Like many, I am annoyed by Flash ads, yet love Flash when used responsibly.  My biggest peeve about my iPhone is that it doesn’t support Flash when I’m browing the web. This is a real problem. Nearly every site I visit employs Flash in some way or another. It also doesn’t multi-task very well. I have to close one application to use another. Okay, it’s a phone, not a computer. So mostly, I’m okay with those limitations. For my PHONE.

But for the iPad to have these same limitations? Are you kidding me? A computer that can’t do two things at once? Even a small netbook wannabe? I better be able to listen to Pandora AND read a book. At the same time. After all, that thing is far from cheap. It costs more than a netbook. To not be even half as versatile is just ridiculous.

I suppose if you really want a giant iPhone that doesn’t place normal voice calls or take pictures, more power to you, but personally I don’t see the point. If I were looking at a larger device like this, it damn well better be a good way to surf the internet, as Apple claims on their product page. However, when 90% of the sites I visit use Flash, and your device doesn’t support it, then it certainly doesn’t qualify as the best way to surf the web, now does it flyboy? In fact, it’s a really SUCKY way to surf the web. I would go as far as to call the iPad’s web surfing interface broken.

Sometimes we don’t even realize how many of the sites we visit use Flash. Download Firefox, if you don’t have it. Download FlashBlock extension, and use it. See just how broken your browsing experience would be if you didn’t have Flash on your browsing device. A few examples of popular sites seen in the iPad’s broken interface are here.

Sorry, Apple, but until iPad supports Flash and multi-tasking, I won’t be buying this fancy table decoration. Which is a shame, ‘cuz it looks really cool.

An article over at Engadget talks about AT&T suing Verizon.

A quote in the article got my attention.

“We also had lower churn — a sign that customers are quite happy with the service they receive.”

Dear AT&T: one of the reasons you have low churn, as you call it, is because WE’RE STUCK WITH YOU. There are no other carriers authorized for iPhone (at least in my area) right now. If I had a choice, I’d drop you in a heartbeat. I get shoddy, slow connections and I lose the 3G all the time. Sometimes, I get no service at all. Usually that happens when I most need it, such as when I’m lost and need the map.

Even when I CAN get another carrier, I have a contract. Breaking it will cost me. I may decide to do it anyway if this keeps up, especially because Apple is pissing me off by not allowing Flash. My next phone may be the Android. Then I can say a nice big f-you to both AT&T AND Apple.

I am not satisfied with my service. Not at all.

As an aside, I’m sick of hearing that Apple is rejecting apps it doesn’t like. Magnatune is the latest. Fuck you, Apple. One more reason for me to consider an Android for my next phone.

This was an interesting rant from LifeHacker.

Bad Apple: An Argument Against Buying an iPhone

I have an iPhone, and it does piss me off that Apple tells me which apps it feels are suitable for me. Think about it — what if Microsoft got to tell you which applications you could install on your computer? Do you think that would fly? Why is this even being allowed? Why aren’t more people complaining?

I was thinking of upgrading to the new iPhone, but now I’m not so sure I want to. This idea of someone else telling me what I can install on my own computer phone isn’t sitting so well with me. Unlike some of the commenters over at LifeHacker, I DO want a little computer in my pocket. And I want it to be MINE, with whatever I deem fit to put on it.

Keep going this route, AT&T and Apple, and I’ll be forced to tell you both to suck it. Long and hard. I’m sure I won’t be alone.