Wish granted: $399 after rebate.

(Don't buy it though - the manufacturer is in bankuptcy)

Heh...from that link:

STAY AWAY

Reviewed By: on 8/28/2007
Rating + 1Rating + 1Rating + 1Rating + 1Rating + 1
Tech Level: high - Ownership: less than 1 day

Pros: None
Cons: Stop working the next day. Doesn't even turn on. Astar says they cannot replace it or repair it, because their warehouse is closed by court order. Their accounts too, so no rebate either. STAY AWAY

7 out of 7 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Stopped working - ASTAR out of business

Reviewed By: Max_Neptune on 8/29/2007
Rating + 1Rating + 1Rating + 1Rating + 1Rating + 1
Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

Pros: Very cheap and nice looking.
Cons: VGA port stopped working after only 3 days in use. Called ASTAR, they claim that Phillips is taking legal action against them. ASTAR has filed chapter 11 bankruptcy and told me they cannot help me.
Other Thoughts: DO NOT BUY!!!!!

"If they told me at the outset the iPhone would be $200 cheaper the next day, I would have thought about it for a second - and still bought it," said Andrew Brin, a 47-year-old addiction therapist in Los Angeles. "It was $600 and that was the price I was willing to pay for it."

Technology does that. The original Intel 8080 sold for something like $4000 (in today’s money) in its first years. The microprocessor I built cost something like $10 in Radio Shack maybe seven years later.

iPhone price drop was rather faster than expected. However I have seen something equivalent (but less functions) from LC and supported on the Verizon system for much less than $600. Apple has competition. Apple will be offering rebates to some early iPhone purchasers.

Now the embarrassing question. Why do prescription drug prices violate market requirements that prices fall over the years? I cite one prescription skin cream that increased in price from $19 to $120 in maybe 15 years. A complete violation of what happens in tech industries.

Ah, yes.
The iPhone dropped in price.
But those out-of-area charges will kill ya...

------------------------------------------
Hewlett Harbor man racks up $4,800 iPhone bill

BY RICHARD J. DALTON, JR. | richard.dalton@newsday.com6:49 PM EDT, September 7, 2007

Jay Levy and his family took their iPhones on a Mediterranean cruise. Now the Hewlett Harbor entrepreneur feels as if he got taken for a ride, receiving a 54-page monthly bill of nearly $4,800 from AT&T Wireless.

While Levy, his wife and his daughter were enjoying the trip, and even while they were sleeping, their three iPhones were racking up a bill for data charges. The iPhone regularly updates e-mail, even while it's off, so that all the messages will be available when the user turns it on.

"They have periodic updates on their data files, and they translate into megabucks," Levy said. "This is akin to your bank having automatic access to your ATM machine and is siphoning money out during all times of the day and night without your knowledge."


Levy and his daughter each have three e-mail accounts on their iPhones, and they were each billed more than $1,900.

His wife's phone had one e-mail account, and her bill hit $890. One connection alone ran $223. Levy said he has complained all the way to office of AT&T's president.

Data transfers are not a problem domestically, where the AT&T Wireless plan includes unlimited data transfers for the iPhone.

But the iPhone's international plan in 29 countries, mostly in Europe, costs $24.99 for 20 megabytes. In countries outside the plan, charges can run from $5 to $20 per megabyte, said Ben Wilson, editor of iPhone Atlas, a Web site owned by the online news company CNet.

"It was a big surprise," Wilson said. "Consumers didn't expect that the charges were going to be so high and that the phone was going to be doing all this data transfer in the background that they weren't aware of."

Herbert Kliegerman, 68, a real-estate agent from the Bronx, said he incurred $2,000 while visiting Mexico. He filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status in New York State Supreme Court last week, alleging that Apple did not properly disclose the international roaming charges.

AT&T Wireless offered to refund $1,500 to Kliegerman, but he said that's not good enough. "I want a full refund," he said.

Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said the company adequately discloses the potential charges on the Web site and when the phone is activated.

The 6,707-word terms and conditions document on the AT&T Web site says: "Substantial charges may be incurred if phone is taken out of the U.S. even if no services are intentionally used."

Kliegerman said said most people don't read the lengthy terms and conditions. Furthermore, the rate plans listed on the site indicate "unlimited data (Email/Web)," without an asterisk. He said that's misleading.

Kliegerman's lawyer, Randall S. Newman of Manhattan, said about 15 people from around the country have called him complaining of international roaming charges and the inability to unlock the phone to use it with another carrier.

Apple hasn't yet released the iPhone abroad. Levy said he didn't expect data transfer charges internationally because he believed the data network in Europe wasn't compatible with the iPhone. The Levys brought their phones with them for voice calls.

Other smartphones also automatically update e-mail and other data such as weather and stock prices, but those phones offer a wider variety of international pricing plans in more countries than is available on the iPhone, AT&T Wireless spokeswoman Ellen Webner said.

---------------------------

May I draw your attention to this line -

"The iPhone regularly updates e-mail, even while it's off, so that all the messages will be available when the user turns it on."

What? The? Fuck?
When you turn the phone off, it's still on?
How the hell does that work?
Whattaya gotta do, pull the fucking battery out of it?

You go ahead, have fun with your cute little phone that cost more that the GNP of some countries.
I'll stick with my cheap LG.
At least mine doesn't cost me $4,800.
That's 4 years for me and the wife.


"Substantial charges may be incurred if phone is taken out of the U.S. even if no services are intentionally used."
If you take the phone out of the U.S., you will be hammered for everything, even if you don't use it.
Sucks to be you.

Almost all phones with GPS tracking also continue to connect even when they're turned off. Better not take it with you to the criminal hideout.

Can anyone tell me: What does an iPhone do? Why do I need one...more than I need, say, $600 worth of hot, buttery popcorn?

Well, $600 worth of popcorn is slightly more likely to make you sick.

The iPhone is a phone that i's.
Popcorn is corn that pops. Plus butter.

It looks like a tie.

Don't forget: popcorn will always be tasty, but the iPhone will be obsolete in six months.

Well...

You can't stick your dick in an iPhone at the movies so that your date can give you a handjob.

How'd you know about my criminal hideout?

I mean... uh... I have no idea what you're talking about....

(walks away whistling)

Apple fights back
 

not if you eat them both.

Greenpeace report on iPhone leads to lawsuit
 

And the beatdown goes on.

They are suing Apple because the phone has plastic in it?

Jeeze, Loise!