special report: what you need to know about the iPhone
We all know what an iPod is. Being at a big university all I see when I am walking from class to class is people hooked-up to their little white earphones. What an impact Apple has had on the market.
Last Friday, Apple released their glorious new iPhone and over the weekend over 500,000 700,000 units have been sold in Apple stores and AT&T stores. Half a million in not even three days! What is the iPhone exactly? The iPhone is an all inclusive video iPod, cell phone, web browser, email-checker, 2.0 megapixel camera, and more. It even has youtube.One of the coolest things the iPhone features is a huge a touch screen that you click using your fingers. Be advised, however, there are horror stories of people not being able to use the touch screen effectively (although the unit does correct some errors while typing). The iPhone does not supply you with any stylus, buttons, or keyboards; none of that is needed here.
Jump to find out what the iPhone does not have, some funny stories, and the coolest iPhone commercial.
What does the iPhone not have? The iPhone will not take video, have music ring tones, picture messaging, and games. It also does not have support for instant messaging, but of course there is already an application that does that for you.
Apple also states that the battery lasts for up to 8 hours of talking and 250 hours of standby time, but we all know how much these people lie. I say three hours of talk and 25 hours standby during the first week. If you have an iPhone post in the comments and show me how I am right.
One catch of this handy little thing is that you need to make a two-year contract with AT&T and pay an early termination fee if you decide to… terminate early. There are many pricing plans available. They range from 450 minutes ($59.99) to 6000 minutes (219.99), but I feel like the 900 minute plan for $79.99 would be perfect for me and many other college students. All these plans have unlimited data transfer, 200 SMS text messages, voicemail, unlimited night and weekend minutes, rollover, and AT&T mobile to mobile.Also important is the price of the unit which is $499 or $599 depending on if you want the 4GB or 8GB model.
Other things you should know: At this time there is a limit of one or two per customer so don’t do what one woman did–take out $100,000 from the bank and pay a kid $800 dollars for his spot as the first in line only to find out that you can only spend 600 bucks to buy one iPhone and sell that one on eBay (sounds almost like a bad Master Card commercial).
Do not be fooled by AT&T sales people trying to sell you iPhone accessories. Just go to an Apple store. They are much friendlier over there, and plus Apple stores look pretty damn cool anyways.
Now here is a video of my favorite iPhone commercial:
[youtube tH0-GKBmOE8 nolink]
Picture source: Eliya Selhub
Edit June 3, 2007: The iPhone actually sold 700,000 units over the weekend instead of the previously reported 500,000.
I have an iphone but it is not activated yet. ATT is giving me trouble. I can’t say thing about the battery life because I can’t use it until it is activated.
Chris: you have a type-o here on this line “mobile.Also important” and a mistake. I am getting the cheapest plan 450 min/$60 and you do not get unlimited nights and weekends like you said.
Thanks for putting this information up. This is EXACTLY what I