An Eye for an iPhone

To: Shelly Palmer and everyone else who's in love with the iPhone.

Shelly,

OK, you love your iPhone. But my old, clunky HP iPaq:

• is quad band, so I can use it in Europe & Asia, and I can install a SIM card (it's not locked) that will let me tap into other networks at lower rates
• Can send, receive and edit Word, Excel & PowerPoint docs, as well as view PDFs and other stuff.
• Has a slot for an SD Card, on which I can put whatever -- including MP3s. Current SD cards are good up to about 4 gigs, though I only use 1 gig at the moment.
• Shoots video
• Has an attachable thumb keyboard.
• Could be used on T mobile or AT&T networks
• Allows text entry in a few ways: punch keys on a screen, writing style, straight drawing …
• Does 3-way call conferencing
• Can send MMS messages with video,audio or photos attached

And it does most of the stuff iPhone does (Calendar, WiFi, movie viewing, taking photos, screen keyboard, folders, etc.)

Granted, it's not sexy or the new new thing (it's hard to even get service anymore), and it freezes 1-to-3 times a day, sometimes at infuriating moments, requiring me to reboot. But why all the excitement over an iPhone that has less functionality? (Is it like the iPod -- an MP3 that is simply easier and more graceful than what came before?)

I, too, am an Apple and PC guy, and may become Apple, only. But I'm not going to buy an iPhone just yet.