Complaining

When I was a kid, nothing made me squirm more than my parents complaining to "The Management" when something wasn't right or as promised. It mortified me.

It still makes me uncomfortable, but I have become much more willing to request an accommodation if things are not as advertised. I will ask a hotel to put me in a different room if there is a problem with the one I'm in. I am capable of being quite persistent in the matter of being delivered what I was promised at the time of purchase.

A little over a month ago I traded in my original iPhone for a new model 3GS. I noticed right away that my new phone's low-light imaging was meaningfully WORSE than the old one, despite having been advertised as offering an improvement in this area. So today, I went back to the Apple Store and explained the problem. The nice young man at the Genius Bar simply swapped out my SMS card and popped it into a brand new phone. A few minutes later I was on my way. Marvelous customer service. (The store was also chockfull of people; my Apple stock is grateful.)

I have since tested the camera in the new phone. It is still NOT an improvement on the old one, in my opinion. My guess is that they simply tweaked the algorithm for the chip, so it now automatically generates a more contrasty, more saturated image (which marketing tests probably show most people find more pleasing in most circumstances under which snaps are taken). They are clearly also using a different compression algorithm, which I think preserves edge details less well. However, this phone is considerably less "noisy" in low light images than my first 3GS. With a few tweaks in imaging software, I can produce a reasonably pleasing result that ought to serve my casual snapshot needs adequately.

There is at least one other meaningful improvement: the screen backlight has a significantly less yellow cast than the previous one. My first model also had an idiosyncrasy that, about one time in every six or seven attempts, resulted in the screen appearing very dimmed when I turned it on. Let's hope that this new one doesn't exhibit the same problem.

Is there a poker lesson in this? Perhaps. To the extent that I have trained myself to have a word with the floor if I find a dealer doing something egregious, or if I want a table change, I think learning to speak up for oneself (POLITELY!) rather than suffering in silence is a valuable professional skill.

For your viewing pleasure, a detail of the iron tree-grate near the Apple Store on Bethesda Row, taken of course with the new phone: