Here are my thoughts...
1) I have used all of the various services. Verizon is the best, you can get a signal everywhere. I have to agree, Cingular is real bad.
2) A $600 phone. It does seem like a nice phone, but thats simply way more then most people would be willing to pay. Most phones wear out within a year or two with moderate use.
So the person who stated that Cingular and the high end crowd dont go together is right. Cingular does not work in NYC. If you are of any importance at all, you simply dont use it. You use Verizon.