[erindorn]

I got the iPhone 3G about a month after it was available here in Canada. I love it. I have only a few minor issues with the iPhone.

1) There is no flash viewer.

2) There is no java available.

3) You can't read e-mails in a horizontal position, only vertical. (Unlike surfing the web.)

4) The interface for iTunes could be better.

These aren't major downfalls, just shortcomings. Many websites broadcast video in flash. You can't view it on the iPhone. Many websites use java. It's also not available on the iPhone. Both of these things will probably change, but that's the deal currently.

I don't understand why you can change the screen orientation for webpages on the iPhone, but not e-mails. The horizontal view would help when reading some e-mails, and in viewing html messages.

All that said, I think this is a great phone. I find by using MobileMe, I can sync the info on my phone, my macbook, my home pc, and my work pc. It works well with contacts and calendar info using Office and Entourage, as well as the native Mac apps. I can access video, and it's brilliant. I can listen to audible books, and I can read e-books.

Considering how short a period the apps store has been open, the add-ons available are amazing. The games are great, and there are some excellent utilities and dedicated programs as well.

I sold my Blackberry Curve to upgrade to the iPhone. I previously owned a Palm Treo, and a Motorola Razr. I have absolutely no regrets in getting the iPhone. It's the most complete mobile device currently available.

[dabigkahuna]

I like the iPhone, but I have run into some issues since buying it and my research has shown it isn't just me.

I sometimes will get bumped out of Safari to the phone's home screen - sometimes a lot. I found that it was recommended to turn the phone completely off and restart it. I haven't had the opportunity to see if that works yet though since I haven't had to use the phone today.

Email can be an issue. Roadrunner seems to be a problem because of roadrunner. But an Apple genius worked on mine and, so far, it is working both sending and receiving (sending seems to be the more common problem for people).

A really big problem, for at least some people, is that you can get mail, look at it just fine (with or without attachments) and then later all you see is the header portion and a message that the message hasn't been downloaded from the server! That's really bad for some people. I've read that it happens when your home computer downloads the same message and then deletes it from the server. Apparently Apple doesn't store downloaded mail permanently on your phone. BIG mistake. Besides, I had it happen to me without ever downloading the message on my computer. It came through fine, with attachment, on my phone and then later in the day when I tried to look at it again, I couldn't get it. My computer at home was off the entire time so it couldn't have downloaded it.

Apparently this goes back at least as far as version 1.4!

Right now I'm trying an approach for when I want to send an office file to my iPhone. I send it to my gmail account which is NOT checked on my home computer. Hopefully that will keep it on my phone, but I don't know yet.

I send a file to the gmail account and three others on my phone. All got through just fine. Then I checked for mail on the computer. After getting those same emails to the non-gmail addresses, I went back to the iPhone and those three got the "not downloaded" message. The gmail one could still be used. Last I checked today, it is still fine.

But this isn't going to help with other mail that comes in to one of those addresses. Apple better get on the ball. I don't see why it should be difficult to simply download and store the message and attachments directly on the phone.

[dabigkahuna]

Okay, one more issue.

I plugged in some powered speakers to the phone. Some of the following may be the problem with this particular connection because the plastic arounnd the actual medal plug seemed a little big for the space the case I put the iPhone in allowed for.

Anyway, everything was playing when suddenly it paused on its own. It did this a bunch of times after I pressed play again. Twice it was in pause and restarted.

Since it is supposed to pause when you pull the headphone plug out, I thought maybe the connection issue was such that the phone thought it had unplugged. But nothing said it should restart when a plug is put back in so that was a puzzle. Testing at home with other speakers/plug never had it pause. Neither has it happened with the Apple headphones so, okay, I need to try a different plug with the speakers at school.

But while doing all these tests, I found something related. Besides always pausing as it should if I remove my headphones, I noticed that sometimes plugging them back in would start it playing again. Checking with an Apple genius didn't help much but I'll pass on what they said: It isn't supposed to. Sometimes they've had it happen too.

I could even see it as a feature - if it was consistent, but it isn't. My theory, which the genius also brought up, is that when you plug something in, you can get some sort of surge - you know how if you plug something into a speaker system or amp without turning the volume down first, you can get a loud popping as you make the connection. So, maybe this kind of "surge" is making the phone react the same way it would if you clicked the headphone button to play.

One thing I found by accident (might be in instructions someplace, but I haven't read all those that are online. It seems you can set the volume for when the headphones are plugged in and have a different volume for when you use the built-in speaker. I note that whenever I plug or unplug the headphones, the volume slider switches.