[dj_stick]

Ok yes, I bit the bullet and got myself an iPhone 3G 16Gb last night

Background- touch phones are nothing new to me, having had an HTC Touch for over a year. But the slow GPRS speeds and inability to properly sync with my two macs started to get annoying.

Hurray for free phones upon plan renewal - means I got the iPhone at zero cost

Once I had the phone powered up and activated (from my dad's office), I logged into my MobileMe account, within moments I had all my contacts and calendar dates on my phone without having to sync with my machine at home.

Naturally, it syncs to my Mac Pro with no problems, though if I can only sync with one computer at a time (If I sync with Music on my Macbook Air, iTunes will delete all the music on the iPhone, and then replace it with what's on the Air HDD, likewise for video etc)

Purchased a Sena slim leather case in black, as I tend to keep my phone in my pocket, and dislike bulky cases.

As for using the phone, it's quite nice, the display is obviously a lot crisper than my old HTC, much higehr resolution, and an overall more "refined" look.

Almost all the features I used on the HTC were present on the iPhone, but the one major thing I miss is Windows Mobile's "Block Recogniser" - I've been used to using that to "draw" in a symbol that represents each letter as my text input method - haven't found a way to add that to the iPhone (yet, I hope).

Compared the HTC, the iPhone is a lot more responsive, much quicker to go between applications, something that used to frustrate me at times, and the sheer number of available apps on the app store is mind boggling (yet most of them are useless to me )

On the topic of Applications, some of the ones I've grabbed are really quite cool, from games to utilities to social networking, but I did have to wade through a lot of crap to find them.

It's kind of annoying that the USB data cable is also used to charge the iPhone, so I can't just leave a cable with my computer, and the charger beside my bed, I have to take the cable with me... luckily my sister has an iPod she no longer uses, so I doubt she'll miss the cable that mysteriously disappeard from her computer...

My next purchase will probably be a dock of some sort (or two) for the iPhone, I wish they'd include those sort of things in the packaging.

That's enough for now, I'll update later on as I beging to use my iPhone more

[Zardon]

Its the best phone out there, by a long shot and I own several, like the nokia E71 which I still love.

Why is it the best phone? the software support for it. Ive everything on it, from translators to a program that listens to music and tells you the band, and VLC player remote which lets me control my media center over my home network in a lovely interface on the phone. From queueing files to browsing harddrives. TV Forecast is another indispensible application im stunned I ever managed without.

Couldnt be without it, just make sure you get a nice protective case for it like the iskin silicon and a power station for recharging the battery on the move.

Only weak thing about it is the battery life.

[Mac Daddy]

Thanks for the detailed info DJ looks good

[dj_stick]

Been using it for a bit now

As a phone, I guess it does leaves a bit to desire - no MMS or Video calls, but then I've never sent an MMS or made a video call, so that doesn't bother me

as a PDA, again it leaves a bit to desire, the lack of copy & paste hasn't really annoyed me as much as I thought it would (yet), and I haven't found a suitable replacement for MS Office Mobile yet.

It really feels like an iPod Touch with a phone radio bolted on, which is not all that bad, as long as you don't expect it to be a phone first

On the upside, I've found using the iPhone to be much more fluid experience than my old HTC - the interface is much faster, mostly due to the faster CPU. Rather than an integrated OS, the iPhone OS seems to simply be an application launcher, with every feature requiring a separate program

[Zardon]

Originally Posted by dj_stick

Been using it for a bit now

As a phone, I guess it does leaves a bit to desire - no MMS or Video calls, but then I've never sent an MMS or made a video call, so that doesn't bother me

There is a free download for that on the store, look for "MMS" - handles all media and integrates with the phone behind the scenes. Setup is a two minute process.

as a PDA, again it leaves a bit to desire, the lack of copy & paste hasn't really annoyed me as much as I thought it would (yet), and I haven't found a suitable replacement for MS Office Mobile yet.

Get bigkeyemail and there is an office suite on the store too

It really feels like an iPod Touch with a phone radio bolted on, which is not all that bad, as long as you don't expect it to be a phone first

On the upside, I've found using the iPhone to be much more fluid experience than my old HTC - the interface is much faster, mostly due to the faster CPU. Rather than an integrated OS, the iPhone OS seems to simply be an application launcher, with every feature requiring a separate program

Couldnt disagree more my man, you need to spend a bit more time on the store - however yes its a very diverse system of apps which work on a standalone basis, this is the whole strength of the thing IMO as most phones lock you into a handful of features within the kernel. Also make sure you get istat and freememory as well as apps like aroundme, ootunes, ted, groups, sendphotos, vlc remote (to control VLC over your wireless on mac or pc).

Hit me up on MSN ill sort this out for you !

[Mac Daddy]

Sounds pretty good to me especially considering how easily Z cleared up a few issues you were having

[dj_stick]

Originally Posted by Zardon

Couldnt disagree more my man, you need to spend a bit more time on the store - however yes its a very diverse system of apps which work on a standalone basis, this is the whole strength of the thing IMO as most phones lock you into a handful of features within the kernel. Also make sure you get istat and freememory as well as apps like aroundme, ootunes, ted, groups, sendphotos, vlc remote (to control VLC over your wireless on mac or pc).

Oh i didn't mean it as a downside, more an observation - it's just not the typical sort of integrated phone system that I'm used to - the layout is certainly suited to the way the device works - a seperate icon for each "function"

as for the office suites, I've had a look a few, not many of them match Office Mobile spec-wise, but I'm going to have to jump in and try a few soon

with MMS, I know there's a few apps that work-around the problem of not having built in functionality, but I realy can't be bothered, as I think i've received maybe 3 MMS messages in the past 5-6 years

I'm still quite new to the iPhone, and I really appreciate any correction or re-direction that I receive.

I'm also still quite astounded at just how many applications are available!