The Phone Blog
Phones, plans, carriers, opinions. All you need to make an informed decision.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Apple: An Inconvenient Truth
Happy workers are efficient workers... |
The truth is, these labor practices are completely normal. In the United States, it wasn't until 1938 that child labor laws regulated the minimum age of employees! The Fair Labor Standards Act set a minimum wage, laid the groundwork for overtime pay, and made it illegal to employ children under 14. The labor laws that protect us today didn't exist for our grand parents. I'm not justifying this, but rather explaining it.
When a nation's economy develops, there are textbook examples of rights of passage, and before you point the finger at these nations, you need not look back very far in our own history to see that we are just another guilty offender. Developing nations generally have poor labor standards, care little about the environment, and are exploited by wealthier nations who either take advantage of their cheap labor or buy their commodities at rock bottom prices and spin them into expensive goods.
While I find these practices to be pretty despicable, I need not look very far in my own room to see several products that are ominously labeled "Made in China." So next time you blow the whistle on Apple for a conversation starter, ask yourself where all your bowls, cups, spoons, electronic components, car parts, bed sheets, water bottles, paint, soap, televisions, baby food, cell phones, toys, shoes, and jeans were made. My guess -- and it is an unfortunate guess -- is that you wouldn't have been able to afford most of them if they were assembled by a pensioned, American worker.
Labels:
Apple,
child labor,
China,
economics,
Fair Labor Standards Act,
Foxconn,
human rights,
iPad,
iphone,
iPod,
labor,
made in China
Former Apple Exec: We Knew About Worker Abuse In China And Ignored It
191digg
Dan Frommer, Business Insider
We've previously reported on the numerous difficulties that surround working for Foxconn -- employees threaten mass suicide over pay, the CEO takes his management cues from zookeepers, and there have been problems in the past regarding its hiring underage employees.
An anonymous Apple executive told the Times, "We’ve known about labor abuses in some factories for four years, and they’re still going on. Why? Because the system works for us. Suppliers would change everything tomorrow if Apple told them they didn’t have another choice.”
Another executive on the fact that underage worker violations keep occurring: "If you see the same pattern of problems, year after year, that means the company’s ignoring the issue rather than solving it. Noncompliance is tolerated, as long as the suppliers promise to try harder next time. If we meant business, core violations would disappear."
Apple is supposedly working on it, however. Another one of the Times's sources said, "We’re trying really hard to make things better but most people would still be really disturbed if they saw where their iPhone comes from."
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-labor-abuses-2012-1#ixzz1kavpwiw4
Labels:
Apple,
China,
Foxconn,
human rights,
iphone,
labor,
profits,
Steve Jobs
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
T-Mobile Value Plans
Hopefully our subscribers don't know how to do the mathematics... |
The real issue I have with the value plan is the phone selection. Did I say phone selection? What I meant to say was: "They don't give you a phone. Unless you buy a used phone, you're going to have to shell out the MSRP for your new device, or pay a sizable down payment and 20 monthly installments."
T-Mobile is (was?) a subsidiary of Deutche Telekom. So this whole adaptation of the European wireless system where you get a cheap price on your service and buy whatever phone you want is understandable. But T-mobile has basically just repackaged their plans and hoped that nobody will notice.
Consider this example:
Classic Plan
You buy two Galaxy S II smart phones and activate them on a classic plan that gives you unlimited talk, text and web (actually 2 GB of 4G service, and unlimited throttled speed thereafter). You pay roughly $150 per phone and your monthly bill is $140. At the end of your contract, you have paid roughly $3660 for your service, excluding tax.
Value Plan
You buy two Galaxy S II smart phones and activate them on a value plan that gives you unlimited talk, text and web (actually 2 GB of 4G service, and unlimited throttled speed thereafter). The plan will cost you roughly $100 per month. The plan includes no phone, so the T-Mobile rep (you'll have to buy the phone directly from T-Mobile, unless you want to pay full price... even though Costco, Amazon, Wirefly, etc always have better deals) takes a down payment of $200 per phone, and then charges you $20 per phone, per month for the next 20 months until the phones are paid off. So that's $2400 for the plan, a $400 down payment, and $800 to pay off the balance on the phones. At the end of your contract, you have paid roughly $3600.
A savings of $60 over the course of two years doesn't really sound like a great value. Especially with all the hassle involved with paying for the phones up front or with monthly installments. This matter is further complicated when we add phones more phones to the plan. Another Galaxy S II will cost an additional $200 up front, and $20 per month for the next 20 months. Conversely, if you don't want a high-end device, you may be able to save some money at the end of your contract. T-mobile is the real winner, in the latter example, as they buy low-end smart phones for low-end prices.
With that said, T-mobile is still the best value when compared with Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. While the service might not be quite up to par with the larger networks, we always find ourselves recommending them when pitching family plans with multiple smart phones. Similar plans with Verizon and AT&T will run you over $200 per month, and Sprint's "Simply Everything" plan is so rife with hidden fees and surcharges, you would be hard-pressed to save any money with it.
If they would just drop the whole "$49.99 per month, per line" garbage, maybe I wouldn't be so bitter...
Labels:
android,
ATT,
Calssic Plan,
Galaxy,
Galaxy S II,
samsung,
Sprint,
T-Mobile,
Value Plan,
Verizon,
Wireless
Samsung Galaxy Nexus
I've been using mine for about a month, and must admit that it's probably the coolest phone I've ever owned. After using Android OS for over a year, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is a natural improvement to Gingerbread. My only gripe with the new OS is it's lack of compatibility with Facebook. I'm not sure if they are butting heads, or if Google just wants you to be using Google+ more on this device, but not having all my friend's photos was pretty frustrating at first.
This was soon fixed by purchasing HaxSync (https://market.android.com/search?q=haxsync) for $0.99. After logging into this app under the "Accounts and Sync" section of the phone, and about a half hour of joining contacts that didn't match their Facebook names, I was back in business!
The video chat is pretty weak, and although I've never owned an iPhone with a webcam, I can see why Apple requires you to be on wifi in order to use it. The video quality is pretty unacceptable, and I'm hoping that future software updates improve the quality while connected to wifi or 4G.
Aside from the occasional hiccup, which I was expecting as an early adopter, this phone has been great. It's my first dual-core phone, but I must say it can really take some multi-tasking abuse. I highly recommend checking this phone out if you are considering a new phone. It's still a bit on the pricey side (roughly $300 with contract, $650 -- $700 without), but considering that you're probably going to be using it for the next two years, and the hardware specs should keep it current for whatever comes out in that time, it's totally worth it.
Check out the specs at http://www.google.com/nexus/
Buy the phone here at verizonwireless.com, or you could always head into a Costco and get the phone with accessory bundle for $289.
This was soon fixed by purchasing HaxSync (https://market.android.com/search?q=haxsync) for $0.99. After logging into this app under the "Accounts and Sync" section of the phone, and about a half hour of joining contacts that didn't match their Facebook names, I was back in business!
The video chat is pretty weak, and although I've never owned an iPhone with a webcam, I can see why Apple requires you to be on wifi in order to use it. The video quality is pretty unacceptable, and I'm hoping that future software updates improve the quality while connected to wifi or 4G.
Aside from the occasional hiccup, which I was expecting as an early adopter, this phone has been great. It's my first dual-core phone, but I must say it can really take some multi-tasking abuse. I highly recommend checking this phone out if you are considering a new phone. It's still a bit on the pricey side (roughly $300 with contract, $650 -- $700 without), but considering that you're probably going to be using it for the next two years, and the hardware specs should keep it current for whatever comes out in that time, it's totally worth it.
Check out the specs at http://www.google.com/nexus/
Buy the phone here at verizonwireless.com, or you could always head into a Costco and get the phone with accessory bundle for $289.
Labels:
4g,
android,
Costco,
Facebook,
Galaxy Nexus,
Google+,
HaxSync,
Ice Cream Sandwich,
ICS,
samsung,
Verizon wireless
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Samsung Charge delayed again...
We have them in stock... we have a live demo under the counter. Please get your network together so we can sell this great phone, Verizon!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
"T-Mobile 3G phones will need to be replaced."
Well, if you're among the 98% of T-Mobile subscribers who are still using a 3G handset, I've got some bad news for you. It looks like your phones won't be compatible with AT&T's network, once the merger is complete. This is exactly why people flip their shit when they hear about a buy-out. You'll need to buy a new phone as soon as AT&T is done with you, which probably means you'll also need to buy a new plan. Only in America does one carriers GSM signal not work with another carrier's GSM phones...
Despite the fact that this is a horrible waste of money for T-Mobile customers who already have perfectly good devices (and a perfectly good network, for that matter), it's also a shame that these phones are going to be thrown away or put on the shelf. We're a wasteful society, and all too often the corporations that try to control us ignore the true costs of their actions when they are presented with profitable business opportunities. Need I remind you again that economic growth is artificial when you simply take a dollar from the left hand and give it to the right.
Click here for the full story
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)