iPhone 3G, App Store, MobileMe

Been busy moving flats, so I haven't really updated this much.
As everyone knows by now with all the media coverage, iPhone 3G is officially released today. Afew lucky New Zealanders made "history" by being the very first people to own the new handset from 00:01am there.
Reviews from Wall Street Journal, NYTimes and USAToday have all been positive about the iPhone 3G, especially the advent of a new development platform that Apple will host as the App Store. The negatives are that it still doesn't have Copy & Paste, MMS and the battery only realistically lasts about 4.5Hrs talktime or web use. On that note, I think its still a good attempt by Apple, and I'd say even better than other Smartphones, which are horrible to use, and still only last at most 3 days, because no-one bothers using any of their "features". From my experience, the iPhone 2G was such a joy to use, that you will definitely end up killing the battery on a daily basis. But that's what happens when you have good design - you tend to use it more and will enjoy it too.

Moving onto the App Store, its available via the new iTunes 7.7 released yesterday. You might need to enable "Applications" from the Preferences, but there's also a big banner ad on the main iTunes page anyway. There are literally hundreds of apps already, and a good portion of them are free too. However, that's not to say they're all useful. Some are as meaningless as a cow going "Moo" each time you shake it. In my view, these should be vetoed out so customer focus can remain on the good stuff like the iTunes and AppleTV remote app, Bloomberg app, Epocrates (identifying medication) NetNewsWire and many other intriguing apps. There's even a VOIP app called TruPhone! Of course games are there too, and I will definitely get the SuperMonkeyBall app. Bomberman is there too, but I doubt that it will be that fun. In fact, Gizmodo has already started tested several apps, and they dont rate the thumb-flick for movement, as your thumb obscures most of the screen. But if it has wireless play to other friends, then multiplayer mayhem could counter that fault :).

MobileMe is the Apple's great way of syncing mobile devices with desktops and laptops, wherever you might be. It is really interesting for me because it means that my wife can now use iCal to input new events, tasks and set timers, that will then sync to my iPhone and beep at the required time! A great way to save me picking up her calls, only to forget when the time comes. And I'll also be able to use the online web calendar to type in new entries, or even use Outlook if required (nah....!) and type up easier than on the iPhone. Its just one of those things that would make life that little bit simpler.... if only it gets its bugs fixed out of the way! As of today, its still down and inaccessible, so there must be afew niggly things remaining for them to fix. Lucky I still have the account under trial for now! :)