iPhone's App Store 'Try Before You Buy' section isn't exactly what you're hoping for
By Ross Miller 
posted August 5th 2010 8:42PM
posted August 5th 2010 8:42PM
posted August 5th 2010 8:42PM
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Good enough. If you like the app, buy the full featured one.
@lol android is so ugly I'm going to attempt to buy my iPhone 4 tomorrow. Looked everywhere, and nowhere one is to be found, everyone is out of stock.. I live in Spain btw.
@lol android is so ugly Possibly because the App Store is also available on... iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPod touch G1, G2, G3 and iPad. And despite the fact SOME people are having issues with the antenna, which as you noted becomes an non-issue with the free case you get with the damn phone, the iPhone 4 still exists in reality and thus is newsworthy.
@Ninetysix
"we grabbed the closest iDevice in our proximity"
didn't have to reach far, i'm sure. ha!
...back to lolcats.
@lol android is so ugly
You are amusing. So you are obviously not an Android fanboy given your name and you hate Apple too. Do you even like anyone?
You have also made it like your goal to go to war with all the Android fanboys, no small feat, considering how many of them there are here on Engadget.
Keep up the good right!
@iPhone 4 he is a MS fanboy and there are just as many Android Fanboys as there are Apple Fanboys
@Ninetysix
Try before you buy used to mean try the full version. I miss those days...
@lol android is so ugly Cause it's not defective, and that has nothing to do with this feature, what? I haven't heard anyone be stupid and mention the "defectiveness" of the iPhone for a few weeks, your stupid, stop following the crowd of android idiots, it's not a defective phone where'd you idiots get that idea?
@lol android is so ugly stop being so mean u cold hearted morator
@AlienSix MS fanboy. Really? They still exist. Sorry guy, it must be a pretty dry period for you. But hey the 360 is profitable, and like they have sold like a gazillion Windows 7 licenses. And phones... hmmmm... sorry... nothing. Well you can go to youtube and watch all those windows phone 7 videos! Yeah!
@lol android is so ugly
You've been reading too many Android forums making you think that the iPhone 4 has serious antenna problems, I, my wife, and several friends can't even force our iPhone 4s to replicate the issue to the extent that some are saying it does. So when you comment on a subject, you need to know what the heck you're talking about.
@lol android is so ugly
Why do I care what consumer reports suggests? I have a device that works and works well, have no antenna issues, hundreds of quality apps, calls and texts fine, watch videos on it, read ebooks, use video chat, skype and facebook. iPhone 4 is pretty damn sweet as far as I'm concerned, happy with it. If I wasn't, would have returned along with the millions who did... oh, wait...
If you don't want one, that's fine, your choice to choose what you like. But frankly, you just sound like a broken record and jealous of others enjoying their devices when you can't get one. Are you stuck with a HTC HD2 or something? Or still on HP iPaq to date? Either case, don't take your frustrations out on trolling blogs, it changes nothing.
I'm happy with the iPhone 4, I'm sure loads others are. Equally loads happy with their Android phones. Great. To each their own. Grow up.
@Ninetysix Chaka!
@AlienSix i hate to say it and i could very well be wrong but i can't help but feel the android fanboys are way more intrusive than the apple ones (which im not saying don't exist). for example, if you go to a post which announces say update xxx for device xxx. the typical comment chain ends up being predominantly android users getting excited, mentioning their own phones and bootloaders and rooting and ui's etc.. the occasional apple fanboy douche tries to ruffle some feathers. now go to a recent apple post and you will see all the same android fanboys (and usually a bunch more crawling out of the woodwork) slinging the same typical holding it wrong, walled garden, steve is an asshole, apple sheep, iphone sucks comments.. so much so that there are more android fanboy apple bashing comments than comments about the actual post.
@lol android is so ugly
But I don't have the antenna problem.. So what now? I don't even have a case on it, it's easier to slip into inside pocket of suit jacket at work without a case. Still works perfectly fine and never drops bars. What now? Should I return a perfectly working device, that I enjoy using, because someone somewhere is bitchy about it?
@AlienSix Idk of they did this already but engadget should just let people say what else they wouldon the iPhone (software-wise). I seem it on tuaw, but that's iPhone lover nation. So I wanna see what people who hate iOS4 would say. By the way I have an iPhone 3G but I'm so divided on what to get Captivate, iPhone 4, or jump ship get Droid X, EVO, Droid 2. Or wait til Febuary when my contract end see what's out then....... Decisions
@Ninetysix
yeah, I think that is good enough, if want full featured or more effect, then buy it. OR just go to the free one.
There are many free and not bad apps online too, you can search it via Google. I always got some free apps for simple work or playing, well, some frees are really not bad, such as this list:
http://www.ifunia.com/ipad-column/featured-free-ipad-games.html
@lol android is so ugly
Sure, point me in the direction of this app you favour..
@Ninetysix
Apple blatantly steals and tries to patent other peope's app ideas, engadget doesnt report it:
http://www.futuretap.com/blog/the-patent-case-we-havent-called/
@lol android is so ugly ok. dicknuts. listen. nobody is saying the iphone doesn't have a fucking antenna problem. what people are saying is that for most people its not a big deal. for most people like myself and a lot of people on here it doesn't kill the fucking call. it is only a problem for people with shit reception to begin with. every phone drops attenuation (if you can sound that out). the iphone drops attenuation when its grabbed by the band.. in fact up to but not always 20db. for a lot of people like myself its not enough to effect the functionality of the phone. my phone has no case. i don't hold it any particular way. i don't really make a point to hold it any particular way. i don't drop calls. i've grabbed the band, i've squeezed the phone. i'll drop a bar but the thing keeps trucking. who the fuck cares. don't like the phone don't f'ing buy it. nobody here gives a f about what phone you deem worthy enough and apparently no one gives a F about your opinion. i see you consistently downranked every post, and you def hold the award for pissing off the most people and being the biggest douche i've ever seen on a website.. ever.
@system22
That sounds about right. But haters don't wanna listen to logic or reason. They enjoy trolling and pissing people off... Shame really.
@JS
They didn't steal anything, go read the patent yourself, they were simply refering to their app as an example of the technology they wish to patent. Nothing to do with the app itself, it's a mere sample along with another Sudoku app and others. Sorry to burst your bubble.
@lol android is so ugly i think i know the difference fuckwad. the detune is what lowers the resonant frequency of the band that ultimately results in the loss in attenuation - hence why the ip4's external band has the problem... fuckass.
@Almo yeah for sure. they just hate to hate. i use iphone but im cool with android. don't even see why people have to hate. get what what you love, ya know?
@lol android is so ugly cuz the lack of attenuation is what kills the call.. and detuning is what causes the attenuation. i didn't feel like i needed to go into a fucking science lecture to prove a point.
@system22 do i need to get into how humidity, bmi etc all also go into how much additional signal the human body affects the attenuation as well? cuz they are in fact added factors
@Almo
Yes you do have an antenna issue. ALL iPhone 4s do. Let us take an iphone4 user who can replicate the bridging of the antenna defect on his iphone4. That person can and will be able to replicate that same issue with every iphone4 he can touch.
The iphone4 antenna issue is a hardware issue that exists on ALL iphones. Just because your body chemistry doesn't cause the signal to drop does not mean there isn't a hardware issue with your phone.
Here is a little something for you apple fanboys to ponder. If I wear a pair of gloves and grip the iphone to holy hell like those apple attenuation videos, I can and will produce the same results as all the other smartphones. BUT, if i take off my gloves and press my finger along a certain spot on an iphone4, i can cause a loss of signal. But I will fail to produce that result on ANY other smartphone.
Just because Steve Jobs is a whiny little bitch doesn't mean the majority of you iphone4 owners should follow suit.
@pple is poo Pornhub mobile. I don't need an app to fap
@Drizzio I think you are just regurgitating stuff everyone knows, what I'm far more interested in is why engadgets favourite troll was deleted from this post but on an android post he lingers like a fart for days. C'mon engadget learn to make a ban stick....
@system22 Tell me about it I'm getting soooo sick of those idiots. Why can't they grow up and be happy for the awesome phones they already have??
@system22 That's probably because there's not that much an iFool can say about Android these days. Let's not pretend like up until recently Android articles across the internet were not littered with iFools calling it a cheap iClone or spewing some iPhone sales figures and saying device x isn't going sell that many. Now they can't say anything and Apple has their own major flaws to deal with.
Maybe if the iFools had shut up in the beginning they wouldn't be getting swamped with trolls now.
@Blaque14K "iFools"? Seriously? Do you really talk like that? I am a self proclaimed douche, and you even out douche me.
@fpad77
Apparently I am not. The fanboys are still holding onto the "fact" that their fearless leader is right and their phone is without faults.
I got excited at first, but then I found out that it's just lite/free apps. Lame.
@n8equalsd
"...for-pay programs without a demo will still be a risk your iTunes account will have to take."
Err no, that's why some awesome people have provided us with Apptrackr!
@n8equalsd
Agreed - I can't see what's so hard about a genuine "try [the full featured app] before you buy - a "buy and return for a refund within 24 hours" system for the App Store would be incredibly valuable, and would possibly encourage MORE people to buy!
@beardoc
From my point of view, the reasons both those great ideas will never be implemented is because we can all pretty much guarentee, someone out there will find a work around to crack the protection and hence enable devices to keep the app after 'returning' it for refund or after 24 hours. This would be a massive failure on Apple's part towards it's developers, not worth the risk nor cat and mouse game. An opinion only.
Can't you already return purchased items using iTunes?
@Maxipad
Yeah, but it isn't a set procedure, it is done on a case-by-case basis and you have to email in to Apple telling them why you want a refund (ie, accidental buy, etc).
@QwaF It's a pain in the ass. The other day I noticed a song was missing from my library and I had to look in my purchase history and then email Apple and tell them about my problem. They replied the next day.
@Maxipad
Nope. Once you buy it you're stuck
@that other guy not really.
I returned several of my purchases, even weeks after I bought it. They usually help you with it.
@Maxipad YMMV. Apple told me I could only do it once.
@JONNNathannn
this is a awesome ppl...apple fanboys are getting downranked on an Apple article
iShareware.
So... Apple's just doing a little 'App Store Shuffle'.
@DaHarder
We looked left, and they went right.
It's all about marketing! Add the word "free" and they got you a step closer to potentially buying an app!
Wow, what a big let down, regrouping apps doesnt mean a thing Apple
The iPhone and iOS are just boring to me now.