So the iPhone I ordered from AT&T (white 16 GB) arrived the other day, about a week and a half sooner than they guessed it would take (only ordered it three or four days ago).
AT&T
My experience with AT&T was okay except whenever I got on the phone. Their overseas support is uneducated, dense, and you cannot understand them. They can't transfer you to the United States. Attempts to call the AT&T store resulted in them placing me on hold without any music and without being notified that I was placed on hold. AT&T only lets the phone ring for about five rings before routing you back to a menu prompt. What a terrible way to run a company.
In the store a representative takes your name and instead of helping whoever is around they go down the list and help people in the order they arrived. That, at least, really eases up the visit, because they were quite busy both times I went there (especially on the weekend). After I ordered the phone the representative gave me his personal card and said he would be my contact there. He called me personally when the phone arrived from his cell phone. That was a nice way to circumvent the horrible mess that is their phone system. Activation was painless.
iPhone Screen
I took my new iPhone home expecting to do battle with some bugs. First, the screen -- it is much better than the 2G's. I would not describe it as yellow at all -- it is simply warmer. The white-point on the 2G was set way too far in the blue area, something which may very well have been done to make it more attractive to people on a shelf. People are initially attracted to very bright screens and this has affected the sales of televisions, computers, and most other devices with screens. Apple did the right thing here. It seems perfect.
iPhone Camera
It takes just a little bit longer to open the 'shutter' as people have said -- but nowhere near six seconds. I don't know if this is because people are having problems with their software or if it is because they can't count seconds very well (I've noticed people tend not to be good at this, at any rate). It opens consistently between two and two-and-a-half seconds. This is the sort of thing I imagine Apple will improve with an update but it does not bother me.
Contacts List
I have a really long contacts list. It takes between half a second and one second, at worst, to open. Again, just a little slower than the 2G, but not slow enough to bother me. People are whining about it so I'm sure Apple will be looking into it.
Battery Life
It is still early to tell, but it has been respectable given what I've been doing. I've been going nuts with Pandora, games, and other services, and my phone has been on far more often than it usually is. I depleted my battery in a bit less than a day doing this (though it was from the charge out of the box). That is to say it endured my abuse from 12 to 2 AM. If it can take what I was doing in good swing (more than a solid eight hours of apps, talking, internet, and streamed music) it will probably hold up well when I start using it normally. 3G does eat more battery life, as is to be expected, but it seems Apple has given us good options to manage it. I agree with someone who mentioned earlier that it would be nice to have activity-relative management of 3G and faster access to the 3G toggle.
Appearance and Form
I was originally going to get the black iPhone until I saw it in the store. It collects fingerprints like... well... a shiny black plastic thing. And the extensive use of black does make it seem a little more generic. The white iPhone, by contrast, really has a pretty appearance to it, doesn't show fingerprints, and the way in which the screen stands out against the surrounding glass on the front is quite attractive. I think it looks wonderful.
It feels marvelous in your hands! I liked the 2G design but as someone who used it in a slip-in case, rather than with some kind of shell you put over the back, I was faced with using the iPhone without a cover once removed. The metal was slick and it required a conscious effort while using it to avoid dropping the device. The plastic 3G is very easy to hold and the new form feels much more comfortable in your hands. The buttons also have improved tactile feedback, especially the power/active button at the top. The headphone port holds the headphone device much more snugly as well. The 3G is much lighter -- enough that you really notice it -- but still feels sufficiently substantial.
Internet
My experiences with 3G are in line with others'. It is faster and makes for a somewhat more pleasant experience. What matters most to me, though, is that pages load more reliably now (on any connection), and are much more responsive to scrolling. The 2G iPhones I had before were less responsive, especially while loading, and this could lead to somewhat more frustrating experience and accidentally clicking links. I would imagine this can be attributed to software improvements in 2.0 so 2G iPhone users will be able to enjoy these improvements as well (aside from 3G speeds, of course). I didn't upgrade my 2G from 1.1.4.
3G Signal
In my home the 3G signal is weaker than the 2G signal. It stays rather low, around a bar or so. The iPhone chooses to continue using this signal when 3G is enabled, though. I was concerned by this originally but unlike a 2G signal which becomes very unreliable at such a low level, my iPhone has consistently received, held, and communicated in this state (I spoke with family for around two and a half hours, doing different activities, just to get a feel for it). Audio quality was solid even with that signal. It held up similarly while I went out for a bike ride around town and had a pretty solid signal whenever I checked it. I live in the bay area, though, so I imagine the 3G network might be a bit more reliable in areas out here than it is in some others.
Stability
This phone has been like a rock so far. The OS has been perfectly reliable and responsive -- it has actually, so far, been more reliable than the 2G software was! This I was honestly not expecting. Aside from the very specific and minor slowdowns mentioned above, this really impresses me for such an evolved update. 2.0.1 will only bring better. Third-party apps, as one should expect, vary in quality. If an app looks to be of poor quality, or got lots of negative ratings for stability, I didn't bother with it though. I haven't yet had a third-party app crash on me (I've got about sixteen installed) but I have definitely noticed some inconsistent behavior. I doubt this has anything to do with the iPhone, though. Just new software!
App Store
What a treat! I never jailbroke my 2G (this critter is used for business and I don't like to take many chances when even an occasional slip-up could cost a lot of money) so this is new to me. Some of the games are delightful fun and many third-party apps are incredibly useful. Apple's implementation of the App Store in iTunes is great and the on-phone App Store is even better. Browsing, reading and purchasing is just one step above breathing in a difficulty scale (and I imagine this will reflect quite positively in profits and distribution shared by Apple and other developers). This is the sort of experience that sets Apple devices apart from everything else. I can spend money while using the toilet, now. This could be a bad thing for people who aren't responsible with money!
Final Note
For my whole life I hated cell phones. As a designer I've always been very frustrated with the terrible interfaces designed for these devices (looking at you, Motorola!) and the static make and release model (no updates, rare bug fixes). I hated the lock-down on things like music distribution and file sharing. I never got excited about phones. Apple changed all of that with the iPhone, doing things I only dreamed of before, and taking it to a whole new level I had never imagined. I feel in love with the iPhone as soon as I saw it in the keynote -- I had high expectations, and they were completely overshadowed. I have just fallen in love with the iPhone all over again. Thanks, Apple!
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone that can do him absolutely no good.
 Samuel Johnson
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone that can do him absolutely no good.
 Samuel Johnson
I thought he was being sarcastic with that comment.
