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Although I am a fan of Apple products, I am going to have to skip this one. Sometimes too much technology can be overkill. I much prefer my beat up six-year-old Samsung which functions entirely as a cell phone - not a PDA/iPod/TV/CPU/microwave/kitchen sink.

I disagree. Imagine having to carry your ipod, cell phone, digital camera or even a gps system at all once! I have used "smart" phones for quite some time and I see this not as a total evolution of cell phones but more of a refinement of what cell phones have become and what they are capable of. What the iphone will do to the cell phone industry however is how the interfaces are designed. The way Apple has designed the user interface for the iphone is just pure genious. I would have to same it's a leap forward...almost comparable to when people switched from an MS-DOS interface to MS Windows.

So far, the best thing about the iPhone is that so many cell phone manufacturers are scrambling to come up with a smartphone interface that doesn't suck. The LG Prada is a good start (although that was announced before the iPhone), HTC has its new interface they just announced on top of Windows Mobile, the RAZR2 and other soon-to-be-announced phones. Now, if we can get the carriers to wisen up...

true ducati, if you are talking about carrying around a mediocre camera, pda/blackberry, ipod, and gps in a larger than average phone package. i will not give up my ipod, my amazing canon digital camera, my blackberry, etc. in exchange for an iphone. particularly not with a $500 price tag and contract with AT&T. and i'm not alone.

What Ducati1978 said. Except that we macusers had a GUI long before Windoze and...no stop me before I start a mac vs. windoze flame war. stop. stop. meeeeeee.....

Also, as much as I would LOVE to have an iPhone, I probably wouldn't get it for the following reasons:

1. It's too expensive
2. Is it truly more for business users (Blackberry type) or more for the Paris Hilton wannabe users (Sidekick)? We will not know until this thing is actually out and about.
3. With the iPhone, other cell phone manufacturers are going to have to reinvent their GUIs...therefore more user friendly environments will surface and within a few months more reasonable prices should surface.

Don't get me wrong, I want this thing and I'm hooked. But the part of the brain that spits out the "common sense" stuff is telling me to hold off just for a few months until things cool down.

I totally agree with you Ducati. I think the iPhone IS amazing and extremely innovative. Thing is, do we really need all that stuff in the first place? In my opinion, technology should simplify life instead of making it overtly complicated. When I am walking down the street, I just want to walk and enjoy life. I don't want to worry about taking photos, checking email, and listening to music. To quote Brian Wilson and Tony Asher, "I guess I just wasn't made for these times."

So now we've gotten to the point where simple analogies start OS chest-beating? Hooray.

Ducati1987: I doubt it's for business people. One of the big business requirements is some sort of serious Exchange/Outlook integration and I don't think Apple would go that way. Their core market is consumers and creative people.

Nokia N95 Silver/Plum Phone (Unlocked) $799.99

Sony Ericsson P910a Phone (Unlocked $849.95

Bang & Olufsen Serene $1275.00

I've given up on my pda after the battery discharged and all my contacts and addresses disappeared and wouldn't resync (thanks palm) but no phone would sub for my cameras (esp my Olympus 500e. However, what Ducati said except for the last sentence. Mac user here.

I want one, but I'll probably wait for version 2.0. I'm also not in love with AT&T's cruddy network, though supposedly they're working on improving it. I'm using my Motorola phone as a PDA, and it sucks. The iPhone looks like the ideal pocket gadget, with an interface that should make performing all of those different functions relatively seamless.

Does anyone else think that a touchscreen covered in fingerprints will take away from it's attractiveness?

Plus, it is too expensive and doesn't hold enough music to satisfy me.

I am experiencing pure lust for the iPhone, although will probably wait till the price drops a bit before getting one.

Although I'm a fan of Apple's designs, I will never purchase *anything* from Apple. They're worse than Microsoft when it comes to monopolistic tendencies. As a footnote, I've been "Apple certified" as a repair person since the Mac first came out. Anyone remember "Mac crackers"?

I'm totally devoted to Apple, but I'm going to wait on this one. Too expensive to justify now, and I'm happy with my iPod, OK with my Motorola phone, and would like a good digital camera, not a so-so one attachted to a phone. Definitely not an AT&T fan, so a two-year comittment to them doesn't appeal to me. I'm sure the future generations of this will be brilliant and hopefully a lot cheaper; at some point I'll have one.

I wouldn't want to have to hold that up to my ear, especially since my cell is my primary phone, and I don't like headsets.

Fingerprints and scratches...

Good point, AceFace and Jon_B. I've wondered about the durability and visibility of the screen, too. "It will have to have some kind of carrying case, perhaps with lined in microfiber so that as it slips into the case it's cleaned."© :)

I was asking the Verizon guy the other day if they were going to offer the iphone...he said they were not because the phones that they already offer with similar features (mp3/pda/camera/etc.) are actually more capable than the iphone.....

I do like the way it looks, and I love the idea that my ipod and cell phone become one...

verizon is not going to offer the iphone

because it's exclusive to cingular/at&t

salesman didn't mention that

I'm waiting for the AT&T exclusive to be lifted. I want my phone and my carrier too.

The user interface is glitzy, but there are no important new items. The touch screen only interface is new but that looks better than it will works I suppose. Not revolutionary - more an Asian phone type thing.

I'd like to see my phone more like a computer and wait until Openmoko ( http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Main_Page ) produces a usable phone. The promise: a phone with software that can actually be upgraded to the features of newer models and can be expanded with new features. You buy new hardware when you want a better gps, need a camera or more RAM; for that glitzy phonebook feature or fresh web browser, just install a (free) update.

the exclusive in the US is for 5 years!

I use Apple products exclusively but even I have to say I would not buy this until there are some extensive upgrades.

Only 8 gigs? That's barely enough for a couple of play lists much less videos, photos and lord knows what else this phone is suppose to do. The camera is only 2 megapixels. There are other much less expensive phones out there with the same camera. I would expect for the price that the camera be out of this world. And lastly, Cingular... need I say more?

The only saving grace is the fact that it is well designed and seems to have some innovative features.

I will be waiting for the next generation iPhone before I put down more than half a grand for a cell.

i want one. i've been looking to jump into the smartphone market but have held back because most smartphones are fug. i really hate buying products that are ugly because i don't want them in my house. plus, i spent a day going to all the carrier stores and checking them out (fug or not fug) and they were one or more of the following:

a) lightweight and cheap feeling
b) did not have the features i wanted
c) had too many features i could give a crap about
d) executed the features poorly (however i felt about them)
e) again with the fug
f) did not sync with mac without a 3rd party patch download
g) just as expensive as the iphone, or more, for a product i was only lukewarm about.

i think my main problem with the iphone is that i feel like i will outgrow the larger 8gb capacity.

i'm not going to get the 1st wave iphone, but wait about six months or so for some bugs to get worked out. this product is going to turn me into one of those people who put their mobile devices in a protective case and use a headset to protect from scratches. i draw the line at beltclip, though.

I'll wait for at least version 2.0...I have a feeling that the initial release is going to have a lot of annoying issues that would eventually make me want to i-smash the i-phone.

I'm a techno-dork (as opposed to geek), but I would imagine Apple will provide upgrades to fix the bugs as they are straightened out; isn't that supposed to be one of the great features about the iPhone? So I don't see any reason to wait. Can't imagine getting any price breaks either. I'm very tempted, but I'll have to play with it before making a decision. We already have a contract with Cingular, and I haven't noticed a difference between their service and Verizon's.

I'm dying to get one but will wait and see how the initial reviews go, whether there are any bugs to be fixed, etc. I agree we'll definitely see a version 2.0 with more capacity... look how the Apple TV just quadrupled in capacity after only a couple of months. It will be a dream to be able to check and respond to email more easily. My only disappointment is that they didn't pick T-Mobile as a partner.

In the meantime I've been listening to the Apple Phone Show podcast for the latest news... that'll be the place to hear about any glitches that come up once people actually have them in their hands.

If you've got to put it in a protective case so it doesn't get scratched up, it's not really very nice looking anymore.

i have seen some ipod cases and other things that are pretty nice looking. not as good looking as the ipod itself, but better looking than most mobile devices out there. i'm pretty sure that someone out there will design a good, functional case for the iphone which is much better looking than most of the smartphones out there.