Is there some unwritten rule that it’s okay to release technology before the bugs have been worked out? The Xbox’s Red Ring of Death and Microsoft Windows Vista major issues are just two examples of items that, let’s be honest, should never have been released. I’m having some major issues with my LG Lotus phone from Sprint – I’m on my third Lotus since November 08 and it’s dead – the screen seems to konk out about 5 weeks after owning it. When I called Sprint, I was told that they were experiencing many issues with this phone, so they’d give me a different kind, no problem.

Still…how is that okay? If a car came out that spontaneously burst into flame, or just died within a year of owning it, would that be acceptable? Certainly not. If there was a brand of tire that exploded after six months of driving on it, there’d be a lawsuit.

I was excited about getting my Lotus.  It’s just about the cheapest phone on the market that has the GPS Navigation I wanted, and the full keyboard.  When I had to switch out for another phone of equal price, I couldn’t find a single one with the full keyboard, so now I’m back to the number pad.  Sigh.

I mean, things happen of course, and even a quality assurance program won’t catch everything. But it seems shocking that some of this stuff that seems obvious gets missed before an item is released.  Is there no commitment to quality anymore?