After researching the alternatives (Bold, Thunder, Vu, Diamond and Dream) to the best of my abilities (there is very little info on at least two of these handsets), I finally took the plunge and got myself the 16B black iPhone (3G of course). 

Apple goodness

Apple goodness

I picked it up at the Rogers Wireless store in the Rogers Centre and what I thought was going to be a long and painful process turned out to be fast, easy and relatively painless.  It seems that the whole activation process with Rogers has been refined since the earlier reports of wait times and issues.  All in all, the process took me less that 20 minutes to change plans, get the phone unbricked and leave.  I may have to change my cynical view of Rogers service levels…maybe, sorta, not really.

Everyday I would carry my 80GB iPod Video and HTC621Smartphone to work and back.  For me, the iPhone allows me to carry one convergent device that has a high degree of media and communication functionality .  Having said that, I think the real differentiator of the iPhone over other similar devices (and lets be honest, there are other devices that have similar functionality as the iPhone) is the breadth of the developer community that Apple has engaged (directly and indirectly).  The sheer volume, diversity and quality of apps currently available for the iPhone is staggering and does not appear to be slowing down. 

In terms of the actual form factor and usability, it’s classic Mac.  It works well, is intuitive and is just so gosh darned polished.  The GPS accuracy is fairly lightweight compared to my Garmin eTrex Vista, but then again, I wouldn’t use this device for geo-caching or hiking anyway.  As well, the GPS is sufficient to provide enough detail for simple location-based services and applications (one of my favourites being Timmy’s, which automatically locates the nearest Tim Hortons to you and provides directions and a map…yes, I know this is hardly revolutionary or important).  The screen is 320X480 and large and clear enough to watch my video-podcasts on a bright day sitting on the GO Train.  The one area that is completely frustrating is the keyboard input.  Far from being speedy and accurate like a Blackberry, the iPhone takes some real getting used to in this area.  Thankfully, I am not one of those that does a whole lot of typing on my phone.  Having said that, that may change now that I can update my blog, Facebook status, Twitter status, IM friends, email colleagues, scan Wikipedia…etc, all on the iPhone.  I guess I will need to adapt.

With only a day of use, expect to see more posts in the near future outlining likes and dislikes.