Lots of folks will be trying to lay their hands on an iPhone tomorrow. And as impressive as the phone looks (and there really seems to be lots to like about it), I am not getting one. What killed it for me was the decision to tie it to the older slower speed data networks instead of Cingular's 3G network. I use my phone extensively for web browsing and other forms of data transfer, and now that Cingular has rolled out their 3G network to the point that I am really appreciating the benefits of it, I am not going back to a slow speed data network, no way. I assume that Apple/Cingular made the decision because of battery life concerns, 3G network access really drains battery power. But still, A) make that a user choice then (allow users to turn 3G on and off as needed), B) allow users to carry spare batteries. So, nope, no 3G means no iPhone for me.
Oh, and the fact that you can't have one on a business account really did it in for me too.
Now, I just have to figure out what I want to replace my aging SMT5600 with.
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2869650/
"This thing weighs practically nothing..."
I posted about my problems with the iPhone yesterday;
http://www.fekke.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/6/28/iPho...
Two other downsides are no Java and No Flash.
David Fekke
From: http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_200...
"And there's the problem -- Cingular Video, which is based on RealVideo, NOT QuickTime or H.264.
Apple wants the iPhone to get its content primarily through iTunes, ideally by syncing with a Mac or Windows PC. Apple doesn't like Cingular Video and doesn't want its customers to know it exists, much less use it. But it would be very hard to introduce a true 3G iPhone, have Cingular promote it strongly, only to say that it can't be used to view the mobile carrier's own video content. So instead Apple falls back to the slower EDGE network, which can support email and widgets and surfing, but which also forces iPhone users to get most of their higher-resolution video through iTunes, where Apple makes money and Cingular doesn't.
It comes down to an accommodation. Cingular wants an iPhone exclusive and is probably paying Apple money for that privilege. Apple doesn't want Cingular Video. So the only elegant way around that problem is to make the iPhone incapable of operating on the 3G network. If you watch his Macworld keynote you'll notice Jobs says that Apple may eventually make 3G iPhone models. Yeah, right: I'm 100 percent convinced that all it would take to turn an EDGE iPhone into a 3G iPhone is a firmware upgrade, if that."
I have to admit as much as I knew I wanted an iPhone I was really scared the data plan would just be more than I wanted to spend. Having that problem out of the way ($20 unlimited data) it was a no-brainer.
Personally I think the iPhone, as cool as it looks, is going in the wrong direction for the future. To me, the phone of the future will be like a bluetooth ear bud by itself and all voice controlled with programmable shortcut commands. Put in on in the morning like you would a pair of glasses and forget about it.
Texting, photos, files, email, browsing, tunes, and everything else will be on a device like the Blackberry or BlackJack. Separate from the phone; you do want to surf and talk at the same time, right? Thats just the way I see it.