iPhone mania

Despite all the reports of servers being down and so forth, I was able to update my iPhone to the new software without any problems. Of course, I did the update at 2:00 in the morning :-). I did hear that the lines were crazy, though. My friend said that up in New Hampshire, the line at mid-day had over 500 people in it (and the store opened at 8 am). At 3:00, there were about 200 people on line. You'd think that the iPhone was only going to be available on the one day.

To be honest, I don't see a whole lot of difference between the old and the new OS. The push mail thing might be interesting. There are some extra settings and so forth. And the App Store is fun. I downloaded a number of applications (mostly the free ones) that looked interesting. So far, I have: Pandora radio, TruPhone (for international calls via Wi-Fi, Yellow Pages (YPMobile), yelp, and Starmap. Of course, I haven't actually *used* any of them. I'll have to report back in a couple of weeks on whether I find a use for any of these apps.

I have noticed a bit of flaky behavior. Entering passwords is flaky...the software first displays each letter I type before changing it to the dot symbol. And sometimes, I get weird screen repainting as I type each letter. And then, there is a bit of slowness in some of my standard apps. But, nothing that isn't tolerable, at this point.

I'm a bit surprised at the interest in getting the 1st generation iPhone instead of the 3G phone. Maybe it's because the 3G plan is pricey. My friend sold his 1st gen phone while on line to get his 3G phone for $400! (and it's a used phone --- it's in good condition, but still...). I know someone else who is planning to get a 1st gen phone instead of the 3G, again because of the phone/data plan costs. He's planning to get his from craigslist (and there are quite a few phones available).

We do love our iPhones...not because they're better than a BlackBerry...but because of the coolness factor. That's the main reason that I love my iPhone!