Hands-on with iPhone firmware 2.0, App Store

The iPhone 3G doesn't go on sale until Friday, but if you ask me, its coolest new feature—the App Store, along with 500 new programs—has already arrived, and it'll work on your old iPhone once you install the latest firmware. Check out my hands-on impressions.

As I posted earlier, the App Store quietly went live early Thursday, while iPhone firmware 2.0—which you'll need to install new apps on the iPhone—has already been discovered on Apple's servers. I went ahead and downloaded and installed the file (a 20-minute process that went pretty much without a hitch) and of course, the first thing I did once my phone restarted was install some applications.

Note: While firmware 2.0 is indeed live on Apple's servers, it hasn't yet made its official debut on iTunes, so install at your own risk.

Tapping the new App Store icon on the iPhone's main screen brings you to—natch—the App Store home page, complete with thumbnailed links to the latest and most popular applications. Tabs at the bottom of the screen let you browse categories, check out the top 25 apps, search, or check for updates for any of your installed apps.

Tap on an application and you'll get an impressively detailed product page, including a description, screenshots, rating (click the stars to see individual reviews), and company/date/version information.

Ready to buy? Click the price tag or "free" button on the upper-right side of the screen, and the icon morphs into a green "install" button; click again to complete your purchase. Once you confirm your iTunes login, the app icon will appear automatically on your iPhone, along with a progress bar during the installation process. Apps loaded and installed within a minute or so, even over EDGE—not bad.

And as far as the various apps go ... well, there are more than 500 of them. Here are just a few initial impressions.

Remote: Apple's remote-control app for the iPhone is pretty sweet. You connect to your iTunes library over Wi-Fi, and as advertised, you can browse your entire collection—including music, podcasts, TV shows, and even movies (although one of my rented movies, which I haven't started watching yet, won't show up on my iPhone). Already, I've been using Remote while listening to tunes on my desktop, and I'm loving the ability to skip tracks without having to switch to a different application window. I can't wait to try it with my AirTunes speakers and Apple TV at home.

NetNewsWire: I've been bemoaning the lack of an offline RSS reader on the iPhone for some time now—but no more. This free app ties in to NewsGator, an onine RSS service; once you sign in, NetNewsWire automatically refreshes all your RSS feeds, which you can read even when you're out of cell or Wi-Fi range. Once you're connected again, NetNewsWire syncs up your read and clipped articles and grabs the latest unread items from your feeds. All that's missing is the ability to refresh your RSS feeds automatically (say, every hour or so).

Super Monkey Ball: Wow. I'd seen the demos of this game during previous Apple keynotes, but I have to say—I'm blown away by the graphics and gameplay. The 3D visuals in Super Monkey Ball look great—far beyond what I've seen on any cell phone (save Nokia's new N-Gage handsets) and certainly in league with, say, the Nintendo DS (or maybe even the PSP). Also, tilting the iPhone to guide the monkey toward his tasty bananas worked much better than I expected. Looks like we've got a serious new portable gaming platform on our hands.

Yelp: This online city guide borrows the look and feel of the Wi-Fi iTunes store, complete with photos, ratings, maps, and relevant info—best of all, though, is that it can automatically grab your current location and tick off the closest points of interest. Even with the iPhone 2.5G's so-so GPS capabilties, I had no trouble finding some tasty pizza joints within a few blocks of my office. Nice.

Facebook: A slightly more advanced version of the Web-based Facebook app; now you can start chats with your buddies and upload photos you snap with the iPhone camera. Nice, but I was hoping for more detail in profile pages, and maybe even some access to my Facebook apps.

Anyone else have a chance to install programs from the App Store? Post your impressions right here.