So, July 11 is fast approaching and I'm planning on getting a 3G iPhone
as soon as possible that morning. Then, the rest of my day will be
dedicated to playing with it and doing a comparison review between it
and the first generation iPhone for all of you out there who are on the
fence about upgrading. I live and work in areas that have 3G coverage,
according to AT&T's coverage viewer, and I'm expecting the data speed
increase will be quite noticeable. I'm also looking forward to not
missing phone calls while I'm surfing the web or using the data
connection, which occurs when using the EDGE network (I've unfortunately
caused a great deal of angst for my husband who tried calling me 5 times
in a row once while I was blithely checking my email).

I'm also looking forward to the a-GPS capability in the new iPhone. I
know that TomTom announced, apparently prematurely, that they have their
navigation software working on the iPhone platform via the SDK, and I'm
hoping they are truly moving forward with getting an iPhone version
ready for release soon. Although it's never really been important for
me before to have a converged cell phone and GPS device, I would happily
sell my TomTom Go 720 unit in favor of using just my iPhone in my car
for navigation purposes. I already have a mount for my iPhone on my
dashboard, and I'd much rather use it than fiddle with the window
suction-cup mount for my TomTom (which always falls off at the most
inopportune moments).

At this point, I'm pretty sure I'm going to unlock and jailbreak my
first generation iPhone and put it up for sale once my 3G iPhone is up
and running and I've finished the comparison review. I'll probably
advertise it here, though my primary sales venue will probably be the
Boston Craigslist site. While I have quite a bit of sentimental value
tied up in my first generation iPhone, I can't financially justify
keeping it with the $10/month increase for the 3G data plan, plus
another $5 for 200 text messages that are no longer included with the
iPhone voice plans. Speaking of which, I am quite upset with AT&T about
this. I understand that their other 3G smartphone plans do not include
text messages, but since they were included with the first generation
iPhone plans, it still feels like a take-away and some
nickel-and-diming. I've written to AT&T via their online feedback form
– join me if you are also displeased and submit your feedback on their
site here:

http://www.wireless.att.com/about/meet_email.jsp

I'd like to give one last notice that I'll be merging my mobile blog
with my “regular” blog – I hope to do that this weekend and my RSS feed
link will change (though it's not clear what it will become) and you'll
need to come back and re-subscribe once that's done (sorry for any
inconvenience!).