The Light House!

Thanks to mashable.com for this information. The iPhone 3.0 OS is now live for downloading, according to published reports. Here’s a first look at the OS.

And, here’s a guided tour on what you can expect from the iPhone 3G S, which arrives on Friday.

Here’s a look at 20 things to look out for, thanks to Tech Crunch/Mobile Crunch.

So the bruhaha is brewing, so to speak, about AT&T and Apple’s butting heads, in light of the iPhone 3.0 OS release due out this week.

Analysts have much to say on the various issues, including the lack of MMS and Tethering support out of the box, and presumed negotiations/AT&T & Apple’s working relationship into the future.

I have to admit that while all this sounds like all the juicy gossip out there that people sign on to, I won’t be jumping ship to Verizon. I am totally satisfied with my service, having had very limited issues with any of my AT&T devices, including the iPhone.

People tend to forget that these devices are created by human beings, their deployment dependent on conditions that human beings have to work through and much of the work that goes into deploying a major product is tremendous. So, that means upgrading switches, routers, repeaters, deploying servers and server upgrades and so on. It is unrealistic to expect that with the demand for the iPhone and other AT&T products, and the way we use our devices today, that any glitch should mean lashing out at the carrier.

I think also, in pointing out that Apple’s other partners around the world have rolled out many of the new bells and whistles for the 3.0 3G and 3G S devices, people are probably not taking into account that they have deployed far less of the phones, and so are maybe more likely to be able to quickly roll out the newer network based features?

Anyway, here are a few articles on the new device/software:

No extra cost for MMS for existing text bundle subscribers.

AT&T’s many missed opportunities.

Analysts say iPhone 3G S not Enterprise-ready.

iPhone 3G S: What you need to know.

iPhone 3G S features 7.2 Mbps, AT&T’s network doesn’t.

iPhone 3G

I waited a year or so before acquiring the iPhone, because I wanted the 3G device. In the year that I waited, I carried around a 16 GB iPod Touch, and a 3G Samsung BlackJack first edition device.

I have to admit that each device has its shortcomings, betweent the two of them, but, I wanted the combination of one device to do everything, and the first generation iPhone just was not going to do it for me. When Apple announced the release of the 3G device, I wasn’t really in a rush to purchase the new device, but I did need a new phone. My BlackJack had been having performance problems for some time, I had had to reset it several times, and even after the upgrade to Windows Mobile 6, it still had major issues. I was ready.

So, I got my iPhone at the end of July, and I have to say I am more than satisfied. My only issue was that I didn’t get the color I wanted, which was minor. I haven’t had most of the issues that most people have reported, although I did have to reload the phone 2 times in the first week. That was no fun at all.

The applications are fun and easy to use, except a few that were plain bogus, and I won’t name names. The ones I use consistently, some of which I carried over from the BlackJack, are:

• AOL Radio
• Jott
• Google Mobile Apps
• WordPress
• Facebook
• AIM
• ShoZu
• Eventful
• YPmobile and
• Pageonce

It would be very nice to have a Yahoo Messenger Application and a Live Search as well, as I found them both to be very useful.

One thing that the folks at iTunes and Apple/Apple App store should take note, if they don’t already know this: when we update an application, whether we do it by wifi on the iPhone/iPod Touch or through iTunes, we do not want it to reinstall the application every time it syncs. That also goes for purchasing a song on the iPhone/iPod Touch. That is very annoying. It should be that once it’s added to the library it stays there, but that is not the case.

Other than that, I am very satisfied with my iPhone. There are a number of things that would have been nice to have, like MMS, but hopefully those are coming soon. Using Apple’s own rating scale, I would give it a 3 out of 5 stars.