Most important things to know about the iPhone:

• Activating your iPhone. The activation process is done on your computer (Mac or PC), using iTunes. The entire process should take no more than about 10 minutes -- however, you should have access to another phone just in case you need some help after your old phone is deactivated.
• AT&T. The iPhone only works on AT&T's (formerly Cingular's) network. If you don't have AT&T, it is fairly painless to switch when activating the phone; however, check AT&T's coverage map at http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/ to make sure that it will work where you want to use it. Don't expect the iPhone to show up on Verizon or Sprint networks in the near future. Apple & AT&T have an exclusive agreement for what has been reported as at least 2 years.
• Corporate mail systems. If your company or school uses Microsoft Exchange for email, then you might want to wait a little while before buying an iPhone. There are strong rumblings from Apple that Exchange support is coming. It is not clear if corporate IT departments will have to make any changes on their end to support the phone (good luck with that.) VPN (Virtual Private Networks) may also be an issue; the iPhone's VPN support is limited. For example, currently you cannot connect to your mail server or corporate website via a Cisco VPN.
• Adding applications. At this time, Apple is not allowing outside developers to install programs on the phone. There are applications being developed for the iPhone and some are very good; at this point, however, all are web-based.
• Updating the iPhone. Apple has built an updating mechanism into the latest version of iTunes; this will allow them to update existing software and add new applications.

Most truth behind the hype: We've found that the iPhone meets expectations and that the commercials accurately depict its features.

• Web viewing. Safari, the web browser on the phone, is based on the Mac OS X web browser.  Unlike other mobile web browsing applications, Safari displays web pages as they would be displayed on your computer, not stripped-down mobile versions.
• Google maps application. Although the phone does not have GPS, assuming you are not completely lost, the map application is amazing.  We've used it to find restaurants and movie theaters, check traffic (using the live traffic maps), and get directions. When you search for points of interest such as restaurants you can simply type "restaurant" and it will find any that are in the area displayed on the map; alternatively, you can type "restaurants Needham MA" to find restaurants in and around Needham. You can either see the results as push-pins on the map or as a list.
• Integration of applications. Moving between the web, email, phone, etc. is seamless and fast. For example, in the map application, selecting a pin or an item on a results list will bring up details including phone number (just click to call) and web address (click to open the website.)
• The screen. Smudges and fingerprints are not a problem -- it's easily cleaned using the shammy (or your shirt.)
• Image quality. Both still and video are clear and sharp, even in the sun.
• Typing. With a little practice, typing on the iPhone's virtual keyboard is simple; as you hit a key it increases in size so you can decide whether to move to another key or let go to type. Auto-completion is effective; the dictionary is large and grows as you use the iPhone, adding contact information as well as uncommon words.

Most room for improvement:

• The mail program is missing a couple of features, such as the ability to select and delete multiple messages at one time and a unified inbox, which would allow you to check multiple accounts from one screen.
• Flash support: Many websites use Adobe's Flash technology to display images, video, and audio.  The iPhone does not currently support Flash; although Apple has not said anything publicly on the topic, it is likely that Flash support will be forthcoming.
• There is no ability to cut and paste in any of the iPhone's applications.
• Text messages can be sent to only one person at a time. However, there is no additional cost to use email.
• There is no texting of pictures, but again, you do have email and any image can be emailed.
• You cannot easily move your contacts from your old phone to the iPhone, even if you have stored your contact list on a SIM card in your old phone. If you are coming from a Palm/Treo, Blackberry, or other "smartphone" that you synchronize with your computer or if you keep your contacts organized in your Mac Address Book (or Outlook on a PC), then this is not a problem.
• iPhone/iTunes sync function does not work directly with Entourage. There are ways around it -- you could export your contacts from Entourage and move them into Address Book, but then you would have to manage two sets of contacts. A better approach is to move to Apple's Mail program and the Address Book.

Most interesting 3rd party (web-based) applications:

• instant messaging site: Although it would not be a surprise to see Apple adding an actual iChat application to the phone, several developers are working on web-based chat tools. Beejive is young but promising: http://www.beejive.com/iphone/
• movie site: http://moviesapp.com/ - search for movies, then link to the map application to find the theater. You can also link to movieticket.com to purchase tickets.
• weather sites: http://apple.accuweather.com/widget/iphone1/iphone.html and http://iweathr.com/iweathr/. These sites recently saved us hours of driving in a series of rain storms; we checked radar as we were leaving for home and changed our route to a highway that was behind the storms. Although we obviously didn't have wifi in the car, periodic access to AT&T's Edge network was sufficient to check the progress of the storms as we approached rerouting decision points.
• games: Tilt is an early attempt at a game that takes advantage of the iPhone's accelerometer to determine the orientation of the phone. You turn the phone from portrait to landscape to catch the various falling items. http://www.xeodesign.com/tilt.html
• gas prices: www.gasapp.com -- look up the cheapest gas in your area, using zipcode or city/state. Then link to the map application to find the station.
• and more: here's a site to check periodically for new applications: http://iphoneappsmanager.com/

Please contact us for more information about buying, setting up, and using an iPhone: gcs@goldbergcs.com