How can it be called completely wide open if they force you to get a data plan? And before some jack455 makes a comment about "why get as smart phone without a data plan", who on earth would get a data plan when they have wifi most places they go and the phone has wifi?

It's not open if you have to pay for a service you wouldn't plan on using.
I want this phone (or one of the droids) but seriously, $60/mo for data is more than I pay for my DSL... silliness.

Wow this is dumb. We one thought about how Guitar Hero makes real guitar players lose skill, just imagine how bad a DJ would become pushing buttons on this. Heck, even a iPod DJ would have skills compared to this.

2010? Wow... holy pointless batphone. That's really too bad. :(

Hopefully they disclose the how-tos for regular folk to attempt it.

I too wondered about height versus planes. I assume there are legal issues with how high you can fly tethered things - at least in the US.

Hah, I wondered, when reading the RSS feed if there would be some anti-snitch BITCH comment. As Rob said, f-ck you and all the no-snitch jackasses. ALL OF THEM. Yar!!

As RickiG pointed out (essentially), these days, it's only a crime if you get caught. And we wonder why frightened parents don't let their kids play outside any longer.

You think people who read have too much time on their hands?!?! You act as though reading is a bad thing. I often wish I had 2-3 hours more a day (as in a 26-27 hour day) just so I can have have dedicated reading time. I seriously have to question the intelligence of anyone who would challenge the importance of reading - though you could be one of those morons who I hear say crap like "reading is for rich people".

That's ridiculous. I love to read, always have. But don't have time to read as much as I would like. In the time I've owned my Kindle, I've been able to read a little here and there of multiple books and have easily ready 3-4 times as many books as I would normally have read in the same time period, and my reading speed is increasing, meaning my little spare time is better suited to reading.

I guess people don't get it yet. Most arguments against the Kindle come from people who've never laid a hand on one or worse - iTools who think their iPhones (or other tiny backlit screen device) is good enough for an ebook. I tried reading a book on my Handspring Visor back in the day. Painfully poor experience. I tried reading on my Meizu Miniplayer, only marginally better because of resolution and font.

To those commenting on the bulk of the Kindle - STFU. Have you actually held one? It's literally the size of a novella. As for ugly, yeah, it's not pretty, but Apple can't have the total market on craptastic design.

:)

While I'm looking for my "new in 2" replacement for verizon, I'm just dismayed at how the manufacturers/service providers are not releasing phone with WiFi built into them (or at least for reasonable prices). The fact that so many of us are moving around in places where there is wireless access and our phone still don't let us tap into it is a joke - or more likely, a conspiracy. 3G - woop de do. You still have to pay for traffic or a data plan, no? I don't want to have to pay for a data plan when I'm in range of real internet access. If there's something like that in a nice form factor in the same price range as the LG Dare that'll work on Verizon's network... I'd love to see/hear of it.

When will people realize that Apple is only the new M$. Patent this idea? How patently STUPID is that? Whoa, put a solar panel on a portable device???
Interesting.
I've never seen a solar powered calculator before.

Apple needs a serious smackdown. Time for fanboys to stop giving them passes on the B$.

Patent law: among the most broken things in existence.

A picture ON a wrist would be nice. I think it looks nice. I'm wearing my Polar F55 (heart rate monitor) watch right now. The kids I teach all thought it was some cool fancy watch - which it is, but it's pretty bulky...

I'm not up on all the mobile phone tech chatter, so I couldn't tell if this thing would even work with Verizon anyway.