Some people will do anything..... but read the fine print!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYBFY98lWcU

well worth viewing.

oh, repeating what others said, i also don't like the fact that it's locked only to AT&T service. i like being able to buy GSM phones and keeping my existing plan.

last but not least, the battery isn't user replaceable, and that seems to be a big no-no sice mobile phone batteries take a beating... much more so than any other electronic portable device. one the battery loses charge, you'll have to send it back to Apple to get it replaced and be without a phone for who knows how long.

I can't understand why they don't have a flat retail purchase price (unlocked Phone) and a discounted price for going on a Contract.

Also the battery is hard wired to the phone itself, so defiantly not easy to replace

I just had some fun with my mates here at work. The only problems I see is that you can't set an mp3 as a ringtone or load your mp3s as ringtones. And you can only copy mp3s to the phone in playlists and not as songs or albums as you do on the iPod. Otherwise it kicks ass.

Everyone always complains about apples "fixed battery" electronics. Have you ever had to replace one? Seriously go to the store it takes all of 10 minutes and they'll install a new one. Or better yet, how long do you think it will take for a 3rd party vendor to create an external battery? How does 15 hours of talk time sit with you? Seriously guys you're streching a bit to find reasons to hate the iPhone.

Does your phone have a comprehensive map feature that actually works? iPhone's is amazing. I was able to find where I needed to go in a minute. It even has a feature that tells you what traffic flow looks like.

You want to talk about design flaws? How about the long running joke that all manufacturers call a "media" phone? The punch line is "MP3 functionality" HAHAHAHA Yeah freakin' right like any Microsoft based multifunction phone is any good at playing your music, let alone managing it. Try getting through all your music on a pda phone as easily as an iPhone. Just the thought of doing that ever again makes me cringe.

Also everyone here seems to be forgetting that the iPhone has more internal memory than any other pda phone that I know of, even at 4 gigs.

Man, I'm such an apple fanboy. :D

generally i don't complain about Apple's fixed batteries in iPods, but i'm wary about phones as the battery usage is pretty much constant. third party battery replacement is all fine and good, but only after the warranty is expired. if done within warranty periods, it voids everything and nothing on the phone will be covered anymore. i find it much easier to get a replacement battery for a phone and replace it myself. i can go for a few weeks without an iPod or what-have-you music player but i can't do that with a phone. as for third party external batteries, that'll just ruin the iPhone's svelte design.

i'm not dissing the iPhone or looking for ways to discredit it. like i said, it's an amazing piece of kit and sexy to boot but it doesn't meet my needs. i like having a dedicated audio player (iPod) because i know for sure that'll yeild at least a higher grade of audio quality, and i like having more camera functions on my phone.

likewise, other people would like having a music player on their phone but also carry a dedicated digital camera... different strokes for different folks.

as for the iPhone only being able to transfer particular playlists off iTunes, that's BAAAD. that's the same (or one of) the reasons why Motorola's E1 and E2 iTunes ready phones failed. i like drag-and-drop mp3's onto my MemoryStick Duo Pro card and then playing back on my Sony Ericsson phone... simple and painless! and Sony Ericsson's media player in their Walkman phones are second to none, with full music functions, playlists, simple management, ID3 tag artist/album/track name support, even a user changeable graphic equalizer.

yeah... i guess i'm a SE fanboy!

EDIT: oh, and yeah... i can set mp3's as ringtones!

yeah... i guess i'm a SE fanboy!

Heheh, well one thing I know is that we here are all O-fanboy's and that's what's really important!

As far as iPhone goes, I'm sure you can tell it will be only a matter of time before I get one. Through the years I've had my fair share of PDA's, PDA phones, etc., but this is what I currently have:



Specs:

Monochromatic screen (green hue)

ring AND vibrate mode

30 minute talk time battery life

1 day standby battery life

low battery indicator beeps at you every 30 seconds to let you know your battery is low incase you forgot 30 seconds ago. (cannot be turned off even in silent mode)

games: Black Jack, some sort of puzzle game that I've never figured out, and Motorola logo ping pong!

Voice recoginition allows you to call "Mom" "Home" "June" (my aunt) at random since it can't distinguish the difference between the 3. (sometimes it's fun to see who it calls)

Text messaging*

MP3 capable*

Internet capable*

*not enabled, nor should you try!

you better hold onto that Jason, because that'll be very valuable in the vintage phone market in Ebay soon enough.

@Pez

Nokia has a 4gb and a 8gb phone on the market for while (N91) and SE also. And I'm not a cell phone freak, I think there are more mp3 phones with a hdd.

am with bong. am too a SE fanboy.
been with them since ericsson
SE t68
SE Z600
SE Z800

now am lookgin for the
SE w850
SE k850

al phone have lated with me for 2 years.

I stand corrected. :)

Im a Moto fanboy ehehe... www.motomodders.net hehehe =P

I think the I[hone is okay =) will prob get one =P

I can't understand why they don't have a flat retail purchase price (unlocked Phone) and a discounted price for going on a Contract.

Part of our contract with Apple - no discounts.

Everyone always complains about apples "fixed battery" electronics. Have you ever had to replace one? Seriously go to the store it takes all of 10 minutes and they'll install a new one.

Well I assumed a trained tech would be able to get you a new battery with no problems whatsoever...but don't forget...there aren't iStores with certified techs everywhere. You live in Hawaii? Expect to be without a phone for at least two weeks.

Does your phone have a comprehensive map feature that actually works? iPhone's is amazing. I was able to find where I needed to go in a minute. It even has a feature that tells you what traffic flow looks like.

And 8525 will do just that with TeleNav. So does a few of the Blackberrys.

Try getting through all your music on a pda phone as easily as an iPhone.

I pop out my microSD card, toss it into my comp, drag and drop what I want into whatever folder I want and pop the SD card back into my phone. Hit play from my "desktop" and there's my music.

Also everyone here seems to be forgetting that the iPhone has more internal memory than any other pda phone that I know of, even at 4 gigs.

This is most definitely true. But I can also carry 10 4GB microSD cards in my pocket and have 40gigs of music, movies and files at my disposal at anytime. Once you fill up the 4 or 8 gigs on the iPhone, you need to delete to add more. Can't just throw files onto another card.

I admit that I'm an Apple hater, but I'm not unfair. I can give credit where credit is due. I can admit that Apple's systems will give you much better video and sound editing than any PC ever could. Why the PC market hasn't stepped up the game, I don't know. But the Mac editing is a lot better than anything else.

But the iPhone is just Steve trying to get his hands into another market.

Having been a part of the mobile phone industry for the last three years, and another year prior to that (not to mention vested personal interest in mobile phones), I become very familiar with just about all the devices on the market. I try a lot of phones and tend to know what certain people want, and what factors matter to everyone. I'm not "hating" just to hate, but seriously, from a professional standpoint, I just do not think the iPhone is worth more than $200. I have actually not yet had a person name a function on the iPhone that cannot be done on any regular PDA aside from iTunes and the whole "multi-touch" interface...and even iTunes are supposed to be able to convert to MP3 format, no? Then you can still play them on your PDA.

More or less, my feeling about the iPhone is that it could have been a much more superb device if they at least made it 3G, gave it removable storage and user-changable battery. Anything else is easily overlooked, but those three - especially for the price point - just makes me really wonder what the hell is wrong with Steve.


~Yukio

The 3G would be nice and maybe a future upgrade. But if you look at any other Apple portable product they dont have and expandable memory or replaceable batteries so it only follows apple character to not add that to the iphone. I do see larger memory capacities and better battery life as the phone has been out longer as well as better features and interaction with your computer and such (ring tones ect.).
I have become a huge apple fan just because of the difference from what you get with a normal windows PC. I just like the look feel and interface and you get all that on the iphone. I am not a person who will use all the PDA style features on the iphone, I wont fill my calendar (never really use one on a computer or on paper) I wont fill up all the contacts with email and addresses - only phone numbers because it will have the phone use. I am going to get the iphone because I like the products Steve puts out and they are not the normal mainstream.
Label me an apple fanboy.

I'm typing from an iPhone right now and it isn't all that bad. This post took me about thirty seconds to type. The keyboard isn't much of an issue for me.

I gotta agree with 2nd Saint here...probably never will own any kind of video/phone/music device although with sick family members I do have the bare minimum of a cell phone for emergencies...other than that all my electronics is at least 7-8 years old... the thought of everything being download only scares me... I have used Apples and PC's at work..to me I see no difference except Apple charges double for everything..like the AOL of the Computer world

Apple iPhone secretly monitors personal data

20 Nov, 2007

After all the restrictions that Steve Jobs has imposed on the owners of Apple iPhone, now it turns out that Apple is probably secretly collecting personal data from any iPhone.

A power user has found bits of code in the iPhone, that may collect and send personal data, such as IMEI, IP address, and companies you are interested in, to an Apple server via the Weather and Stocks applications. The sent information however is encrypted, so it is not that sure whether it holds the IMEI code of your iPhone. Some experienced users have already reverted the code so that it sends zeroes only. Data monitoring could provide valuable information of how many iPhones have been unlocked, how they are distributed around the world and also for studying user preferences and habits, for example.

Just before you put your tin foil hat on, remember that Apple have stated that "… when you interact with Apple, we may collect personal information relevant to the situation, such as your name, mailing address, phone number, email address, and contact preferences; your credit card information and information about the Apple products you own, such as their serial numbers and date of purchase; and information relating to a support or service issue." Regardless the legitimate issue of the case, it is definitely immoral for any company to collect personal information in such a secretive manner. Lately, Steve Jobs has been accumulating lots of negativism concerning the iPhone. The latest hot topic was the prosecution of all owners of sites with a domain name including iPhone in it, which led to a spirit of high discontent among the internet society.



The other hot news on behalf of the iPhone, announced by some major news sources, concerns the German unit of Vodafone Group, which has obtained a court order against Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile mobile carrier stating that the German telecommunications giant should start selling unlocked versions of the iPhone in Germany. Deutsche Telekom is selling the iPhone exclusively in Germany along with a mandatory 2-year contract and as such is accused of misuse sales practices. Specifically, Vodafone is questioning the iPhone's exclusive use in T-Mobile's network and the use of the device being limited to certain fees within T- Mobile's subscription offerings. A T-Mobile spokesman has confirmed that the restraining order will be disputed by the respondent.


http://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_secretly_monitors_personal_data-news-364.php

Yeah, pretty much all cell carriers suck....not sure who the best of the best is anymore, the iphone device itself is wonderfull but in the end its the service/carrier that counts.

Ughh when will the conspiracy theories end? Why does Apple care how many times you call Grandma or go to their website? You already own their phone, what more could they possibly want other than your money, which they already have!