I think it's a beautiful 'phone'... but honestly? Why the hell do they have to last 6 mos. before they're no longer cool and there has to be another 'huge' thing? Sure: There's an 'important' advance. What about the pollution?

The irony of the fact that folks who are turning over phones often might be buying some of their older phone back is simply delicious.

Well the world has changed.  These are more communication devices than a traditional "phone", and for some they are a necessity for work and such.

The only reason I have a landline phone is for our alarm system, otherwise that would be gone in a second.

Some of us in the tech field need to be closer to the bleeding edge of tech than we might like to be in order to push our businesses forward.  There have been years where I've had multiple cell phones simultaneously in order to make use of the features of one AND the other.  It is a good thing that tech advances like that every 6 months, because between decent tablets and the newest superphones I'm finally beginning to make my desktop/notebook redundant.  My desktop and notebook use far more power than my phone/tablet/cloud computing so I see that as a good thing. 

With the exception of one or two of the newer phones I still have each of my old cellphones even that old brick of a Mitsubishi DiamondTel I got in the early 90's in a giant box in my garage.  Those old phones probably still work but have long since out-lived their usefulness to me in business.  Sad maybe, but it's the reality of tech-business.  Moving into newer tech is really just the cost of doing business as far as I'm concerned.

EDIT:

Also, you're a doctor right?  When your practice buys newer medical equipment doesn't the old equipment end up in the very same landfill my old cellphones do?   Irony......funny thing that..

Yeah, Shaunna and I are recycling some mobile phones this week... 4 of them, I think.  One's mine and the others are Shaunna's from way back when, all of which still work, but are now obsolete. Mine however, was a cheap 20 buck Nokia and it died... one day it just wouldn't turn on anymore, which is probably what prompted my mother to gift me the unit I have now.  Thing is, we won't be getting bits back just yet.

How true times and peoples needs have changed, and it is this which has driven the technology to constantly evolve and reinvent itself.  I didn't think I would ever have a use for a Smartphone, but a recent trip to my doctors soon made me realise just how valuable a device they are.  I had forgotten some requested information, which was subsequently emailed to my phone then bluetoothed to her PC... brilliant!

It used to be that way for us, various things depending on the landline.  Now, however, I have a bundle that's primarily internet where the landline is more an additional extra.  It's not a bad deal, either.  The only calls we pay for are overseas ones... all our local, STD long distance and mobile call costs are included in the package price

Old Tech

New Tech

  Good one Giz, that made my day... beauty! 

I have a question about the 'Live' tiles: Are those 'pulling' or 'pushing' data all the time? Is that what live tiles means? Beautiful phone btw.

well, the local at&t store only had the black version in stock when i was there. they should have other colors available next tuesday so i'll make another visit then. i want to see more than one color before making a decision on which one to get. i know how nice the white and black versions look but i've yet to see a red one.

"Live Tiles" means that they are actually useful at presenting information as opposed to the flat minimalist (numerical count) info provided by the iOS or droid grid-look.

Some of them will be pulling/pushing data in order to display info, others like calendar and email just show you details about the latest appointment/email.  Of course the "size" you set your tile to determines whether or not it displays more info than in iOS or droid grid-look or not.

Keep in mind the black and cyan models have a matte finish as opposed to the glossy finish of the white, yellow and red.

Personally I prefer the matte black for two reasons.  First, it doesn't attract fingerprints and lint as badly as the glossy models and it also doesn't look like the phone has a coloured border around it.  The black meshes seamlessly with the screen and just looks more "premium/classy" than the other colours to me. 

yeah, monk, i had already seen a white one and the black is pretty sweet. i almost went with black but i really want to see the red before making a choice. the cyan doesn't interest me in the least. we'll see tuesday or wednesday.

Aw, I dunno, I'd take a sky blue pink one with polka dots if it came with infinite free calls and text for the rest of my life.

Shoot, I'd even take one in baby poop yellow if the price was right, I got a free phone cover, unlimited data and a free lifetime sub to the Playboy site.

what kind of a hit does your data plan take with live tiles going all the time?

Again it depends on what kind of info your "live tiles" are displaying.  Since most of the live tiles I use in large size (the size where they display useful info) are things like calendar, email etc. the only "data" those tiles/apps use is in the downloading/syncing process and as such no additional data is being used to display said useful info to me on the home screen.

OK - next question - can you use the phone as a wi-fi hotspot without incurring some sort of provider fee?  For instance, on my jail broken iPhone, I have no issue with tethering or using as a wi-fi hotspot. That's another deal breaker for me anyway.  Thanks!