Tong Family

“Apple”:http://www.apple.com/retail/iphone/availability.html has a tool showing what is available where. The stores open at 8AM. Amazing the demang. All models except the Black 16GB in Alderwood Mall are available at all four Seattle area stores in Bellevue, Lynnwood, Seattle and Tukwila. 16GB Black not surprisingly is the most popular model. And there are activation issues that make the line super slow

“MacRumors”:http://www.macrumors.com/2008/07/11/iphone-3g-reviews-and-impressions/ has a good summary of initial reviews with the top line being:

# All plastic feels cheaper but you get a little more range because plastic lets in more radio waves 😉
# The screen is warmer and to some looks too yellow
# Audio quality sems to be better although iLounge disagrees. It definitely could use a better speakerphone which was nearly useless in the first iPhone
# GPS is fast and TeleNav will soon release a turn-by-turn navigation system for the iPhone (cool!)
# The iPhone 3G has already been jailbroken and hactivated and we should see that coming out soon
# “Activation”:http://www.macworld.com/article/134464/2008/07/iphone3g_wrap.html problems seem to have eased by afternoon (pacific time), so maybe tomorrow will be better 🙂
# iTouch users can upgrade to 2.0 and get ActiveSync for instance, so they can read email and see calendars in real time when they are in wifi range. That is pretty cool!
# Not surprisingly “avoid”:http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/advice-avoid-att-stores-for-iphone-3g/ the AT&T stores, they don’t have much stock but let you queue up and take your name for later when they might be in stock next week.

As an aside, “some”:http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/7/apple-to-ship-1-million-iphones-this-weekend think Apple could ship 1M iphones this weekend. Wow!