iPhone mania

I tend to follow electronic gadgetry trends from the outside looking in. It's not that I'm not interested, it's just that I have a limited supply of disposable income and I usually choose to spend it on my son rather than the latest gadget. I know there are plenty of people out there who will dump their 3-month-old gadget to get the new-and-improved brand new replacement gadget. Those people amaze me in their disregard for their money (but, I'll gladly take advantage of them by buying their used gear on ebay if I'm in the market...).

Actually, I'm thinking of making the move to a PDA phone when my contract is up in November. I've been with Sprint for quite a few years (9, I think), and I don't have a lot of complaints. But, they've changed their package structure to match the competitors and, if I can get a better phone deal by switching, it might be worth it.

But, I'm pretty sure you can count me out of the iPhone craze. Sure, it looks cool and probably is pretty cool. I mean, the video screen and 8-gig storage capacity alone are pretty damn cool. But, I don't expect to have a desire to browse the internet on my phone, so that piece of functionality is lost on me (plus, I have no interest in the extra $40 a month for a data plan on my cell phone). So, basically, after I eliminate my desire for a good internet browser, the phone allows me to see videos vs other PDA phones that don't. I can get a Palm Treo 750 (or 755 depending on the carrier) with rebates for $200-300 right now, and by the time Christmas rolls around, I can probably get a used one off the internet for less (since Palm is already working on the 800 series -- again using first-mover castoffs to my benefit). I can't justify the $600 for an iPhone when I can get a $200 phone and a $50 4-gig SD expansion card to cover everything I want in a phone/PDA.

So, my thanks to Apple for continuing to advance mobile technology and convenience, but I think I'll stick to my boring flip phone until my contract is up. Then I'll upgrade to the last generation of PDA phone and let iPhone leave me in the dust...