The recent $500 models of the iPhone and iPod Touch have left me feeling a little colder towards the iPhone. My current contract expires in a week so the timing is perfect for a new phone. But, as I’ve said before, it’s crazy to buy an iPhone right now with the 3G models most assuredly coming out in a few months: Apple’s buyer remorse is guaranteed with that plan.

The new models made me realise that any new 3G iPhone is going to be in the same ballpark as these models, almost $500. As mega-fantastic as the iPhone is, my parents didn’t raise me to spend that kind of dough on a phone that requires a two-year contract. It’s insane, insane I tell you. So… I think I am going to get a Blackberry or other internet-friendly phone for free (thanks Wirefly!) and then perhaps in the summer spend some of the annual bonus on the Touch.

Yeah, it’s a little sucky but there are plenty of things in life I’d really really like but just can’t justify buying. Got to make the tough choices, I suppose.

Were it not for the fact that my current Verizon contract doesn’t end until Feb ‘08, it’s a fair bet to say that I would have an iPhone now. So until recently I’ve been pretty sure that come mid-Feb I’d be in the Apple store like a salivating dog but now I’m not so sure. The biggest problem is timing: the iPhone 2.0 is unlikely, I would guess, until the spring/summer of next year. So I’d be in the familiar Apple trap of buying something I’d come to regret in a few months - no GPS and no 3G makes Paul an unhappy consumer.

Now there’s no guarantee that I’d be able to even afford the new iPhone, of course, and to be fair Brawley isn’t exactly awash in 3G coverage, which then flip flops me back to the idea that perhaps iPhone 1.0 is adequate after all? Or maybe the idea is to get an iTouch and a new phone with the Google Maps with My Location feature on it, and call it good?

I hate Apple Buyer’s Remorse.

I decided yesterday that I was going to buy an iPhone on the way home. This was in part due to a feeling that I needed some major retail therapy, and by watching a lady use various aspects of her iPhone while waiting at the DMV yesterday. That thing is cool!

Fortunately for my bank balance a co-worker (and iPhone owner himself) talked me out of it. Mostly he reason was that I would be a hypocrite to buy one after all the things I said to him when he bought his, and he said to wait until a 3G version comes out. So, for now, Apple owns a little less of me.

In other news, I have now upgraded all my blog sites to 2.3. All went smoothly except for this site. Importing the tags from Ultimate Tag Warrior doesn’t seem to have worked very well and so for now the tags on here are hit and miss. I’ll look at that if and when I can be bothered. Oh, might also switch themes soon.