You're right, I missed your mention of the even MORE expensive portable.

If we're going need versus want we can chuck a large number of the features. Having a device in our pockets that does everything we want it to that it's physically capable of IS a reasonable expectation. Having enough space to fit all the things we expect to do with it is, too. The whole, "yes, but do you NEED it?"…

I'm not sure what the non-removable battery has to do with messing with ROMs (I miss with ROMs heavily on my Nexus 7 and it has no removable battery), but I agree with you over all. Although I'd prefer it be 32GB before I was willing to give up a microSD slot. But I definitely need swappable batteries for the fact…

Mostly agreed. I think I could make do with the lack of microSD if it was 32GB. But no way I'll go to a phone with a non-removable battery until there's a massive breakthrough in battery tech that triples the current life.

Yes, but tablets don't have anywhere near the power drain and life-necessity phones do. The swappable battery is vital to me in a way it isn't on a tablet.

Who buys game consoles for children that young? Bad argument. Besides, with the exception of the 3DS, those are home consoles they won't be carrying and throwing around.

I'm sure many are, indeed, non-Apple users grabbing the opportunity to take a jab. But I've seen plenty of iPhone users complaining directly about their own needs.

Music, assuming you didn't buy it with DRM, is pretty easy to move. If you did, again, you're screwed. And no, people aren't complaining from that perspective, because they've accepted it. They're iPhone users, through and through. They're complaining that now that they've committed to iPhones they're getting screwed.

Yep, that's what I was coming in to say. If anything, this method would destabilize them to such a degree that it would completely kill the gold market.

Older? You do realize they're going with cutting-edge ULV Core i5s in the Surface as are used in high-end Ultrabooks, while Clover Trail is Atom-based as is used in low-end netbooks, right? The performance difference will be excessively in favor of the Surface Pro over Clover Trail, even if battery life isn't as good.

So true.

Said actions can include throwing away access to possibly hundreds of dollars' worth of apps and music. The choice isn't quite as simple as you imply for many people. They get locked into the ecosystem and have a much tougher call to make. And Apple counts on that.

I was trying to understand the same thing. Who didn't know this existed? Who was dropping twice as much money on adapters when all they needed was a cable?

Are you seriously attempting to compare iPhone ownership to Ferrari ownership?

The ridiculously overpriced adapter, you mean? Yes, that seems like a perfectly reasonable solution people can be cheery about.

I have no doubt that they'll eventually make it good. But when their competitors ALREADY have the "best thing ever" AND aren't resting one bit in driving it forward and making it better, I find it hard to believe Apple can ever make Apple Maps "the best thing ever." I find the possibility of it eventually being…

Which is what's so great about this idea and Android: it's an option. Personally I hate iTunes as much as you and would never touch it. But this would be amazing for a lot of users.

If he hadn't said it, I would have. It's a valid point since the article doesn't make a point that this isn't about Apple tech versus Google tech, but Apple Maps versus the outdated method used to access Google Maps on the iPhone. Google solved this problem on their primary platform a couple of years ago.

Sine when did providing information become trolling? The article was ambiguous, and it's worth noting that Google fixed this problem some time ago on their primary platform. It's not a Google versus Apple issue, it's an Apple Maps versus their outdated version of Google Maps issue.

Can't tell if sarcastic or fanboy...