I just tried the iPhone for the first time. I have to say it’d take a lot of getting used to, and I don’t know if I could.

My issues:

1. In Safari, many pages start out in this small, unreadable form, and has to be zoomed in to read. Is there a way to start at a different zoom level? Or do I have to zoom in and out a thousand times a day? My Treo is far from a perfect browsing platform, but at least I can read text immediately.

2. Four times in the ten or fifteen minutes I tried it, Safari exited to the home screen while I was either browsing or typing in an address to go to next. My fingers weren’t near the home button when this happened.

3. People with short, thick fingers might not be ideal iPhone owners.

4. Many apps didn’t switch between portrait and landscape, including the home screen and Google Maps. Will there only be a few pivoting apps?

There are things I like about the iPhone, most of all the screen. But I would like a lot more customization allowed before I’d put down my $600…

I hate telephones.  I have a cell because I don’t have a land line, but the cell I have is a twenty buck Go phone.  It does all I need from a phone.  I talk on it (as infrequently as I can).  It tells me that the person who’s calling is a stranger so I can avoid answering.  People can leave me messages so I can choose to answer or not.

What more would one want from a phone? 

I selected “ASAP”, which in my case means “in the next two or three revisions”…

!

If it worked on a fast network, like Sprint, yep I’d have one tomorrow.

[quote author=“LaurieF”]I selected “ASAP”, which in my case means “in the next two or three revisions”…

!

At least those of us in developed nations will be able to use it on, as one might reasonably expect, a reliable, high-speed network. Unlike those in backwards countries such as the U.S. where….

Oh, hang on. The U.S. put a man on the moon. The U.S. maintains the only aircraft carrier fleet among any of the world’s navies (emphasis on fleet). The U.S. is full of clever people. But by many accounts, including my own experience, the U.S. has the worst telephone system on the planet. What’s up with that?

So, I’m with you, LF, who like the rest of us in the southern half of the eastern hemisphere, will have to wait. But we get the last laugh, right? ‘Cos by the time we get to buy an iPhone it will not only be revved with heaps of really cool improvements and feature additions/enhancements but we’ll be hooked up with a 21st century network.

Sweet.

Anyhow, I’m so over the iPhone.

I have yet to touch an iPhone, I live in the UK and they are not currently available. When they are I will be first in line. I am a glass half full kind of person and from what I have seen I have no reason not to be. Some people don’t like the iPhone, but some people believe they are allergic to oxygen. Perhaps it won’t live up to my expectations, but I will still find out ASAP.

Oh, hang on. The U.S. put a man on the moon. The U.S. maintains the only aircraft carrier fleet among any of the world’s navies (emphasis on fleet). The U.S. is full of clever people. But by many accounts, including my own experience, the U.S. has the worst telephone system on the planet. What’s up with that?

Let’s not forget that a large part of the U.S. population can either pay a greedy cable company $50+ per month for maybe 5mb internet access, or they can use dial-up. There is DSL, but it’s hard to get in most places, no house I’ve ever lived in has   qualified for DSL, and I live in the most urban county of my area.

I don’t know about Australia, but in many Asian countries they’re charging ~$15/mo. for decent DSL service.

I don’t know what’s wrong with the U.S. in this regard. Our GSM speeds suck, as well.

[quote author=“yakirz”]Let’s not forget that a large part of the U.S. population can either pay a greedy cable company $50+ per month for maybe 5mb internet access, or they can use dial-up. There is DSL, but it’s hard to get in most places, no house I’ve ever lived in has   qualified for DSL, and I live in the most urban county of my area.

Serious? Over here one can get 25 mbps for 50$ a month…

[quote author=“macinnerd”]
Serious? Over here one can get 25 mbps for 50$ a month…

Unfortunately so, at least where I live (Augusta, Georgia). I live in a city of 500,000 and can get cable or nothing. Cable internet by itself is about $40-$60, and if you want cable TV bundled with it, it starts at about $89.95/mo. When I had it a couple years ago, with a couple pay channels, it was over $100/mo.

I actually don’t know anyone who can get DSL. My office downtown can, but that’s about four miles from my house.

It’s ridiculous!

I love my iPhone, and I use many of its features. I think it’s the best cell phone on the market in terms of usability (need voice dialing!), hands down.

If you need the features the device offers (I personally do), it’s a good buy. If not, then you must judge its value as a cell phone. If you like the idea of easily browseable contacts, visual voice mail, etc., that value may be there for you.

Otherwise…

[quote author=“macinnerd”][quote author=“yakirz”]Let’s not forget that a large part of the U.S. population can either pay a greedy cable company $50+ per month for maybe 5mb internet access, or they can use dial-up. There is DSL, but it’s hard to get in most places, no house I’ve ever lived in has   qualified for DSL, and I live in the most urban county of my area.

Serious? Over here one can get 25 mbps for 50$ a month…

FYI, in Oz, I’m paying AUD$60 a month for a 20GB per month at 24Mbps.

Asian countries do offer cheaper access plans but that’s mainly a result of population metrics and (relatively) fresh network rollouts.

[quote author=“yoyo52”]I hate telephones.  I have a cell because I don’t have a land line, but the cell I have is a twenty buck Go phone.  It does all I need from a phone.

I agree 100%. I voted “Not if it flew off the shelf and into my hands.” for that exact reason. I have a color iPod for music and pix. I have a cell phone that I try not to use any more than I have to. I’d rather put the $$$ toward my next Mac. So don’t expect me to be in line when they get to Canada.

That definitely makes sense to me, GeoDuck.  There are a lot of folks who simply don’t need the iPhone.

I told four mainstream reporters the week before the iPhone came out that there would always be room in the market for low-end phones, and that’s because that’s all a lot of folks want or need.

I got my iPhone on the day they came out.  After years of Treos and motorolas, I am delighted. While not perfect, it is certainly the best cell phone, smartphone I’ve used.

Pretty cool device but, uhhhh

What a cool toy the iPhone is!!  Of course with no voice dial, and other things that will be fixed in revisions that will cost less….I’m in no rush to plunk down 6 bills on a Version 1 toy. 
  I’m not a big A,T&T fan either, didn’t we bust that monopoly up a few years ago only to see them regain the monopoly??
  I use a cell phone for “backup” mostly, hence I pay $7 a month for Virgin Mobile pay as you go, and the phone is nice…games, downloadable ringtones, color screen etc. It remains to be seen how efficient cost wise and functionality wise all those features of the iPhone will be in a year or two, especially if the iPod gets some of that OS X functionality.
  Maybe I’ll wait for the iPhoneShuffle if you know what I mean.
I think Apple woke up some sleeping giants with this iPhone, it will be important to Apple to keep ahead of the competition, and you know there will be some good competition in a year or so, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the big picture. I’ll bet the Apple Faithful aren’t as tied into the iPhone as they (we) are to Apple’s computers and iPod….........yet.

In the Bay Area, AT&T rocks. There appear to be some major regional differences in the company’s coverage.

That said, AT&T is hardly a monopoly. It’s one of a half-dozen wireless carriers, and one of a dozen or more long distance companies. I don’t even think they offer any local service anymore, though even that is becoming increasingly less relevant.