iPhone? iWantOne

I'd hardly call myself a "tech guy," though I often take note of the latest cool gadget. But it's almost always been a "look from afar, you'll never have it, but go ahead and spend two hours browsing the aisles at Best Buy, anyway" sort of thing.

As I've written here before, I tend to follow far behind the curve when it comes to the latest innovations. Give me five years, however, and I'll eventually join the revolution (which by then, of course, is longer a revolution).

But after the launch of the iPhone yesterday, watching reports about it on the news last night (in which the device was hilariously kept away from human touch in a glass cylinder), and reading plenty about the thing this morning, I think I may have to change my approach to new technology.

If I'm walking out of the house with a cell phone in one pocket, and an iPod in the other (and before it melted down into an oversized paperweight, a laptop in my shoulder bag/manpurse), I'm already kind of a gadget guy, aren't I? I'm certainly more of one than I was even two years ago.

So if Steve Jobs and the Apple-ites have something that combines all of those things into one sleek, compact little thingy-majig, I'm interested. You might be, too, after watching the online demos. Look at all the stuff you can do! (Okay, not everyone's a fan.)

Sure, the $500-600 price tag is steep, but as Dr. Lil' Sis said to me last night, buying each of those devices - cell phone, iPod, laptop - would run you a higher price tag, anyway. (I'll be making sure to remind her of this when Christmas time comes around next year, and she's complaining that she doesn't know what to get me. Oh, yes - I'll be reminding her.)

Of course, it's possible that I just wouldn't want to carry all that stuff with me. I got some good use out of the test Fusic phone Sprint sent me a few months ago while in Hawaii. I could send e-mails, listen to music and - most importantly - the Tigers beating the Yankees. Since returning to the mainland, however, I haven't used it much. But that's mostly because I haven't had to. Why use another cell phone when I was under contract with another one? I also already check e-mail on my computer enough as it is.

But things can change - especially once I convince myself I need something. And that iPhone would look hot held up against my ear, man.