I took the risk and loaded the unofficial version of the iPhone 2.0 software on my 1st Gen iPhone.  Installation went off without a hitch.  There are a few glitches, like iTunes backing up the whole device every time I sync and a few crashed (in the iTunes remote app).  Regardless, this software will firmly establish Apple as the dominant cell phone manufacturer for years to come.

In just a few short hours I was able to:

  • Play some great games which were controlled via the iPhones motion detectors
  • Chat on AIM
  • Listen to AOL radio
  • Listen to ShoutCast radio stations including my own.
  • Record notes and voicenotes and autosync over the cloud to EverNote.
  • View stocks in the Bloomberg app
  • Use Jott to record voice notes which are translated to text and emailed to me.
  • Used Pandora to listen to some great music.
  • Use the Apple Remote to control my iTunes in the house including telling iTunes to play over the airport express connected to the living room stereo.  No need to go sit at a computer to start a playlist and ability to instantly pause if the phone rings.
  • Use Smugmug to take photos from the iPhone and upload it automatically to my account.
  • Posted to Twitter
  • Checked the local weather including radar photos (via Weatherbug) and view local cameras.
  • Play Tic-tac-toe with my daughter

There are also several features to find other users near by, but I haven’t been able to test that yet.  Apple has created a mobile computing platform that really gives a sci-fi quality of applications and capability at your fingertips.