Once activated, it is only reliant upon another computer to add media (music, video, photos) and update the firmware. Otherwise, it stands alone.

It is generally a standalone device (especially the phone and web tablet features), but they do assume you own a computer, so they've made some things dependent on one - more or less only the things sourwookie mentions.

Basically, Apple doesn't want you to use your iTunes account as a virtual mixtape for other people's systems; that's part of the agreement the company set with the record labels. Another reason is to promote AirTunes, Apple TV and other products that can stream music to a stereo.

Popping in to say I love my Treo. It does e-mail, web, IRC, telnet/ssh, and so on. It works with a computer, but doesn't require one. And you can add or remove music with an SD card.

Yeah, but it's a treo.

(and it doesn't do the web as well)

Apple assumes the iPhone will be used with a computer much like the iPod. And like the iPod, Apple sees the iPhone as another Trojan horse to sell more Macs. I fully expect that eventually, more iPhone features may be built into dotMac so that contacts and bookmarks can be synced between Macs and the iPhone over the air.

Once you activate the iPhone you never need to mate it with a computer again.

Unless...
... you want to add music aside from buying it from the iTunes music store with a wifi connection.
... you want to add video
... you want to not update the firmware when new features become available.
... you want to add new applications once the SDK comes out (or the current unsupported apps)
... it somehow crashes so hard you need to do a restore from scratch

The only time you need to sync it with a computer is when want to do one of those events. You can go a long time without needing to do any of those things. The reason I sync almost daily is to get new music and video, have the new contacts I added on the phone added to my Mac. Have the new or deleted bookmarks from Safari on the phone. Having a connection to a computer enhances the iphone's iPod experience dramatically.

Ouch, the iPhone as described here does not at all sound like the stand-alone unit I had imagined it would be. In fact, some of this sounds like crippleware. So, you can't watch video, say from something similar to Netflix Online, directly?

Does any other handheld unit do the web well?

It's not a standalone computer. You can't even browse its filesystem. Seriously. You cannot right-click an image from a webpage and download it to your "hard disk." You don't have one. You cannot install a program (hackable but not by design). You cannot move all your documents onto it. You cannot print from it. You cannot do most things a computer can do. It is more like a phone or ipod with some bells and whistles than a computer. Your expectations were pretty far off.

Thanks, scarabic, for that disclosure. Ugh, that makes the thing pretty damn useless then.

Unless you need the fancy multi-touch screen or the Apple logo, just get pretty much any other Nokia or HTC 3G phone. They're almost all faster, less restrictive and more functional than the current iPhone (though this may well change in a few generations).

Most decent 3G phones take micro-SD cards which come in sizes up to 8GB. I keep a sizable subset of my music collection on mine, along with business docs, meeting notes, and occasionally even DVD rips.

Many thousands of applications both free and non-free are available for Symbian (for the Nokias) and Windows Mobile (for the HTC).

I wouldn't quite call either of my phones desktop replacements, but with full 3G, GPS, a decent web browser, SSH and RDP clients, qwerty keyboard, and Exchange integration, my HTC is functional enough that I don't really use my desktop much anymore except for serious typing or watching YouTube vids.

(and it doesn't do the web as well)

Elaborate.