My new iPhone 3G

So after several months of mental anguish I have finally put my BlackBerry to rest.  I took the leap and purchased the latest iPhone 3G last week.  I know this phone is old news for several people, but for me it is new and since this is my blog I am writing about it.  Many people have been surprised I was not an immediate fan of the iPhone, but I usually avoid hype when I can.  So why the iPhone and not another BlackBerry, why not a Windows Mobile device.  I am a developer after all, and I can write .NET applications for Windows Mobile. 

Why not BlackBerry?

Honestly it was hard to decided against sticking with BlackBerry, I feel they still have a great product.  It boiled down to a few things for me.

• To get my enterprise e-mail pushed to me my company has to be running BlackBerry Enterprise Server.  I cannot dictate to my employer to run software just for little ole me.  This is one of my primary factors for getting a new phone.
• BlackBerry has abandoned the thumb wheel that I love and I don't like the stick navigation concept. I played with the BlackBerry Bold and the stick didn't impress me, I am hard on phones and knew I would break it.  Don't believe me?  I am clumsy and break stuff all the time, heck I dropped my iPhone in the store after I bought it.
• The BlackBerry Storm was promising, but on the Verizon network only and I don't want to change networks, I like AT&T.  I didn't even look at the Storm, but would have if it had been for AT&T. 

Why not Windows Mobile

This was my initial focus because I have had a Pocket PC in the past and was very happy.  Windows Mobile is all over the place so stability and usability were not major concerns either.  Beyond my desire for a productivity based phone, I wanted something I could use for entertainment when traveling as well.  I looked at phone after phone and few have a large screen, plus most are the stick navigation concept.  Until the HTC Fuze, which offered several impressive features, even touch screen. All the reviews raved about the phone and I decided that was the phone to get.  I went into the store with every intention to purchase the Fuze, but walked out with the iPhone instead.  You see, I was able to use the phone in the store and was just not impressed.  I am sure it is a great phone, but I found it kind of clunky from a usability and performance perspective.

What I like about the iPhone

• My biggest fear for the iPhone was the keyboard, or lack thereof.  I talked with several people who have them and they all said it is not hard to get used to typing on the iPhone.  I have found this to be very true, I have had it less than 10 days and I am pretty good with the keyboard.  I really wanted a QWERTY keyboard, but it works great.  I actually bought a $.99 application called TouchType to get a horizontal keyboard which is even better. 
• I can still get to my Live Mesh folders by visiting http://m.mesh.com on my iPhone. 
• My data plan was only $.01 more a month from my BlackBerry data plan
• The App Store has a ton of applications
• There are a large number of accessories for the iPhone

I could go on, but I won't.

What I dislike about the iPhone

• I miss the ability to have my tasks sync with Outlook, I think this is a major oversight or poor decision on Apple's part.  I cannot complain too much, because Google doesn't have a task management solution either.  I am just going to use my calendar.
• I don't understand why I cannot sync my calendar with Google out of the box.  I have seen a few convoluted ways to accomplish it, but I want Google Sync that was available on my BlackBerry.  I know I can visit my Google Calendar in the browser, but I want reminders on my phone.