iPhone has become the new de facto standard of cell phone. Almost everyone I know who bought a new cell phone since iPhone 3G released got an iPhone. I estimate over half of my friends is already a iPhone user. I am pretty late to the iPhone bandwagon. Actually, I am not really part of the iPhone crowd, the new iPhone belongs to Pat. Her old cell phone dropped in water and totaled. Given the popularity of iPhone, it is quite obvious which phone I should buy her as replacement.
I spent the night setting up her new iPhone. I am never a fans of Apple, but I must praise its elegance. The iPhone is well integrated with iTune, the user interface is intuitive and easy to use. The only hassle I had is calling up Fido customer service to disable the data service in the cell phone plan. It took me awhile to get the customer service agent do exactly what I asked. Pat is using a very cheap $17 monthly plan that does not come with any data package. Data is charged per kbyte, so monthly bill would be quite expensive if Pat turned on iPhone’s 3G data features by accident. It is safer to disable all data services from the carrier side. Pat can still go online with her iPhone using Wi-Fi, just like go online with a laptop.
The iPhone is as powerful as a mini-computer. Probably more powerful than the first laptop I own many years ago. The phone is also a very good deal, the 16GB version only costs $199 after rebate. The cost of the iPhone is heavy subsidized by carrier. The carrier’s plan to turn a profit is using the lucrative data plan come with the contract, which costs $30 a month plus surcharge if the bandwidth usage is over the limit. It is more economical to stay away from the 3G data plan, use iPhone as a phone, a mp3 player and only use its online features at coffee shop with free Wi-Fi. I wonder why people pay extra for the data plan. How often do you need to go online while on move? I don’t think I can surf the web and driving at the same time. If you want to check up something quick, there are Wi-Fi coffee shop every where.
once you start using an iphone, getting online while on the move will feel so natural you’d wonder why you weren’t doing it earlier……i’m traveling today and on a rough estimate, i’d be checking email every 15 minutes and news every 30 min-1hr, when i get the opportunity to do so. the feeling of “connectedness” is really empowering……even my wife, who’s avoided “smartphones” like a plague, finally got herself a white iphone and is loving it
so yeah, i strongly recommend that you get an iphone yourself, and get on a data plan 🙂
Wi-fi在你那邊普遍嗎?若用iphone但沒得上網,好像有所缺失的。
Have fun with your (OK, Pat’s) iPhone. I will likely wait till my LG quit on me and when iPhone comes free with a contract before I get an iPhone.
My friend has an iPod Touch in HK, and before of HK’s extensive and FREE Wi-Fi coverage in shopping malls and many places, surfing web is great in HK. But here in Rob-nada, there is no way I will use one with a data plan unless if some rich unrelated person is paying for it (I will even discourage my company from paying for my plan if I am also an investor of the company).
Have fun and share your iPhone adventure will you?
uncleray: yeap. there are free wi-fi hot spot every where.
tzigane: Is the feeling of connectedness really necessary? It seems more like an addiction or compulsive behavior.
Horace, I agree with you. I don’t want to stay connected (meaning, I don’t want to have email access all the time). For me, if you really want to get to me, just call me. Email means you can wait. In the new generation, people don’t talk to each other verbally. Connectedness via email becomes necessary. I am old cake.
kempton: The data plan is so expensive, but iPhone is a pretty good deal without a data plan.
michael: I remembered I used to check email every 30 minutes in university. Now I only check email 2 or 3 times a day. Email is not mean to reply at once, it’s good enough if you reply within a couple of days. Chat in real time is what IM is for.
once you’ve experienced it, the feeling of connectedness really is necessary. you probably can live without it, but the ability to look things up anywhere, anytime is so great you’ll come to expect that. i mean, having the biggest repository of information at your fingertips can’t be bad, right?
But paying $30 per month is bad wor. How much internet I have to use to justify that $30.