As an iPhone user myself I tend to agree that there are some technical limitations in the device but I should also say that to date and for my everyday purposes it is the best mobile phone that I have owned and trust me, I've owned more than a few! It's certainly reduced technical support issues in "chez brown-martin"
Whilst not an Apple apologist I think some balance is due given that we are yet to see anything that has got everything right and I doubt that given these are personal devices we ever will as we each have different "hot buttons".
The regular firmware updates delivered via iTunes means that many of the earlier software limitations, e.g. multi-person SMS, bcc in email, etc have been fixed whilst many others are promised.
I'm not particularly bothered by lack of MMS as I think I only ever used this feature a few times in the past and so many devices don't support it correctly that it was rarely worth it. The telco's pinned their hopes on the success of MMS because of the potential revenue (suggestions of a market value of $100B p.a. have been bandied about) it would generate monetized in a similar manner to SMS but in the world of the mobile web I can't see the point of MMS.
Bluetooth limitations to prevent sideloading etc are becoming more prevalent across the mobile sector to prevent piracy of content that all of the telco's are now getting into now that voice call revenue is drying up. Nokia put many telco's nose out of joint when they introduced their own music download portal as telco's felt that this was their turf rather than the handset manufacturer. Apple have succeeded better in this regard with an already massive installed base of iTunes users and podcasters. But it's true that currently the iPhone's Bluetooth supports a headset and nothing else as other services are currently disabled, who knows when Apple may decide to enable them. With WiFi, built-in email and integration with my MacBook I haven't found this to be such a limitation.
The camera is fine for general pics but could definitely do with a flash for low light situations and it would be nice to have some video. Having said that if I want 5MP+ pics and high quality video I'll use a dedicated device, I've yet to see any phone device that comes close to the image quality of my Sony W55 camera that cost less than £95.
In my opinion the EDGE vs 3G/HSDPA argument has been played out. I'm regularly getting over 200 kbps which whilst isn't a patch on 3G (where available) is adequate for picking up my email (as good as any Blackberry) and for ad-hoc surfing on a mobile browser that has rewritten the rules. Based in London I'm fortunate that I'm usually in range of WiFi whether from an access point or the Cloud that comes with the iPhone package.
Would I say no to an iPhone with HSDPA and all the other limitations fixed?
Of course not, so long as I can continue to use the device all day on a single charge and that it doesn't become as thick as a brick to contain a battery that allows it to achieve this. 3G/HSDPA sucks the battery which is why the majority of devices that have this functionality are heavy. You even get utility software for some HSDPA devices, e.g. TyTN, that forces them into EDGE/GPRS just to save battery! I'd also want HSDPA support that works across the various frequencies so that I can have high speed internet connectivity wherever I am in the world. The thinnest HSDPA phone I can think of (ignoring the user interface for a moment) is the Motorola Razr yet it comes in two HSDPA flavours; one for the US market operating in the 850/1900Mhz band and one for the European market that operates in the 2.1Ghz band, i.e. they haven't managed to fit all the bands into one thin device.
In summary I'd say that whilst certainly not perfect, this first hardware iteration (the firmware is continuously updating) of the iPhone is a practical entry point for Apple rather than a bullet point, box ticking exercise in creating a mobile device.
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