There are more phones, phone deals and jailbreak opportunities than ever before. Do some research on Jailbreaking. Study Cydia.
I'm a brand new iPhone user and my mind is blown by the vast (and I do mean VAST) number of Apps that are truly useful which the iPhone can run.
My daughter works for the Apple store one on one with customers. The number one problem with iPhones happens to be the attitude of the users when they abuse the phone by dropping on hard surface or in liquid. Yes, that's right. The newest iPhone has a GLASS screen which will crack if dropped.
You MUST HAVE INSURANCE if you want a phone replacement in such an event.
My daughter says so many customers don't want to spend the extra ninety-nine bucks for insurance and it would be the best hundred bucks they ever spent. You walk in with your cracked phone and walk out with a NEW one.
I can reach into my pocket, pull out my iPhone and do the following in under one minute:
Check my bank account, buy movie tickets, plot my car trip using GPS, shoot a movie of me and my daughter at the zoo and upload it to Facebook, check the Weather for the rest of the week, perform an internet search, calculate interest on a purchase, text, twitter, read my favorite newspaper, watch Netflix, check Stocks, set Reminders for the month and----yes, even make telephone calls.
All without having to lug my laptop with me.