So, my first reaction to the new case for the iPhone was this - "Ugh."

It's plastic. Not aluminum. And, as you may have noticed, until recently, with the new iMac bucking the trend, consumer products are usually white / black plastic, and professional products are anodized aluminum. The case was a subtle shift, but it carries with it a powerful message - the iPhone is now a mass consumer product. It is cheaper, it is more accessible, it has more features, it has more programs, and it now is no longer the toy of professionals and millionaires (okay, I'm exaggerating), but an everyman's phone. Now, I fully believe this is an intentional effort by Apple to widen it's market. But as an owner of an old iPhone, I wouldn't switch. Not only is the new one, in my opinion, less attractive and cheapened, it's now a phone that we may start to see on every street corner. I don't want to look like everyone else.

What do you all think? Any of you current iPhone users going to get a new one? Selling yours for cheap to get a new one? Something else? I'm interested to hear others' reaction to it.

Why spend people so much time thinking about such highly unrelevant things like mobile phones???

Hey - its a MOBILE ... not a car, a house or my next wife ... it's just a mobile.

The things that it has in common with the mentioned is the fact that I like to have fun with it, I like it to do a good job, last as long as my contract runs and to look nice.
But it can't cook, it won't hold me warm at night or give a blowjob, so - why shouldn't the back be out of plastic?

Just a mobile man .. just a mobile.

And to give a straight answer to your question:
If I pay $200 bucks less to get a better battery life, GPS and 3G (EDGE isn't just crappy it also has no marketshare in Europe) I definately will not complain about a plastic shell on the back of my phone. Metal is much nicer - but not worth $200.

I bet you can find some thirdparty backshell out there for $200 that'll fit like a charm and is made out of some surgery-grade-high-alloy-non-corroding-tempered steel... I'm pretty sure about it .. and I think that gizmodo.com will be first to write about it ... ;-)

--EDIT--

But - to be honest ... it was really strange when Don Stevo introduced his brand new toy and said "back out of plastic .. real nice!" ... that was creepy ;-)

Well, as Metuas state, better, I will wait for the Aluminium iPhone Pro. No! I won't wait...

To be honest, the plastic is quite good quality, it feels hard as the previous cover. The glossy
look is fine, the white one is even better, you will see, it is... its is... ... It is un-be-livable, LOL. It is impressive.

Plastic helps with reception, which is why people who've used it hands on are reporting better reception.

Yeah, the aluminum backing causes interference with the signal. I notice that my iPhone doesn't have as good reception as my old phone. I kinda like the new look anyway, there's a plastic band that runs along the bottom of the old iPhone: it looks very out of place. I don't think Apple was trying to make it look cheaper, they just wanted it to work better.

Please, get over yourself...

You don't want to look like everyone else? Here is a statement of truth for you. People like yourself are so convinced that you want to be different and be like no one else, that in all actuality you are acting, thinking, doing, and looking like millions of other people. Being different is the new trend, and people in the Marketing field (the manufacturing of bullshit) are eating it up.

On second thought, keep that attitude. Marketing is my minor, I may be able to rip you off one day...

lol ! so true

Agreed. If the phone is that good, who cares if a lot of people have it - it's what YOU do with it. Also, how else will cool location service based apps like 'Loopt' work if no one has the new model?

You can get location data from the cell network, it's not just GPS exclusive.