iPhone News Updated

Hands on with the iPad

When I sat down to play with the iPad for the first time, with an eye to writing about it, I kept drilling one thing into my mind: “Keep thinking of yourself not as a technology reporter, but as someone who knows nothing about this stuff.” It was important to remember, I thought, that this is a toy designed not for the person who uses computers and gadgets regularly, but for the larger audience of people who don’t, and who can’t be bothered to figure such things out.

In a nutshell, I tried to put myself into the shoes of my nearly 70-year-old mother. Here’s a woman who can barely work her television remote control and who has trouble with voice mail. (I can disparage her here because there’s no chance of her reading this — she’s almost Amish that way.) There is a lot of controversy over whether Apple is trying to remake electronics and the web to its own liking with devices such as the iPad, but that’s a story for another time. This story is an attempt to view Apple’s latest product through the eyes of a Luddite.

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Survey: iPhone owners are the happiest

The iPhone is No. 1 in customer satisfaction, says a new ChangeWave survey, but Motorola also has its share of happy Droid users.

Among the 1,009 smartphone owners interviewed by research firm ChangeWave, results released this week found that 77 percent of all Apple iPhone owners said they’re very satisfied with their phones. Motorola came in second, with 64 percent of its smartphone users who expressed high satisfaction with their phones.

In comparison, 51 percent of HTC owners and 46 percent of RIM Blackberry buyers said they’re very satisfied with their smartphones.

Among specific models, Apple fans who own the newest iPhone 3GS models were more satisfied than those who still use the older 3G. And Motorola can thank the Droid for its high level of customer satisfaction–69 percent of Droid users said they’re very satisfied with their phones, while only 50 percent of those who own other Motorola phones said the same.

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