Initial iPhone report

I've had it since Friday. It arrived at the store on Monday, but they did not notify me.

Arg.

I like it. Battery life was a problem the first day, and probably will be any other day where I'm so constantly using the internet. Battery life is only an issue if I'm asking the it to entertain me all day, and I won't be. So the major obstacle is fine.

Money is the other major, and I'm not paying much more than I used to for a simple plan plus 200 text messages. (Responsibly) cutting Netflix makes it about even, and I'll occasionally skip a lunch out to make myself feel better. I have disabled text messages (but I haven't updated my voice-mail greeting yet!) and am still figuring out how that will affect me.

I'm not going to escape until truly enticed. There are SSH clients – even in the app store – but I have not investigated.

Likes

• Automatically geocoding my photos is also awesome. The camera is weak, but anybody who would complain should have a dedicated camera device.
  
• Makes good use of the vCard spec for contacts; cooperates with Address Book.
  
• Syncing is a snap.
  
• Mobile Safari is a very nice interface.
  
• The alarm app is well-designed.
  
• I've used YouTube more than I expected.
  

Dislikes

• To save battery, I disable Wi-Fi and 3G when I don't need them, but this requires a few menus. It'd be nice if a few simpleton apps could do this and make it one tap.
  
• I miss being able to get near a certain contact by hitting the key for the first letter; gesturing is relatively inaccurate. The pane of favorites helps.
  
• The GPS is sometimes sluggish to acquire, even without buildings. Especially on the highway, it seems. I wonder if the speed is a factor.
  
• The app store gives no refunds, and there's no way to really know what the functionality of an app is until you purchase. I've been burnt by two apps ($23) so far.
  
• The app store has a really bad search function.
  
• Two of my pictures were apparently taken at a desert in China. The camera app gives no indication of the current GPS accuracy (it starts at about a few hundred kilometers – or half the globe apparently – and works its way down to about 10 meters), so I have no idea if it's prepared to tag a photo (it tags them automatically) with /accurate/ location data.
• No photo apps can upload photographs (circumventing iPhoto) without stripping out the location metadata. Seems it's an SDK limitation as of yet. (So says Karl van Rondow via an appreciated, prompt email response.)
  
• I don't see a seek-bar when it's in iPod mode; that's pretty lame.
  
• No exposed file system.
  

Mehs

• 3G isn't yet in Lawrence, but I've been told by December. This may affect battery life.
  
• A bigger form factor than I'm accustomed to.
  
• No Flash apps in Mobile Safari yet.
  
• No EDGE data while talking (perhaps with 3G, haven't tried it).