I might not be able to afford the iPhone forever but at least I’m enjoying it while I can. I do have the option of canceling the data plan and just using the iPhone for calls and wifi. That doesn’t sound too bad does it?

I started playing the new Final Fantasy IV last night and I’m pretty hooked already so I’ll probably be playing that this weekend. The graphics are nice and the gameplay is old school which leads to overall goodness. I’ve never played the original so it’s like a whole new game to me.

Too many games, not enough time.

List of iPhone Apps:

• Meebo
• Google Talk
• AIM
• Yelp
• Shazam
• Pandora
• ShoZu
• Remote
• WordPress
• Facebook

Instant Messengers – Of course I need instant messaging capabilities. Too bad once you close the app you can’t recieve any messages. That is until Apple releases the Push server.

Shazam – So far the best free app available. If you’ve ever heard a song on the radio or at a club and wanted to know what it was, Shazam solves it for you.

Pandora – Internet radio, I prefer this over last.fm even though they are almost the same thing.

ShoZu – I only use this for uploading Flickr photos. Couldn’t find anything better at the moment.

I bought the the Contour Hardskin last week for my iPhone 3G and so far I’m liking it a lot. I’ve always liked hard plastic cases with rubber finish exteriors, and that’s exactly what this is. The hard plastic makes for a very secure fit that won’t come off like some silicon skins. The rubber finish feels secure in contrast to the slippery feel of the 3G. Unlike silicon cases the Contour Hardskin won’t get stuck in your pocket due to stickiness. The cover also comes with button cover inserts for the volume and sleep button but I didn’t really give them a try.

The only problem with it is that the case makes it hard to push the silent switch back to ring. It will take some getting used to and probably requires two-hands. The other issue I have with the case is that for the $30 price tag it should come with a clear screen protector but it doesn’t. Normally cases come with poor screen protectors that you end up throwing away but it makes you feel better about your purchase.

In the end I paired my Contour Hardskin with a Power Support Anti-Glare Film. Both of these items can be found at the Apple Store.

Since I’m already an AT&T customer I simply had to add the $30 unlimited data feature to my current $45 plan. However I also had to pay an addition $18 for the phone upgrade. Another one of those hidden fees.

The store opening was a little anticlimactic since the Apple activation server was buried under the immense traffic. The activation and checkout of each customer took about 20mins per person. The AT&T representatives resorted to half activating the iPhones which sped things up a little bit. Resulting in the iPhone being unlocked but unusable until activated on iTunes. By the time I checked out some of the people who were ahead of me in line were still in the store.

After leaving the store around 8:45am we rushed home to activate our phones. Sadly, the server was still too busy to activate any iPhones and Itunes kept popping up the dreadful “Timed Out” message. So I made myself some breakfast and took a well deserved nap. I woke up a few hours later and the first thing I did was check if Itunes was working. The first time I tried it, it timed out again. I tried one more time for good measure and to my surprise it worked. It brought me to the step by step activation screen where I hurriedly entered my information.

Ding! My iPhone was activated but it still kept complaining that there was no service. With question marks running through my brain I realized that I needed to put my SIM card into the device. Which was strange because my friends didn’t have to do this. I’m guessing my AT&T representative forgot to switch my account to the iPhone SIM card. This would have been really confusing to someone who knew nothing about phones and SIM cards.

After learning my new phone and playing with it for hours we decided to check out how the Apple store was doing. We drove over to the nearest Apple store around 4:30pm and the line was ridiculous. It was rumored to be a 7 hour line. However, they did have refreshments from Starbucks. I bypassed the line and picked up a static cling screen protector. When I applied the screen protector I found out that the screen dimensions were a tiny bit different from the original iPhone. The screen protector left about a millimeter uncovered on every side. Once I get a case for my phone I won’t have to worry about it. I’m planning on getting one of these incase sliders.

I got the chance to catch the new Pixar movie WALL-E this past weekend. It was pretty fantastic. WALL-E is a definite upgrade over Ratatouille. Okay I’ll admit I did like Ratatouille when I first saw it but the characters were nowhere near as lovable as WALL-E and EVE.

How you can feel sad for a robot or even imagine that a robot has feelings is beyond me but Pixar mixed the chemicals right and pulled tear jerkers using heartless robots. Pixar shows some seriousness illustrating a bleak future of Earth covered in garbage and obese humans who have lost the ability to walk. This movie really tries to hammer away a point where their past movies have not.

Overall a great movie for all ages. And for all the gamers out there, I think you’ll feel that Pixar has played their share of Valve’s Portal. They should have just put in a GLaDOS cameo. Or maybe some cake.

Keep your eyes out for those great WALL-E toys too!

*Update* What’s up with the battery that you can’t replace? Like Macs don’t already have enough battery problems.

more at TechCrunch!

Overall I liked what I got but I felt the make was cheaper than it costs. I didn’t expect the little left overs from the push outs to bother me so much and didn’t expect the plastic to be so cheap. I think coating it with a vinyl finish would do the trick.