John Zeitler

I don’t have a whole lot of time, so I’ll just give the rundown of what I think about the biggest parts of iPhone 3.0:

Push: Well, I would have preferred BG apps, but I can see this being helpful as well. I don’t entirely buy the excuse of the delay being caused by feedback from developers causing them to re-think push. It will be enough for me to get back onto AIM, at the very least.
Peer to peer: I don’t see much use for this outside of games. Beaming contacts is now done via MMS (see below). Still, for the right kinds of games…
Maps in Apps/Turn by turn: I dig this. The “bring your own maps” requirement means it’s probably not going to show up for free, but it’ll produce a good app, I suspect.
MMS: I fail to understand why MMS is such a big deal. Email is fine for sending photos and other things, though maybe a few other uses for it will become evident as time goes by.
Landscape standard: I really dig this. Reading is just so much easier on the device in landscape mode. At the same time, iPod video and Youtube video should include portrait mode as well (for watching while it’s docked).
Native voice memos: Saves me from buying a dedicated memo app (I was looking into one a few weeks ago). If it syncs, all the better (and it better sync, now that we have…)
Notes Sync: I have a ton of reference material that I like or need to have with me at almost all times (car data, tech specs of my computer, reclamation lists– well, not anymore on that last one), and typing it all up on the phone only to lose it if I need to restore sucked. This will help greatly (esp. if there’s an import feature).
Copy/Paste: Even if there’s no direct import feature for notes, then this will be just fine. I haven’t had much abject need for c/p, but I have noticed its absence the more I use the device.
Calendar sync/subscriptions: Explain to me that this will allow non-destructive syncing with Google Calendar and we’ll have a winner.
Search/Spotlight: I dig this, too, but I was kind of hoping the rumors of a category-based home screen redesign were true as well. This is basically Quicksilver for the iPhone anyway, though, so no real problems.
Stereo Bluetooth: On the one hand, stereo BT headphones are ridiculously expensive. On the other hand, they are also really freaking cool and I want them; wireless anything has spoiled me rotten, folks.

Overall there weren’t too many bombshells dropped but the gist is that a few things promised last year, and a few curious omissions, are being rectified at last. (Also the fact that the 1st-gen iPhone doesn’t get stereo BT makes me very glad I wasn’t an early adopter.) As always, the iPhone isn’t perfect– nothing is, no matter what anyone tries to tell you– but it’s my favorite mobile phone and one of the ones I honestly don’t think I could be without. Either I’m too dependent on its features, or they’ve really integrated themselves into my normal work/life flow. Meh, I like it, your mileage may vary.

Later, folks.