Well, maybe 'can't' is too strong a word.

I already have an AT&T account and have a year until I can 'upgrade equipment' so I would have to pay a lot more to get the new phone. I'll sit this out and wait for the next new one next year.

Well, unless someone wants to sell me their old one...

All because I got a Treo 750 a week before the first iphone came out. I needed a phone and expected the iphone to have issues after being released. Well, and I was leaving for England that morning of the release. I did almost buy a phone over there at an Orange store that we can't get here but thought the better of it and passed. End is that I got a 3g smartphone (that has taken to deleting the address book at add times) that was unlocked so that I could use it in London. It worked out ok.

So I wait...

Maybe the next one will be better, and unlocked (true non-commitment)...

Salon's home page says it is hiring a technology reporter.

I thought Farhad Manjoo had that base covered.

Farhad, are you leaving? Getting help? Or what?

It appears Apple may have fumbled here... why? I and others were going to purchase the new 3G iPhone, but after reviews regarding worse battery life, with recommendations disabling 3G service, when not in use, and unsubstantiated data rate plan increases while dropping text service, it's just too much!

Consider, when the data rate was $20 per/month, half of that $20 went to AT&T, the other to Apple, plus you were allotted 200 text messages per/month.

Now, Apple no longer shares data rate revenue and AT&T increases the data plan to $30 per/month, and drops texting inclusion within the plan. You now have to pay an additional $5 per/month for 200 messages ($15 for 1,500, or $20 per/month for unlimited).

So now, the data plan is $35.00 per/month, a revenue increase of 285% for AT&T from the previous equivalency of service at $20 per/mo.

My city does not have 3G service. As a matter of fact, only 280 cities presently have 3G service, with supposedly another 70 on their way (we've heard that before). My town was supposed to be 3G last year, and the year before that.

Consider, you may be paying for 3G service when you won't have access to 3G service.

Furthermore, when you consider the new 3G iPhone data plan costs, over a two year contact, amounts to more than $840. Compare that to $480 for the previous two year contract, that's a 570% jump in costs for data rate features.

In the long run, you'll pay:

$199 (8GB) + $840 = $1039 + tax

$299 (16GB) + $840 = $1139 + tax.

That's just too much!

AT&T is clearly gouging their clients.

Apple needs get away from AT&T and make the phone available on all networks for competitive consumer rates... Otherwise, they'll never see the sales they need and want. As time marches on, so does lost market share.

Yes, I'm leaving. Friday is my last day. I'll post an announcement here on Friday.

Or did you get a job with Apple marketing?

Poor battery life is a real deal-breaker for this thing. My Treo would have been tossed out the car window long ago were it not for the extended life battery I bought that gets me a full day of very heavy use on a charge. I'm sure that an iPhone sucks down the juice even faster. Designing this thing with a non-replacable battery is so... Apple.

The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that AAPL really shouldnt bother pushing the MS Exchange aspect. This just will not cut it as a business-oriented tool without a good keyboard.

I love the thing. It's great. It makes my life better.

And I can't see any reason why I'd upgrade? GPS? Nice ... but don't really need it. 3G? I'm not sure it's worth the battery-power compromise.

I'm looking forward to the new software, and the options it creates - but I'm not sure 3G is worth the battery-life tradeoff.

Battery life on my iPhone 1.0 is acceptable - if I do a lot of browsing, it'll be hitting the red at the end of the day - but with previous phones I'd be able to go 3 days without recharging easily. While I'd like higher speeds, having even less of a cushion on battery life is a questionable compromise.

It was something you said.

The Samsung Instinct, has the same basic problem. They soak you on the plan. Apparently you can't buy one w/o also getting the $100/month flat rate everything plan for 2 years. So at $130 for the phone it's $2,530 plus bullshit taxes and fees. And lest you think 'everything' means everything, there's a download cap of ~5GB/month or something like that.

I'm a bit late to the party, so maybe this is something everyone knows, but - why does the audio on this consist entirely of some kind of swinging-60's movie soundtrack? Why can't I hear what Farhad Manjoo is saying?

Great article and great review! I think the new iPhone 3G is going to be awesome! I'm wanting one, but hate the thought of leaving Verizon. . . "Can you hear me now?"

There is however a contest going on at Fuel My Blog where you can win a free one. I guess if I win, I'd switch. ;-)

I recommend everyone check it out, you can enter as many times as you'd like.

Here's the link::

http://blog.fuelmyblog.co.uk/blog/2008/06/29/what-do-you-do-at-510pm-win-an-iphone-3g/

Good luck, Farhad..

Dude, I hope wherever you go I hope it's all good. I haven't commented in your area as much as others, but I've always read it & found it of great value.

Whoever replaces you will have big shoes to fill. Best wishes & all that.

just comparing this with my year old motorola krazr; battery life when new was two days, max, which i thought was way too low; builtin gps worked just fine, complete with turn by turn navigation. maybe it has a bigger antenna than the Iphone, clevely disguised somewhere.

(the battery really got weak after a year and I got the double-strength battery, which is also double sized and comes with a double width battery cover; battery life is now extremely good but the thing is no longer as nicely thin and light as it was, in fact kinda clunky. gps still works nicely)