Yes, I'm now a H.O.M.O., sort of.

Brenda wanted one so bad and was quite dismayed when I told her that her chances of getting one on launch day were somewhere around the chances of getting a Wii on launch, so she zipped over to Apple.com on D-Day and ordered one. The very next day, while out running errands, she passed by an AT&T store and decided to pop on in to see if they possibly still had any. I apparently overestimated the technological savvy and hunger of the usual Hammond resident, because there were quite a bit of iPhone still to be had. She picked one up right there and brought it home, leaving the decision of what to do with the one that she ordered online up to me.

It's really way too expensive for a freaking phone, let alone two, but laziness prevailed. I thought biting the financial bullet and keeping it was easier than shipping it back or selling it on eBay, so two weeks later I was the proud owner of my very on iPhone.

Now for the part you're probably interested in: it is pretty effing slick. As a phone it's tops. The web browsing on it is hands down the best ever on a handheld, and by that I mean it is actually usable. Until more apps start coming down the pipe, that's about all I'm going to be using it for. Ok, I may take a picture here and there, but the camera is about as good as a camera in a run of the mill cell phone, which is to say it's pretty underwhelming when presented in a package this nice.

Did I mention that one of the ringers you can choose is the sound of a phone ringing? Ah, sweet bliss.

Of course there are complaints:

• Activation: You activate it with iTunes (which from hereto forth will be referred to as "iHateUsers")
  • You must be using iTunes on WinXP to do this (did I mention I've always said I'm never moving beyond Win2K), luckily my work laptop has XP on it
  • Brenda activated hers on launch weekend, which meant she had to keep it connected to iTunes for THIRTY-SIX (36) hours before the activation went through.
• There are no games on it. None. This is a grave sin.
• iTunes.
• It is an Apple product, so a smaller, better version will be out soon enough.
• The browser doesn't have flash. YouTube still works because of some deal they struck with google to get the YouTube videos to stream in mp4, but other than that, no flash.
• iTunes
• I wanted to get my cell service (from AT&T) that my company provides for me switched over to my iPhone, but alas, you can not use an iPhone on a corporate plan. Yet if you go to www.att.com/wireless, click on Business, then select the link to show you the available phones and devices, the iPhone is conspicuously located at the top of the fucking list. I ended up getting my number transfered back to me and getting a personal account. I hope I can expense it.
• Not only can you not activate it without WinXP, iTunes won't even recognize it under Win2K.
• It will not even charge when connected to a Win2K computer.
• I have, as of yet, not found any porn for it.
• Did I mention iTunes yet?

I have a few other little complaints, but all in all it comes out on top. The iTunes thing still really bugs me because it such a shitty piece of software. Never in my life have I ever used a piece of software that goes this far out of its way to make it hard for you to do what you want to do. This playlist, video list, picture directory syncing bullshit is just retarded. How about this: I have this simple list on the left side of iTunes: Music, Movies, Pictures, and your iPhone/iPod (or whatever you have plugged in at the moment). On the right you have a list of the media contained in the selected item from the left. You click on "Music." You drag your favorite dance jam, "Holla Back Girl," over to the "iPhone" icon on the left. It copies the song to your iPhone. You are done. Don't ask me why this isn't the paradigm, maybe it made too much "sense."

Well this is turning out to be more of a rant about iTunes than a post about my new iPhone, so I guess I'll just cut it short here before I start publicly plotting the assination of iTunes developers. I'm still not sure if any of the non-Apple iPod management software works for the iPhone. Although, when the apps for it start coming out I'm sure you'll need iTunes to install them, and I doubt that is something easily supported by non-Apple sanctioned channels.