it was always going to be $199 us as a base mark ONTOP of a plan, no one bothered reading jobs paragraph AFTER that statement.

cheapest way is to be given a dealer demo ;)or 2

except for the camera sucks and it cant play MP3 ringtones and Apple appliances always break after 13 months

Grow up ELG.

As for mp3 ringtones;

http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2007/09/07/free-custom-ringtones-in-itunes-7-4/

I got mine outright (prepaid) through Optus. $729.

On the question of data, I have only used 6meg since Friday, which includes checking gmail every 15 minutes, surfing afl.com.au for the crows score all day yesterday, browsing hoops a few times and loading maps up 4 or 5 times. Even as a heavy user, I think 250mb is enough every month.

Yes, any website works. You can use meebo.com or web messenger for MSN, but since AIM has a messaging client for iPhone, you would expect MSN to be released soon also.

So you pay a premium for the Apple name, and a sub-par phone that has a bad camera and can't send MMS? I don't see what all the hype is about, i'd rather get the HTC Diamond that runs Windows Mobile and has all of the MSN messaging stuff built-in

Oh, Pugsley, you kill me........I'm a windows fan from WAY back, but the 2 worst products they have ever been involved with are Windows Mobile and Windows Activesync (which Ironically is theplatform Apple are using to make the iPhone work with exchange email).

There are a number of devices that beat the iPhone for everything EXCEPT the "I must have one" factor.

I'm going to wait a month more and go down the blackberry path.....seeing that we already have a blackberry server hooked up to our exhcange box. Plus they're ultra-reliable.

3G, Wi-fi, GPS, Great Email Client, QWERTY Keyboard, Serious Mutlimedia capable (using whichever MicroSD you want) MMS messaging, BB Messsaging service, Great camera, nice styling.....It's beautiful and I must have one.

http://www.blackberry.com/blackberrybold/

For those who like the touchscreen thing as well (I don't), there's a Blackberry Thunder to follow not long after which looks more like an iPhone with all the benefits of Blackberry.

I had a HTC Touch, it froze all the time and was generally a crap phone. The thing had to be sent to be repaired under warranty and then got lost by the repair centre.

HTC is a terrible company stay away from them and their products.

Add IMate and o2 devices to that as well.

Pretty much anything that runs Windows Mobile.

Crap product.

Wouldn't get a HTC touch, we have 3 here at work and i'm not a fan. No wireless is just silly for a phone like that. Other HTC phones have been fine

Not looking towards a blackberry, a personal preference thing, but the HTC Diamond or Touch Pro (Diamond with full slide out keyboard) seem to be the way to go

But that's all beside the point as he seems to want an iPhone

I don't think it's their official slogan, but Pugsley......

Once you go Black, you never go back!

I have an HP Ipaq, have had for 2 years ( i know, im sooo far behind the times)

As far as i can tell, has everything the iphone is offering and is more reliable and cheaper (ok a little heavy but what the hell)

phone
cam
mp3
gps
mms
storage card
touch screen and qwerty pad


Can someone tell me what is so good about the iphone.. should i be looking to move into 2008 or is it the typical "must have" gen Y bullsh*t

"Can someone tell me what is so good about the iphone"

It's PURTY!!!!

"is it the typical "must have" gen Y bullsh*t"

BINGO!

F&*ing Lemmings.

whats wrong with the camera on the iphone?

the image quality is actually pretty good. Obviously MP on a camera does not mean that picture quality is going to be better worse. Anyway for a mobile phone the camera is actually very responsive.

As for mms it is a bit of a bummer but an app should be released for this soon.

I am a person who changes mobiles like my underwear and have never found a mobile phone that has everything. To this day i can still say i have never had a mobile phone that has "everything" but the iphone3g is a good device.

In regards to the price i think it is very reasonable. I am on a $59 cap plan and pay and extra $2 a month as i opted for the 8GB model. This will give me $350 worth of calls/sms and 500MB of data. Since Friday I have been in lorne and used internet quite often... again I have not racked up more than 20MB of data considering i should aim for approx under 15MB a day.

I think outright the iphone is much cheaper than alot of mobile phones on opening day.

Anyway I am a few days in and still learning about this bad boy... so far so good.

the main downside I have encountered is it is slightly laggy when opening an app such as SMS or email.

as for the initial question; the cheapest way. I was about 70 ppl back in the queue at the melb collins street store. One of the first people to make the purchase was some young 20 something. HE took it out of the box and flaunted it to everyone in the line making smart @ss comments.

Decking him would have been the cheapest way to own one.

I saw a story on a guy in the US who did the same thing at one of the big apple store openings.

He dropped it......apparently the whole place just laughed at him.

dicko. the bold will rock, should have a beta one to use in a week fingers crossed.

but do a search for blackberry thunder which is coming out october, mite just be worth waiting till then for the new blackberry. most definetly iphone killer.

on the iphone my dealer demo is a elf, lol

Thomo, you may want to point out what elf means for all those playing at home...

elf = early life failure

Most phones have either a 14 or a 30 day early life failure. If something goes wrong within this period you can take your phone (and everything inside and outside the box) back to where you got it and you'll get a new one a day or 2 later.

What went wrong with your iphone thomo? Our demo one is still going and gets played with continually.

almost like a blue screen of death software "rebooted" and it didnt load up properly again.

Yeh I've heard of a few problems with the 2.0 software doing that. My ipod touch with 2.0 has done the same. It rebooted and just the apple logo was on screen for a good few minutes. Some people have said they needed to restore them. Interesting.

will be interesting to see tommorow as i have a phone hook up with optus tommorow and one of the discussions will be the faults

Thomo, so what do you actually do/work for? Optus in general or Optus World in specific? Where abouts do you work? Or do you work at Naylor House in the city? I work at a Telechoice but you'll catch me at every sixers game and any other event at the dome as I work there too.

Thomo,

Yes, I know about the Thunder but seriously have no interest in a touch screen keyboard. I use it WAY too much for email. I'm on call to the US and UK 24 x 5 so I email all day and half the night.

I'm MEANT to be on the early adpoter list for Bold, but it's still a few weeks away for me, since I'm a user early adpoter rather than a dealer.

I can't wait to get it to be honest, it looks like it's going to rock. And for business use, it can't be beat.

agreed dicko i have no need for touch screen, but the thunder for those who can take of the rose colored iphone glasses will see its a iphone killer pure and simple, actually you seen the blackberry kikstart, got to play with one of those at the retail conference in pt douglas, damn it was sweet not practical for a heavy blackberry user but great for the entry to mid range user


bold is the way to go, i would be lost with out my curve.

elf, when the season starts come find me and we can talk shop or beer :) .

one of the mods with my email could pass it onto you dont really want to discuss where i actually work in a public forum, allthough a few know.

Fair enough man, I'll see if I can source your email.

im sure one of the mods will pass it on, and im happy for it to be passed on guys.

I too, would be lost without my Curve, Thomo.

I'd be interested to swap an email or two.

You can get me at [email protected]

will do

I'm wiating to see a Samsung i900 Omnia, the first 'answer' to the iPhone.

Just not convinced that the way forward involves a full QWERTY button keyboard - waste of device space, IMO. Sharing that responsibility with a touchscreen is a smarter use of space, I reckon - I actually find that tapping out an email on the iPhone screen is quite quick.

The camera is, in anything other than ideal lighting conditions, pretty average though! I actually find the Photos app more useful when loaded up with other shots that can be shown to people.

The telcos really need to sort out data plans however - they're unnecessarily expensive and must hold back any number of technologies and applications.