Wayne, its number one role in life is still that of a phone. How is the clarity of calls? How easy is it to dial when driving? Does it have voice dialing?

Have you setup an IMAP4 email account?

Thanks for the write up Wayne, I appreciate the ability to interact with someone who has the phone and well you are the only person I know (well chat with) that has one. With my move back to the USA next month I want to get one and have it my sole telephone and just not have home landlines.

According to the videos on the Apple website the virtual keyboard takes about a week to get used to. Thanks for the write up!

Couple of additions
I live in a low tech area, the local store had one with no lines waiting phone it, so why not. I always wanted a pda style phone.

With an existing cingular/ATT plan the only thing that changes is the addition of the data plan unlimited internet / data for $20 a month.

Browsing away from wifi is not that bad just start with google and know to look for things that are not overly graphic intensive. It will look for wifi spots itself and connection is easy.

Hooked up easily to the hands free setup in my auto

You are able to use home pop email accounts also as well as yahoo , gmail etc, just be sure to turn the pop account off if trying to hit it from another computer, it keeps the pop session open.

An easy way to play with contacts is to port them to yahoo, make your adjustments , multiple numbers, address etc and then sync them to the phone. Then email or phone call is a one button operation. You can put a subset of contacts in the favorites section, a pseudo business /personal.

No voice dialing, although the previous phone had it I never used it. Once the contacts are set navigation is easy.

Compared to my previous Razr i think the calls are as good or better. I had to hack the razr maps to increase ear piece volume while this phone seems ok so far. Havent tried a call with the targa top off yet.

I think your local speaker noise is a product of GSM phones.

Here is the complete user guide link if this helps.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iPhone_User_Guide.pdf

How is the battery life? Talk time vs stand by?

I'm curious about synching with MSOutlook for contacts and calendar as well as IMAP for email--anyone? Thinking I'll have to wait until activesynch is available.

thanks

For you it may be the number one role, not necessarily for others.

Dial when driving? Bad kitty!

My friend setup both pop3 and imap4 accounts on it without issue.

I personally hate when my Razr reminds me that I have a voicemail or text message every five minutes. Can you turn it off?

I also hate my Razr beeping loudly to complain that it'll run out of battery within 12 hours. Is there a way to turn that off?

/ J

Lots of updates coming to the iPhone between now and when Leopard (OS X 10.5) is released in October.

If the You Tube feature works well, look for Die Hard... the first video is a music video by a band called Boyz Nite. Freakin GREAT song!

I was floored when I first watched the keynote but the lack of Bluetooth Stereo is a real oversight for me. I love my Motorola BT Headphones and that you car wear them doing chores around the house with no wires getting in the way. I think they'll probably fix this though along with adding mp3 ringtones, which again seems like a big oversight.

Got mine Saturday - just walked into an Apple store near Chicago and they had plenty.

Set it up over iTunes w/no problems.

Since we're all Apple at work and at home (and I was already a Cingular customer), I wasn't expecting any problems, and none showed up - all contacts, email (*.mac), etc. came over flawlessly. Phone worked in less than 2 minutes after activation (and no SS# needed for current customers).

After about 10 minutes of playing with it, my 5 year old got up (he had been put down for bed and wanted water) and asked what it was. He unlocked it, and wanted to see what the weather was like in various places. (He and his sister use the Apple/Mac Widgets to see the weather rather than walk to the window to look at the outside thermometer - it is a different world they are growing up in...). Just like an iPod, he figured a good amount out in a few swipes of his fingers - it is easy to use as advertised.

Haven't found EDGE to be that slow, but never used web-stuff on my old Razr anyway. Have WiFi at home, at work, and did see a number of unprotected networks on my way to the commuter train. Email worked fine on EDGE, and since my business uses *.mac mail anyway, there were no firewall issues.

Not perfect - want my old ringtone, want my "to do" list from iCal (only datebook entries show up unless I'm missing something). I suppose it'd be nice to edit Word or Excel docs, but would likely never do it since I'm never more than 30 minutes away from one of my laptops/computers. No other complaints so far - except that my thumb keeps hitting "P" when I mean "O"

This does what my Palm VII promised to do in 2000 or so and never did - connect me to the web. Friends all have Treo's, etc. Never could get past their looks/screens/clunkiness. Glad I waited....

This morning I left my newish Palm, 2nd Gen iPod and Razr at home, and just used the iPhone. Will likely still use my iPod Shuffle for running, and my 2nd Gen iPod for the home stereo - but I will retire the phone and Palm.

All I wanted was to combine those three things, and that it does....

If you're already on a Treo, etc., the slickness will impress, but probably isn't worth the $$$ until you're contract is up as it doesn't really do more than is out there....

But for a small business owner, it's great!