meee a ee Among smart phones, few have as many bells and whistles as Apple’s iPhone. It’s one of the top-selling phones on the market today and users have raved about the phone’s capabilities and praised the phone’s func- tionality. But with a price tag of up to $300 and pricey data plans to pay every month, can someone on a student’s budget justify this techno- logical marvel? Or do the iPhone’s features make it worth the wallet damage? 10 Why I’m not getting the iPhone By Angela Szczur it is. It’s essentially a computer that you can carry around with you in your pocket, and it does more than anyone ever imagined a cell phone could do. In the years to come I’m sure that the iPhone will do much more. I just don’t have a use for it that would justify the $199-299 price ticket for the 3Gs in exchange for an unimpressive plan. Telus still currently owns my soul under contract and their expensive, low-feature plans are disappointing at best. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t buy an [= not saying that the iPhone isn’t awesome; iPhone, or that people who own one shouldn’t love it. If it works with your life, that’s great. Admittedly if the plans weren’t so high-priced I would probably get one, too. But at this time, I just don’t have the money to spend on something that provides services that I could get elsewhere. I have had chances to play games on my friends’ iPhones, and they’re pretty awesome. I especially liked The Price is Right game application. Unfortunately, I only foresee myself playing cellphone games when I’m waiting for the bus. Since The Price is Right requires sound, I don’t really want my very own audience listening in on whether or not I know the retail price of a “All in all, if you think that you will use your iPhone to the fullest, then go for it. However, if you’re more like me, you’re probably better off with a regular cell phone.” barbeque. Why do I only need games when I’m waiting for the bus, you ask? Well, because I have a laptop which goes pretty much everywhere with me, and on my laptop I’ve loaded World of Warcraft. It’s all I really need for games. You can call me simplistic if you want to. So what about YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, movies, music, and GPS? You can do all of this on your iPhone and more. I love YouTube; it’s how I found out about Leeroy Jenkins and the sneezing baby panda. But I don’t love it enough to want to access it over my phone, which is especially true if it uses up precious, expensive data that Canadians pay sky-high prices for. ($30 for a 1GB data add- on? Are they nuts?) Moreover, I deactivated my Facebook months ago. And Twitter? I don’t have it. The quality of movies on the iPhone is great, but we also have to remind ourselves that it’s a small screen. For a fraction of the monthly cost of an iPhone plan I could go to this place called a movie theatre which shows high-definition movies on a 50-foot screen. Amazing! I do carry around an iPod shuffle, but that trumps the need to listen to music on an iPhone. As for GPS... okay, I’ll be honest. I get lost easily. My internal compass is hopelessly and forever broken. But spending so much on the iPhone itself as well as the plan solely for its GPS capabilities would just be silly. All in all, if you think that you will use your iPhone to the fullest, then go for it. However, if you’re more like me, you’re probably better off with a regular cell phone. Why | have an iPhone By Tim Arndt switched from Telus to Rogers to get the iPhone when it first came to Canada. I’ve had it over a year now, and cannot imagine life without it. Sounds lame, but it’s some of the best money I’ve spent. Before the iPhone I had a really cheap LG [= one of those weird Apple fanboys who phone with Telus and my bill still regularly ran $70 a month. With the iPhone I have a good student plan and never spend more than $100 a month, including long distance across Canada and 6GB of data. Granted, I was one of the lucky ones to get the bigger data plan, but even with my constant usage my data rarely goes above 1GB. Just to be clear, I have no love for Rogers or Telus, but that’s a topic for another day. “The cost of the phone itself was $200, less than what I paid for my previous iPod, and way less than a netbook or laptop. What | get is a computer, a phone, an iPod, a gaming device and much more.” The cost of the phone itself was $200, less than what I paid for my previous iPod, and way less than a netbook or laptop. What I get is a computer, a phone, an iPod, a gaming device and much more (“There’s an app for that’’). This is particularly good for me, as I hate having things in my pockets. Still not convinced about the value? As a lazy student who often procrastinates, I’ve been able to use my iPhone to do last minute homework on the SkyTrain. I can look up information easily on Google, do my readings, register for courses and email classmates and teachers. Or how about when I get asked for directions? No problem, I just whip out my iPhone and show them the map. The integrated Google Maps app is worth the money alone and has saved me incalculable time. So far I’ve touched on the integrated features; but of course we all know about the numerous third-party apps. The quality of the games makes it a worthy gaming device, and Apple has taken notice of that by bumping up the specs on the latest iPhone. I think given a couple years, Nintendo and Sony will have a fierce competition to the DS and PSP. Non-gaming apps are just as useful. The other day my friend and I were drawing a blank on the title, lyrics and artist of the song “Total Eclipse of the Heart” (Bonnie Tyler is the singer). I opened up Midomi, hummed the chorus for a few seconds and voila, we had the title, artist and were soon singing along to the music video on YouTube. If that alone isn’t worth $200 then I don’t know what will convince you. When I think of all the things I waste my money on in a month for entertainment (movies, music, food and copious amounts of alcohol), I’d say the iPhone probably has the best return on investment. Of course the iPhone isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty damn close.