If you haven’t heard, I have dumped my problematic LG-VX8500 (aka The Chocolate) and moved onto an iPhone. The recent price cut, coupled with the frustration with my possessed Chocolate auto dialing, helped make my decision easier.

So what do I think of the iPhone?

What I Like:

My primary concern was that the phone, as well as the AT & T service, would provide a horrible experience. Up to this point, phone use has been a pleasant experience. Call quality is good both on a headset and the iPhone directly. I haven’t had a dropped call or weak signal throughout my routine travel and use.

My Last Three Cell Phones

I love that my contacts and calendar are managed from my iMac. The interface to the iPhone address book makes looking for and dialing a phone number an enjoyable experience - except when you need to do it quickly (see below). Syncing is a breeze for these two applications. I love being able to make edits to a contact or calendar entry and having complete faith it will sync properly. No issues as of yet.

The Mail application is also very well done. I am able to access an account I set up specifically for the iPhone - a Yahoo! account since it does push mail - with ease. I filter/forward emails to that single account to retrieve while mobile. No issue accessing over WiFi or on The Edge Network.

The iPod part of the phone is great. Listening to music and viewing videos has been a joy with this device. The memory space is just enough to fit plenty of music and videos to last a weekend trip.

What I Don’t Like:

The major complaint I have is the inability to make a call quickly - e.g. single touch dialing. It takes a minimum of three contacts (e.g. press, slide, touch) if you have your iPhone setup correctly to make a quick call. But I rarely need to make a quick call.

I’m not missing voice dialing (I didn’t use it much), GPS (never had it), or a 3G Network (never used it). Larger memory than 8 GB would be nice, but it’s not a deal breaker. Plus, from what I have read, 8 GB is the largest memory available for any smartphone.

Good phone, and a great iPod! It was worth the (lower) price of the iPhone.