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The iPhone. Oh my gosh, it’s here, it’s here! The hype on this thing is astounding.

I personally think it’s all pretty absurd. A phone for $600?! Does any normal person on the planet need a phone that costs $600 simply because it has a small hard drive ipod built in (as long as you have the $100 contract active!) and a touch screen?

There were people camped outside the AT&T store the day it came out to get their phone! Some local guy who basically begs for publicity started his ‘camp out’ at 6AM while the store was open (the store was open until 6PM, when they closed to ready the stuff, then reopened into the night.) Can I offer you a life, sir?

From what I’m reading, it will cost nearly $100 to replace the battery if you need to (you have to send it to Apple and pay a large fee and shipping charges.) Sounds good for the phone that is over half a grand!

Seems you also have to backup all of your data before shipping it out to Apple. Heaven forbid the $600 phone actually backup the data itself! That and all of this means you will be without a phone for 3-5 days! Wait, where’s my $600 phone?

I should mention, my phone (the samsung t-509) works just fine. It makes calls, sends texts, has various ringtones, alarms, calendar options, net access, a camera, a voice recorder, etc. It was free with my 1 year contract. The phone plan with unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited calling within my 5faves, and 400 monthly text messages is $50. That is too much for what you get in my view to begin with. Net access is an extra $20 a month, I think. Pricey in my book, but nothing close to what you will pay for the iPhone for some added, and somewhat useless bonus features.

Then there’s the cancellation fee of $185 according to the Boston Globe.

The top tier plan, from what I can figure from researching the issue, is $220. The complaint many seem to have with this is that even at this price, you don’t get unlimited text messaging. You pay $220 for unlimted internet and phone, but only 200 text messages! For extra texts, you have to pay at least $20 for only 200 more messages. $40 more a month for unlimited. Unlimited texting from tmobile is $15, just to compare.

If you wanted an internet PC, this might make sense. Well, probably not even then…as my cable connection running at over 10Mbps download is only $39 a month! Even after the higher price- you have to deal with the issue that iPhone runs on the EDGE network. It’s old, and it’s very slow.

Here are some complaints from various media outlets who say using the iPhone to get online makes them yearn for a dial up connection!

When it comes to basic features, the iPhone is missing some rudimentary options. You cannot even send pictures via texting. This has to be done via E-Mail. Remember, this is a $600 phone that can’t do with most free phones (free with a 1 yr contract) can do with ease.

I’m just not seeing the appeal here. At all.

Now, I’m all for new tech. I’m all for new features added to old tech that can make things better and easier or both. I don’t see how the iPhone can do that…and especially not at this absurd price. The phone itself costs way too much. The plans cost way too much. The internet speed (which is the only thing this phone seems really good at- connecting to the net in a nice format with unlimited data) is slow as a snail.

Hopefully most people will have the sense to blow past the hype and wait for a device that doesn’t literally cost an arm and a leg. I’m sure Apple will take body parts in lieu of payment, right?

HERE ARE MORE ISSUES from the site engadgetmobile

The mobile version of OS X or whatever it is the iPhone runs takes up 700MB of the device’s capacity. Damn son!

There’s no way to cut, copy, or paste text! WHOA! Big, big mistake.

No A2DP support. That, friends, is such a huge bummer right there.

Sorry, music can’t be used as a ringtone — even if it’s just a raw MP3. No additional ringtones will be sold at launch.

Adobe Flash support is officially out. It’s just not in the browser. Neither is there any other kind of embedded video support. Sorry everybody, that’s that.

It will take snaps, but won’t record video. How can Apple love YouTube as much as it does and not realize cellphone-shot movies make up a sizeable chunk of the crazy crap you find on there?