I know what I bought and iPhones are still the best option for my use case despite the limitations. Just because I decided to purchase an iPhone from the limited options (Android or nothing), doesn't mean I have to be head-over-heels in love with it and I can still be unhappy with certain aspects of it. I can still desire improvements to what I consider the best available option.
You can continue to try to do mental gymnastics and twist the contexts here, but you're bending over backwards to let Apple bend you over.
What's even more frustratingly absurd is that you think that you can "hack" your iPhone without going through Apple. The only way to do that is purchasing a Mac for around $1k and to get over the previously mentioned bullshit 7-day restriction is a $99/yr developer account.
I don’t have any problem with you being unhappy with Apple for not building what you want. The iPhone is pretty far from what I want too.
What I dispute is that they should be forced to build something for you, or that there is any ‘should’ about this. I want an open device too, and would prefer such a device to the iPhone, however I don’t want Apple to be forced to make one for me.
There are no gymnastics going on here. Apple’s software is not designed to make it easy for you to customize the way you would like. Nobody disputes that.
What I dispute is the use of the government to force them to change their designs, especially since we have alternatives to choose from and can contribute to them if we so desire.
The law allows you to hack on it in any way you like.
What you are saying is that you don’t have the capacity to make the phone do what you want.
You want Apple to do that work, and you want the government to force them to do it for you.
That is not the same thing.
You didn’t have to buy it if it didn’t do what you wanted.
Are you claiming you didn’t know it was locked down before you bought it?