3G

[alexh]

The real cost of a $199 iphone is almost $2000 over 18 months! For a lousy phone? Some people have more money than sense!

Ah... I see. As an Amiga user you are used to paying over the odds for hardware etc. And in a Helsinki syndrome sort of way you feel an on going need to get ripped off... it all becomes clear... the 3G iPhone is an Amiga in disguise, at least from a cost point of view.. interesting. ;-)

[alexh]

motorollin wrote:
There are many, many phones which require you to take out a contract. The iPhone isn't unique in that respect.

But you can get a decent contract for 1/3rd the price of an iPhone contract.

In the UK for example you can get a free handset + 200 mins (to any network) + 200 txts per month for £10 ($20) per month.

[alexh]

motorollin wrote:
And get some clunky phone I don't really want? No thanks. I'd rather pay the extra and get an iPhone. It's worth paying for IMO and in my experience.

Another weak minded Jedi sucked in by the marketing of the Dark side ;-)

£35/month is too much to pay for any private mobile phone contract.

bloodline wrote:
I easily download about 800Megs per month [on my iPhone]...

Doing what?

What is worse, you're a Londoner.. in the city you're never more than a few feet from a free WiFi hotspot?

[alexh]

But surely a lot of the time you're at your desk at work, library / computer room at university or at home? Where you can use a computer and land line broadband?

And when you get email, surely you dont download the attachments to the iPhone? Most will be unusable?

Even when I am out I tend to use WiFi in one of the pubs rather than "Dial up". More and more pubs are offering it.

[alexh]

Videophones will never take off! I designed the hardware for a dogs-bollocks "smooth as" videophone chipset in 1998, which got canned shortly before it was finished due to a shift in demand.

Why? The vast majority of phone calls are made by women (it's true) and research had shown they just do not like videophones. Apparently they don't want to have to do their makeup and hair or something to answer / make a phone call.