Good evening,

After a month or so deliberating carriers & plans, I bought a 16GB 3G Apple iPhone (Black) on a Telstra call and data plan in August 2008. This review is based on my personal use, so far only in Melbourne and near country areas. And you, dear reader, should be aware that I am an Apple fanboy, and run a fleet of Macs at home for family use. There is my Personal Interest Disclosure.

The first couple of months saw me just getting used to the device and making phone calls. Fortunately, Telstra recently increased their allowable data on the plan I have so I am now more inclined to use the broadband components of the device. Just surfing the web and syncing my Apple Mail mainly. First impressions? Typical of Apple, the phone looks and feels cool and engenders a pride of ownership far greater than any Motorola, Nokia or Sony Ericsson I have previously experienced. Syncing calendars, bookmarks and contacts with their desktop equivalents was a snap, and of course syncing music, photos, podcasts and videos is essentially no different to previous versions of the iPod. And, at home, in and around Melbourne on Telstra's network, it gave good phone calls. As silly as that sounds, not all phones / carriers delivered such an experience for me. I am not a speed freak anorak, so I have not tried to measure the throughput / response times of my 3G connection, but anecdotally it feels speedy enough for the small hand-held device to be usable.

The intuitive interface (did I say it was from Apple?) and an extremely readable 3.5 inch multi-touch colour screen made getting to know the iPhone and it's obvious capabilities a snap. Therefore I didn't take any time to read the manual (or carrier set up material). So I subsequently got a little disappointed when my user experience didn't grow over the next couple of months. I had some frustrations with ring tone length and the phone switching over too quickly to voice mail. And I hadn't yet visited the App Store......... So mid term, I am still doing what I was doing with the iPhone initially, but no more. A growing suspicion of 'Is that all there is?' filled the room. How could I doubt Steve and the team so badly, especially given all the hype that came before me!

Frustrated by the ring tone length thing, I started to dig into the documentation and query Telstra on this issue. Of course, it was just a simple network fix in my profile to allow the phone to run for 40 seconds before switching to Voice Mail. Now the host of custom tones available (both free and paid) and the ability to mix new ones in GarageBand opens up a whole new world to customise sounds for my iPhone.

Then I kept seeing options to sync more mailboxes to my iPhone, not just Apple Mail. So half an hour later, I had Yahoo, Gmail and two other POP accounts wirelessly being collected on the iPhone. I said earlier that my calendars and contacts were syncing seamlessly but that was when the phone was docked. In a further five minutes I had those applications wirelessly synchronising in real time via MobileMe as well.

Also early on, the keyboard initially frustrated me as my smallish fingers seemed to hit the wrong key. I persevered and continued to use it for notes, SMS etc and I became surprisingly accurate and now have no fears about using it. Probably wouldn't like to use it to write a thesis however.

And that leads to me to the gem that is the App Store. Now I am not a great fan of the iTunes store, not for any DRM reasons per se, but because the bit rates are so low and the prices are so high here in Oz at least. I much prefer to buy the media and use it on my home audio system as well as being able to take the digital version with me at a decent bit rate (the Apple LossLess Codec seems OK). But the App Store is a whole different business model. There is free stuff (yay!) and commercial applications to purchase but usually only for a modest outlay of a buck or three. And the range of the possible is just a staggering testament to human ingenuity. What some people can think of to do with a processor, a screen, a GPS module, a camera and an accelerometer is simply incredible. Is there junk in the App Store? Absolutely, but only in the eye of the beholder because one persons rubbish is another's golden find. But there really is seriously good stuff in there.

So what apps am I using? The free Bloomberg client for my US stocks and global indicies; Google Earth just to waste time; Quick Voice recorder for messages on the run; Remote to control iTunes, Shazam, an incredible app that de-mystifes song / artist when you hear a tune on the radio or TV but don't know who the performer is; Sports Tap, an all sports news & results portal; free Sudoku and Solitaire games to while away the time; and my current favourite is Dynolicious, a vehicle performance (acceleration, braking, horsepower, lap times etc) measurement application. And I have only just started to scratch the surface of the 10,000+ applications that are available.

Any post purchase options? I replaced the standard ear-buds (you just have to!) with a pair of Etymotic HF-2 ear-canal headphones. They have an in-built microphone and remote control to answer calls, skip / pause tracks and playback. And they are black which match the iPhone beautifully. I recently purchased a Richard Solo Smart Backup Battery Pack just to make sure I didn't run out of juice needlessly while on the road. The only other must-have option is of course is some iPhone protection. I have a Griffin hard-ish shell case. Works just fine to protect my baby with all controls and ports still easily accessible.

What is not too like? Well, as a first generation 3G phone and software suite, there is plenty left to add. In no particular order:

• The battery life is nothing special. The add-on battery packs seem like a good idea for power talkers;
• A measly 2GB camera is an easy upgrade path in a future release;
• The inability to sync Notes and To Dos from your Mac suite or other PIMs seems like a huge oversight;
• With the enormous range of apps, software and media, a maximum (and fixed) storage of 16GB is pretty limiting. No question capacity upgrades will be part of the 2009 releases;
• No accessible file storage systems to create, store & forward business apps & documents (iWork or Office);
• All data needs to be created & entered - no copy / paste, short cuts etc
• A more inclusive / standard implementation of Bluetooth. While I can make and receive calls in my new-ish Lexus, I can't exchange address book data between the iPhone and the car;

From the initial disclaimer, you probably figured that this was going to be a positive review, but the iPhone is just a gun weapon and the only mobile phone I have enjoyed owning and had fun using. Nice work Apple!

Bye for now, BomberBoy