Living with an iPhone…
Yesterday I took the plunge. That is, my bank account took the plunge. 
Yes, that is an iPhone in a pink leather case. And it’s mine! Muahahaha!! 8GB of space for music, videos, data, and other flotsam that will probably find its way on this phone. It really is more of a mini-computer than a phone. The interface is quick. The display is one of the most beautiful things I’ve held. And it feels good-sized in the hand.
Activation and choosing the rate plan was so darned easy I couldn’t believe it. And since I’ve been using iTunes for a couple of years now the data management on it was very easy too. No learning curve at all. However, I did have to retype all of my contacts from my old phone and e-mail into the iPhone. One thing that greatly helps Mac users is the integration with iCal, iPhoto, Address Book, and iTunes. If you keep all of your contact and media data in these four apps, the iPhone can see them all and suck them into its memory with ease.
So it’s the Mac Way of doing things. If you’re on a PC, I’m not saying you’re S.O.L., but it’s going to be more tedious. The bundled equipment are few, but really it’s a phone. You get the Super Earbuds with the little talky-clicky mic thing—I haven’t tried it yet. There’s a cute little power adapter now for the iPhone. There is no software since you are required to have a computer and download iTunes 7.3.
To learn how to use it, I’d say go watch the iPhone videos on Apple.com, or find one of the bazillion tutorials cropping up on the Net.
After a day of usage on it I have to say it is a very nice phone overall. The web browsing over EDGE is slow, but not abysmal—when you’re home or at work on wireless it’s darned fast. I nitpick about the lack of cut-and-paste abilities because I do a lot of that. The SMSing is OK—I can do without cutesy chat bubbles. The iPod playback is amazing, but coverflow doesn’t do much for me. The time/alarm system takes a second to get used to flicking up/down a series of wheels for hours and minutes settings. I’m glad you can passcode the phone and your V-mail! I haven’t gotten any visual voicemail yet so I’ll write up on that later.
As for stability, well, hm. I was playing back a song today and the phone totally crashed. Crashed HARD. I mean holding the home button did nothing. Holding Home+Sleep did nothing. I plugged it into the Mac and iTunes didn’t see it. I mean, I was about this close to running off to the Apple Store to get it looked at. I tried holding Home+Sleep again for a longer time (about 15 seconds) and FINALLY it came back. Rebooted itself in about 30 seconds and I was back, no loss of data. Still, that’s unnerving that the phone can be crashed so easily. I rely on the phone to work all of the time and I don’t want to miss calls if it silently crashes in my purse.
Big note: Absolutely get a case. I know it adds bulk and ruins the “sleek” look. But I’ve seen these things dropped already and the dents are very obvious on the phone. I choose the leather because it adds a little bounce to it.