Happy iPhone Day (I'm Not Getting One)

July 11, 2008 - Leave a comment...

iPhone GreedAfter waiting a long year for the second generation iPhone to hit the shelves, I’m downright insulted. The hardware promises so much, and yet the ridiculous extortion that AT&T calls a “plan” makes my eyes twitch.

I am not getting one. In fact, I’m going to leave AT&T for Sprint as soon as I can sign on the dotted line. I’ve had it with mediocre service and expensive plans. After 5 years, they’re losing my business because they’re just too greedy.

My only question now is which hardware platform I should be looking at. This is where you come in…

I'm not getting an iPhone. What should I get instead?

  • Blackberry (53%, 10 Votes)
  • Other (Explain in comments please) (26%, 5 Votes)
  • Palm (21%, 4 Votes)

Total Voters: 19

Please leave your reasoning, ideas, justifications, etc. in the comments, and let me know if there’s anything else I should consider. I’d love to hold out for Android, but my current tube-powered wood-burning phone won’t live that long.

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  • http://queensartistspodcasts.com Tara

    Hey Matt,

    You should go with the blackberry for multiple reasons, the first of which is because it’s not an iphone.
    Seriously, theres something to be said about having a real keyboard over the touch screen.

  • http://www.arrangementsone.com Jim

    Go toward the light and find the Blackberry. Not the “Pearl” but the “world edition”. You’ll appreciate the upgrade on the keyboard as well as the upgrade on functionality. Mine, through Verizon, was $399.00 but after discounts and BS, ended up at $99.00 Cheaper, a nd I believe, better than the Iphone with all its limitations. (OK-So I probably am going to get an ITouch to replace my Nano before going to Europe next month-but it ain’t the same!) Good luck! Choose wisely. ;-)

  • SuLin Panda

    Well, just looking at the plans, here’s a little something to think about.

    I have a Palm Treo 650. For 450 (peak), 5000 nights & weekends, rollovers and unlimited mobile to mobile I pay $39.99. (Okay, well I also have a 15% discount because of where I work. But I’m comparing advertised base prices. For my zip code. I don’t put it past the companies to alter based on where you live. Bastards.) To add the PDA data plan is $30.00 ($35 without the talk plan). $39.99 + $30.00 = $69.99. This is the same price as the iPhone 450/5000/roll/m2m plan.
    Looking at the 900 and 1350 plans, plus PDA data, the price is the same for the same plans on the iPhone ($89.99 and $109.99).

    With Sprint, the advertised prices for 450/900/unlimited are (in order): $69.99, $89.99, $99.99. So the 450 and 900 plans cost the same; Sprint’s unlimited is $10 cheaper than AT&T’s 1350 (and I think AT&T’s unlimited for the iPhone was something along the lines of $12x.xx, so that’s right out…).

    So if you need the unlimited plan, Sprint is definitely the right choice. With the 450 and 900 plans, though, it’s a wash.

    Personally, I think it’s dirty pool to have phone-carrier agreements. It’s completely anti-competition and they can all blow me…

  • Zimmie

    I have two recommendations. The first is if you want a smartphone now and you need to keep your number. Palm’s phones so far kind of suck. They cost an absurd amount of money for the phone itself and the software doesn’t include basics like a decent browser, mail client, or VPN client. Blackberries are marginally better, but the development environment is horrid and support for non-Enterprise users is practically nonexistent. Windows Mobile has much the same situation. Frankly, the best option right now appears to be Symbian (mostly used on Nokia smartphones). It has a browser based on Webkit and several other nice things. The development environment is still abysmally bad, but people do write some useful applications for it.

    Second, if you don’t use your phone a huge amount each month, I’d say get a Tracfone or the like for now. Android looks promising and at the very least, it will force all of the other players to do cool new things just like the iPhone’s release did.

  • Taha

    I’m generally happy with my Blackberry.

    As far as your phone not surviving until android, the blackberry platform is fairly stable. Wait until android’s been out for a few months before taking the plunge.

  • Rowyn

    I’ve been very happy with Tmobile’s Sidekick. I’ve got a Sidekick LX now, and it’s screen is roughly comparable to the iPhone’s. The main thing I prefer about the LX over the iPhone is the keyboard; the LX has a nice one (not quite as nice as the SK3, but still good) and I do a lot of writing on mine.

    The webbrowser is reasonable — I use it pretty often — but nowhere near as nice as the iPhone’s. I don’t have much experience with Palms or Blackberries, but I find the swivel-out screen of the SK gives a nice combination of good keyboard and screen size without adding much bulk. I don’t like the PDA designs that have the keyboard below the screen, for that reason.

  • http://LookingOutTheWindow.com Ed Roberts

    I’m been looking for a new phone myself. I simply have problems swallowing the significantly more expensive cell plan. If I decide to dive into things right now and not wait for Andriod, I’d personally go toward the Samsung Instinct (Sprint). It can do video (and upload directly out of the box), has a full web browser, turn by turn GPS (which Apple says the iPhone will NOT have), voice dial (something I use a lot on my current junk phone), can use it as a modem over bluetooth. Cost $130, but you have to sign up for one of their “everything” plans, which start at $70. Sigh…

    The app store for the iPhone is a tempting treat, but like you, I CAN’T STAND AT&T.

  • Zimmie

    This is mostly to Ed, above me.

    Strictly speaking, Apple have said that they won’t provide turn-by-turn GPS navigation. This seems to be related to Google Maps’ mapping data being licensed only for viewing and not for live turn-by-turn directions or some other asinine restriction. Tom Tom have said that they intend to provide turn-by-turn navigation as a third-party app, and they can provide their own map data. Now, how they plan to do this is still up in the air, as normal GPS detail maps take up multiple GB for roads. It is possible that they will sell multiple locations such that you buy states or municipalities that you plan to use and thus don’t need to spend space on the entire U.S.

    I still can’t figure out what OS the Samsung Instinct runs. I’d bet it’s something like Motorola’s non-Symbian OS (read: only third-party apps are through Java) or Verizon’s Voyager device.

    Of course, none of this makes AT&T suck any less, which is why I doubt I’m going to upgrade from my 2.5G iPhone to the 3G in the foreseeable future.

  • Dad

    Talk, talk, talk! Got a new Palm Centro from Verizon. In fact, got two of ‘em for about $110 total, plus renewed a 2 year plan. Don’t use the phone for internet or text much, but so far, love the combined organizer/phone/camera/mp3 player. Took us a long time to find something in the price range that would sync with the Mac and still hook up with Verizon.

  • Khyber Kitsune

    I bought a PSP. Minus the lack of touchscreen, it does everything the iphone can, plus play games and connect to a TV, and even videochat.

    I just pay $30/yr for SkypeOut and use my PSP since wireless is ubiquitous. No contracts, no service plans, cheaper than an iPhone, and NO SSN REQUIRED because there’s no credit check for a PSP.

    When Android comes out, I may look at it.

  • http://www.joythumb.com/tracfone/ tracfone

    agreed, android is still unproved, blackberry has been around alot longer. But im still an iphone fan!

  • http://www.joythumb.com/tracfone/ tracfone

    agreed, android is still unproved, blackberry has been around alot longer. But im still an iphone fan!

  • http://www.joythumb.com/tracfone/ tracfone

    agreed, android is still unproved, blackberry has been around alot longer. But im still an iphone fan!