Apple iPhone 3G 8 GB Black (AT&T)

Apple lowered the entry price for the iPhone, but raised the bar with iPhone OS 3.0.

I've owned a cellphone since 1992. I've always had a "top of the line phone" (I've always had AT&T GSM as well = formerly Cingular = formerly BellSouth Mobility).

GSM is the international standard & the technology the iPhone uses

The iPhone OS 3.0 update is free & adds copy & paste + MMS

I've had some REALLY bad phones: Motorola SLVR, Sony Ericsson s710a, & an HP iPaq 6515. In 16 years having cellphones, I've had over 100 (yes 100+) different models & makes

I haven't had signal issues w/ many phones, it's always been asthetics that bothered me or a clumsy interfaces

Every phone I've ever had, no matter how long I've had it - I always had a problem placing a call on hold & answering another call or joining a call into a 3-way call. With the iPhone interface being so well designed & the features so clearly labeled. I don't have that problem any more

As for the design - the Sony Ericsson s710a was a beautiful phone, but the way it flipped open was awkward. When you opened it - it flipped upside down. You had to open it, then rotate the phone to use it

With the HP iPaq 6515 - I hated the keyboard. It was hard to see, crowded w/ characters & difficult to use w/ my large fingers. This is a problem I face w/ almost all phones w/ physical keyboards except the HTC 8525 - which has the best phone keyboard of any phone. iPhone users should try the pogo stylus

The camera on my Nokia 6201i was great, but it was difficult to use & to get pictures off of

The iPhone keyboard is clear, easy to use, & once you get use to it - allows for very fast typing. I used it more in the first 10 days of owning my iPhone than I ever used ANY keyboard on ALL phones I've ever owned

The camera on the iPhone is terriffic - the viewfinder & capture buttons are crystal clear. It's easy to get the photos from iPhone to computer for editing

Unlike most smartphones - that have Windows Mobile, the iPhone has an intuitive interface that's easy to understand & navigate. There's no need to read a manual; it's just simple to understand.

Before the iPhone, I hated text messaging. I texted more in the 1st 10 days than I have in the last 10 years!

Because an iPhone uses standard iPod sync & charge cables, accessories are easy to find.

Battery life is very good; even when utilizing power draining features like Wifi & Bluetooth.

I can actually use the calculator on an iPhone, unlike on other cell phones where you have to figure out what key corresponds to an add/multiply/divide

The Google Maps feature is amazing w/ the ability to use satellite data. The GPS integration w/ LocateMe is awesome

The weather forecast widget is nice to have - especially in the summer so you can plan your outdoor week or weekend spontaneously

My complaints thus far:

- Edge data network is acceptable & what I connect to 90% of the time, but you still have to pay for 3G access which $10 more a month
- I'd like to see bluetooth data exchange so I could sync an iPhone via bluetooth.
- FM transmitters don't work well due to interference

Invalid complaints:

- The keyboard is hard to use - at 1st it is ... it definitely takes getting used to. Once you start letting an iPhone correct your mistakes & just hitting the space bar, it becomes pretty fast. I've always thought this was an invalid complaint because blackberry & treo are just as hard to type on.