While updating my father's iPhone 5 to the latest iOS 7, I can't help but pause and admire the beauty of the phone itself, all the while waiting for the iOS 7 to download. The beautiful, aluminium chamfered edge is just a sight to behold. The phone is light, yet feels solid in your hands. The phone is thin, yet is packed with power. It's unbelievable.
But this is no Apple advertisement. I'm here to tell you that, simply speaking, it all doesn't matter.
What?
Let me explain.
You see, having not own any Apple products now, you might think that I'm unqualified to make this conclusion. But I do. You see, I used to have an MacBook Pro Retina. Until I can't stand it and sold it. My brother had an iPad 2, and my father had Mac mini and iPhone 5. And you know what's my biggest gripe with Apple products so far? It's not that they are not pretty and/or refined. They are. Very much so. The problem is, every time you used it, you just feel like you wanna take a moment and admire its beauty. And I think there are something fundamentally wrong with that. You don't buy a phone to admire its beauty. You buy it because you want to used it to call/sms or whatever. It is just a means to an end. End of story.
I remember back when I had the MacBook Pro Retina, it is simply gorgeous. Plus, it works well as a computer. The only major problem I had with it was that, every time when I try to take it out of a bag to use it, I'm so worried about scratching it. As you know, aluminium is soft and can dent easily. And if you are not careful, you might accidentally scratch it or scuff it. This is just ridiculous. For years using a laptop, I never have that problem. Accidentally dented your laptop? Who cares? It cost maybe RM3-4k and you are gonna buy a new laptop 3 years later anyway. And thus, in the end, people buy cases for their MacBooks and iPhones. I have simply never heard of people buying a case for their laptop. Period.
And thus here lies the fundamental problem with most Apple products. They are just too beautifully made, too fragile to withstand everyday abuse, and too expensive to just get a new one, or to repair whatever damage you have done to it. And in the end, I think it's just sad that people buys a phone as beautiful phone as the iPhone 5, admire it for a few seconds, and then pop that into a case thereafter - hiding its beauty because you feel you had the obligation to preserve that beauty.
It's a tool. Not an art piece. And it should stay that way. Perhaps.
