Thinkcorps

Things that are great about living in Portland: getting up on a Saturday, walking into a quiet Apple store, waiting for 2 minutes at the back of the store before purchasing one of the plentiful iPhones, and walking out within probably 5 minutes. Oh yeah, and no sales tax.

Things you need to understand:

It’s so not a logical decision. I don’t care how much I paid, in fact, the number doesn’t even register in my brain somehow. I refuse to sink to those depths, at least for a week or so. :)

I’m not a fan-boy. I usually wait a year before jumping in, so this is new territory for me. However, I have faith in Apple, given it’s track-record with the iPod, OS X, etc. All mature product lines that clearly influenced the iPhone design. I feel pretty comfortable.

Removable battery? Whatever, dude.

I don’t like ATT/Cingular, in fact, I was on the verge of throwing $150 at them simply to give them the finger. I hated my Sony Ericsson phone. It was complete crap and I’m pissed Cingular even carried it and sold it to me.

Because I already had a plan, it was a $20/month proposition for me. Not too bad, given the all-you-can-eat simplicity of Apple’s approach. I have been waiting for someone to straight-talk me. It’s not the ultimate cost, but the attitude that matters most to me. The cell carriers’ nickle-and-dime approach may finally be over.

Signup was easy (I knew to download ITunes 7.3—it showed up when I ran Software Update). Syncing all that music took a while, like it always does.

The camera is OK, the interface is amazing, the keyboard was better than I thought.

Youtube was a score. Once they convert more video into Apple’s format, it will be even more awesome. One more reason Youtube kicks any video search engine’s ass. Youtube is the new network. ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox—you have been warned. Maybe Google is now a media company in the way Yahoo always wished it was?

Integration with all the iLife apps is great. I’m now ditching all other options for Mail and iCal.

Google maps is great. Search for a business, save it as a new contact, click to call, click address for map. Maybe i’m a n00b, but wow.

Mail can be checked every 15 minutes, which seems like a decent compromise to me. This idea that you “need” push email (Blackberry) just makes you more annoying to everyone around you, believe me.

What may change the most is the general idea that a shiny flat piece of glass isn’t supposed to have fingerprints on it. Mine is a mess, and it’s all the more awesome for it.