Apple iPhone 3G (8GB, black, AT&T)

Pros: sexy, cool, innovative

Cons: buggy, fails to perform as a business communications tool

Summary: I have been a user of smartphones for almost 10 years. I have to say that the best one I ever had was the Palm Treo. The last one I had was the Cingular 8525 HTC TyTn and I hated it - rife with performance problems. I waited for months for the iPhone 3G so I could ditch the HTC device. I suffered like many did just trying to get AT&T/Apple to fulfill my order - another long story there. Now that I have been an iPhone 3G user for almost four weeks, here are my frustrations listed in priority order:

1.) Buggy Phone UI; When you are on a call and holding the iPhone to your ear, the accelerameter (I guess) knows this and shuts off the display to conserve battery. When you pull the phone down to look at it, the display turns back on. Neat idea, when it works. I have found that mostly when signal strength is weak, the phone fails to turn back on the display. No matter what orientation I put the phone in, can't get the display to come back on. This is maddening when you are on one of those already maddening IVR menu systems (like Verizon's) trying to enter your phone number but you can't because the display won't let you access the keypad.

2.) 3G Network; I live in Union County, NJ, which according to AT&T's coverage map is completely saturated with 3G network support. BS. In my house I get 'no service' or one bar, which exacerbates problem #1 above. Already well documented is the problem in which iPhone 3G fails to down shift from 3G to Edge network support. This is just plain unacceptable - to require the user to go into settings, general, network, to disable 3G in order to get analog/Edge service is ridiculous. BTW, I confirmed this phenomenon - in my house when I disable 3G I go from 'no service' to three bars. Tolerable when I'm sitting at home, unacceptable when I'm traveling for business.

3.) No Copy/Paste; I had no idea how frustrating this would be. Someone txt's you their contact details? You have to write it all down on a piece of paper in order to type it all back into Contacts.

4.) "Not designed for iPhone"; Apparently the 3G is so different from last generation that Apple decided to block/prevent older accessories from working. Already documented is the lack of A2DP stereo bluetooth support. I read a blog from a guy recommending the iCombi AP21 bluetooth adapter as a workaround (while he likewise complained about Apple's decision not to support A2DP), so I bought one on eBay. When I plugged it into the iPhone 3G a popup message says 'Not designed for iphone' - so it does nothing for you. (I've reverted to using it with my old ipod). Likewise, I bought a car charger (because the iPhone out of the box doesn't come with) and even though it says right on it 'works with iphone' the 3G says "Not designed…" and refuses to accept it as a charging device. And I have an older iDoc stereo - same thing, refuses to accept a charge (but does play music through it, thankfully).

5.) Phat fingers; I was worried that typing on the display would be awkward. I am very fast and pretty accurate on keyboards of almost any size. Learning how to 'trust' the intelli-type's ability to guess what I'm trying to type when I press the wrong letter isn't working for me. If you are a one finger typist, maybe you'll love this. I'm finding it pretty frustrating.

I rated it average, which to me is a major disappointment after all the expectations building. It is truly innovative and does many things well, it's sexy and cool and lives up to lots of the hype. But it fails me because it's not a convergence device if it fails to perform as a basic phone and email machine first.