Monday 7 July 2008

iPhone 3G - worth it?

I'm a sucker for gadgets, and the new iPhone is very tempting...

Look at the features at a glance
- 3G connection
- Stunning touch screen UI
- Google maps
- Unlimited data (with reasonable usage of course)
- TV Out support
- iPod feature
- etc...

I won't even try to replicate the list, Apple already did that.

There are obviously a few niggles, but most I think people could live with.

So I'm again debating do I need these features?

The answer is a definite yes, of course I do. That's precisely what Apple marketing makes me feel, and there is no doubt that Apple's marketing is first rate. We all live in a connected world and all want access to information when we need it at our convenience.

It's the lifestyle thing, isn't it? Don't you just want to be the person to be seen using the most up to date phone with all that connectivity to the world?

I thought I did...

After the 18 month contract, with the 16gb model and the £35 per month package, it's a cost of £789.00. That's without taking out insurance, or itemised billing, or anything else I've not included.

That's a hell of a lot of money for anything, isn't it?

My car probably costs me around that per year in depreciation, and I'd consider that to be a reasonably big expense. Hell, I could buy a superb new computer for that, or an amazing flat screen, or a holiday for crying out loud!

So my reluctant conclusion at the moment has to be that I'd need to be off my rocker to think I REALLY needed that sort of device at that particular cost. I just can't see past the cost at the moment but fawn over the thought of the features you can have!

What do you think? Is the iPhone worth the cost? If you are considering it, how are you justifying the cost to yourself?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My Smartphone is just about dead, so I'm looking for something else at the moment. It's a windows media thing, and I've hardly used any of the features - I've not even installed any useful software on it. So, I'm going to just get a stupid phone, maybe it'll play MP3s, tho I've got an MP3 player for that, and maybe it'll have GPS (that would be handy, especially when I leave a tube station by the wrong exit...). but I've never bought into Apple's marketing. I've never really been one to follow the crowd, so I really didn't want an iPod when there were just as capable devices for less money. Same for an iPhone for me, looks nice, but it's just a phone that's going to live in my pocket and get scratched to bits....

Unknown said...

Wants and Needs are hard things to align! Nobody needs a phone or an MP3 player or a camera, it's all just wants.

My current phone is OK and I can't really justify upgrading to a £35 call-plan, just so that I can get some new gadgets.

I do want it though.

Mark Aitken said...

Vince - I'm impressed with the HTC Touch Diamond (the pro version due in September looks even more appealing). Take a look at the 6 day video reviews over on www.coolsmartphone.com.

pyrrho - ... which is why I've not bought anything yet. Lots of nice features, but apart from consolidating devices there isn't a killer feature for me.