You'd wish the bills were as compact as the iPhone

[neutrino]

We're starting to get bills for the iPhone here at Ars, and while many of us have had smartphones for some time, we've never seen a bill like this.

One of our bills is a whopping 52 pages long, and my own bill is 34 pages long. They're printed on both sides, too. What gives?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070811-iphone-bill-is-surprisingly-xbox-huge-lol.html

 

[Evo]

The most innovative "gadget" connected to the nations slowest network too, the Edge network has average speeds of 70-80 kbps with a peak of 144 Kbps. Verizon and Sprint average 500-800 Kbps with a peak around 3.1 Mbps. You've got to wonder how much AT&T paid Apple for them to make that kind of mistake.

I love Conan O'Brians take on the iPhone.

 

[neutrino]

I love Conan O'Brians take on the iPhone.

10char[/color]

 

[Argentum Vulpes]

Environmentalist must be freaking out about this. 52 pages, all of my bills and my bank statements for a year come close to this number. Well on the bright side the US postal service will be making big bucks off of AT&T in mailing cost. *Bam* Honey the new book of the month club book arrived, oh never mind it is just the cell phone bill.

 

[FredGarvin]

A friend of ours already returned hers. She had horrible reception (couldn't get a signal in her own house). She also found out that the battery has to be replaced by an Apple rep because they decided that it needed to be soldered in.

Just when I start to have an inkling of respect for Apple, they do crap like this. Don't even get me started on their new version of DRM for their ITunes.

 

[Moonbear]

A friend of ours already returned hers. She had horrible reception (couldn't get a signal in her own house).

That's probably because it's on the crappy AT&T network. It would be hard to tell if the problem was the phone or the network when they don't offer it with any other provider, and it seems like a really stupid move to debut it on such a lousy network that certainly will give the impression the phone is a piece of crap, even if it might not be.

 

[moose]

Haha, I don't know of a single person with AT&T. Everyone has Verizon or Tmobile. I guess there are a few people with Sprint.

 

[Monique]

PAPER bills?

 

[JasonRox]

I wanted to get the iPhone, but once I saw AT&T, I was like... nevermind.

Apple is doing a lot of stupid stuff lately. I'm losing lots of interest.

 

[Gib Z]

We don't even have the iPhone is australia :( Stop complaining ! They are for reception! theyre a super cool multimedia device that changes screen ratio when it senses which way its held! OMG!

 

[Moonbear]

PAPER bills?

Rather ironic, huh? Maybe they're trying to encourage all their customers to switch to electronic billing. I'm not sure if corporate account holders would need to have a paper trail or not, but for everyone else, there's no reason not to immediately switch to electronic billing. Then again, I'm not sure scrolling through that many pages of details is any better than flipping through them.

 

[Evo]

Rather ironic, huh? Maybe they're trying to encourage all their customers to switch to electronic billing. I'm not sure if corporate account holders would need to have a paper trail or not, but for everyone else, there's no reason not to immediately switch to electronic billing. Then again, I'm not sure scrolling through that many pages of details is any better than flipping through them.

With electronic billing you can select which pages you want to print if you need a paper print out.

 

[edward]

When the high tech age first began we were told that we would soon be a paperless society.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3840/is_199804/ai_n8799347

 

[neutrino]

We don't even have the iPhone is australia :(

Not even http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/e7e48a137b144110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html ?

 

[Cyrus]

I don't know why they picked ATT for a service provider, but just give it time and everyone will carry them. Personally, I can't wait to see the next generation Iphone. Its going to be like an old ipod and an ipod nano. Night and day difference. Id like to see the phone be a little bit smaller, right now I find it to be too wide due to the screen.

If they can shrink it down to the size of a normal cell phone, and work with verizon Id buy one just because it can do so much more than a phone.

 

[Evo]

I don't know why they picked ATT for a service provider, but just give it time and everyone will carry them.

Apple signed an exclusive 5 year deal with AT&T.

 

[Cyrus]

Well, by the time the contract expires the next generation Iphone will come out so its not really that big of a deal I suppose. Although I like the Iphone, I would not buy it as it is (Too big for my taste).

 

[Moonbear]

right now I find it to be too wide due to the screen.

I agree on that. Right now, it wouldn't matter who the carrier was, I wouldn't want one because it looks really awkwardly sized for using as a phone. I guess if you're already used to a clunky crackberry, you might prefer the size of the iPhone, but then you'd notice the issues with network speed, so it seems a no-win situation. What sort of sales have they had with this thing? Is it just the spoiled-rich-kids-who-have-to-have-every-shiny-new-gadget-even-if-they-have-no-use-for-it market?

 

[ShawnD]

Apple signed an exclusive 5 year deal with AT&T.

That was a huge mistake. In 5 years time, Microsoft will have already stolen the idea, and successfuly exploited it with multiple phone companies.

edit: they won't need to steal it since smart phones are an old idea. Didn't the Moto Q come out a few years ago?

 

[Evo]

That was a huge mistake. In 5 years time, Microsoft will have already stolen the idea, and successfuly exploited it with multiple phone companies.

edit: they won't need to steal it since smart phones are an old idea. Didn't the Moto Q come out a few years ago?

There are many phones that have similar and in some cases better features, they just don't have the iPod. Unless you specifically want youre iPod to make phone calls, I don't see the point.

Who buys a high tech, over-priced computer that has to connect via dial-up? That has it's battery soldered into the phone so that you have to mail the entire phone in just to get the battery replaced?

 

[Cyrus]

You can surf the web on it, which is handy. Say for example your out with some friends and you want to go see a movie. You don't know the phone number for the different theaters, and you don't have a laptop or internet acesss. Now you can go on your Iphone, search something like moviephone.com find the time, buy the tickets online and go to the theater while you guys are finishing up whatever ur doing.

Having a phone/ipod/internet really blows all other phones out the water. Plus you can watch tv shows or movies on it. I really want to see the second generation Iphone, its going to be huge.

 

[robphy]

A low cost alternative...

[/PLAIN]
http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2007-07/altoid-iphone.jpg

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/04/itoid-the-iphone-altoid/

 

[Moonbear]

You can surf the web on it, which is handy.

Doesn't Blackberry already do that?

 

[Cyrus]

Well for one, they are uglyyyyyy. Id never buy a consumer product that ugly. When you get something from apple you feel like you got your moneys worth. Its packaged nice, the product is nice. Everything is nice about their stuff.

Also, there really really expensive too.

 

[ShawnD]

There are many phones that have similar and in some cases better features, they just don't have the iPod. Unless you specifically want youre iPod to make phone calls, I don't see the point.

What do you mean smart phones don't have the iPod? Do you specifically mean iPods, or mp3 players in general? The Moto Q can use mini SD cards, which go up to about 16gb. That's a pretty good replacement for an iPod. Many modern phones, even the not-smart phones, have SD slots and can play music.

Who buys a high tech, over-priced computer that has to connect via dial-up? That has it's battery soldered into the phone so that you have to mail the entire phone in just to get the battery replaced?

I'm only surprised how expensive it is. Something like $600 if you sign a 3 year contract. If I get a phone through my provider, I can get a Moto Q for $100, a Blackberry 7250 for free, or a Palm Treo 700 for $200. Nevermind the technical flaws it may or may not have, that price is simply too high.

 

[Moonbear]

I'm only surprised how expensive it is. Something like $600 if you sign a 3 year contract. If I get a phone through my provider, I can get a Moto Q for $100, a Blackberry 7250 for free, or a Palm Treo 700 for $200. Nevermind the technical flaws it may or may not have, that price is simply too high.

That's the weird thing about all new technology toys. They are always really expensive when first released. I've never understood how this manages to work, since the first buyers also get the most flawed product while bugs are fixed. You'd think you'd need a special promotional discount to lure over blackberry users to risk their communications and data on a new gadget that hasn't been proven yet, but, no, for some reason there are always people willing to pay top dollar for the first generation of a new gadget just because it looks cooler than what the competition is selling.

About the only thing I see as a benefit of an iPhone over other smartphones out there is that the touch screen buttons give you a larger screen when you're viewing it since half the phone isn't taken up with buttons. Other than that, it's just prettier, and I'd prefer function over it being pretty. Do smartphones play video? Apparently the iPhone can also play video. But, with a battery that's welded in, do you want to suck up your battery life watching videos if you're away from a charger? That part makes no sense at all. If you're going to have that much on one phone, you'd want to be able to get a spare battery and swap it out if you're on a long trip, such as watching videos while on a plane with the phone part off, and then still need the phone to work when you get to the airport. That's a pretty big flaw not to be able to swap in extra batteries on something that does so much you'd be likely to drain batteries quickly.

 

[Cyrus]

Apple will hopefully realize how big a turn off the battery is to many people by the time the design version 2.0.

 

[neutrino]

They didn't use their phones, but when they got back they had a 54-page monthly bill of nearly $4,800 from AT&T Wireless.

http://theinquirer.net/?article=42235

 

[Stevedye56]

I talked to a employee at the Apple store. He told me that Apple first offered Verizon Wireless the contract. Verizon turned down the offer (most likely due to an ego battle between the two companies). He also told me that AT&T made all the money back on advertising and telecommunication upgrades within the first 3 months. This was largly due to the activation fee that AT&T charged per iPhone. Also the iPhone already took a $200 price drop.