I consider one of the functions of a mobile phone to be mobility. And a vibrate function is a must, so that my ring tone doesn't irritate others in otherwise quiet places. That's two functions short of "fully functional."

Sure it does. It might make sense for manufacturers of individual chips (like CPUs) to include features that they can disable and sell as low-end models. But to include a chip on a circuit board and not use it is ludicrous. Even if they don't want to redesign the board, they can usually just leave out the chip if it won't be used on a given model. Chips cost money, and no company would overlook such a simple way of reducing their costs, especially if it doesn't mean a price-drop (i.e., all that saved money goes straight to their profit).

Is there a single wireless company out there that isn't a total PITA to deal with? I've just left school to enter the workforce, so I'm going to be off the family plan very soon. What companies should I look at?

The family plan is with Verizon. I can only say two positive things about Verizon.
1)In-network calls are free -- anytime, any person. Particularly nice because my girlfriend is on Verizon, too. But I imagine other carriers have started this practice, too, right?
2) Verizon had good coverage at school. But now, where I live and work (Maryland), they're dropping about 10% of my calls, particularly in my apartment.

So, what carriers have good, affordable plans, plus good (customer) service? Or do any such carriers exist at all?

I know it's a rhetorical question, but the number you end up with is shocking. That's about 100 times the price of the data.

@lmondesir

I have the same problem on Verizon. I have to explicitly tell all my friends NOT to send me text messages, because there's no way to decline them -- and then a few of them still do. At least it's a way to weed out the more simple-minded people so I can stop being "friends" with them. But they still have my number. :(

Don't dial 0. You'll get arrested for that.

Well said. This isn't about China, nor is it about piracy.

Did you ever get in trouble as a kid for hitting someone? Did you try the "he hit me first" defense? I'm guessing it didn't work. And it certainly wouldn't work if you said, "Someone in that general direction hit me first." You'll notice that MS isn't going to touch the piracy issue with a ten-foot pole in this case. It would benefit them nothing. If they tried to defend shady practices with that claim, it would be at best hypocrisy. At worst, it's racism/nationalism.

But the real issue here is whether MS did anything wrong at all. They say they had an agreement and acted accordingly. ZE doesn't even mention an agreement. So either MS is flat-out lying, or ZE is money-grabbing.

I can see that there are going to be many comments about piracy in China. But I'm more interested in learning about the arrangement between MS and Zhongyi Electronic. MS says that they had a deal and were meeting its terms, and the article has no response from ZE. Does ZE think that they should've been given more, and are now calling the terms unfair? Or is MS using the technology in ways/frequencies exceeding the terms? I suppose we won't find out unless one of them actually discloses the terms of the deal.

@ Curtis: I think jakem is talking about THIS laptop, not the MBA.
http://www.engadget.com/photos/fujitsus-lifebook-p1620/594986/

He must get a significant boost from those blades to be able to run at world class times without using his arms! What a goofy picture.