Jason Unger

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I've been wanting to post about this for awhile, but now I actually can: Debbie got an iPhone for her birthday on Tuesday.

Last week when I was in Boston, AT&T starting selling refurb 8GB iPhones online … for $249.

Her cellphone contract with Sprint is up, but we had pretty much decided to wait until the 3G version came out (in June, so says Kevin Rose). But at $350 less than when it first came out … it was a no-brainer.

So now, she has an iPhone. It's sweet, obviously.

As she was playing around with it, she commented on how the novelty of it won't wear off. She's absolutely right, but it's not the novelty … it's the practicality. We always find ourselves wanting to find directions or stores or a piece of info when we're on the road; now, we can.

The Wii is a novel gadget — fun to play, but gets old after awhile. Using the iPhone won't. (Plus, she can check facebook from anywhere.)

We're heading out to California for a week-long vacation in May, and having fingertip access to the Internet while on the road is going to be huge. That alone is worth the investment.

Since it looks like AT&T is no longer selling the units online, I'd say it was a pretty sweet deal. If we decide to upgrade her to 3G in the future, we'll figure it out then … but I'm just trying to find a way to get out of my Sprint contract (one year left … anyone?) without paying up the wazoo.

PS - with the new SDK, it would be HUGE to have a Vonage app for the iPhone. That way we could make calls using our home number on the iPhone — it wouldn't waste minutes and be a great option if AT&T service is as bad as Sprint's in our place (we don't get any Sprint reception). VoIP is coming — Vonage, please get in on it.

On Sunday, Debbie and I had a little bit of time to kill at the mall, so we headed over to the Apple store to take a look at the iPhone, which we are considering getting her for her birthday this month.

(Hopefully, the event planned for Thursday will shine some light on whether we should wait to get her iPhone 2.0).

One thing about the iPhones in the Apple store — they are all live. They all have phone numbers and can make calls and send text messages.

So I was only sort of surprised when the phone I was checking out started ringing.

Like any inquisitive journalist, I picked up the phone and said "Hello."

On the other end was a rugged voice. "Who dis be?"

"Umm … you're calling an Apple store. In the mall. On a display iPhone."

"What?"

"You're calling the Apple store. In the mall."

"Huh?"

The conversation didn't go much longer than that, but either this guy was randomly drunk dialing phone numbers, or someone had used the phone to call him.

So I checked out the SMS log, and someone had text messaged him a couple of minutes beforehand. Hah! Gotta love it.

After we hung up, a text message arrived from the same phone number.

"Who the hellz is this."

(No question mark necessary.)

I was going to reply … again … but the store was closing and they shooed us out.

Honestly, I'm just upset I missed the chance to ask him if his refrigerator was running.

If this is true, Apple has to be one of the dumbest companies on the face of the earth.

iPhone/iPod SDK: Apple to approve, distribute apps, limit add-ons:

The most controversial aspect of Apple’s SDK plan is its intention to formally approve or deny all SDK-based software releases for its devices. Our sources confirm that Apple will act as a gatekeeper for applications, deciding which are and are not worthy of release, and publishing only approved applications to the iTunes Store; a process that will less resemble the iTunes Store’s massive directory of podcasts than its sale of a limited variety of iPod Games.

Seriously, wtf is this company thinking? There is a MASSIVE market for jailbroken iPhone apps. People love them! They want them! And they'll do anything to get them!

Why would Apple even consider being the gatekeeper for applications? It's beyond obvious that consumers want access to custom apps. Why else would someone build a piano app, an NES emulator and a porn browser (NSFW)?

Why would you prevent people from getting access to content and software that they want? It's obviously not working now … why would it work in the future?

I can understand why Apple would want to distribute the apps through iTunes (even though Boing Boing says this is bad). Finding podcasts (for me) has never been easier than with iTunes.

But Apple isn't vetting podcasts for their content. And they shouldn't be vetting apps either. It's moronic. It really is.

Apple, get with the times. Or you're going to have even more backlash against you.

The 3G iPhone everyone is looking forward to is reportedly coming by mid-year, according to German chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG, which says it is making the chips for the phone.

3G iPhone To Include Infineon Chip, Launch By Mid-Year: UBS:

UBS also believes that 3G-enabled iPhones will be released by mid-year, and that the current EDGE iPhone platform is being ramped down earlier than expected to "clean" inventories.

This is the news I've been waiting for. I want to buy an iPhone, but based on your recommendations, I'm waiting until the second-gen launches (and 1.5 didn't cut it).

So, beyond 3G, what other new features will the phone have? Probably "business"-related things, like Exchange support, and hopefully some of the things I need to switch.

It's an exciting day. Hopefully they will announce more at the SDK event next week, but I'm not holding my breath.

You know Apple.

I've been looking for a good reason to switch to an iPhone and was pretty disappointed when a new version wasn't introduced at MacWorld last month.

Now that a 16GB version is available (Engadget has all the news), is it time to switch?

Honestly, I'm really torn. Are they introducing a new iPhone because people are complaining about the size of the hard drive? Or are they releasing a new version because iPhone 2.0 isn't coming any time soon?

I'm hoping it's the former, and that iPhone 2.0 will be available come summer or fall. But I'm not holding my breath.

Having more hard drive room is a plus, but 16GB still isn't enough for all the music, movies and podcasts I currently have on my 30GB iPod video. Plus, there aren't any new features (at least none that I'm aware of), so it doesn't fulfill some of my needs.

But it's still tempting.

What do you think? Is iPhone 1.5 enough a reason to switch?