Well the Apple iphone is out now and while it's a very nice phone from all the reports I've heard, there is waaay too much hype about it.

Many people say it's revoloutionary. Well about the only thing that's revolutionary is the touch screen. All of the other stuff on it has been available for a few years on phones in Japan.

The mailing system in Japan kicks the crap out of the one in the US. It's like a real email address on your phone. You can send mail messages to computers and receive mail from computers like it's a text message. Phones from different companies can message each other without any extra costs. The US is just realizing this and they think it's something they came up with.

"The iphone is an ipod and can play music." Whoop-dee-doo. There are many phones in Japan that do the same thing, and have been doing it for a few years now. The phones in Japan can read memory sticks that are compatible with each other so just take out your memory stick and pop it into your friend's phone and let him enjoy your music. Can the iphone do that? Bet your DigitalRightsManagement ass it can't.

"The iphone screen changes if you turn it sideways." Yup, newer Japanese phones and digital cameras do that too.

"The predictive text is great. It's like it knows what I'm trying to say." Yawn, Japanese people invented predictive text. And the phones also remember what you said before so the predictive text changes to adapt to your personal speaking pattern.

"But, you can surf the web on the iphone!" Ha-, I have a special page on this website that I made so my Japanese friends could access some of my page from their phones, because Japanese phones have been web-enabled for ages, way before their American couterparts.

Here's something Japanese phones can do that the iphone can't: watch live TV. LIVE TV, not pre-recorded TV. LIVE TV! Can the iphone do that?

Some Japanese phones are shake-able and respond to movement or being shook. The only movement the iphone knows is am I lying down or standing up.

My Japanese phone has a voice enabled camera. I programmed it to take a picture with the camera whenever I say "HAI CHEEZU!" Can the iphone do that?

The iphone is ridiculously expensive. And plans start at 59.99? Holy crap AT&T why don't I just bend over while I'm at it.

So, basically the iphone is just a copy of all the best points of Japanese phones. It really needs its price to come down before I get one. Not to say it's a bad phone, it's probably one of, if not the, best phones on the US market today.