Does the iPhone meet expectations?

{UPDATE 8/12/07 - User reviews at CNET (652 today): Avg rating 6.4}
{UPDATES 7/24/07 - (1) Apple shares down 6% after disappointing iPhone sales numbers.   (2) iPhone is seriously hackable per a story in The Guardian today.  They've advised Apple, who needs to plug that up.}

6/26/07 - Well, I haven't been following this, not being very trendy, but saw the NY Times writeup and video today by its funny tech guy, David Pogue, who's not a bad actor, either -- well, for a tech reviewer!  Sure had ME laughing.

He basically says that the iPhone matches most of its hype.

Other things:

• The phone is extremely easy to use.
  
• The iPhone is SMALL and doesn't even need a case.
  
• There is no video-mode (hey, primitive phone!).
• And no way to send a picture taken to someone else's phone tho' you can send it to someone's email.
  
• Internet is fast if you're in a Wi-Fi hot spot, but its own network will make you wish for a dialup, he says.
  
• No Flash or Java, so most web videos won't work, but YouTube will.
  
• ONLY AT&T will work with iPhone - special deal between Apple and AT&T.
  
• He adds that AT&T's reception is, well, not good, and clarity of the phone is average.
  
• There's no memory card expansion for storage
  
• The battery starts to lose capacity after 300-400 charges and you have to send it back to Apple for the replacement, for a fee.  By that time, first-on-block buyers will be looking for the latest xphone anyway.
  
• Apple will offer free software updates on this phone in the meantime.
  
• While he says the camera is not good in low-light, few cameras are and it does better than other 2-megapizel cell phone cameras, from what I've seen.

I've also read that it won't directly download music from a wireless network; instead users need to transfer music from their computers.

In reading about its many first-time mobile phone features, I couldn't quite picture it all, so the video (which starts out like an Apple Ad Plus) shows you how it works and it's pretty amazing.  By the end of the video, it's not quite the AdPlus that it started to be, but I imagine it will sell well anyway, although $500 or so is pretty hefty considering what it can't do, including not being able to directly download music via a wireless network

Nevertheless, very impressive what Apple did, though I'm not trading in my Samsung A990 yet.
    Here's his interactive graphics detailed look at the phone itself.

Boston Globe's article on Setup and monthly charges
Pogue's answers to oft-asked questions.

Will be updating this page with less-fashionable info soon :-)