Wow, it is hard to believe the iPhone is about to reach its 2 year anniversary this June, and of course Apple wouldn't let the anniversary go by without something new. If you didn't already know, by the end of June, Apple will be launching a new 3.0 Update for all 3G iPhones that will make all iPhone fans JUMP for joy!!!

3.0 Update Will Include:

- MMS/Picture Messaging!!! Finally after 2 years of being able to do everything BUT Picture message on your iPhone, you can now send and receive both picture and video messages without having to use some make-shift App through a website or send them through email.

- Sideway Key Pad for Texting!!! Another big upgrade for the iPhone will be the ability to turn the phone sideways and text with the full length of the phone rather than only have the one width.

- MORE to COME!!! After the launch comes out

Welcome to another guide about Cell Phones. Currently, this will be my 4th guide about cell phones. In the previous three guides, I have educated everyone on what makes all the companies different, cool features that all cell phones can do, and finally a guide for buying cellular phones on Ebay. Well, the time has come to tackle the new sensation sweeping the world, the iPhone. While you are probably tired of hearing about the phone in the media, it makes since that I provide the public with the most concise review of the iPhone. The difference with this guide and others you might see for the iPhone is I am not taking one side or the other. I want this guide to help those out there to see the truth about the phone compared to others you might see. From all the reviews and articles written about the phone, it seems to me that you have those that just plain LOVE every aspect of the phone OR they completely hate it. For whatever reason, this guide should help you decide rather or not you want to join the iPhone club.

To begin, I will start with a history lesson as this guide will be on here for sometime, and it helps if all relative info on the iPhone can be found all in one place. The iPhone was released on June 29th 2007. While the 29th was a Friday, the phone was not sold to the public until 6 pm that night, so everyone who waited in line was there the entire day. The iPhone destroyed all records for sales on an opening weekend release for cell phones by selling over 500,000 units. Apple knew what it was doing with the marketing of this phone by starting the advertising back in 2006. Despite the initial release price of $599.99 for 8GB and $499.99 for 4GB, there was no stopping those who wanted it first before all others. Then just two months later the price of both units dropped a whopping $200. The 8GB could now be purchased at $399.99 and the 4GB for $299.99. The decision was made to stop production of the 4GB model, so they are no longer being made. To find one, you would have to get lucky at a local store from whatever they still have left in their inventory or of course here on Ebay. The reason for the price reduction was due to customers complaining about having to pay $600 for a phone as well as having to pay an additional $200 to get out of their existing contract. The $200 off the phone now makes up for the additional fee. Also, for those that did purchase the iPhone for the original price before August 22nd, Apple is still offering a $100 credit to be redeemed at Apple Retail Stores or Apple.com. The website says you have until November 30th to claim the rebate. The process for completion is VERY simple. Just to go apple.com and find the link on the main screen for the iPhone rebate. Then enter your phone # and iPhone serial # and Apple will send you a text with the code to enter back on the website. Again, this is just a credit and not cash in your hand and you only have until November 30th.  

So, now that you have the idea of what the phone cost. The next step is activating the phone and setting up the service. In order to use the iPhone with AT&T, you must purchase the phone first. Unlike any other cell phone, the iPhone will be a completely new experience. The ONLY way to activate your iPhone is literally on iTunes. There is no other way, period. No one over the phone or in the store is able to do ANYTHING when it comes to activating the phone. iTunes will do your credit check, create your account, set up your rate plan, and even prompt you to Port (bring over your current cell number from another carrier) or provide you a new number. If you talk to anyone who did successfully port their number to an iPhone, they might tell you they had a rough experience. In some cases, customers have had to wait weeks for the port to complete the transfer to the iPhone. So if you do purchase this phone, make sure you are ready to endure the problems if you have a number you want to keep.

In order to use the iPhone, it MUST be activated on a full 2 year contract As well as having the contract, the iPhone may only be used if your have the Unlimited iPhone Data Plan for $29.99. If you are going to spend the money to have this phone, you would be crazy not to have this feature anyway because having unlimited Internet on the phone is a MUST. Since the lowest rate plan for one person is the Nation 450 Rollover plan for 39.99 a month, the lowest you can get by each month is $70 total + tax/fees. No other option. The $29.99 data plan DO NOT include ANY messaging (text or instant) what-so-ever. So it will close you another $20 for unlimited messaging on top of the data & Internet plan. Also, the iPhone (the device) only has a 14 day trial period (return by time) before you are stuck with it, while the monthly service still has the same 30 day trial period that AT&T always has before you are locked into your contract. Unlike other phones, the iPhone has a 10% open box restocking fee for those returning the phone, so that means currently the restock fee is $40. This fee is usually only applied to customers that are simply returning the phone due to buyer’s remorse. If the phone never worked or activation was never completed for the phone, then no charge is applied. Since the phone has to be returned to a company owned AT&T retail store (even if ordered online or over the phone), this fee will be a case by case, store by store bases.

Ok, so now you know everything about what it costs, and what is required to set up the service. Now it is time to break down what makes the iPhone different. Is any phone truly worth all the hype? The great thing now compared to when the phone first launched is it does have a discount in price when you get that 2 year contract. The 8GB will run you $200 & 16GB $300. The 16GB can be purchased in Black or White color while 8GB can only be purchased in Black.

iPhone Specs & Features

Network – GSM Quad-Band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) – Works in all countries around the world with cell technology BUT Japan (they have 2100 MHz towers)

Data – Full Wi-Fi, AT&T 3G/UMTS (In 3G Areas) & 2.5G/EDGE (All Non-3G Areas)

Size – 4.5 Tall x 2.4 Wide x 0.48 Thick (all Inches) 

Weight – 4.8 oz (135 g)

Battery – 8 Hours Talk Time (480 Minutes) and 250 Hours Stand By (10 Days)

Main Display – 320 x 480 pixels resolution with 16,777,216 Colors (Screen is Liquid Crystal much like a Plasma TV) also 100% Touch Screen

Camera – 2.0 Megapixels and Video Capable (Phone CANNOT send or receive MMS or Pictures Messages **Until Software Update 3.0 is released this JUNE!!!) only Email, Text, or Instant Messages are supported (of course you can send a picture through email that will work). The phone can support all JPIG, TIFF, or GIFF pics.

MP3 & Video Player – Capable with iTunes (supports most music or video type files from all computers, iTunes must be used to load files just like an iPod)

1-Year Warrenty (Defective phones should be taken in person to local Apple Retail Store for repairs. A temporary iPhone can be issued while broken phone is repaired. If no Apple store near you, phone will have to be mailed into company, just like an iPod)

***Cracked or Broken Screens are NOT covered under the warrenty and can be fully replaced at the Apple Retail Store for $250. (Cheaper than buying a replacment phone at full retail)***

TOP 3 Reasons the iPhone is STILL not like ANY Other Phone

1 – Internet Browser – The Internet is not the Internet on a regular cell phone or even a PDA. Due to the overwhelming difference between the size of your phone screen, the information has been scaled down to mostly just text when you go to a website on your phone. While you still get the info when it comes to news and sports scores, it’s lacking in the able to view real content. Websites like Ebay and MySpace are very different on a cell phone. Ebay will not allow you to bid on auctions, only place items on your watch list or keep track of current auctions you might be bidding on. YouTube and other video viewing websites cannot be opened on a PDA or cell phone. Sometimes the video files themselves can be view on a PDA, but while on the Internet, the sites are not set up to be viewed. So the link just doesn’t work or is not even displayed. The iPhone is different. ALL links work, YouTube, Ebay, MySpace, and all email accounts like Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, or Hotmail can be accessed through the websites just like your computer at home. The best part about it is you initially view the whole page as though you are looking at it on your computer monitor only its very small, then you touch the part of the article or page you want to read, and it blows it up on your screen. Then with the touch screen, you can drag the page from top to bottom or left to right. A PDA views the Internet starting out already blown up usually at the top corner of the website requiring you to scroll down and to the right in order to view the content. And as mentioned, many times the content is very watered down with just text. If you want a cell phone that truly views the Internet like a laptop or PC, then the iPhone has what you want. Plus the Wi-Fi capability provides equally fast Internet when comparing it to speed at home. So even if you don’t get great cell service at home, if you have a network created from your home Internet with a router, the iPhone would be running the Internet off that network and not the cell towers.

In my opinion, the #1 reason to purchase and use an iPhone is for the Internet. Since you have to pay for the plan anyway, getting to use the REAL Internet anywhere you go for just $20 a month is very reasonable when you look at the fact that a regular PDA will require a $30 to $45 data plan in order to have the same unlimited Internet ability, yet the Internet is not the same. And the Laptop wireless PC cards that allow your laptop to be wireless also have 2 year contracts and cost $59.99 to $79.99 a month.

2 – User Friendly Operating System – Besides the unique ability to use the Internet, the iPhone feels very different from other cell phones because it has a very straight forward operating system. This aspect has been noted in other articles posted about the iPhone because the layout of the phone makes it extremely easy to use and operate. The home screen has been set up like a Settings screen on another phone by providing links to all the most popular options on the phone. The 17 links on this screen are Phone, Mail, Safari (Internet Browser), iPod, Text, Calender, Photos, Camera, YouTube, Stocks, Maps, Weather, Clock, Calculator, Notes, Settings, and iTunes (newly added link).  Rather than only have the Internet as one of the links, the phone comes with links to the most popular reasons people access the Internet on their phone. YouTube, Stocks, Maps, and Weather all take you online to a specific site to find that specific information. Plus the Maps online are linked to the phone, so when you find a location, the phone will prompted you to call the # once pulled up on the screen. The only hard button on the phone is that large round button at the bottom. The ONLY purpose for that button is for the Back feature on the phone. No matter what you are doing on the phone, you can hit the ‘Back’ button to be taking right back to that home screen with all the links. Compared to other phones, the ‘Back’ button just takes you to the previous screen. On the iPhone, it’s really more like a ‘Home’ button. The Touch screen also makes the phone very easy to use because everyone, no matter how big their hands are, can easily navigate the phone.

Many could argue that how easy a phone is to operate doesn’t mean much since many have been using phones for years, and can learn any cell phone very easily. Well, just ask anyone who has a brand new phone and still to this day only knows how to make/receive calls and maybe work the camera. The majority of phone features on all cell phones are never used simply because the user never learned how. The iPhone has been called one of the EASIEST phones to learn. That means plainly that you will truly be able to learn and use the majority of features on the phone without having to figure out the manual. The easier a feature is to use, the more often someone is going to use it. Since you are paying so much for the phone, it does help to know you will be getting your money’s worth from usage. 

3 – Applications Turn Phone into Handheld Computer -  Everyone knows by now that the iPhone has evolved from just an amazing cell phone with real Internet to literally a handheld computer. Applications are truly computer programs for a cell phone. When you buy a home computer or labtop it's pretty basic until you install the unique programs that make it smarter and more capable of really anything. This idea is the same with the iPhone and the now 1000s of Apps.

The Apps can be downloaded on the 3G or Wi-Fi network through the phone itself (as every phone comes loaded with an 'Apps' icon) or through iTunes. The commericals do a good job of giving people an idea of what kind of Apps have currently been made, but most people still have no idea what is out there. Probably the best part about the whole 'App' world is many of the best and most popular Apps are always FREE!! While the majority of non-Free Apps will only run you $1 to $3. The only real $ Apps are for the high end games, but when you compare them to other portable games on other devices are regular game downloads for other cell phones, they are not that much more. The most popular games run between $2 to $8. In my personal opinion, Apps are the #1 reason to own an iPhone. There is NO limit to the possibilities that will come from the continuing creation of new Apps. There are so many in fact that I am going to launch another Guide to iPhone Apps.

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Well, there you have it.  I am sure I am going to find out more info, so I will try to add more content to this guide as time goes by. Thank you for reading and I hope this guide helped you decide rather or not the iPhone is worth all that comes with it. Please remember to hit the ‘Yes’ for helpful.