Community poll forum: The iPhone is here at last. What feature stands out for you?

The only ones saying "blah, it's just a phone" haven't seen it yet. In one fell swoop, this device has redefined both cell phone and mobile internet appliance interfaces (to say nothing of the iPod interface).

As always, the typical humbleness and coherence one would come to expect coming from Apple fanboys: if you say anything bad about an Apple product, regardless of how true it is, either you haven't tried it yet or you're an idiot, because Apple products are perfect. What's redifining in a touchscreen that's what I'd love to know.

and yet another way to get people to spend money they don't have on gadgets they don't need.

Yes it is just phone and the last time I looked 42% of respondents agreed. How is this gadget gonna make my quality of life better??? I would suggest that anyone buying one has a lot of money and/or they believe they will look really really cool. (I'm probably just an old bloke!!) I'm sure my children would like one each tho....no chance!

Bet they said that about the abacus (As they were stomping their foot on the ground to count!!). Ur... No disrespect intended.I just see the development as more than "just a gadget".

Big deal another phone. Until it can dial for me the phone number that I'm thinking, who cares! I also need a phone that sounds like the person is standing next to me. Good luck!

Being in love with the iPhone doesn't mean that you're a geek, only that you're a gadget-addict. This everything-but-the-kitchen-sink gadget is just one more demonstration of how low Western culture has dipped recently. It would have been perfectly fine had it omitted the iPod module. Who needs a phone that plays mp3s? Yeah, I like to listen to music sometimes, but only on a decent sound system or with decent headphones that won't destroy my eardrums. It makes me ill to see so many people walking, running, driving, riding, or doing anything with earbuds blasting their hearing away. It makes me ill to realize that so many contemporaries are incapable of living without being constantly entertained. They are sad people, just like the people who turn on their TV sets because they can't stand being alone and need the spurious sounds of the human voice to trick them into feeling that they aren't alone. And I expect that things will only get worse, not better, in the near future. But this is what the masses want, and when corporations give them what they want, they gobble up the candy like babies in Willie Wonka's chocolate factory would.

"Diversity" is a nonsense political term that has nothing to do with the marketplace. You shouldn't use words you don't understand.

As for anyone's "right to choose" what piece of equipment they want to buy, the only choices you can make are those the manufacturers and vendors give you. And those you can afford to make -- assuming that you actually have the free will to make a real choice to begin with.

If being constantly entertained by having digital sounds pumped directly at your eardrums makes you "happy", then you're not the kind of person whose advice I can take seriously. You're probably a charter member of "The Frivolous Generation", a digital-dope (as in "drug", not the intellectually challenged dwarf from Disney's Snow White) processor zoned out and iTuned-in to the soothing digital flow of cash from your wallet to corporate coffers for the privilege of escaping the realities of boring everyday life, and a soma-holiday addict. That's just the kind of person mp3 players with telephone modules are made for. That's reality.

It's not a matter of "taste for entertainment" but the need to be constantly entertained that I'm critiquing, and the willingness of rich consumers to pony up so much cash -- more than a lot of the people in the third world earn a month or even a year -- for a toy.

As someone else mentioned, how long will the battery last if you're listening to music all day long between phone calls and web-surfing? A cell phone, and especially a smart cell phone, is supposed to be functional piece of business equipment, not an adjunct to an mp3 player. I'd be interested in the iPhone if it really were a smart phone instead of an overpriced obese iPod.

Nice post :thumbsup:

I've read lots articles recently on this phone... in three articles, the writers said it is NOT true OSX, much less FULL-FLEGED OSX, in the iPhone which it won't be called for long since Cisco owns that name.

At $499 and $599 for the expanded RAM model, it is for the well-to-do crowd. The favorite price point for a phone is $100. Only those who think Jobs is a god will open their wallets.

And, with all the glitz, what will battery life be?

Don't forget that it's OS X!

As soon as someone can write an app. that can read your mind, it can likely be added onto this phone!

I know I wouldn't use it, though, since I probably don't know anybody that you're thinking of.

Lets face it this thing is going to be in every movie and magazine for the next year. We will see celebrity's and tech pundits everywhere showing theirs off. The new hotness will have these affixed to their bodies and the majority of people in America will want one.

That aside its not the most technically superior phone to have ever been devised, its simply the most elegant and user friendly phone with advanced technical capabilities. I for one am interested in it because my experience with Apple products has been phenomenal! Their customer support speaks much more about their products than anything else they offer.

Its just a phone. Just because its from Apple, the "maker of superior stuff to everyone else" doesn't mean it is the best. Besides, what good is a full-fledged Mac OS X on a phone...

but it's an iPod phone. I'm in the market for a smart phone right now, so I have nothing against functional gadgets myself, but I do have a problem with the whole iPod and the I-can't-live-without-listening-to-MY-music-even-if-it-annoys-the-hell-out-of-everybody-else idea that fuels it. Instead of thinking "How can I entertain myself and satisfy my own interests without keeping the neighbors awake?", this kind of masturbatory technology encourages the Stepford-like "Won't you entertain me and keep me from being bored?" attitude more and more people seem to have these days. I'm not against having a small handheld computer with OSX--I'd even prefer that to WinCE and other proprietary OSs. But I don't want to pay for an iPod. Doesn't it irk the hell out of you that to download QuickTime you now also have to download iTunes whether you want to or not? It really ticks me off.