So I've had the iPhone 3G now for just about a week and I thought I would give a brief review.
I was switching from a Samsung Blackjack (which is a great phone but didn't live up to my initial expectations). At any rate, the iPhone has been functioning pretty well so far and I don't have too many complaints:
My biggest fear -- battery life -- hasn't been too big an issue yet. When I take it on a trip I'll get to see how it really fairs here. The good news on this front is that it doesn't seem like using the iPhone as an iPod impacts the battery much at all! Games are another story, but I can live with that.
Web browsing is a dream on this phone (it was a nightmare on the blackjack), and exchange support (which I was worried about) while not perfect, has been perfectly adequate for my needs. It even does one or two things better than my old Windows Mobile-based Blackjack on this front. The Apps from the app store are also great.
BY FAR my biggest gripe has nothing to do with the technology, but more too do with its control. Apple has really locked down the iPhone to a draconian degree. syncing is more restrictive than ever! I've had an iPod for years now and its been a real workhorse.
As you know, in general, iTunes will not permit you to copy music FROM the iPod to your computer. However, if you manage your iPod's music manually, you can copy music from multiple computers too your iPod and play it. I do this all the time, I routinely add music to it from both work and home. I have the bulk of my MP3 collection at home, but I have a backup of a large chunk of it on a drive at work. These are my own MP3s -- they are not DRMed and there should be no issue putting any of them on my iPod. iTunes lets me do this just fine as long as I manage my iPod manually (which I found to be the easiest method anyhow since my iPod was smaller than my music library).
iTunes will not let you do this with the iPhone! Period. Exclamation point. End of story. Here's an example: I have my iPhone synced with my music at home putting about 14Gb of my favorite tracks on it. I thought that I had put Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" on it. This is one of my favorite albums and I don't know how, but I managed to forget to put it on. I have this album on my work computer as well and I would love to just plug in my phone and push the file up to it. But I can't. I'll have to wait until I get home. If I bring up iTunes and buy a few tracks I won't be able to put them on my phone until tonight. Nope. Not at all. Why is itunes being so restrictive about the iPhone? Piracy? If the tracks are not DRM'ed they could be anything and as far as I'm concerned, its not Apple's job to tell me what I can and can't put on my MP3 player. And if the tracks *are* DRMed, then it doesn't matter what I do with them, I'll only be able to play them on authorized computers.
Most online sales of music are no longer DRMed. Why is this? Because people don't want technology preventing them from doing what they want with the music they've purchased (e.g. what computers or devices they can play their song on). Now here comes the iPhone and *everything* is DRMed... even when its not. Arg. How completely frustrating.
I really hope Apple sees the light on this because its my biggest gripe about an otherwise great product. The unfortunate reality (based on past experience) is that this is highly unlikely.