I am not an Apple phreak. I am certainly very disenchanted with Microsoft, but that doesn’t mean I think apples are good.-
On the other hand some very smart people who I really respect are: Stephen Fry, Henk Pelzer, Eddie Anderson, and Mike Garland.
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Their new i-phone is a joke as far as I am concerned. The good news is that it is a quad band GSM. The bad news is extensive. It does not allow you to change SIM cards! Unreal. Or the battery! And it does not have a removable memory card.
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The camera in the apple does not take video either. And there is no built in light for the camera.
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I have two of the Sony W810i phones. These are also quad band GSMs. You can put in a removable memory card. I have a 4 gb card, but 8 gb cards are also available. You certainly can change the SIM card and the battery, and there is a built in light for the still/video camera.
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Both phones allow you to listen to MP3s, the Sony has a
built in FM radio. You can watch videos and still photos on both phones. The Sony w810i is a nice small size...roughly the size of an ipod nano.-
The only reason I can see to buy a apple i-phone is status. Kind of like if you want the reliability and good resale value of a Toyota, but you like to waste money and want a larger engine so that you get lower fuel economy, they will be happy to sell you their “premium” brand the Lexus.
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REBUTTAL FROM A HEAVILY ADDICTED APPLE ADDICT:
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It's hard to defend apple, microsoft or any corporate giant that forces you to do business in their little universe, especially one as particular as Steve Jobs' alternate reality sphere. I agree that the iPhone has some bodacious flaws - those you mentioned, and before I bought one, I told myself I wouldn't. But you see, I am a member of a cult, the cult of Apple, and as such, I am destined to snatch up the latest Cupertino artifact as soon as I convince myself it's truly the next best thing. The next best thing to be unearthed is a brand new operating system - four weeks and counting. The only iPod I have is one I put audio and video discovery on for the temporary use of in- custody clients. They like it. Their attorney's like it and the jail staff think I sneak them secrets to the universe hidden away in crime scene photos, 911 audio and surveillance video. Morons. Although I have a huge music library, at this point in my life, I don't listen to it a lot. If I did, I don't think I'd do it walking around with it plugged into my head. I have an Apple TV. It takes me about an hour to transfer a rented DVD to it, so I can watch a movie when I want without having to rush back to Blockbuster to avoid late fees. It's a toy, but it does function well and it's fun to screw around with. Buying an iPhone right when they were released, I knew it would be overrun by better models probably by Christmas -> the hindsight of the iPod evolution. I'll probably buy an new model in a year or two when they have more features, just like I recycle my main desktop (under the table) Mac on an almost yearly basis. And I know I pay a premium price for Apple branded products. But you know what, I'm a member of a cult and the machines are uniquely fun and productive. I cannot imagine running my business without one - couldn't do it. Even with a windoze machine. My mac runs windows vista - has to because the company that makes my primary billing software stopped supporting Macs in the late 90's when even I thought Apple was going under - prior to Jobs re-appearing and resurrecting the company. So, I use windows on a daily basis, booting it up into a window by itself on a secondary monitor on my intel powered mac. I've slowly taught myself how to navigate and use that operating system. It disgusts me, that I now rely not only on Jobs, but Gates as well. But at least the Apple's fun. I get out of windows as soon as I can. But now that I've had an iPhone for a couple of months, I've consolidated all my contacts, calendars and url's so that I have them with me when I'm 'out in the field'. I had PDA's and PDA phones before (like a really nice Blackberry), but it was a major pain the ass to sync stuff between the main databases on the office computer and the PDA. Now, the cult allows me to do it by just plugging the iPhone into a USB port while it charges. Don't get one - you will become a member of a cult. If there was an Apple store in El Paso you could go in an play with one just for the hell of it. But then you would start trying to figure out if you could sell your existing phone hardware on eBay and come out even if you bought an iPhone. It truly is an insidious capitalist maneuver. It's a cult that requires no safron robed finger cymbal artistes blocking the sidewalk at the passenger drop-off curb to hook you. Enough - i've got to go to the grocery store before it attracts its sunday morning hordes of moms with screaming kids. Man, i'm getting crotchety in old age. Later.
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