Lovin' my iphone

I love my iPhone. Call me another Apple fanboy, I don't care. I (like most everyone else) wanted an iPhone when they first came out but because of moving and other factors (cost) I decided to wait for a while. Even once it came out, I was hesitant because I had gotten used to my sprint phone and its "full" keyboard. Typing on the iPhone seemed hard with my fat fingers, so that was another downfall.

I figured I would write a little bit out there for anyone who might be on the fence about it. So here's my review.

Cost
Since I have over 40 gigs of music, 1tb of videos, I decided to purchase the new iPhone 3G 16gb. One of the downfalls of getting the iPhone is the cost because the church was paying for my current phone and moving back to ATT means I would be paying for it, but I took the plunge anyways. The cost of the phone for me was $333 with a package of plastic screen covers. This is half the price of the original iPhone so I wasn't that upset about it. The bigger cost came in the phone bill. Beth and I had just updated our current phones, so in order to get the iPhone we had to purchase another line @ $10 per month. We knew this going in, so it wasn't a big deal. The big deal was that we would have to move our ATT account to Kansas City based numbers since Beth wanted to keep her Nashville number. This posed a couple of problems. First, we weren't prepared to do this, so Beth didn't have time to let everyone know that she was changing her number. This wasn't a huge deal since most everyone who called her were family or close friends. Second problem was that we had to change our calling plan from 1100 minutes @ $60 a month, to $700 minutes at $70 a month, plus we lost over 8000 rollover minutes. This annoys me about ATT because I know there system should be able to do it but we knew that we didn't make that many calls, so the number of minutes wasn't a big deal.
Once we got the new numbers straightened out, we then had to add $30 a month for an unlimited data plan, then another $30 for unlimited text on the whole bill. So right now we are at an additional $80 per month just so I can have my iPhone. Bummer...

Usability
The iPhone is one of the easiest devices to use. The touch screen and tilt is incredible to use and makes one hand messaging simple. One of the things that annoyed me before I owned an iPhone was the fact that you couldn't go wide screen on every program but as I started to use it, that wasn't an issue. I find myself not missing the wide screen at all. The keyboard is very adaptable and seems to learn your mistakes quickly. I got used to it pretty quickly and can type faster now than I could on my Sprint phone.
One of the best parts about the new iPhone is all the apps you can get. I went through the App store and found all kinds of useful apps. Some apps are free, others cost, you just have to decide what is best. I like using the app store from the iPhone because I don't always sync it up to my laptop. You can download apps through iTunes if you need to. There are tons of sites that help you find the best program for you. The best part is that no program is over $9.99.

Performance
Performance so far on the iPhone is great. It runs all the programs nicely. There have been a few times when the phone was sluggish but normally it runs fine. I can't tell you the processor and bigger will always be better but I think the current hardware is good. The display is incredibly bright. The ability to tilt the iPhone during games makes it incredibly useful and fun, like having a steering wheel. I would guess that they are going to expand the storage space, so eventually you will be able to carry your entire music collection. I still have to be careful with 16gb of space and not filling it up. The biggest problem with the iPhone for me is the battery life or my unrealistic thought that the batter should last a long time. Most days the batter lasts all day. On music play, it lasts a long time. Constant use requires a mid-day recharge, especially when playing games or with wifi on. I doubt there is anything that could be done to make the battery life longer. I will be playing with the settings to see what I can do.

Programs I Use
I mentioned above that the iPhone has tons of apps that you can install and use. Some of them are just plain dumb, others are very useful though. I am still finding apps I will use, but for now this is what I have installed. Since I use Google for everything, I have a Google app that open all their mobile sites. I also have a link directly to Google Reader. The iPhone allows you to put a link to any website on your home page. Since you are virtually always connected, this is a real benefit. I have the iPhone mail app connect to my gMail (you can connect to other services as well). I use a site called Nueva Sync to sync up my calendar and contact to my gmail account. The site is free to use and connects via exchange server.
I have downloaded a few other apps that I use regularly. I have both the Facebook, Myspace and Twittelator (Twitter) apps installed and working. These apps keep me from having to go to the actual websites for each service. All of them are well written with minor flaws. The other apps I have installed are games. Asphault 4, Crash Bandicot, Sol Free, Black Jack, Sp2 Lite and Holdem. Crash, Asphault and Holdem have incredible graphics and game play. The screen is a nice size. These aren't NEEDED games but do offer a nice break from work.

Conclusion
I know the iPhone isn't for everyone (even though my wife and son want one), and I know that not all youth pastor want or can afford to have one but I love mine. The cost, for some, might outweigh the benefit of having one. For me, I live my life online and having a device that lets me do 75% of my work on it, is beneficial for me. There are still lots of bells and whistles I didn't get into but you may find useful. Overall the cost for me is worth it. Having one device for phone, mp3 player, GPS, and much more in one device is great. My pockets are lighter (for a couple reasons) and it is well worth it.