Okay, it’s been five days now since the iPhone was unleashed. For purchasers most of the hype and “honeymoon” period will have hopefully subsided and the practicality of the device will likely have been tested. I don’t know about the other day-1 purchasers, but I’m remaining firm, the iPhone is simply awesome.

Some observations on the past 5 days which included a 2,000+ mile journey back west spanning 3 airports and a 1-hour flight delay.

a) the screen obviously looks great indoors, but I was surprised at how good it looks outdoors as well.

b) airports with pay WiFi suck, but the iPhone does a great job and finding every and all available access points, usually one of which will be free (seek out the frequent-flyer club areas…)

c) my AT&T service has seemed to be in and out all day the past couple of days – are they getting overloaded with the 500,000 new iPhones, of which some say 250,000 may be new AT&T subscribers? AT&T really needs to get it together fast, they are making the otherwise brilliant Apple device look a tiny bit tarnished.

d) the ‘Enter Passcode’ keypad is probably the least responsive part of the device. I routinely have to slow down or re-type my code. The quick ‘Emergency Call’ button is genius though.

e) boy do movies downloaded via iTunes look awesome on the iPhone. I never really had the desire to watch a Hollywood film on an iPod screen, but this thing has completely changed my mind – on a trip I would watch a movie on this thing in a heartbeat. I could easily see myself buying more movies from iTunes now even without HD downloads…

f) I have yet to meet anyone who when they see the device does not think it’s one of the coolest things they’ve ever seen hands-down. This includes some Apple-haters. That should tell you how huge this thing is going to be.

g) Most people I talk to seem to agree that if it were simply on either 3G or a network like EV-DO, the iPhone could possibly be the greatest invention of the last 25 years. It almost seems like Apple simply didn’t want to hit a 500-foot grand slam in their first at bat – there would be no room to improve – everything afterwards would be at best: expected, and at worst: a letdown.

h) correction: if the iPhone was on 3G and had a GPS chip, it would be the best invention of the past 25 years.

i) maybe my fingers are greasy but that screen sure does get smudgy – no scratches though knock-on-wood.

j) I’ve gotten much better at typing – especially with my thumbs.

k) Apple really needs to create a ‘delete all’ button for emails, or at least the ability to select multiple items at once to delete.

l) This feature I think people end up being most impressed with is a very simple one: visual voicemail.

m) I cannot believe I used that shitty Verizon UI all these years. I bet they move away from that fast in the coming months – though maybe not as fast as customers are moving from them to Apple…

So that’s me after 5 days with the iPhone now. Then again maybe the “honeymoon” period isn’t over – I caught myself looking at my iPhone today and just thinking about how great it looked, almost too good to be true. The screen almost seems like it has one of those peel-off printed labels on it that mimics an interface but doesn’t actually look like what you get.

I’ll check back again in a few more days, but as of right now, the love affair is still very much on.