T-Mobile USA: Would sir like a shitty phone?

Got this illuminating email in from SMS Text News reader, Giff, this morning. He wasn’t entirely sure about my USA mobile phone bashing pieces — in fact I reckon he thought I was perhaps exaggerating. Well, have a read of his recent experience:

Hey Ewan,

Have to be honest here, but as I read about you bashing the US cell phones available, I understood what you were saying but didn’t really believe it…

Well, here I was sat last Friday and my cell goes on the blink. So I head to the closest T-Mobile store, (remember, I have a great plan with them and so far, great service with rarely being dropped). SHOCKED!!!

NO 3G phones what-so-ever. Only THREE wi-fi phones to choose between. But there were a ton of clam-shell and RAZRs…. I walked out disgusted and didn’t buy.

Really, I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to buy. It was truly a terrible experience. So, on my way home I happened by an ATT store. I popped in to take another look at the iPhone.

Look, it isn’t that the iPhone to the rest of the world is anything great. But after my experience inside the T-Mobile store it is obvious why Americans are going on and on about this phone. You can’t compare it to anything at all in the T-Mobile store…

Really, honestly now, our phones over here, just terrible…

Giff

This is the thing Giff. The iPhone really does transcend the standard American handset experience, particularly when new customers — NEW CUSTOMERS ON 24 MONTH CONTRACTS — are walking out cell phone stores with really old clam-shell RAZRs and RAZR copies that can do nothing more but text, call and function as alarm clocks.