My purchase was made swiftly, efficiently, and very pleasantly. I then ran to my waiting car as if I had just effected a bank heist. I gently tore through the shrinkwrap so as not to damage the beautifully crafted box (would you expect anything less from Apple?). And there it was. Much smaller and thinner than I expected. I gingerly lifted it from the cradled packaging and pressed the on switch. Although all I saw was the activation screen, I was in awe. This thing is HOT! I hadn't even used it yet and every reason to not get an iPhone melted away in that moment.

Fast forward three hours later (after a leisurely dinner with friends at a favorite sushi restaurant - I know! How could I think of food at a time like this!). I'm now home and have prepped my MacBook Pro by updating my contacts in Entourage and downloading iTunes 7.3. The activation happened without a hitch.

PLUSES:

- Beautifully crafted, very substantial feel
- Overall user interface is nothing short of sublime
- Large keys on the dialpad makes the lack of hard buttons a non-issue
- Touch screen is everything it's promised to be - works very smoothly
- The gyroscope that auto-rotates the screen is just plain cool
- Google maps satellite views on a phone is also just plain cool
- iChat style word bubbles and messaging threads for SMS makes texting so much more sensible
- Visual voice-mail is not just innovative, it really makes things so efficient

MINUSES:

- EDGE is too slow, WiFi makes browsing speeds much more bearable
- The screen is riddled with fingerprints (I know - what was I expecting?) five minutes in, though a nifty little cleaning cloth is included - how very Apple
- Apple Bluetooth headset delayed
- No voice dial (I'm very used to this from all my other phones, so it's probably what I'll miss the most)
- Can't erase multiple messages at once
- Can't customize home screen
- Bluetooth seems limited to headset - can't import pics or contact info from another phone or from a computer, only via iTunes

So, on a scale of 1 - 10, I'm giving it a 12 for coolness and an 8.5 for functionality (primarily due to EDGE and lack of voice recognition). It's a keeper, for sure. I'll be updating my list of positives and negatives over the next few days as I spend more time with it, so check back. Mia will also be posting a review, so it will be interesting to compare notes (even though we were already on the phone last night discussing it for hours - yes, we're both big geeks).