OK, I used to stare in envy at those iPhone4 users who could get seemingly almost instant downloads and the bright screen that seems to move so fast with a quick swipe and a touch etc. So I broke down and bought an unlocked iPhone4 when I was last in London and brought it back to the US. I have spent the last 48 hours trying to get the thing working properly on T-Mobile in the US and OK, I got it working this morning and tested it's speed - nothing extraordinary on the T-Mobile network - and certainly only marginally faster than my trusty N900.

But what got my goat was:
i) the keyboard on the iPhone4, which is dreadful - even though I live in Texas I'm hardly obese, so my (piano-playing) fingers are not podgy by any stretch of the imagination. Writing a text with the iPhone took almost twice the time it would take with the N900;
ii) iTunes - why would I have to Sync with iTunes all the time - I couldn't transfer anything without using iTunes - at least with the N900 you have 2 choices and can see what you have on your phone. And then of course you have to put up with all those endless Bonjour and iTunes updates on your computer ;
iii) 3G - for a company that clearly has world dominance on it's mind, Apple has made a high-end phone that doesn't work on T-Mobile's 3G network in the US - so the N900 is much better in the sense that it operates on 3G networks virtually worldwide; and
iv) Internet connection - so I used the Edge network and the iPhone4 was all the time losing the connection and then searching for it again. My N900 locks in and rarely loses the signal. I don't know if this is to do with the band around the iPhone4, but whatever the reason, it's not as good as the N900.

I now realize 3 things about the iPhone4:
1. "This changes everything. Again" is a brilliant piece of marketing. But the substance behind it can only be delivered by spending twice what I spend on my cellphone bill per month with AT&T. And the point is that it DOESN'T change anything much - the OS is fast, yes, but the software is awkward and the 2 home screens don't show any capability of letting you know what apps are multitasking (unlike the N900) - and that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the lack of functionality in the phone compared to what I'm used to with the N900. But Nokia needs to up the ante with its advertising - maybe hire a different agency and start to think in terms of more stylish phones rather than the clunky image it tends to have with most phone users.
2. The iPhone is for people who like TV remotes - they are not interested in what is going on inside and in customizing anything - they just want it to work straight out of the box and they're prepared to pay for many of the apps that you get for free with the N900. OK, I know most of the world's population is like that, but not everyone, thank god!
3. The one really impressive thing about the iPhone4 is that It's battery life is way way longer than on the N900, and so I hope Nokia is paying attention and gives us a decent battery life next time around.

So to end the story, my iPhone4 is now for sale on eBay and I'm back with my N900. Anyone want to buy it?