Comments on: Paying off a $5 iPhone bet

After being sure I could withstand the temptation to jump on the iPhone bandwagon, I gave in and bought one. And then I paid up.

[pjhenry1216]

The retail price was not "indeed just $299" as you didn't pay retail price for your phone. you were signing a new contract and were therefore eligible for the discount. The retail price for the 16gb iPhone is $499 (which I know all to well as I purchased one myself). I have no problem with the phone, but I still dislike the deceptive marketing of the price (yes, it wasn't too hard to find out the retail price, except the retail price wasn't announced too far in advance of the actual release). I wouldn't even have a problem with that little bit except everybody keeps saying how cheap it is compared to other phones... but they never compare it to the discounted prices of those other phones. I'll admit, its still cheaper than some of those other phones, but its not as big a difference as everybody lets on.

By the way, I was also an iPhone convert. I was first of the mind that there's no way the iPhone is that great or anything like that and while I still have gripes with the phone, it still is one of the best you can get in its category. It is *not* for someone who receives lots of MMS messages though. I receive them on occasion (not enough to justify not buying an iphone), but it is really annoying when I receive them.

[benjaminstraight]

Ha cool.

[frgmntd--2008]

I'll stick with my BB 8820 til the BB Bold is released. "I won't be assimilated".

[sanenazok]

Pretty pathetic if you ask me: you replaced something that was most likely "good enough" for a new shiny phone while paying $518 and signing up for an overpriced data plan. At least it's a 3G network, but there's no way any of the features on the iPhone are worth more than a laptop.

[Jack K1]

Does this thingy have GPS or is it still half-assed?

[Perry_Clease]

"Does this thingy have GPS or is it still half-assed?"

http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/maps.html

[Jack K1]

Coolio

[murbo]

"http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/maps.html"

its assisted gps, and apple doesn't give out any tech specs on the gps chip used, which pisses me off. what is the warm start up time, what is the cold start up time, how many satellites can it lock to, can it get a 3d lock... list goes on
i wanted the new iphone a lot, before i read its reviews.. and so far its not so different than the 2g version. it still has the old processor and specs the old one had (way to go apple, why the hell did you buy PA Semi if all they were gonna do was to sit on their lazy butts). the only difference is an assisted-gps chip and 3g networking, which doesn't even support hsupa.. i wouldnt even call it 3g. more like 2.7g... all that bandwidth iphone promises is useless since the app processor is still the same, it doesnt matter how fast you stream data to the phone, as long as the damn processor can't render it to display in a reasonable amount of time. plus add the overhead data, and bottlenecks in the crappy att network, you wont have a lot of speed over the 2g version.
and the gps function needs a complete overhaul.. at least in the software side. if you announce a product to be able to act as a navigation device, you need to make sure the map application you have follows the location dot on the screen.. jeez
oh and the bluetooth upgrade... where the hell is the upgrade? what is the upgrade? if anyone knows pls tell me what they changed that matters? it only has headphone support, and crappy even at that. still no A2DP profile.

if anyone is actually using the gps function for navigation on this thing, you are asking to get t-boned on the highway
and the old current location function that used the wireless networks, and gsm towers around, calculated your location by triangulating the signal strengths worked just as good to find where u are (not turn-by turn navigation), to find movies, shopping, and all sorts of crap

jobs, get your act together... a lot of us dont care if apple earns more money or not (mainly because we dont have apple shares), its earning more than enough without all this nonsense. what we care is when we pay double the price for a product "that just works" we want it to just work.

to end my rant (im hungry, I could write a complete research paper on this), what the hell was that last 2.0.1 update?!!! half the iphone users crashed their phones and lost all their data because itunes corrupted the firmware before uploading it to the phone, just to find out that they had to update itunes first (dont anyone tell me to backup, i can transfer easily over 100gigs of data in less time than to back the phone). and what did that fixed exactly? my 2g iphone still locks the sim card twice everyday, all the applications crash occasionally, and the whole phone is as slow as sony-ericsson's old T series (i have to remind you, that was a software mistake by ericsson that was 7 8 years ago)...

[Murray_Williams]

About the 3D lock:... I downloaded an app yesterday called GPS Tracker. It reports back altitude as well as location information. So, I would say that it does have 3D lock if that is what 3D lock means.

[LunaticSX]

@murbo

Care for some cookies with your haterade?

Just a few points:

1. All the reviews I've read have said that the iPhone 3G gets a GPS lock faster than standalone GPS devices.

2. The iPhone can handle data at 3G speeds just fine, even without a change in processor: An iPhone on Wifi is still much faster than an iPhone on 3G.

3. The iPhone 3G has not been announced or claimed to be a navigation device.

Finally: More features, like A2DP and GPS navigation, are sure to be coming. Apple has been consistently adding features to all iPhones over time, and the 2.0 OS release was a significant update, even if it was released a bit prematurely. At this point, one could say that they're going to wait for those features to be added, or wait for Android or OpenMoko or whatever. Or one could take the iPhone as it's available right now, and start using the best mobile platform out there, knowing that it'll only get better.

[arblaw]

"I was curious how it would perform deep in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and the like."

Why would an iPhone not work in Georgia? Believe it or not, we have now learned to communicate without using our tin-can telephones or riding our mules all the way up to the house. We actually have 4 of them thar Apple stores right here in town.

[arblaw]

Oh, yeah, AT&T Wireless is headquartered here, too. So we do get a faint signal way down here in the depths.