The iPhone botnet, coming soon to an over-priced phone near you

Maybe I'm off the mark, but aren't cell phones/plans in Europe and Asia much better in terms of service and features? It depends on what you're using it for, but for me, the iPhone has everything I'm looking for in a size that I can easily carry around with me. I'm not an Apple person by any means, and I think they greatly overprice their products, but so far no one has put everything together in one package quite as well. It's not perfect, but I have no regrets about buying one.

As far as security, no, I haven't thought about that at all. Given this bit about text messaging, I really ought to call AT&T and block that feature on my phone. Yes, I'm an old coot who thinks text messaging is pointless, don't get me started.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Exactly what can you do with text messaging that can't be accomplished via 1) email 2) instant messaging or 3) using the damn phone for its intended purpose?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by a lurker

I was asking why you elderly gentlemen think a widely-used function of phones is useless. Since I pay attention to the world around me I can tell you why I think they're useful, but I want to know by what reasoning you came to the conclusion to ditch all observational evidence to the contrary.

The word used was "pointless", not "useless". There's a use there, sure, but why would you do it when you could just pick up the phone and call? Sprout's example is valid, but as far as I know, the vast majority of texting works out to be the same as an IM conversation, except you're paying for each message. In the US at least, you have to pay extra for the privilege of texting (20 cents per message for me since I have no plan, but at least $5 a month for the minimum plan). Why pay extra to communicate in a more cumbersome way than the one that's already included in your cell phone plan?

If you're texting on a standard non-data phone, then you have to type out words via the numeric keypad, which has to be freaking annoying unless you're a wiz. If you have a phone with a keyboard, then you've already got a data/internet plan, so you might as well send an email.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Peter

I hardly see a problem with people texting in the cinema or a comedy club,which seems to be a big issue for Angel for some weird reason, would you rather have phones ringing with the most annoying tunes followed by moronic conversation?

Texting/checking email in the movies bothers people because the screen lights up in a dark room, and is a distraction. It doesn't bother me, but a columnist in the Washington Post wrote about it last month, and Tritoch has told me it bugs him. Not as distracting as talking on the phone during a movie, but if you've paid money to see a film, can't you just switch off your phone for a few hours?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Shin

I agree that the lights from phone screens can be a distraction in a cinema (So I use the low backlight mode if I'm in one and actually, very rarely use my phone in a cinema) but don't people in the US shout at the screen and clap during films anyway or is that just a Hollywood fallacy? I'd find that infinitely more annoying than a couple of people texting.

It's exaggerated, but it happens in certain neighborhoods. People are quiet where I go to see movies, but the stereotype of black people yelling at movies isn't without merit.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Pretty much what Shin said, Rockgamer. It's certainly not only black people that do it, but when I've seen movies at theatres in more "urban" neighborhoods, the audiences were more apt to express themselves.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?