Meh. There are a stack of reasons to like this thing. Go to tuaw.com or Apple.com to [http://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/09/iphone-announced/|read about them]. I'm going to tell you why I won't be rushing out and picking one of these up in June--well, not unless things change. I have five reasons why: 1) Price. The 4 GB model is $499. The 8 GB model is $599. That's kind of absurd to me. This thing is the next iPod, yet I wouldn't dream of replacing my beloved 60 gig 5th generation iPod with a device containing so little storage space. This alone is a deal breaker--especially when you consider that today Ritek announced their 16 GB flash drive that will run you $169. They say by the end of the year they'll have 64 GB FDs, too--which means that in a year's time there will be no reason the 2nd gen iPhone can't have something like 30-60 GB. So why buy this thing in 5 months when in 12 they'll be able to have one with a decent amount of storage. 2) 2 year contract. In order to buy this thing you HAVE to pay for cell service. You can't avoid it and you've GOT to sign up for 2 years. I swore off cell phone contracts over a year ago and I refuse to go back. It's very un-Apple-like to force a contract on their customers. 3) Cingular SUCKS. Before I swore off cell phone contracts, I swore off Cingular. JD Power rated them the second worst in customer service a couple years ago right after I switched from them to Sprint (Ironically, Sprint came in last). I've never looked back. 4) The touchscreen. I've had a Nintendo DS for over a year now and I love it. It's got a touchscreen. The thing is, I imported the Opera browser for it from Japan so I could blog from wifi hotspots minus my laptop. Guess what. That tiny touchscreen keyboard is real hard to use with the stylus and it's even harder to use with your fingers. While the DS's touchscreen is smaller than the iPhone's, that iPhone screen isn't that much bigger, so I'm imagining making a bunch of mistakes. Sure, the iPhone's keyboard is "error correcting" but that means the damn thing will try to anticipate what I'll be trying to type--that's bad. Computers get me wrong all the time when they try to think for me. It's one of my pet peeves--machines shouldn't try to anticipate. Also, imagine the streaks and scratches on that thing. In a single day of using my 5g iPod I got it scratched pretty severely. That thing will be damaged goods fast. 5) The iPhone is not really innovative. Stevie-poo was going on about how the iPhone is a revolution and how they're making history with it. What is so new about the iPhone? Playing videos? Surfing the web? WiFi phone calls? Taking photos? Touchscreen? A bunch of different gadgets out there do almost precisely the same stuff and more. You can't even say that the iPhone is the first "all-in-one" device to do all those things. The Treo can do everything the iPhone can do AND shoot video clips. Sure, there's no "visual voicemail" on it, but who ever thought to themselves "Gosh, if I could just look at a list of voicemails and select the one I wanted to listen to and blow off the rest!" The iPhone is a great concept. Really, it is. But too many things hobble it, making it less than practical when compared to what most gadget freaks already have in their pockets. Take me for instance. I have a SLVR, a Sidekick 3 and a 5g iPod, between these three devices I can do everything an iPhone can do and more. Plus with my current stack of gadgets I can avoid contracts completely and still do everything I want to do. Now, if the iPhone could, say, record video from the built-in camera and/or from an outside source, then that might start to shave off some of the above reasons for skipping this thing in June. However, it would take a good bit more to make me actually pre-order the iPhone. Sorry, Steve. I'm a Mac guy and an iPod guy, but I'm not stupid. I'll wait until you can give us a device that really is as good as you think the iPhone already is.Orignal From: APPLE'S NEW iPHONE: WHY I'M NOT IMPRESSED
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