it was still $199 Sent from my EVO LTE using Forum Runner

I thought that too, but the prices up now are $50 lower than they were before the iPhone 5 announcement so that's what is strange to me. Why would they drop $50 for one week and then drop another $50 after the release date. Well I will wait until the 5 is actually released to pre-order and then if the prices are still higher I will buy my wife's 4S from the Apple store.

At the Apple web store I can get a 4S upgrade on my account for $99 but if I go to the Sprint site it's offered for $149. The iPhone 4 is free on Apple's site but it's $99 on Sprint. Anyone have any idea on the reasons for that pricing discrepancy?

I used to work with a guy who would always make sure that the bosses were made aware of even the smallest bit of work that he accomplished. He would cc the boss on emails that made him look good and memo when something good happened that he had a hand in. He never outright lied about his accomplishments but even if he was doing something that everyone else was already doing he made sure the bosses noticed it. Guess who got the most perks, raises, etc.? Whenever other employees would complain around me I always told them; "Don't hate the player, hate the game." This guy knew what it took to get what he wanted out of the process and he was willing to do it. He wasn't doing anything unethical, he was just playing the game by the rules that were in place. I see Apple in much the same way. They have discovered a formula and a marketing strategy that allows them to present themselves as innovators and revolutionary thinkers in the marketplace. They make sure that whatever they do is positioned to send the right message to the consumer. Someone above said that most consumers don't care about specs. He's right. They could care less if it has an A6 processor or whatever GPU. Apple has built enough trust in the marketplace that all they have to do is say; "It's 2x faster." and people will believe it. Besides that, they do produce overall good products. Do they perform exceedingly better than other offerings in the maketplace? No, but that's not the point. Does the consumer perceive that they are markedly better than the competition? For the most part, yes. That's all that matters. Besides, the reality is that their offering don't perform markedly worse than the competition either. Let's be honest, there are a lot of guys on this site who are overlooking the very real and troubling LTE connection issues of the EvoLTE because they like HTC products and they want to like the Evo. If the iPhone 5 has similar LTE connectivity issue the Apple haters will be screaming from the rooftops. Some of their other business practices are worthy of derision but why hate them for marketing their products better than just about everyone else?