rmiggins wrote:

"Now it's several hours later and I'm looking for stuff I can't find, such as the setting where you switch the phone on its side and the keyboard stretches out. I'm sure this will all come in good time but for now, I can't find it."

Stop looking... the keyboard only works in portrait mode... check out the C|NET iPhone review.

Still waiting for my iPhone...

iPhone: Or Millenial Gen Uprising Now Playing in a Locale Near You.

45 Minutes and I've transferred everything, activated everything. My first call? To my college sophomore daughter's cell phone — she's in the living room downstairs. Hi, I'm calling from my new iPhone. Next 30 minutes, a fight breaks out between the 19 and 13 year old to see who's going to master it first. Then, morale outrage. No, it's not possible! Their MOTHER has the first iPhone in the household! Must have iPhones all around and a family plan immediately to rectify this injustice.

In their dreams. Looking forward to seeing you all next week in SF.

I had the same first impression. But the battery life seemed to improve after a few cycles of charging. Not sure if this is due to hardware, or to my using the device less as an Internet device and more as a phone once the "novelty" wore off. Currently (2 months into ownership) I usually have about 50% battery left (or more) at the end of each day. I've only ran out of battery power once that I can remember, and this was one of the days when everyone I knew was trying out my phone. Overall, battery life has not been an issue for me.

YouTube. Anywhere.

That summarizes everything that's great about the iPhone.

No downloadable Dashboard widgets to this brick.

That summarizes everything that's bad about the iPhone.

Apple has done an incredible job creating a hand held Internet appliance. Actually, it is more than that. It is an enchanted, happy, happy machine. I love to look at it. Ooo over it. What's the iPhone doing now? Ooo, look at that. I'm on BART checking my email. Oh, I need directions. Is it a Bradywine tomato? Hmmm, I wonder if I could Google that. The iPhone responds to nearly every information gathering whim I might have.

When I first got my cat last Winter, I followed him around where ever he went. "Hey, honey the cat just farted, isn't that cute?" The kitty farted. I was enchanted with every little action my cat took. After two months of being in a rescue shelter, he basked in the affection. Eight months later, "The cat made a stinky! Phew!"

While I'm quickly on the way to stressing out my left wrist from holding the iPhone, I think this love relationship will eventually cool off. New gadget enchantment is fleeting. Eventually, I recognize the iPhone's stinkys for what they are. However, I think this incredible excitement about having the Internet anywhere will last for some time. The iPhone quite literally provides me with a tool I have wanted for years.

The downside to being able to view web pages at a reasonable resolution and photos at 2 1/4" by 3" size is that it feels like I've glued a VHS tape to my belt. The iPhone is considerably smaller than a VHS tape. So why does it feel so bulky on my waist? It is literally twice as wide as my cell phone. This fact makes getting in and out of the car a little awkward as I have habitually carried my cellphone on my waist. Hmmm. I may have to rethink that strategy.

I frequently use BART—the San Francisco Bay Area's commuter train—to get to work. There's this fabulous Dashboard widget for my Macintosh that allows me to know when the train is coming so that I can calculate when I need to leave to catch my train. Not only does it not work on the iPhone, there is no way to download it to the iPhone—at least not yet. I know someone has probably hacked the phone but I'm too lazy to hack the iPhone at the moment. It drives me crazy to have to go to the BART web site and click, zoom in, reposition, zoom in, zoom out, reposition. Since Dashboard widgets are based on HTML, it should be a no brainer to include them in the iPhone. After all, they don't present a security risk to the iPhone any more than any standard web page.

Hmmm, I wonder what this blog entry would look like on my iPhone. Ooo, look at that.

Glad you enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to the conference.

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to meet you in person.