Need Advice... Buy now? or wait?

[HyperliteG4]

I'm looking for people's opinions on purchasing an iPhone vs iPod Touch...

Should I buy a iPhone now that the price has dropped or just get an iPod Touch? I currently have verizon and am happy with their service, At&T rates as one of the worst in San Diego county where I am. What I really want is to use all the other functionality of the iPhone and not activate the phone portion until my contract runs out in December...

The other question is... what do you all think about the rumor of a 16gb / 3G iPhone coming out at the Apple Expo in Paris on Sept 25?

 

[drater]

I'm looking for people's opinions on purchasing an iPhone vs iPod Touch...

Should I buy a iPhone now that the price has dropped or just get an iPod Touch? I currently have verizon and am happy with their service, At&T rates as one of the worst in San Diego county where I am. What I really want is to use all the other functionality of the iPhone and not activate the phone portion until my contract runs out in December...

The other question is... what do you all think about the rumor of a 16gb iPhone coming out at the Apple Expo in Paris on Sept 25?

iPhone NOW! But seriously, check to see how the service is over there, ask friends, check coverage map. I hated Verizon a little bit more than I hate ATT. But I think its worth it to get the iPhone now.

 

[gceo]

I'm looking for people's opinions on purchasing an iPhone vs iPod Touch...

Should I buy a iPhone now that the price has dropped or just get an iPod Touch? I currently have verizon and am happy with their service, At&T rates as one of the worst in San Diego county where I am. What I really want is to use all the other functionality of the iPhone and not activate the phone portion until my contract runs out in December...

The other question is... what do you all think about the rumor of a 16gb / 3G iPhone coming out at the Apple Expo in Paris on Sept 25?

I also live in San Diego (north county coastal) and AT&T does suck. Vz is king around these parts. That being said, I did make the switch. I drop calls now, and at first it really pissed me off. But now I just call whoever back and continue the call. The beauty and fun of the iPhone is worth it... and we can hope that AT&T gets better around here, but I really think it's a GSM vs. CDMA thing, and AT&T will always suck... but overall, I'm happier on an iPhone dropping calls than I was on Vz sitting on the sidelines without the iPhone... but then again, I rocked a Newton back in the day.

 

[scaredpoet]

GSM vs. CDMA thing

No, it's not a GSM vs CDMA thing. It's a San Diego thing, and a history thing.

Not too long ago, what we now know as the "new" AT&T used to be called Cingular. And a long time ago, Cingular bought a wireless company that USED to call itself AT&T wireless (the "old" AT&T). At the same time, Cingular was sharing a GSM network in California with T-Mobile, and it was a very good quality network that offered great service.

Unfortunately, the FCC informed Cingular that if they were buying the "old" AT&T wireless, then they needed to sell one of the networks in California (as well as New York City). They chose to sell their co-owned network to T-Mobile, and they discovered, much to their dismay, that the "old" AT&T network in California had lots of coverage holes and could not handle all of the customers that they had to move onto it.

End result: AT&T currently sucks in California, though they are working to improve that. Meanwhile, T-Mobile provides excellent service in California on that GSM network they got from Cingular.

But bad service is not caused by the network type. I'm a former CDMA user, and I can tell you that CDMA or GSM can suck if the network is not engineered properly. That said, I use AT&T on the East coast, and have traveled to other states, and service has been excellent. So is Verizon's CDMA network.

 

[gceo]

Actually, it is a CDMA vs. GSM thing. CDMA does much better in adverse conditions, and on the West Coast here, it's very hilly. Lots of canyons, hills, bluffs, etc... and CDMA does much better in those conditions. Cingular has been here for a long time. It's not that. And T-Mobile sucks here too.

For more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gsm_vs_cdma

or Google this: gsm vs cdma signal strength

That'll break it down for you.

Plus, I worked on some CDMA stuff with Qualcomm as an engineering student at UCSD.

CDMA is like FM radio, and GSM is like AM.... But this doesn't mean by default that Verizon is better in YOUR town, but it's much better in MY town (San Diego)

 

[scaredpoet]

Plus, I worked on some CDMA stuff with Qualcomm as an engineering student at UCSD.

Ah, that explains your (rather biased and not entirely correct) viewpoint quite succinctly. So, how IS that Broadcom lawsuit coming along?

 

[DiamondMac]

I say Buy Now

It's worth the money ESPECIALLY WITH the price drop

 

[z28black98]

im in the same boat. I have been reading nonstop the past few days about the iphone, advantages, disadvantages, etc. I am within my 30 day exchange period currently with AT&T, and I am on the fence on whether or not to buy one as well. I wouldnt necessarily use it for the ipod feature as I dont listen to alot of music, but I love ESPN Radio, and have read a few articles how it is feasible to get Sirius/XM on your iphone. I am thinking I will go in tomorrow and pick one up. I will sleep on the idea for yet another night.

 

[Raska]

I just bought an 8GB iPhone Friday. Partially due to the price drop, but mostly because Verizon has absolutely 0 service where I go to college. Best decision I ever made (with phones). Now is a great time to buy!

 

[jsw]

The other question is... what do you all think about the rumor of a 16gb / 3G iPhone coming out at the Apple Expo in Paris on Sept 25?

More (unconfirmed) fuel on the 16GB/3G rumors here.

 

[Goldenbear]

I think it's pretty obvious that, if there's a 16GB iPod Touch, there will soon be a 16GB iPhone. The question is when?

As with a computer, I always advise people to buy one when they need it. There will ALWAYS be a new, better, less expensive model coming out at some point. Unless there's solid evidence (or rumors from multiple sources) of a new model about to ship in the next week or 2, there's no point in waiting, and waiting, and waiting, etc.

Just buy it, enjoy it, and don't look back.

 

[shoelessone]

I'm very seriously considering purchasing the iPhone to use for now, and activating it via a hack.