"Tinman" <ask@for.it> wrote :
> "Bill Marriott" wrote:
<snip>
>>
>> 3) You can indeed get an iPhone without a contract. If you don't meet
>> credit standard, you can use your iPhone with an AT&T prepaid plan.
>>
>> http://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/02/iphon...the-right-way/
>>
>>
>
> If the above is true and not a soon-to-be-closed loophole I am going to
> reconsider an iPhone. Its price doesn't bother me much, but the two year
> commitment to at&t certainly does.

Well I did it, I bought an iPhone.

Long story short I did the iTunes hack till I decide what to do about at&t
(prepay with no contract Vs. post-pay with contract). So for the moment it's
not really a phone. But I have had the chance to get to know the device a
lot better (compared to playing with it in an Apple store).

I bought it at an at&t store and was that interesting. The salesperson
seemed intent on having me have the credit pre-approved, the reason
being--according to her--so that I wouldn't be hit with the 10% restocking
fee should it be denied. I politely told her that I didn't think that would
be a problem and that I'd rather wait. Weird that she said I could not even
touch the box till I paid for it (and she enforced that).

Have to say as a Web device this thing is nothing like any PDA or PDA
Phone-or smart phone--that I've ever owned. The rendering speed of the
browser via WiFi is amazing. Can't quite describe it but the ease and speed
of zooming in and out makes it feel as if you are not using such a small
device.

My biggest fear is at&t coverage, particularly at home. I only saw a single
"bar" which seemed to coincide with at&t's street-level coverage map of
"moderate." Sure wish at&t had T-Mobile's neat cell-to-WiFi feature.


--
Mike