iPhone Feaver - Like, it was really hot!

So there we were - I wasn't one of the total fanatics who stood out there for days. I'm smarter than that. I was only out there for an hour or so. lol!

I figured the most far-flung Chandler AT&T store would be place to go and beat the crowd, but oh no - it was a carnival out there also. The store owner said people had been sitting there since 4:00 AM. Now that's just silly, but I will commend their brand loyalty.

iDay was upon us all. The excitement was as high as the heat - 115 degrees, que down the west side of the building, direct sun - yea, we were hard core.

This line had probably 120-ish people and as far as I know, we all got phones.

Initial Review:

The initial review - it totally rocks. It works as advertised in every way. I'm totally happy. The touch screen is totally intuitive. The text entry pad is very easy to use and amazingly accurate. The screen requires the very slightest contact to work smoothly - the most sensitive "touch" device I've ever experienced.

I can brag about the features all day, and unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you've seen the TV ads. Check out the iPhone guided tour at Apple's site for the real dig. You saw it there, and it delivers in actual application.

What about the service??

The whole drive home I was a bit worried it may not actually, well, you know - make phone calls. I don't exactly live right under a cell tower, and I've heard nothing but Cingular horror stories for the past few months. There was a very real chance I may have no signal at all.

Wrong.

4 out of 5 bars upstairs, 2/3 of 5 downstairs. This a full 6 miles straight line from the nearest Cingular / AT&T cell tower.

And the "Edge / G3" data network? It works very well. Maybe a tad slow, but functional, and giving my location, amazing that it works at all. I expect better service when I'm in the metro area when I'd really need to pull up those google maps and such.

The "activate it yourself" feature was also pretty sweet. It was quick and effortless, and porting my Verizon number happened seamlessly in less than an hour - even given the mass activation traffic on iDay night. I was impressed.

Justification?

The rest of you have to justify this to friends, family, significant others as a new toy. But I get to tout a legitimate business need for the cool device. lol! For the first time in years, I now have a fully functional photography portfolio in my pocket. This is huge. I can't count the number of times I'd wished an easy way to share some images with a casual contact here and there around town. Now it's possible, and convenient.

I can honestly say this is the coolest and most cleanly thought out piece of technology I've ever owned. I'm not really the type to jump on a new product from day one, but hey, live a little - right?

Anyone on the fence - go for it.