When I got a Palm Pilot some years back I was somewhat awed by the fact that it was as powerful as the first few generations of the original Macintosh and fit in my hand. But it was not as convenient as I had hoped and data entry with the stylus was far from reliable. Combined with my original Motorola flip phone and my 32K DLink mp3 player all clipped to my belt I looked like bizarro version of Batman (minus the white faceted skin and strange speech pattern, I think?).
What I learned from that experience in the late nineties was that what I wanted was a single device that could perform like a handheld computer, play media, use networks, and be my phone. What I wanted was what was to become the smart phone. The early smart phones were simply combined my three original devices into one and they were lame. The screens were too small, they used a stylus, and had insufficient memory to do anything and hold anything.
Then came the iPhone. It was stunning. It had everything I wanted in a single package. But it wasn’t available in here in Canada. But with the introduction of the second-generation 3g version it became available. Mine arrived yesterday.
It is too early to write about it in depth. So far it works as I had hoped and has a battery that lasts just a day when all the networking (3g, Wi-Fi, & Bluetooth) are activated. I figure I can squeeze two days out of the battery if I remember to shutdown the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when they are not needed. Shutting off the 3g also shuts down voice mail so it must be left on.
I have downloaded Shazam, Flashlight, and Solitaire. I have the development sdk loaded on my Mac and that is what I plan to look at today. I ordered a silicon case for it two weeks ago and it arrived the day before the phone arrived and after reading about the battery life I have placed an order for a car charger that should arrive shortly. These items were ordered through eBay from Chinese companies at a fraction of their cost (including shipping) over local stores.
And finally I want to thank Rogers, the cell phone provider that carries the iPhone in Canada. Had they carried the original iPhone when it came out I would be $600 poorer. But by sitting out for a year it has ended up costing me only $249. Now its off the programming manuals.