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The iPhone Ultimatum

I have had a terrible cold/flu type bug that has had me pretty much incapacitated for the last several days. While this sucked for sure, it gave me much time to ruminate on a tough decision I have had on my mind a lot lately weather or not to get an iPhone.
I really want one. There would be several advantages to my getting one. It would replace several devices I currently carry with just one. It has seamless integration with my Mac. The interface is intuitive and elegant. My work provides a reimbursement for getting a smart phone, thus reducing the cost. Oh, did I mention that it would make me look cool too?
The main problem is that I have an active Verizon contract. Getting out of it would either be a) expensive (i.e. Early Termination Fee) or b) a hassle (i.e. arguing my way out of Early Termination Fee). Not to mention that Princess Bethany and I have a shared plan and it would entail getting us both switched, porting numbers, etc. A lot of work…
The thing is, I currently have a device that can do everything that the iPhone can and more, is equally portable, is open source and has a wealth of 3rd party applications that can extend the capabilities of the device even further – The Nokia N800. The Nokia has WiFi, can play most video types, music files, has an excellent web browser that supports flash, has bluetooth that, with the addition of a data plan, will allow me to access the web through my phone, over 3G no less. Not to mention I can make calls via Skype or Gizmo Project via VOIP.
Although the integration with the desktop is not nearly as seamless as the iPhone, and it means having to also carry (and use) my (crappy, defective, and getting worse) RAZR, it means I can wait until my contract is up next May to think about making the switch. By that time, hopefully the iPhone will be greatly improved (more storage, support for flash in the browser, 3G, etc.) and the wait will be worth it.

2 thoughts on “The iPhone Ultimatum”

  1. Hi,
    I am seriously concidering getting a N800. I went a couple days agao to buy an ipod touch and was really disappointed. But I have a couple conserns. Can I sync it with my mac? I don’t really care about syncing with ical or anything like that. I just want to make sure I can transfer my music and pictures over to the device and transfer anything I write on it back.
    Also, how well does the web browser work? Does it support sites in AJAX?
    Thanks
    Hailey

  2. There are ways to “sync” music to your N800. One way is with a program called SyncTunes that allows you to sync content from iTunes to any mountable device. There is a good write up of it here:
    http://www.atmasphere.net/wp/archives/2007/01/25/synctunes-smart-content-for-your-nokia-n800
    Also, because the SD cards that the N800 uses simply mount like a flash drive would when connected via USB, you can also drag and drop files to there just like a flash drive.
    Throw Canola into the mix ( http://openbossa.indt.org/canola/ ) and you have yourself a nice multimedia machine with a very usable interface.

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