Re: FYI: DON'T BUY AN iPHONE

Ian beat me to it, I'll just chime in that carrier coverage is a
personal experience, dependent on where you spend your time.
Cell carrier customer service is an oxymoron. Let's not go there.

That said, EDGE is acknowledged as pretty slow, and not great coverage
wise, although it is more available than wifi. There are persistent
rumors of a true 3G version in the works at least for Europe, which may
be worth waiting for if we get it too, on the general premise of
better/cheaper/faster/next year. And I would like them to double the
memory as well first.

However if you use the wifi option your network speeds will be higher
(than true 3G as well), which then make EDGE less of an issue. Granted,
that's as long as you are close enough to an access point, the inverse
square law applies to Wifi too. Coverage on campus is getting pretty
good, and improving all the time.

(hey, anybody used this thing on AirBears yet? Would love to hear about
it if so).

Another point is that it is DRM'ed. This actually bothers me more than
the lack of true 3G wireless (i.e. EVDO or better), although not quite
as much as the exorbitant rates the data plans charge. Were I to use
it, I'd use wifi only for browsing to avoid the data charges and/or the
$60/mo unlimited plan.

I'm suspending judgment until I try it myself, but I'm also going to
wait until my current phone dies before spending that kind of cash.
Hopefully by then the 2nd rev will be out.

-- 
Jay Bryon
Senior Network Engineer, U.C. Berkeley/IST/IS/NSO 
jay_at_berkeley.edu
2-5636
"Any idiot can be complex, it takes real genius to be simple"
-Al Einstein
[Unless stated explicitly otherwise, all opinions are my own (or Al's) and do not represent official policy of any part of IST, U.C. Berkeley or the U.C. Regents.]  
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