3G iPhone

So, all of you who are interested in said iPhone product have probably read many of the reviews online, so I won't make this terribly long. Instead, I will distill it down to a series of "likes" and "dislikes."

Likes:

-- the new 2.0 software freaking rules. It offers many improvement versus 1.4, the biggest, for me personally, being access to Exchange email. So, now I can get all my work emails, calenders, contacts, etc. This, for me, is the holy grail as I am a business user (and a "power" one at that given how much I travel) first, and a "consumer" second. If the 2.0 software upgrade, which, incidentally, is available for users of the first generation of iPhone users, I would have been a very happy camper. This was huge for me.

-- the new App Store is amazing. I have tried out three or four of the applications thus far, including several of the free ones, and if these are a taste of things to come, which I believe they are, the applications will really be the highlight for years to come. I got the MLB package for the Little Boy so I have baseball scores at my disposal; Aim for work, weather and more. Very, very cool.

-- as many of you have probably heard, there's not much difference between 3g and first generation except for the speed of the network and I have to say that the 3g is very, very fast. Again, if you travel tons like me, or require Internet access while on the go, then the speed alone is worth the price (which, I might add, is very reasonable, especially relative to the first version). the other big difference is that 3g version also has GPS built in; this is definitely kind of cool but not a "must have" in my opinion.

Dislikes:

-- I have only on thus far - but it is a biggie. The battery life, based on three days of usage, sucks (to put it mildly). I was really, really hoping for better. This is very problematic and I have to say: if someone said it was a deal killer, I would understand. Knowing Apple, this was by design and version "3.0" will be hailed as a having a long lasting battery. I am on to their modus operandi: create a deficiency that keeps 'em hungry for more. That's how they get me, at least.

Not to dwell too much on this issue but today I unplugged this thing from the charger and used to minimally at work today and it was pretty much out of juice by 2 pm. Not good at all. We'll see how it performs when I am on the road this week.

Overall:

Recommended, though I couldn't place more emphasis on the severity of the battery issue.

By the way, before I offer it up on eBay, if anyone is interested in a reasonably priced version 1.0 iPhone that's in fantastic shape, let me know.....