I am coming up on the 1-month anniversary of being an iPhone user; immersed in the fast-pace drama of dropped calls, Crash Nitro Kart, and youtube videos that burn through battery life. Brian and I have begun developing iPhone applications in conjunction with several niche app developers; and within the past week I have encountered several men and women who sware by the revolutionary nature of this device. For some of us urban professionals, freelancers, and entrepreneurs; the iPhone is becoming the new television, family, and church.

What are the positives and negatives that I- a hardware amateur- have noticed in my iPhone? Let me count the ways….

Positive: I probably listen to the pandora app on my iphone for an hour a day; whether during my exercising, my coffee trips, or my french study sessions. iPhone gave me mobile Panora.

Negative: Dropped Calls. This problem has abated as of late; but back in the end of August my iPhone caused my business to suffer. I must have said “sorry it’s my iphone” roughly 200 times during august and september.

Positive: iPhone SDK development enables people like me to invent gps / accelerometer / 3D / social / mobile / phone / email / IM applications. I don’t see developer friends rushing to the android platform any time soon.

Negative: Burns through battery life. My iphone will last me 2 days on 1 charge, if I don’t use the phone for those 2 days. If I juggle my phone calls, music, emails, and internet searching at a casual pace- my iPhone lasts about 5-7 hours before requiring a recharge.

Positive: You make friends. Not because people are drawn to the iphone like mosquitos to a bright light- but because it accents whatever conversation you initiate. When i met someone from Muldova, I searched for the muldova map, and they pointed to their hometown. When i met the founders of House music, I quickly did some homework on the subject- sitting in the next chair- and the iphone queries provided me with something to talk about.

Negative: Doing simple things can take a while. If my iphone is in my pocket- and if I simply want to add a calendar event for next week, i need to turn the iphone on- close whatever app was already open- open the browser- flip to my google calendar- click the text input- slowly enter “thursday 5pm meeting with bloxes.com“, confirm (which takes about 5-10 seconds), and review the submission. Adding an event to a calendar requires about 30 seconds of group silence.

Positive: It’s sexy

Negative: You get typecasted as jumping onto the iphone bandwagon by seasoned blackberry users

Positive: It’s actually pretty low-cost. Buying a phone costs $300 (including activation charges, etc) and the monthly fee starts at $100 (including 15% taxes, SMS, etc), which makes it a lower-cost PDA.

Negative: Accidental Behavior. If you don’t turn your iPhone off, it has a habit of doing whatever it feels like while being tossed about in your pocket. For me, that includes calling my contacts- playing youtube movies- performing internet searches- and opening the beer app. Good old beer app.