I’m that guy you saw waiting in line for this slick little piece of plastic that we know and love called the iPhone. I am a Mac addict of about 10 years. I own one of everything that have ever made and treat them all as a family member. Apple usually “gets it” and have rarely disappointed me. The iPhone is truly innovative just as you would expect a product from Apple to be, but it doesn’t come without its problems. If you are thinking about plopping down your 299.00 for a 16 gig iPhone, below find some thoughts that may help you out.

I’ll stay positive, for now, and hype you on this space aged communication device. The iPhone, and the new App Store, are freaking amazing. You can do anything you can imagine from calculating a tip to playing very cool games. There are tons of free applications and most are not over 9.99 in the App Store (which is a part of the iTunes store). You can even make a call should you have time. There’s also something very cool about having your iPod and your phone merged together. Audio and Video and flawless and renting movies in the iTunes store is easier than ever. I just rented 2 movies for a trip to LA which gave me my in flight entertainment and it looks great on the iPhone screen. It also didn’t kill my battery.

The speaker in the phone and the speakerphone are definitely an upgrade from the original model. It’s a bit thinner and well put together. People will ask you about it whenever you take it out of your pocket. It’s a great conversation starter and everyone wants to hold it. The way to tell the new 3G from its outdated brother is by the color. 3G iPhones are black or white while the original has a metal back with a bit of black on it. Apparently, the people you see with the older iPhone are married or related to someone with the iPhone 3G. I know my wife has mine. 

They have made a few minor tweaks that have made the overall performance better like the ability to mass delete mail, the “push” mail and Mobile Me functions (whenever they are working correctly). Business users are also thrilled that they can use it on the corporate servers. Overall, the phone is great but it does have issues that maybe could have been avoided with more extensive testing. 

The namesake of the iPhone, the actual 3G service is a joke. I could barely hold a call with 3G turned on and would fluctuate from 1 to 4 bars constantly. The 3G service ZAPS the battery like you wouldn’t believe. I would be at half a battery by 2 pm with moderate use. With the old iPhone I would NEVER run out of battery and, trust me, I am on it all day. 

Isn’t 3G why I bought the phone? Double the speed for half the price as Apple boldly advertised? Not quite, Mr. Jobs. AT&T is pointing the finger at Apple and says their network is fine. My Blackberry friends are not complaining about their 3G phones. The word is that Apple gave AT&T very little testing time so they could keep the phone under wraps and generate the hype. Apparently, some are pointing at some sort of hardware issue with the phone that is causing the poor reception. I can only hope that they get it worked out quickly with some sort of firmware update. For now, you can turn off the 3G in your general settings. I had to as it just won’t work well on 3G. That is a big blunder. The other big blunder is the Mobile Me service which is not ready for prime time. Big mistake to release that on the same day as the new iPhone. The “push” e mail got beaten up immediately and Apple pulled back from that term quickly now to use the term “sync”. Many people have had e mail outages (here here!) and it’s been a mess. I feel both these issues could have been hashed out with more thorough testing on the actual network the phone was going to be used on.

Other than that, here are the other complaints:

-The ringer is not very loud and when on vibrate it is tough to feel unless right next to your body. The phone is so light that its barely there.

-You can’t copy/paste text (although some companies are releasing apps in the App Store that can remedy this).

-You can’t send a photo in a text message. You have to e mail it.

-Still no Flash media can be played on the iPhone.

-If you move around too fast on the phone, it will freeze up and need a restart.

-The GPS chip is not absolutely accurate (within 5-15 meters, so careful when you buy the golf apps promising things in the App Store).

-The camera sucks

-No streaming video (There are a few iPhone killers that have released phones with streaming television that is kick ass).

-Can’t use the charging cradle from old iPhone as new 3G does not fit.

-Phone is cheaper but the rate plans are higher (nice move Apple!).

There are a few more minor flaws I am probably forgetting but you get the idea. If you have the original iPhone, I would just do the software update and you get most of the same functionality minus the GPS chip. That is the choice for the rational iPhone owner until they get this 3G mess worked out. If you have to have the latest, be prepared for the growing pains.