Crazy idea? buying iPhone/sell IPT

[bayareaking510]

I was just pondering this idea after the announcement of the new 3G iPhone and I'd like to know if this is a good/bad idea. I currently have an iPod Touch 16Gb which I bought for $400 and it's great, but there's some features missing that I want. The biggest feature is the speaker. I'd love to listen to music w/o using headphones and it makes showing friends a song much more convenient. In addition, there's some other stuff that the iPod doesn't have but want; such as the volume rocker and camera.

So I was thinking that I should sell my iPod Touch and get either the 8 or 16 gb iPhone w/o the phone plan and use it just like an iPod. Bad idea?

[tokenuser]

Its not a bad idea ... but thats like buying a Ferrari then taking two wheels off, because you only really needed a Ducati.

The power of the iPhone is data. I use my Blackberry for data much, much more than as a phone ... and I am not talking about data via WiFi, I mean data where ever I want it, without needing to pull into a starbucks to geta hotspot to lookup when movie times are (hell, call 411, ask for movie times - geez, its a phone, use it like one).

[bayareaking510]

Its not a bad idea ... but thats like buying a Ferrari then taking two wheels off, because you only really needed a Ducati.

The power of the iPhone is data. I use my Blackberry for data much, much more than as a phone ... and I am not talking about data via WiFi, I mean data where ever I want it, without needing to pull into a starbucks to geta hotspot to lookup when movie times are (hell, call 411, ask for movie times - geez, its a phone, use it like one).
Haha, yeah, great way to put it. But keeping a iPod touch is like sticking with a Honda. Also, I just heard from the Mac Rumors forum that you'll have to activate the iPhone before leaving the store..

"The "take it home and do it on iTunes" is gone."

EDIT: Now that I think of it..it's kind of embarrassing to have an iPhone without the phone feature.

[burkhartmj]

It would be a great idea if every feature but emergency calling wasn't locked til activation. On the apple site it specifically said that the iPod functionality is locked on the iPhone until after you activate it on a phone plan. Sorry man.

[bayareaking510]

It would be a great idea if every feature but emergency calling wasn't locked til activation. On the apple site it specifically said that the iPod functionality is locked on the iPhone until after you activate it on a phone plan. Sorry man.
Can you point that out to me?

[burkhartmj]

Can you point that out to me?

WTF, page disappeared from Apple. Just Google "iphone plan" and it's the first result, but the link is dead now. Short of that I have no hard evidence. Hell it might even change with the 3G model, but I doubt it.

[davmoo]

Considering that there is an article over on Slashdot right now bemoaning the fact that you have to activate a contract to purchase the new 3G iPhone, I doubt anything has changed.

[bani-banan]

I say; If you can afford $199 for the 8GB, then $30/month dataplan (Not including sms) go ahead.

Plus, you have to activate the phone in the store. Which means - no jailbreaking and no unlocking.

[burkhartmj]

WOOT, just convinced dad to leave VZ for Tmo. Didn't realize the stark contrast between their plans: VZ is ripping off it's customers while simultaneously crippling almost every phone available on their network.

Tmo also has some pretty slick, shockingly inexpensive phones [t-mobile dash for example].

AT&T's standard plan is ok, not quite as good as Tmo, way friggin better than verizon, but iPhone is just crazy.

[tokenuser]

2 reasons why I will not leave VZ: EVDO ; and national coverage.

I tether my Blackberry to my laptop when travelling and get broadband speeds.

Even 3G AT&T is not as fast, and it does not cover the same geographic area that VZ does with EVDO. Many iPhone 2.0 users are going to be disappointed that their phones are dropping back to EDGE because of poor coverage.

I dont care about cost ... my boss pays the bills :)

[burkhartmj]

2 reasons why I will not leave VZ: EVDO ; and national coverage.

I tether my Blackberry to my laptop when travelling and get broadband speeds.

Even 3G AT&T is not as fast, and it does not cover the same geographic area that VZ does with EVDO. Many iPhone 2.0 users are going to be disappointed that their phones are dropping back to EDGE because of poor coverage.

I dont care about cost ... my boss pays the bills :)

Nice. If I was big on data services I'd probably stick with VZ. EVDO is almost everywhere and near broadband speeds. But I'm not big on that stuff in my phones and any data I do want I would just use wifi on my phone [probably gonna get the dash and get the touch diamond in the future, both with wifi].