Since its debut in 2007, I have ended up with an iPhone on each day it has launched, from the original to the 4th generation model which debuted last Thursday. I have been fortunate in that I have never had to do a ridiculous wait in a line for hours on end or anything like that. Having reserved one of the new iPhones when they first went on sale, I only had to stand in a line at the local Apple store for about an hour and a half to pick up “the latest and greatest” model that promises “to change everything…again.”

Though upon thinking about it, I realized after the wait that it was the longest I had ever waited to get an iPhone. Maybe I should have seen it as a bad omen.

Maybe it is that my expectations are impossibly high, or maybe it is the belief the iPhone has redefined our expectations of how a “smartphone” can change the way we communicate with each other and entertain ourselves.

But notable Apple blogger Jason D. O’Grady posted an article tonight on his ZDNet.com blog that raises a troubling, yet growingly apparent sentiment.

Could the real fruit of the iPhone 4 be a lemon?

And I hate to admit it, but there are more and more signs that point in the direction of citrus, at least from my experience of some six days to date.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way to start with. The thing is stunningly gorgeous. The two thin slabs of glass that make up the front and back of the phone are amazing, though they can be a little slick to hold for a long period of time. This bit of design assures a thriving market for cases of every ilk for the iPhone 4, though I have felt fine putting mine in my pants pocket so far.

However the other detail about the case question is whether having one that covers the metal band that wraps around the iPhone 4 (and doubles as the unit’s antennas) is a must have to improve the reception on the phone–which is, in my unscientific testing to date–definitely worse than the iPhone 3GS that it replaced here at Chez Varner. A location which has never had too many “bars” from AT&T in the woods of Northeastern Connecticut to begin with.

It would be easy to blame the much maligned AT&T for all of the iPhone 4′s initial disappointments, but this isn’t Apple’s first phone. And the reality is setting in that there are some other growing question marks here. The proximity sensor, the technology that keeps the phones touchscreen from hanging up every time it touches the side of your face, isn’t quite working as well as in the previous version. I have put nearly every call on hold or mute with my cheek at least once.

Plus, despite some cool advances like the highly hyped arrival of a front facing camera that allows for video chatting via the new FaceTime technology (though only via a WiFi connection, because doing it via an AT&T cell connection might just break THAT network the rest of the way into oblivion) how can it be that I can still only select from the same lame-ass half dozen sounds to tell me I have a new text message?

Is the screen on this thing stunning? Without a doubt. Is the battery situation improved? Not that much, at least that I can tell so far.

So, you might be wondering if whether or not I agree on the “lemon” designation for this new iPhone?

That’s tough, because this is Apple and they do make amazing things. But there are some realities that are not amazing here. Can Apple fix these problems? Maybe, and there is word on the interwebs that a software update may be in the making to address the problems at hand.

Yet knowing that the return policy gives me another week to decide if this was $199 well spent means the clock is running. Fast.

But then again, Bloomberg News is reporting today that the iPhone will be on Verizon Wireless come January of 2011. We’ve heard this before, but maybe this time it really has to happen.

Lemonade anyone?

Or not?