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A week ago, I fell in love. The sleek, slim, smooth body caught my eye, but it was what was on the inside that really mattered. Well, along with the killer user interface. Yes, I got caught up in the hype and bought myself an Apple iPhone 3G on the very first day they were released. My old Motorola developed some personality issues and lost a button just a few days before the debut, so I knew it was a sign.

After leaving work a bit early, I stood in line at the local mall’s Apple Store. The line was composed mostly of men with an even mix of those who already owned the previous generation iPhone and virgin users like me, along with one excited college girl in front of me whose dad was springing for the phone. We could see a veritable army of staff in the store working busily to bring order to chaos. The energy was palpable and everyone was excited by each word that came out of the store, such as the suggestion that only white 16 gig models were left. It took about an hour to work my way to the front, at which time I was able to get my 8 gig black model, rumors of unavailability notwithstanding, pretty quickly and was on my way.

I had only played around with an iPhone once or twice before that, but the interface was entirely intuitive to me, a life-long Apple user. I had no trouble getting used to the touch screen and I didn’t even have to ask anyone to explain what the five physical buttons did. Importing my contacts from the SIM card from the old phone was as easy as finding the right spot under “settings” as I poked around the phone’s navigation. Voicemail setup was a breeze. The touch screen keyboard for texting and emailing took a mite longer, but after a couple hours, my fingers had already learned how to hit the right key without the need for conscious thought. In fact, the speed of texting has increased dramatically for me because it’s so much easier to access individual letters, not to mention the intuitive way that texts are organized by conversation, not just a chronological list.

In every relationship, though, there are quirks that you just have to deal with to make it successful and this is no exception. The battery life is frankly atrocious compared to what I’ve been used to. My old phone would go 5 days between chargings, while the iPhone needs to be charged daily even with moderate use (light use gets two days out of it). I can live with this, though, because the difference in functionality between the phones is vast. I love having actual internet at my fingertips, though it annoys me a bit that Safari does not remember my entries in login screens.

The bottom line is that even after the shiny newness of the first few days has worn off, the iPhone remains a beautiful piece of technology and I already can’t imagine how I did without it. Yes, it may be trendy and yes, there is a lot of hype surrounding its release. Just remember that not all fads are bad things and sometimes hype is justified. If you’re ready to take the next step into the digital world’s evolution, do it the right way with an iPhone and don’t settle for the knockoffs and pale shadows that exist out there. I found the real thing and I’m not letting it go.