Serious Geeks Sour on Apple iPhone

This is the equivalent of Roger Ebert slamming a Scorsese movie, or Lester Bangs trashing the Beatles. Tired of being pushed around by Apple's greed and ham-fisted approach to locking down its hardware, gadget giant Gizmodo has brought down the hammer by giving the Apple iPhone a (rare) "don't buy" rating. Ouch, that smarts.

Gizmodo (which is hardly alone in the new Apple bashing) originally told users to "Wait" on the device for more applications to be included, hoping that a 1.1 firmware update would correct some earlier, obvious defects like the inability to send MMS messages, record videos, make your own ringtones, or use the device for mass storage. But Apple's latest release infamously fixed little of that. Yes, you can purchase ringtones now and access iTunes via Wi-Fi, but Apple also went out of its way to disable all unlocking and customizing that more enterprising users have developed. That's a picture of Gizmodo editor's iPhone just before upgrading it with the latest firmware. Afterwards, it looks just like any other device.

Gizmodo's ire on behalf of hardcore gadget enthusiasts is rightfully placed: Apple was probably never going to introduce these features on its own and intentionally "bricked" the devices as part of its most recent update. Gizmodo even goes so far as to call the update "malicious," after washing his hands of the device until its opened to third-party apps. (I plan to hold the post's author Brian Lam to his word next time I see him. If he has an iPhone in his pocket I'm gonna kick him in the shins.)

As for me, I can understand his position. He wanted upgrades, he got nothing. The average user, of course, gets the iTunes upgrade and a $200 price cut, and that's not a bad deal especially compared to the original proposition (though I still won't recommend it without 3G service). But power users who want the freedom to tweak their phones (which they paid for, right?) as they see fit are not going to have the patience to battle Apple on this stuff every 30 days or so. The iPhone will be unlocked again, then Apple will re-lock it, and the cycle will continue, probably forever. I don't blame Lam for washing his hands of the matter before things get ridiculous.
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