Uhhh. iPhone?

Except that iphone is expensive and carrier locked to AT&T. If I were
paying full price I would get an unlocked gsm phone.

Dear Hans and Ryan,

I would be careful on getting the iPhone. Some rumors said that 30% of
the people who got it returned it after 10 days. I know bunch of my
coworkers returned it after using it for a week for several reasons. I
know iPhone looks great but do some research before you get it.
1- if you think of using it as an iPod as well it has only 8 GB built
in memory and you cannot add more.
2- As a camera it is 2-megapixel which for a new phone is not good at a all.

I have Sony Erickson K800i
http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=gb&lc=en&ver=4000&template=pip1&zone=pp&pid=10407

which I have for more than a year and it has memory card slot to expand
your memory and have multiple storage memory. Also, this phone has the
best camera ever Cyber-shot 3.2-megapixel(with flash). I never carry a
camera with me.

Compare the new iPhone features with a 1.5 year old Sony Erickson.
Most the iPhone consumers were non-technical savvy. They use to have
the phone that their network carrier give for free, and iPhone seemed
to be their milestone for the 3G phones. However, people who used G3
phones for a while still prefer BlackBerry phone.


It my point of view,and good luck for getting the right phone.

Ahmad

I am inclined to agree on this phone. I know two people that have it
that really like it.

As far as I know, the iPhone doesn't accept memory cards at all which I
think is totally crap (correct me if I am wrong about that). The Sony's
not only let you have memory sticks, but you can swap them without
removing the battery like you have to on some phones. The 4GB/8GB only
option with the iPhone is kinda bad designing.

They seem to actually like the media features. I mean, it's not iTunes,
but they weren't disappointed and they could put whatever they wanted on
by switching out the memory sticks.

The camera on the model Ahmad linked too looks really nice. Lots of
nice features, like most Sony cameras (if you overlook the two years
worth of LCDs that went bad).

I have a BlackBerry Pearl right now. I guess the Curve has a better
camera and a full QWERTY keyboard. I like my phone, but I don't use it
for media or anything, just email, text, and talking.

I also wish you luck. My opinion is that this version of the iPhone
isn't worth the money. It's going to take them a minute to get it right.

Depending on your requirements, the iPhone is actually quite nice. Within the past ~3 years before the iPhone I've used a blackberry (AT&T - they have/had the best international GSM roaming), Motorola mpx200 (Cingular), and a samsung t809 (tmobile). The iPhone actually works OK as a convergence device allowing you to listen to you music while checking your mail/RSS feeds and creates less of a bulge in your pants than many other devices. If you need a phone immediately, its worth checking out locally. There are AT&T stores on liberty and washtenaw. There's also a new apple store in briarwood. Keep in mind that I beleive the current policy for exisiting AT&T users is a 2 year extension of your contract. There arn't too many GSM providers in the US, so this may or may not be an issue for you if you're committed to GSM technology.

If you want everything except 3G (including GPS), look at the Nokia N and E series, particularly the N95, which is more media-based, and the E90, which is more business oriented. All of these phones can be purchased unlocked (usable with AT&T and T-Mobile), and you can play with them if you stop at the Nokia store in Chicago. All Nokia smartphones use the Symbian OS, which is fairly stable and reliable. If you want an unlocked Windows Mobile Smartphone, look at the HTC offerings (S720 and Touch).

The downside is that AT&T uses a different band for 3G than the rest of the world, so these phones won't work with AT&T's 3G network (you will be stuck with EDGE). To get a phone that works on AT&T's 3G network, you will have to purchase a phone from them. If you go that route, the 8525 (aka HTC TyTN) is probably your best bet. It does run Windows Mobile, which has quite a bit of software available, but in general is less stable than Symbian.