It Still Has That New iPhone 3G Smell

As promised late last night, this morning started off by finally going out and getting an iPhone. I ignored all the common sense and all the excuses, drank my fanboy Kool-Aid, and made my way to the nearby Apple Retail store, looking to possibly leave my life of Blackberry behind and start anew with the world's most coveted gadget. By the time I left the store, I not only had the iPhone 3G, but also a 500 Gigabyte Time Capsule, a new iPhone 3G case with belt clip, and a line-in adapter for the car. There's no question, at least for one day, Cupertino is happy with me.

As you can imagine, the first few hours of iPhone ownership are less about being functional, and more about syncing data, and trying out all the new widgetry.

Luckily for me, iTunes smartly asked if I wanted to restore the settings and data from my iPod Touch to the iPhone. This set things in motion so all the purchased iTunes App Store programs were moved over, along with my e-mail accounts, photos, and music. In fact, if it wasn't for the iPhone's new shape and the Phone application itself, it'd be pretty easy to forget I made a change.

I haven't yet decided what I'm going to do with my now two phone numbers. It's tempting to get rid of the old number and start new with AT&T, and also tempting to never use the new number, migrating the old to the new phone. That's why, at least for now, I don't plan on giving anybody the number for the iPhone. But that doesn't mean I'm not messing around with it. I found myself taking random photos, and sending useless SMS messages just to prove I could. I sent a photo taken with the iPhone via e-mail, again, just because I could.

In Folsom, where we're staying with my family for an extended weekend, we've had spotty 3G access. Sometimes it's on, and sometimes, Edge shows up, so I haven't been testing speed, but it does exactly as I would expect. The iPhone downloaded all my e-mail from the Mobile Me, GMail and Exchange servers quickly, and Internet browsing is at least as fast as it was on the iPod Touch.

Like any good new toy tool, it's tempting to just find reasons to get it out, or to wear it prominently, just so people know I have one. It's tempting to bring it out in the middle of dinner, to find an answer to a question in conversation, or to use it instead of the laptop, just because I can. It's like having a new car and getting excited just to drive down to the market and pick up milk and eggs. But the necessary transition has occurred. Last night, I went to bed as a non-iPhone owner, and tonight, I have joined the club. Looking forward to moving on from the novice to expert stage.