So i can see a bit why it’s neat but I can’t get excited about the overhead cost behind it.

Right now, tactile feedback means I can make calls and SMS without looking at my phone. To equal that on multitouch would be a heck of a technical feat.

It simply won’t work with SMS-crazy people, which makes up a vast majority of phone-using people.

Unless of course, your idol/god/hero has some tricks up his sleeve which I can’t even imagine (read: not. possible. ever. unless he’s really god.) that is better than the current SMS system (ooh plasticky keys) we use.

Also, where I come from we have a flood of the cool “smartphones”/PDA phones mostly from the pacific rim. All of them are expensive. More expensive than the iPhone. Most/all of them are crap, because of the operating system they work on (windows mobile). All of them are more expensive than this price point, and feature much less. There are some people who are willing to drop ‘that kind of money’ on a phone (lots of them in Asia, and they do that once every month!). There are some who aren’t.

The potential of the iPhone’s OS, even if nobody has held or used it before, even at this stage seems worlds apart (in a good way) from the existing solutions. Anybody who has used these existing solutions can be absolved from the fanboyism, simply because they sucked so bad and maybe this is a good alternative. It’s not salvation, but I’m hoping it comes close. I never want to come close to another badly designed phone UI again.

Featuring one of the best iPods ever made � this phone is a true convergence device, unlike the other half-assed efforts by other manufacturers which tried to be all things to all people, but did none very well.

“OMFG I want one” ââ�¬â�� even before seeing the device up close ââ�¬â�� will probably ring louder in Asia, given how we’re all nuts about our cellphones. And unfortunately, I happen to be one of them.

1. Too expensive. Call me old fashioned, but its a Phone + partial PDA. I’m not about to go drop that kind of money on a phone… “smart” or not.

2. Locked. I’m not moving to Cingular. At the price of the device, it needs to be an unlocked phone that can work with more than one carrier. I’m so sick and tired of phone + carrier cartels, not to mention long term contracts.

3. Durability unseen. I’m still pissed that I bought a Nano when they came out, which was scratched about 3 seconds after I got it out of the box. Apple might be able to make nice looking gear, but they aren’t always practical about it. Let me see one of these in a year, after its been rattling around in someone’s backpack or pocket, and had a half-dozen software updates on it.

4. It comes from Apple. The sheer fact that you call Jobs “god” is a good bullet point to this. Apple products, while stylish, are also overpriced and NOT open. A lot of people in the geek world bemoan DRM and bemoan closed source and all of the other “bad karma” practices in the industry, and then turn around and hand their hard earned cash over to the companies doing it. Battered Wife Syndrome if I’ve ever seen it.

Don’t get me wrong - I grew up and learned how to program on an Apple ][. (no E, no C, no +, just ][) If it weren't for Apple, I wouldn't be a programmer today. But, Steve Jobs is not "god". He isn't even close. He's a modern day P.T. Barnum, capable of putting on a great show and full of charisma - while he lines his pockets Western Capitalist style. At least with Bill Gates, some of my Windows money is funneling into World Causes…

The sheer fact that so many people are saying “OMFG I WANT ONE!!!!” before they’ve even held the device or seen it up close is really freaking amusing to me… Get a grip. Its a phone. Its not earthly salvation.

iPhone? i don’t think so.