So, I've now had an iPhone for a day shy of four weeks. Click here for the first message I posted about it and click here to read the second. This is the third and I remain happy with my purchase, especially since I went to my nearby Apple store and bought a good solid case to put it in and a good screen protector.
I first bought those things at a Best Buy and wound up tossing what I'd purchased. The case didn't work with the screen protector and the screen protector didn't protect the screen. I applied the protector sheet as per the instructions and wound up with more air bubbles than you'd find in ten episodes of Sea Hunt. But the ones I then got at an Apple store, though a bit more expensive, fit just fine. So that problem's solved. I still haven't gotten a new car mount…and won't 'til my car returns from spending the holidays at the body shop. (A little accident a few months ago, not my fault.)
What don't I like about the thing? I don't like how fast its battery depletes. I guess I was spoiled by my old Blackberry, which only had to be charged about as often as Halley's Comet went whizzing past. A full charge on the iPhone lasts about as long as it takes me to find the cord to recharge it. That wouldn't be so bad if you could open 'er up and switch out the battery but you can't. The thing's sealed tighter than Joan Rivers' face. I have a little extra plug-in battery thing but it ain't the same.
Still having a tad of trouble with the keyboard where my large hands make me feel like King Kong trying to play Clair de Lune on a toy piano…but I'm getting better.
Apps? I'm having fun with Shazam, which works as follows: When you hear a record playing on the radio or on a store's Muzak-like system or anywhere it's reasonably clear, you hold your iPhone up to it, take an audio sampling…and then Shazam scours its database, tells you what song it is and what CD it's on and gives you the option of ordering it. It's handy to carry Google around with you and I've used Open Table to make (and later, move) restaurant reservations. I like playing with Rimshot, which makes the sound effect of a rimshot and a few others. I've used Facebook to update my Facebook page and Twitterific to Twitter. They've all come in handy. I do miss (though not a lot) the dedicated TiVo programming application I had on my Blackberry.
So still glad I got the thing. And I probably will be until some new, better device comes out week after next.