Why I *still* won't be getting an iPhone

A year ago, when the first upgrade to the iPhone was released, (iPhone 3G), I posted 7 Reasons Why I Won't Be Buying An iPhone.

I'll summarize them here:

1. The 2-year contract.
   
2. There are better phones. (Here I talked about non-swappable battery, non-swappable SIM, no voice dialing, no MMS, no tethering.)
3. There are better pocketable internet devices. (No external storage, no copy & paste, no physical keyboard, no Flash, low-res screen.)
   
4. There are better media players. (Low-res screen, again, no stereo speakers)
   
5. There are better smartphones. (Keyboard again - copy and paste.)
   
6. There are better media phones. (See 4 + 2)
   
7. There are better GPS devices. (No turn-by-turn - not "true" GPS - no voice directions.)
   

Well, the 3Gs has been announced now, and some of my complaints have been addressed. Storage has been increased - up to 32GB is available, MMS has been added, turn-by-turn voice directions from someone who knows GPS devices (TomTom), Cut, Copy, & Paste is available throughout the device, Voice dialing - and voice commands - are built-in, non-jailbroken tethering is also possible in the new iPhone - but it's up to at&t to make that happen, and the landscape keyboard for the whole OS does a lot to answer my complaints against the lack of a physical keyboard.

Plus, for the better part of 2009, I've had an iPod Touch to get me used to and familiar with the power that these little guys offer. So, let's revisit the list.

1. The 2-year contract. I'll come back to this one.
   
2. There are better phones. While I can't say for certain the iPhone is the best phone in the world - most of my previous issues have been addressed. The Palm Pre comes to mind as a potentially "better phone" - and I still want easy, non-warranty-voiding access to the battery and sim card. But I'll scratch this item off the list... for now.
   
3. There are better pocketable internet devices. I'm still waiting for the Nokia N900 Internet Tablet and/or the Pandora vaporware handheld. And there are other devices like the UMID and a few of the smaller, cheaper UMPCs. But it's hard to ignore the popularity and ease of use of the iPhone. I'm keeping this one in the "Valid Arguements" list.
   
4. There are better media players. I'm not even close to being an iTunes fan. I'd rather load my PMP like an external hard drive. Syncing through some draconian propritary software is just plain stupid. That's why there is no music or video on my iPod Touch. Give me a $50 iClone that I can load with any and all of my content from any source at all anyday.
   
5. There are better smartphones. Again, Palm Pre's multi-tasking kick's the iPhone's butt. Plus there's Andriod and BlackBerry.... But the new iPhone has business-class encryption and other pro-professional features.... It's too close to call, so I'll take it off the list.
   
6. There are better media phones. I'd say any of Nokia's media phones are better. At least easier to sync (bleh - that word) and just as good in play back, etc. But Nokia's phones are several times more expensive - at least up front. I'll take it off the list to please the kool aid drinking fanboys.
   
7. There are better GPS devices. Let me say first that, yes, there are still better GPS devices. But assuming the new iPhone GPS works as advertised, I'd say that for a phone, this works more than good enough in the GPS department. Plus, the "Where's my iPhone" feature is just too cool for words. Scratch another item off the list.
   

Really, you could take off the whole list at this point, I'm pretty much sold that the iPhone 3Gs + iPhone OS 3.0 = the best currently available pocket device there is. Gaming, high quality video recording, voice controls, a compass, level, GPS, WiFi, BT, 3G, PMP... and I hear that it makes phone calls, too. :) It's really impossible to find anything better.

The only thing that's holding me back is item #1 - the 2-year contract. I'm too cheap (poor, whatever you want to call it) to pay $100 a month for phone service. If that wasn't an issue - I'd have an iPhone 3Gs on Day One. Hope your financial situation is better than mine so you can get one.