If you do buy an iPhone, I suggest you also buy four other things:
1. An extended warranty with breakage protection. This phone has a metal case and a glass screen -- which suggests that if you drop it, the screen will be toast, and you'll have a US$700 doorstop. In addition, the battery, given its 300 cycle expected life, should need replacement before the year is up, and you'll want that replacement to come under warranty. Make sure the warranty covers the battery -- otherwise, you'll have around a year with a phone that has a bad battery.
2. To the first point, get a protective case for the phone. This thing is really fragile, and if it falls out of your pocket or you drop it, you'll be more upset than you realize. This is because the phone comes with a substantial subsidy tied to your service plan. If you have to buy a new one without the service plan -- as you would if you broke the phone -- it should cost you close to $700. While this will make AT&T and Apple very happy, you are likely to be really pissed -- so take my advice and protect the phone.
3. Get a good wireless headset. The best is the Jawbone, but it isn't stereo; Plantronics makes some great wireless stereo headsets, and this will allow you to see the screen while you talk and not make it look like you are showing pictures to your ear -- and you can both listen to music and use the phone with greater safety, and look less like a dork. More important, using this phone in the car will be unusually dangerous anyway -- folks tend to look at a touch screen phone while driving -- and you'll want to make it as safe as you can.
4. Pick up a cell phone battery extender -- also a handy option for an iPod. There is no way to replace the battery in this phone. If you use it for videos and pictures, there is a good chance the phone battery will be dead when you need to actually make a call. If you have an emergency external battery, you should be able to get the phone up and running again -- and that could quite literally save your life. Nothing like being stuck in a bad neighborhood with a dead cell phone to give you religion.
