Apple iPhone

[Trae]

500,000? That is a lot. Too bad about T-Mobile. I am guessing it doesn't work with Verizon either. My only complaint with the iPhone is the 8 GB hard drive. I have 11 gigs of just songs on my PC (according to my iTunes).

[editor]

And me for Verizon .

No. The iPhone is a GSM phone. It works on GSM networks (AT&T in the United States, plus hundreds of other networks around the world). Verizon uses an entirely different technology (called CDMA) which only works in the United States (though Verizon recently introduced one or two hybrid phones that use GSM roaming outside of the country).

Apple went with a GSM company so its phones will work almost anywhere in the world, and also to cut down on the size of the phone (CDMA chipsets are larger and use more power than GSM). The only place an iPhone shouldn't work is Japan and South Korea. AT&T promises the iPhone can roam overseas, but I don't know anyone who's tried it yet.

[Guest Marty]

I heard on the news earlier that people was buying the iphone and taking it apart to to see what it looks like inside. I had a bad habit about doing that in my younger years to electronics I got for Christmas.

[MexAmerican_Moose]

check out this lady, she commits self ownage

IPhone self ownage

[Trae]

No. The iPhone is a GSM phone. It works on GSM networks (AT&T in the United States, plus hundreds of other networks around the world). Verizon uses an entirely different technology (called CDMA) which only works in the United States (though Verizon recently introduced one or two hybrid phones that use GSM roaming outside of the country).

Apple went with a GSM company so its phones will work almost anywhere in the world, and also to cut down on the size of the phone (CDMA chipsets are larger and use more power than GSM). The only place an iPhone shouldn't work is Japan and South Korea. AT&T promises the iPhone can roam overseas, but I don't know anyone who's tried it yet.

Thanks for telling me. I'm not in the know with these networks.

[Guest Marty]

check out this lady, she commits self ownage

IPhone self ownage

Mark is a smart man, received 800 bucks for first place in line!

[Jeebus]

check out this lady, she commits self ownage

IPhone self ownage

Good lord. I wonder what tard married her.

[Trae]

$100,000 bucks? Damn. I wish I was the first guy in line though. Free iPhone.

[editor]

I heard on the news earlier that people was buying the iphone and taking it apart to to see what it looks like inside. I had a bad habit about doing that in my younger years to electronics I got for Christmas.

A lot of the tech web sites like PC World, Ars Technica, Think Secret and other do this with every new product that Apple puts out then post the dissection pictures on their web sites.

They make enough on the surge of visitors and publicity for their web sites to more than pay for the phone.

check out this lady, she commits self ownage

IPhone self ownage

It's good to see that woman's greed get rewarded. She got what she deserved.

[Subdude]

500,000? That is a lot. Too bad about T-Mobile. I am guessing it doesn't work with Verizon either. My only complaint with the iPhone is the 8 GB hard drive. I have 11 gigs of just songs on my PC (according to my iTunes).

Goldman Sachs upped their estimate of initial weekend sales to about 700,000, and total sales for week one are estimated at a million. The pace will slow down now, however, since the initial run is about sold out.

[Guest Marty]

The link MSNBC

Here's a story about the iphone stop working after 4 days by a MSNBC contributor.

[houstonmacbro]

The link MSNBC

Here's a story about the iphone stop working after 4 days by a MSNBC contributor.

You DO know MSNBC is owned by Microsoft? They are loathe to say anything nice about Apple or its products. all the reports I have heard have been that it is a phenomenal phone (and no I do not own, nor plan to buy one yet).

[Mark F. Barnes]

You DO know MSNBC is owned by Microsoft? They are loathe to say anything nice about Apple or its products. all the reports I have heard have been that it is a phenomenal phone (and no I do not own, nor plan to buy one yet).

I may be wrong, but didn't Bill Gates bail Steve Jobs out of virtual bankruptcy in 1998? I mean it was the least he could do since he built an empire on technology he learned (some say stole) from Jobs. If you remember, Steve Jobs was foolish enough to allow his own company to be hijacked from under him, by people he put in position, to try and build his business. Steve jobs is a Computer Guru, not a businessman. I think it was a former CEO of Pepsi he brought in to enhance the business end of Apple, so he could free himself up to play inventor in the lab. And while he's burning fat ones and creating Apple systems in the lab, the Pepsi big shot is voting him out of his own company, that they eventually ran into the ground. Along comes Bill Gates with his Billions, and helps his ole buddy Jobs get his company back and bails him out of bankruptcy. In turn he's allowed to push more software that's now compatible with Apple and he makes more billions. Bill gates is out to make a buck, and has done a fair job of it I'd say.

I may be wrong on this, but that the way I recall reading it somewhere. I am sure the iPhone is a trick gadget, I played with a demo a few days ago, just not for me at this time. The next generation iPhone will be 3G capable I was told, so I may wait on it. I cool with my Blackjack for now, it does all I need and more. At least now I can keep up with my kids in the text message department. They can dance one a standard keypad when it comes to text messaging, I on the other hand need the full QWERTY version to keep up. The graphics on the iPhone were really cool, but Apple has always been the leader there.

[editor]

The link MSNBC

Here's a story about the iphone stop working after 4 days by a MSNBC contributor.

No big deal. Bring it back to the Apple Store and they hand you a new one no questions asked. Apple is well known for dealing with problems this way.

[editor]

I may be wrong, but didn't Bill Gates bail Steve Jobs out of virtual bankruptcy in 1998?

Yes, you are wrong. In 1997 when Apple won its lawsuit against Microsoft for copying the "look and feel" of MacOS as part of the settlement, Microsoft paid $150 million for in non-voting stock. Some Microsofties like to portray it as a "bailout," but the facts show that's inaccurate since Apple had $1 BILLION in liquidity at the time. Microsoft has since sold that stock.

Still, it's nice to have you back, Mark. I haven't seen you around here in a while.

[Mark F. Barnes]

Yes, you are wrong. In 1997 when Apple won its lawsuit against Microsoft for copying the "look and feel" of MacOS as part of the settlement, Microsoft paid $150 million for in non-voting stock. Some Microsofties like to portray it as a "bailout," but the facts show that's inaccurate since Apple had $1 BILLION in liquidity at the time. Microsoft has since sold that stock.

Still, it's nice to have you back, Mark. I haven't seen you around here in a while.

Yes I had read that 1997 lawsuit deal somewhere also. Can't remember where the 1998 deal I read about came from. It may all just be propaganda, but I still don't really think ole Bill loathes Steve Jobs or Apple, it has made them both a lot of money. I could have sworn when Jobs lost his company to his own board Gates came to his aide to help him get it back, maybe I had a buzz at that time and imagined it. Either way Apple today is customer friendly based, and they stand by their products, whatever that may be. And I have always thought they have had the superior graphics frame to work off of, as do most every person that deals with commercial graphics and media for a living.

Yeah Wayne, I have been easing back in from time to time, lost my father back in March suddenly (Massive Heart attack) and I kinda laid low for a while, took some time from work and went up to Moab to get some fresh air. My fathers estate is in a mess, I have siblings fighting over who gets what (some he hadn't seen or heard from in 20 years), and his nut case widow that is tying up everything because she had a prenup and isn't liking her cut. It's all a mess, I just got away from the entire deal, and really found some peace up in the red rock country. Guess it's the 10% Native American coming out in me.

Some of these personal pissing matches in here get pretty old also, so I just set and watch.

[Subdude]

Is that HAIF on the iPhone at the top? Oh, and will this iPhone go to Verizon? I would like to have it.

The iphone is rumored to be exclusive to AT&T in the US for five years, but it has already been hacked so you might be able to use it soon with another provider that uses GSM and a sim card. Verizon has neither so I wouldn't count on seeing them with a version for a long time. I had heard a while back that Verizon turned down the iphone because they didn't want Apple making the profit from selling music that would be downloaded into their phone. AT&T was willing to give up the profit from selling music to pick up the additional subscriber base using more airtime for net access.

[editor]

The iphone is rumored to be exclusive to AT&T in the US for five years, but it has already been hacked so you might be able to use it soon with another provider that uses GSM and a sim card. Verizon has neither so I wouldn't count on seeing them with a version for a long time. I had heard a while back that Verizon turned down the iphone because they didn't want Apple making the profit from selling music that would be downloaded into their phone. AT&T was willing to give up the profit from selling music to pick up the additional subscriber base using more airtime for net access.

People have put T-Mobile sim cards in iPhones and it doesn't work. I haven't tried with mine, but I should to verify this.

A lot has been made of the "hacking the iPhone" thing, but it's not REALLY hacked. All he did was bypass activation by changing some values in iTunes. So, instead of a fancy phone he ends up with a $600 iPod. The so-called "hacked" iPhones can't make phone calls, so what's the point?

Much ado about nothing.

[Subdude]

You know, where I think the iphone could have the biggest impact is in phone design. I know a lot of reviewers complained about the virtual keyboard, but the keyboard is actually very easy to use and the keys are never there except when you need them so it looks elegant. I'll bet that over the next couple of years a lot of phone manufacturers will adopt the same concept.

[editor]

You know, where I think the iphone could have the biggest impact is in phone design. I know a lot of reviewers complained about the virtual keyboard, but the keyboard is actually very easy to use and the keys are never there except when you need them so it looks elegant. I'll bet that over the next couple of years a lot of phone manufacturers will adopt the same concept.

I don't see why not. Heck, Palm Pilots had virtual keyboards all the way back to 1996. Apple just figured out how to make it work better. The video only scratches the surface of what it's capable of.

Most of the reviews I've read have been pleasantly surprised with the virtual keyboard, especially in landscape mode. I don't get to use it much ( ), but when I do I'm really blown away by how well it works for text. Now, entering web addresses is a whole other matter because some of the smart features are disabled because URLs are inherently wonky. But for long-form e-mails, it rocks.

[Mark F. Barnes]

I agree, the demo I played with was very nice. I was really impressed with the responsiveness and the accuracy that the keyboard with. I had one of those "antiques" Palm Pilots back in 1997, and I couldn't stand it. Then I got the Casio Palm PC, I think I bought it from Dell, and it was better but nothing holds a candle to this iPhone as far as ease of use and the way the LCD and keyboard interface. It really is neat. When the next generation comes out 3G ready, I will probably spring for one for the wife. I am not sure how the would hold up through the beating I put phones through. The Blackjack has done really well thus far, I haven't managed to destroy it yet. I do love the interface using the 3G connection as a wireless link for my laptop when I am not around a WiFi hot-spot. Beats the heck out of my edge network wireless card. 3G is spreading fast in Texas, I even get it at the house now, out in rural Montgomery. I am close enough to the Woodlands I think I catch it from that area.

And thanks for the compassion Wayne, you nailed it exactly, couldn't have put it any better.

[ricco67]

I agree, the demo I played with was very nice. I was really impressed with the responsiveness and the accuracy that the keyboard with. I had one of those "antiques" Palm Pilots back in 1997, and I couldn't stand it. Then I got the Casio Palm PC, I think I bought it from Dell, and it was better but nothing holds a candle to this iPhone as far as ease of use and the way the LCD and keyboard interface. It really is neat. When the next generation comes out 3G ready, I will probably spring for one for the wife. I am not sure how the would hold up through the beating I put phones through. The Blackjack has done really well thus far, I haven't managed to destroy it yet. I do love the interface using the 3G connection as a wireless link for my laptop when I am not around a WiFi hot-spot. Beats the heck out of my edge network wireless card. 3G is spreading fast in Texas, I even get it at the house now, out in rural Montgomery. I am close enough to the Woodlands I think I catch it from that area.

And thanks for the compassion Wayne, you nailed it exactly, couldn't have put it any better.

I'm rather curious about the wi-fi capabilities. I don't surf the net that often, and when I do it's generally near a wifi hotspot. I wonder if it's possible to get the activation without having to deal with their data plan as well?

[editor]

I'm rather curious about the wi-fi capabilities. I don't surf the net that often, and when I do it's generally near a wifi hotspot. I wonder if it's possible to get the activation without having to deal with their data plan as well?

I'm not sure about getting voice-only on it. I think the data link is required for visual voicemail to work.

Wifi absolutely rocketh. And it's uber-smart. When the phone is in range of a familiar network (like when you come home) it automatically switches over. Surfing on wifi on the iPhone is just as fast as on my computer.

But it's not without its bugs -- I'm not able to get it to work with my T-mobile hotspot account yet. I'm not sure why. I've looked online and it appears I'm the only one having this problem. All of the message boards I've read are full of people not having the same problems I am.

[Trae]

One of my members had this to say about the iPhone:

After reading this it looks like a treo 650 would be an upgrade,

unless you wanted to pick up jail bait at starbucks.

1. Bluetooth is ONLY good for connecting a headset. That's it.

2. There is no file browser on the device at all. Data must be

organized (if at all) in the appropriate application.

3. The camera is a simple application that has ONE button: the

shutter. Pictures come out okay on the device, but nothing too fancy

on a monitor, especially if it was an attempt at a macro shot.

4. SIM card is damn near impossible to open, if at all. I didn't look

into it extensively.

5. Web browser is slow, even over WLAN. Even the simple OneList web

app that was created takes around 20 seconds to load over WLAN. You

can not highlight, cut, copy, or paste and text from a website, and

you can not save any images you find from a website either. The only

nice thing about it is the tabbed browsing, which crashed on me when I

went to Engadget and YouTube on two tabs. This is the only application

that allows you to use the keyboard in landscape mode.

6. The keyboard sucks. It gets slightly better after the iPhone

"learns" you, as the employees said, but even then, it's not a device

you can use with one hand comfortably, much less without looking.

7. You can only send one picture at a time in an email.

8. No custom ringtones (yet, as we were being told) and the alert

tones can not be changed whatsoever.

9. The default ringtones are incredibly lame.

10. The only form of customization outside of a lame default ringtone

is the wallpaper, which you'll only see when you need to unlock the

device or when you get a phone call.

11. "Picture pinching" or using two fingers to zoom on any content is

certainly fun to play with, but not practical whatsoever. This

operation depends solely on using the device with two hands.

12. No document editor or native viewer. You can not store documents

on the device to be viewed, they can only be viewed as attachments

when they're sent to your in an email.

13. Visual voicemail is laggy and reacts about the same way as pushing

the fast forward and rewind buttons on traditional voicemail systems.

The only advantage is for those that get that many voicemail messages

a day that they need to sort them according to priority.

14. NO games. None.

15. No voice dialing.

16. No speed dialing (which can be made up by the "quick list", but

getting to that quick list isn't as fast as holding a single key on a

real keypad).

17. No MMS.

18. It's still <4GB for $500 and <8GB for $600

19. It only takes around 2 hours to explore every menu without any

options for expandability except to scrounge around for new web apps

that will load slowly and nowhere near as smoothly as the native apps.

In addition to my friends points above, I will add this; Your paying for a phone that has the technology from two years ago..

1a. You want broadband 3G network on your iPhone? Sorry doesn't have it. Every other smartphone out there has come with 3G broadband connections for over a year now. So unless your near a WLAN, expect 2001 narrowband speeds.

2a. Battery not removable, if the battery dies you must send in your phone to Apple to have the battery replaced for $80.

Tmobile, and Sprint offer a smart phone that dunks the iPhone on every front, except it's not a trendy apple (The Wing for Tmobile, and The Mogul for Sprint). Verizon while having in my opinion the best service, lacks hardcore in the phone sector.. but then again that's because Verzion dosen't trust their customers and locks most features out of their phones.

[houstonmacbro]

So don't buy it ... I am so surprised how so many people have negative things to say about the device.

It is by most accounts, one of the most sophisticated devices on the planet, but yet everyone finds fault in it.

[editor]

1. Bluetooth is ONLY good for connecting a headset. That's it.

This is correct -- for now. What a lot of Windows people don't understand is that Apple has a long history of upgrading products that they've already sold. It's one of the reasons that it connects through iTunes -- so it can be upgraded. Apple has released DOZENS and DOZENS of upgrades for even its oldest iPods (I know because I have the original) and Apple adds new features all the time. There's no reason to believe this won't happen with the iPhone, and I fully expect the Bluetooth capability will be expanded.

2. There is no file browser on the device at all. Data must be

organized (if at all) in the appropriate application.

No surprise there. This isn't MS-DOS, it's a Mac. You organize your files with iTunes. That's the point -- to make it simple enough for everyone to use instead of one of these "smart" phones that most people can't figure out.

3. The camera is a simple application that has ONE button: the

shutter. Pictures come out okay on the device, but nothing too fancy

on a monitor, especially if it was an attempt at a macro shot.

The camera does seem oversimplified, but I expect new features will be added to it in the future, much like Apple added to its iSight cameras.

4. SIM card is damn near impossible to open, if at all. I didn't look

into it extensively.

You're not supposed to open the SIM tray. It's meant to stay closed all the time. It took me an hour to pry the SIM card tray open on my SonyEricsson M600i. Most modern phones are like that. Many times they're completely buried under the battery. You need a special tool to take the oil filter off your car, and you need to change your oil more times than you need to open your SIM tray.

5. Web browser is slow, even over WLAN. Even the simple OneList web

app that was created takes around 20 seconds to load over WLAN. You

can not highlight, cut, copy, or paste and text from a website, and

you can not save any images you find from a website either. The only

nice thing about it is the tabbed browsing, which crashed on me when I

went to Engadget and YouTube on two tabs. This is the only application

that allows you to use the keyboard in landscape mode.

Absolutely untrue. I've done speed tests on my Wifi at home and it's nearly as fast as my laptop. Your poster either has a crappy connection or is making stuff up.

Copy/Paste is something that is lacking, but again -- expect an upgrade. There's also the possibility that it's already there. Apple has a history of including things and not telling people; they just have to be discovered, like the way the New York Times discovered how to type a period without going to the punctuation menu.

6. The keyboard sucks. It gets slightly better after the iPhone

"learns" you, as the employees said, but even then, it's not a device

you can use with one hand comfortably, much less without looking.

The keyboard is fabulous. It doesn't "learn" the user like Jot or the other handwriting recognition programs. It's much more advanced than that.

You are correct, it is not comfortable to type with one hand on an iPhone. Neither is it on the SE M600i, or my boss' Blackberry. What's your point? And if you're looking at the letters while you're typing, then you're doing it wrong.

7. You can only send one picture at a time in an email.

Don't know about this. Haven't tried.

8. No custom ringtones (yet, as we were being told) and the alert

tones can not be changed whatsoever.

This is coming. The updated iTunes screenshots have already been leaked. Also, Apple never promised that you could have custom ringtones. Whenever asked, that was denied. But the iTunes interface for ringtones is sweet. It displays the whole song and you can scrub through it to pick your favorite 30 seconds.

9. The default ringtones are incredibly lame.

Strangely, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reviewers both raved about the default ringtones. But then, the iPhone isn't designed to appeal to the "Baby Got Back" ringtone crowd.

10. The only form of customization outside of a lame default ringtone

is the wallpaper, which you'll only see when you need to unlock the

device or when you get a phone call.

Same as with my SonyEricsson. Were you expecting to read e-mails and surf the web with a picture in the background? That makes no sense.

11. "Picture pinching" or using two fingers to zoom on any content is

certainly fun to play with, but not practical whatsoever. This

operation depends solely on using the device with two hands.

Again, this may be a problem Windows people have adapting to a Mac world. I find pinching very intuitive.

12. No document editor or native viewer. You can not store documents

on the device to be viewed, they can only be viewed as attachments

when they're sent to your in an email.

You are correct, the iPhone is not designed to be a document repository. If you need that functionality, get a Google Apps account. It's free and specifically designed to work with the iPhone.

13. Visual voicemail is laggy and reacts about the same way as pushing

the fast forward and rewind buttons on traditional voicemail systems.

The only advantage is for those that get that many voicemail messages

a day that they need to sort them according to priority.

Don't know about this, as my wife hasn't gotten any voice mail yet.

14. NO games. None.

I, too, was surprised that the iPod games don't work on the iPhone. But maybe in the future. At least you can play some web-based games, if you're into that.

15. No voice dialing.

Surprising, considering that OS X has very capable built-in speech recognition. I'd add this to the list of things that may be added in a free upgrade.

But then again, I've never been able to get voice dailing to work on any of my last five phones.

16. No speed dialing (which can be made up by the "quick list", but

getting to that quick list isn't as fast as holding a single key on a

real keypad).

Nit picking. It's dumb to complain that you can't hold down a button when there are no buttons to hold down.

17. No MMS.

Does anyone use MMS besides 12-year-old girls? That's not who the iPhone is for. Apple knows very well who its target market is and consistently wins praise for how well it targets it. People who pay $600 for an iPhone are not sending MMS. And why would you when you have a full-blown e-mail program that can send REAL pictures, and not little 32x32 animated GIFs?

18. It's still <4GB for $500 and <8GB for $600

I don't see the problem. If you can't afford it, don't buy it. No one is forcing you.

It should also be noted that that's the same price as the original iPod. Apple establishes price points and then upgrades features at those price points. It's been doing it for years.

19. It only takes around 2 hours to explore every menu without any

options for expandability except to scrounge around for new web apps

that will load slowly and nowhere near as smoothly as the native apps.

I think it takes a lot less time than two hours to explore the menus. Probably closer to 15 minutes. The fact that your friend finds this to be a liability shows he doesn't understand the Mac world. Fewer menus is a GOOD thing; it's called "usability." If your friend finds this a liability, he's off his feed.

In addition to my friends points above, I will add this; Your paying for a phone that has the technology from two years ago..

1a. You want broadband 3G network on your iPhone? Sorry doesn't have it. Every other smartphone out there has come with 3G broadband connections for over a year now. So unless your near a WLAN, expect 2001 narrowband speeds.

EDGE was introduced in the United States in 2003. It runs up to 470 kbps. I'm not sure what you mean by saying it runs at "2001 narrowband speeds." "Narrowband" isn't even a telecommunications term. Are you trying to say "dialup?" If so, you're more wrong that you know. Dialup's maximum speed is 56 kbps, so EDGE is 8x faster. It also has the advantage of working in most of the country, whereas most 3G services do not (technically, the ITU does classify EDGE as 3G, but just barely). As stated by Steve Jobs, the reason 3G was left off was because the chips are power hogs right now. I'd rather be able to TALK to people on a phone for a couple of more hours than surf the internet for less time.

2a. Battery not removable, if the battery dies you must send in your phone to Apple to have the battery replaced for $80.

Which is about the same price as an OEM smartphone battery. So, what's the problem? It's the same deal Apple has offered for its iPods for years now. Why is this a surprise?

Based in this list of fairly minor points, I would say that your user doesn't have an iPhone, and probably has never used one. All of these points are tiny little problems compared to the major flaws with virtually every other smartphone. If these are the worst things you can say about the iPhone, then it's already better than most everything on the market.

Tmobile, and Sprint offer a smart phone that dunks the iPhone on every front, except it's not a trendy apple (The Wing for Tmobile, and The Mogul for Sprint). Verizon while having in my opinion the best service, lacks hardcore in the phone sector.. but then again that's because Verzion dosen't trust their customers and locks most features out of their phones.

Verizon and T-Mobile were both offered the iPhone, and they turned it down. Now they're kicking themselves so much so that T-Mobile has signed on to be the iPhone carrier in Germany.

Sprint Mogul: Slightly less tall and wide, but significantly deeper than the iPhone. Only has 64 megs of RAM, compared to the iPhone's 8 gigs. Doesn't work outside of Sprint's very limited coverage area (looks like people in Wisconsin have the best coverage.) Data is over 1xRTT (which maxes out at 144 kbps -- one third the speed of EDGE) or Rev.0 (which runs 400-700 kbps -- just slightly faster than EDGE). Talk time is 4 hours, compared with 8 hours on iPhone. Screen is only 2.8 inches at 320x240 compared to the iPhone's 3.5 inch screen at 320x480.

The T-Mobile Wing is the EDGE version of the Mogul, so it runs on the same EDGE technology as the iPhone. But at least it works in other countries, just like the iPhone.

So... you recommend the Sprint Mogul or Wing, which are larger, have half the battery life, a smaller screen, almost the same data speed? How exactly do these phones "dunk" the iPhone?

[Subdude]

Quite the extensive laundry list of nit-picking. The iphone isn't meant to be everything in the world, any more than any other phone. It is to be expected there will be a number of compromises, just like in any product. For me, I wasn't terribly worried about browsing speed so it wasn't a big consideration. I spend way too much of my life in front of a computer to begin with, so I don't get the shakes if I have to go a few hours without it. If it doesn't meet your needs, don't get the thing, but that doesn't mean it is a flawed product because it doesn't fulfill your every dream.

13. Visual voicemail is laggy and reacts about the same way as pushing

the fast forward and rewind buttons on traditional voicemail systems.

The only advantage is for those that get that many voicemail messages

a day that they need to sort them according to priority.

The visual voicemail is great and very convenient. I don't know what he means about it being laggy.

9. The default ringtones are incredibly lame.

I would say they are better than on most phones, certainly better quality tone. But then again I've only changed it once. I'll play with the tones some more when the custom ringtone feature is available.

4. SIM card is damn near impossible to open, if at all. I didn't look

into it extensively.

Why do you even need to open the sim card?

6. The keyboard sucks. It gets slightly better after the iPhone

"learns" you, as the employees said, but even then, it's not a device

you can use with one hand comfortably, much less without looking.

I agree with editor the keyboard is great. For me, it is more intuitive to use it with one finger instead of two thumbs, but I guess we are all wired differently on things like that.

11. "Picture pinching" or using two fingers to zoom on any content is

certainly fun to play with, but not practical whatsoever. This

operation depends solely on using the device with two hands.

Duh. It is practical because you use it to make text large enough to read easily. Yes, you need two hands, if you want to hold the device with one and pinch or type with the other. Why is this a problem?

15. No voice dialing.

Good. It's annoying.

[Trae]

Don't shoot the messenger. I was just posting up another review by someone else.

[Subdude]

Don't shoot the messenger. I was just posting up another review by someone else.

Nobody meant to attack you. It was clear that it was someone else's review.

See how civil we are?

[Mark F. Barnes]

Bought the wife the 8 gig, she's in Love!