phone

After a less-than-favorable review of the Helio Ocean, I was berated by enough yaysayers to try it for a second run. Nope. To quote the great philosopher Bob Dylan, "It Ain't Me, Babe."

However, after seeing two good friends loving their BlackBerry 8300 (the Curve), I wanted to give it another shot. And to my surprise, I'm slowly getting comfortable with it. As I previously wrote, this BlackBerry, with a great camera, MP3 capability, and the world's best e-mail, has everything. The problem is a very tight keyboard. Well, I'm in the middle of … Read more

Palm won't be able to put out its Linux-based version of the Palm OS until next year, the company said last week.

This is a slip from earlier expectations that it would be out later this year, according to Brighthand. Palm announced in April that it was developing its own Linux-based version of the Palm OS despite a similar project from Access, the company formerly known as Palmsource.

Palm OS, which is actually now known as Garnet OS, has been looking older and older next to newer mobile operating systems such as Windows Mobile, as well as that iPhone … Read more

The iPhone is here, and it's just what everyone wanted it to be: a brilliant, imperfect device that has enough going for it and enough drawbacks to make everyone happy with their decision.

And that's what matters: everyone being happy with their decision.

Working in the technology journalism industry during this time has taught me a lot about the way life works. The iPhone really won't change anything in your day-to-day life, but it will give people more to look forward to and more ways to think about what really matters.

Here's what matters to me, … Read more

If you were hoping to make big bucks by reselling an iPhone on eBay, it doesn't look like it was really worth the effort.

Corey Spring has posted an analysis of iPhone listings on eBay over the weekend (spotted on Daring Fireball), and he has concluded that the average listing generated $54.43 in profit. That's not a very good return for those who waited in line for hours, or even days, in hope of flipping an iPhone for big bucks. The median return was even worse, at $34.16, which means that half of iPhone auctioneers made … Read more

Still, Mr. Enderle wasn't specific about how long it would take the iPhone to claim its first victim so we should be patient.

The furred Applephile has his finely finished phone and he couldn't be more pleased. Absolutely zero buyer's remorse.

Indeed, it reminded him of the last life-altering product he purchased which was an Airport Base Station (although it could have been any wireless access point). This will truly change the way he works and plays.

The Macalope went to an AT&T store on Saturday morning as the Apple Stores are a little sparse … Read more

We couldn't resist this one: on Friday night, on her way back from the Apple Store, CNET photographer Sarah Tew snapped a photo of a family with iPhones for each person. Awww, so cute!

Synchronoss, the New Jersey-based company that has a contract with AT&T to handle iPhone activations, says it is "extremely pleased" with the way the iPhone activations went.

In an earlier post I described how I spent innumerable hours on hold over the weekend trying to get AT&T to actually activate the iPhone I bought on Friday evening. They finally did on Sunday, after 39 hours elapsed.

That brings us to Synchronoss, which has a contract with AT&T to handle the activation.

Publicly traded Synchronoss, oddly, hasn't been very public about its … Read more

OK, honestly, did you notice that Apple bothered to indent the button on the cover of the iPhone box? And have the whole phone slightly embossed? Let us not forget how far those design geeks at Apple go. That bag was incredible too, no creases! And it fit the iPhone boxes perfectly...three stacked would be just right, or perhaps two and some accessories. And the plastic piece that held up the iPhone when you first opened the box. What about that thick foam in the top of the lid? They really did think of everything. I just took some … Read more

The good news is that my iPhone is finally activated and it's definitely worth the money.

The bad news is that it took AT&T 39 hours to get it done.

I've documented the problems step-by-step, including the magic (and not-so-magic) numbers I called, in this post. Here's our review from my colleagues at CNET Reviews.

It's not just me. An unscientific poll shows half of the respondents who bought iPhones had activation problems, blogger Thomas Hawk has recounted his similar woes, and there's a Slashdot thread too. And check out Apple's own discussion forum. … Read more