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Have $500... Want to buy an iPhone... Where and what accesories?

L

ljump12

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 10, 2006
254
0
philadelphia
So basically I won $500, and would like to buy and iPhone...

I have 60 Gigs of music, so i think it doesn't really matter if I get the 8gig or 16gig, becuase i'm so rediculously over the mark anyway...

My plan was to get a refurb for $250, and spend $100 on accesories.. (Case, and Nice headphones).. But the refurbs are no longer existent.

So whats the best place to buy the iPhone right now, and what accessories shoud i purchase for it... What are the best reasonably priced headphones etc.

Thanks all!
 
What you do with your money in the end is really up to you. But from what I've been reading lately if you have the patience and discipline I can only advise you to wait out a couple of months for the next gen iPhone to come out. I also had $500 to spend and went out and bought a 16GB iPhone, I played with it for about a week and decided to just sell it and wait for whats next because I know it will be good. But thats only if you have the discipline to be patient. Who knows we might see a bump in capacity. Also just wait a little more because they might drop current prices and you'll be able to score yourself a brand new iPhone for the price of a refurbished one.
 
MacGuy35 said:
What you do with your money in the end is really up to you. But from what I've been reading lately if you have the patience and discipline I can only advise you to wait out a couple of months for the next gen iPhone to come out. I also had $500 to spend and went out and bought a 16GB iPhone, I played with it for about a week and decided to just sell it and wait for whats next because I know it will be good. But thats only if you have the discipline to be patient. Who knows we might see a bump in capacity. Also just wait a little more because they might drop current prices and you'll be able to score yourself a brand new iPhone for the price of a refurbished one.
Click to expand...

I really have no intention of waiting 2 months, partly because i know if i do.. I'll take the $500 and dwindle it away on stupid shi!t. I won't recieve the check untill late next week, so maybe refurbs will pop back up between now and then :rolleyes: ...
 
ljump12 said:
I really have no intention of waiting 2 months, partly because i know if i do.. I'll take the $500 and dwindle it away on stupid shi!t. I won't recieve the check untill late next week, so maybe refurbs will pop back up between now and then :rolleyes: ...
Click to expand...

I'm the same way. But, some solid advice, if you are happy with the wait-and-see line of thinking, put the money in a new savings account somewhere were you don't easily have access to it. Then, wait. Close the account in a few months when you're ready to spring into action. With any luck, maybe you'll have earned enough on interest to cover the gas you spent driving to the bank twice.
 
Hoooold on the 3g iphone is definitely imminent, just hold on, if you find that you want to use it to browse the WEB often then it will bother you using EDGE speeds.. and maybe the next one might be 600 dollars for a lot more packaged in, and you will feel dumb having just hurriedly bought it.
 
ljump12 said:
So basically I won $500, and would like to buy and iPhone...

I have 60 Gigs of music, so i think it doesn't really matter if I get the 8gig or 16gig, becuase i'm so rediculously over the mark anyway...

My plan was to get a refurb for $250, and spend $100 on accesories.. (Case, and Nice headphones).. But the refurbs are no longer existent.

So whats the best place to buy the iPhone right now, and what accessories shoud i purchase for it... What are the best reasonably priced headphones etc.

Thanks all!
Click to expand...

Dude, your kidding right? Wait until June's WWDC announcement before you run off and buy a iphone.
There is no debate in this. That is what you are going to do.
 
IT wont happen, the poor yankies are running out of iPhones haha. God has saved him from wasting his hard-earned cash..
 
ljump12 said:
I really have no intention of waiting 2 months, partly because i know if i do.. I'll take the $500 and dwindle it away on stupid shi!t. I won't recieve the check untill late next week, so maybe refurbs will pop back up between now and then :rolleyes: ...
Click to expand...

Exercise some discipline. Because you WILL regret getting one now and in literally 2 months be extremely upset over apple coming out with both a new 3g model AND a CHEAPER version of the phone you just bought.
None of us will have sympathy for you then.
 
I bought a refurb 8 GB iPhone from AT&T a few weeks ago and I've been very happy with my purchase. The $249 pricetag is what got me to buy it since I had been waiting for the next model. I couldn't resist. If the next model comes out this year, I won't feel so bad replacing my current iPhone with the new one since I didn't spend a lot for it. I would recommend that you go to an AT&T store and ask in person if they have a refurb.

As for accessories, I bought the DLO HipCase, which I really like. I like that it protects the phone while still giving me access to the headphone jack and easy access to the volume buttons if I just lift the flap. Plus, when I use the iPhone, it's bare and caseless, which I prefer.

http://www.dlo.com/Products/HipCase_Prod.tpl?command=showpage&cart=12071549962621477

I also bought a Blitzsafe iPod adapter for my VW Jetta, replacing the one I had VW install over a year ago. The new adapter works better with my iPod Classic 80 GB and even works with the iPhone, as long as I set it to Airplane mode. But the main reason I updated my adapter is because this one allows me to control what's playing by using the iPod/iPhone's controls, instead of via the car radio's buttons. I'm very happy with the adapter and I installed it myself.

http://www.blitzsafe.com/

I don't use a cell phone that often to make phone calls, so I haven't bothered with a bluetooth earpiece. And since I have the car adapter, I don't need a car charger. And I haven't been using a protective film on my iPhone. It's bare and while it does get smudged up all the time, I haven't seen a scratch yet. Don't lose the little cloth that it comes with for wiping off the screen - it works well.

I'm looking forward to the software coming in June. For some reason, I'm not willing to jailbreak my iPhone. I guess I don't want to do anything that would mess with the warranty.
 
ljump12 said:
So basically I won $500, and would like to buy and iPhone...

I have 60 Gigs of music, so i think it doesn't really matter if I get the 8gig or 16gig, becuase i'm so rediculously over the mark anyway...

My plan was to get a refurb for $250, and spend $100 on accesories.. (Case, and Nice headphones).. But the refurbs are no longer existent.

So whats the best place to buy the iPhone right now, and what accessories shoud i purchase for it... What are the best reasonably priced headphones etc.

Thanks all!
Click to expand...

How'd you win the $$$ ?!
 
I tend to agree with everyone else. I would wait a couple of months until June. The 3G unit may come out and Apple may reduce the price on their exisiting models.

As to accessories, I recommend a workout case if you exercise. The Belkin unit I broke so I won't recommend that particular case.

If you are a music lover, go to budcase.com to pick up a key chain case for your ear buds. It has definately come in handy!
 
It's Your Call

You know, I just went through getting an iPhone a few weeks ago. Went to the ATT store, got really frustrated by EDGE speeds, walked away from the purchase. Even groused mightily about it within another thread on this site.

A couple of days after I posted my rant, I received a gift from my wife: yup, she bought me an iPhone. Not out of love, but just because she was sick of hearing me talk about it. Her rationale: "just shut up and try it out for two weeks - you've got two weeks to take it back if you don't like it." My first thought was to immediately take it back - hey, 3G is coming out soon. Then I decided to use it for the two weeks - hey, I figured I had nothing to lose by trying it out.

It ain't going back to the store. I'm eating crow. Love this thing...don't know how I ever lived without it. My trusty travel laptop is now gathering dust. I just make sure I do my heavy-duty web stuff while I'm on Wi-Fi (which is about 75% of the time) and take what I get with EDGE. The whole EDGE thing is still a limiter on the iPhone, but it's not nearly as big a deal as I thought it would be...although I'd probably feel much differently if I lived in or frequently traveled to a country where EDGE is unavailable (and by the way, that would be darn near anywhere in the world outside the US).

After a few weeks with the iPhone, my advice: if you really need or want the iPhone now, and you accept the potential downside to buying now, go ahead and get it now. The iPhone you own won't run any worse when the 3G model comes out. Nor do I think that Apple will let the upcoming software updates turn all those non-3G iPhones in the field into near-bricks. So far as the lower price, that's the nature of new technology: the price always falls over time as new iterations come out, until the technology becomes a commodity. You can always make a case for waiting a little longer to get a better deal.

Wait if you can. If you can't, for whatever reason, buy it now and enjoy it. It's your call - just make the decision and follow through on it. Don't think you'll be sorry either way.

So far as accessories go, I bought an IDO car charger, an InCase cover with wrist and arm straps, and some very nifty Crystal Film screen covers from Power Support. I also picked up an Apple Bluetooth headset, but that might have been a waste of my money...just not using it much.
 
I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I'm i a very similar situation. I have had my eyes set on getting a unit for about a month now. I am a college student living on campus, so I have WiFi 99% of the time. I could cope with EDGE, I don't watch youtube or look at heavy pages (maybe sometimes, but not often). Plus T-Mobile doesn't even have any 3G, so that shouldn't be a factor at all.

I've pretty much decided that I'm gonna get it in a week or so. The only thing I was really thinking about is - can there be some other significant update that cannot be implemented through a software update? Think bigger battery, faster processor/more RAM, etc. Or is it pretty much just gonna be 3G and maybe a storage bump?

What do you guys think?
 
dima1109 said:
I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I'm i a very similar situation. I have had my eyes set on getting a unit for about a month now. I am a college student living on campus, so I have WiFi 99% of the time. I could cope with EDGE, I don't watch youtube or look at heavy pages (maybe sometimes, but not often). Plus T-Mobile doesn't even have any 3G, so that shouldn't be a factor at all.

I've pretty much decided that I'm gonna get it in a week or so. The only thing I was really thinking about is - can there be some other significant update that cannot be implemented through a software update? Think bigger battery, faster processor/more RAM, etc. Or is it pretty much just gonna be 3G and maybe a storage bump?

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure we're the exact same person -- I'm a colelge student too, that intends to jailbreak for T-Mobile.. so all this talk about 3G doesnt even matter for me.

I won the money in online poker.... Got some nice cards.
 
Go get it...

I've been waiting since last September to get one. First I had a couple of surprise expenses and had to wait, then when I had the $$$ the rumors were flying about 3G--an announcement was expected in March-- and I was determined to wait. So then they came out with the 16G and I said that's it, they won't do anything new for a while. So 3/10 I got one--NYC Apple stores were out of stock, but ATT shipped in 2 days.

I don't know how I lived without it. End of story.
 
I was going to wait too. Then two weeks ago I went to the AT&T store and bought the 8 gig. I figured I had two weeks to try it out and if I didn't like I would bring it back and wait for the new one. Well this was my last day to bring it back and am keeping it. This thing is really awesome. I don't use edge that much and when I do it isn't that bad. Get yourself a good case and the ear buds that come with it sound good to me. My only complaint is that the iPhone is really slippery.
 
ljump12 said:
So basically I won $500, and would like to buy and iPhone...

I have 60 Gigs of music, so i think it doesn't really matter if I get the 8gig or 16gig, becuase i'm so rediculously over the mark anyway...

My plan was to get a refurb for $250, and spend $100 on accesories.. (Case, and Nice headphones).. But the refurbs are no longer existent.

So whats the best place to buy the iPhone right now, and what accessories shoud i purchase for it... What are the best reasonably priced headphones etc.

Thanks all!
Click to expand...

Do yourself a favor and wait until the revised model comes out this summer. Prices may drop along with speed and storage upgrades.

By the way, if you have 60 gigs of music, how freakin' long have you been collecting CDs and/or how much does iTunes love you?
 
I will be getting mine at the apple store once I have the money. If the refurbs pop up I will buy it on AT&Ts website. My reasons for buying it at the apple store is just because I like going in there :D. I have been debating between waiting to buy it so I have 3G or not. I would love to have 3G instead of EDGE but I need a cell phone...

For the accesories I would say go with whatever headphones you want and save the rest of the money. The iPhone really doesn't need a case and the cases usually end up making the iPhone really ugly.


:apple:
 
case etc

I got the Agent 18 clear case which doesn't spoil the look at all, and the clear film for the screen. People seem to think that scratches are a big issue--and spoil resale, in case you want to upgrade in the future. Also, my friend got Coby earphones for around $6 from Amazon which are much more comfortable. They go in the ear too but are softer and a better shape. Mine shipped today, should have them by Wed. The only thing is they don't have controls like the iphone one.
 
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