Well I have just entered my 3rd month as an iPhone 3G owner and I have to say I am smitten with this gadget. I have wanted an iPhone since the original iPhone was released, but held out for the 3G model for obviouis reasons. Also, until recently, it has not been possible to purchase a pre pay version of the iPhone, which would have necessitated buying an unlocked and jailbroken phone. O2 UK recently released both the 8GB and the 16GB iPhone on PAYG for £349 and £399. I opted for the 8GB version as I have a limited edition fifth generation ipod already which I love.

What’s more O2 are providing the PAYG models with free data access for 12 months (£10 per month after the initial period), which includes all 3G, EDGE, GPRS not to mention access at loads of hotspots around the UK for free. This deal is ideal for me as I hate being tied into contracts, so I get all the benefits of a pay monthly phone, without any tie ins and even better I opted for the £10 a month 300 text bolt on which is superb.

So down to using this thing. After 2 months, I have to say that the benefits are terrific, with only a few noticeable drawbacks. First of all the basic functionality such as mobile safari, IMAP email, ipod and phone are all great. I can grab emails on the go either by manually checking my emails, or on a 15 minute fetch schedule which I have setup. It now means I can work and reply to enquiries whilst out walking during the day, whilst on day trips, in fact anywhere I choose to be. As someone who works from home this is ideal as it has freed me from the constraints of sitting at home at my desk or laptop, and I can now operate successfully using the phone, SMS and email on the go, all with a single device.

Anyone who is familiar with OSX will feel right at home with the interface, and the touch screen functionality is amazing. Being a user of PDA’s in the past I thought that the screen input would suck on the iPhone using a finger to type and operate the device. I am super impressed with how responsive the screen is and even the keyboard which I was worried about (due to the fact that I’m a man and have large fingers) seems to work well. The keyboard is further improved by the built in AI error correction and prediction which makes typing a breeze, even when walking.

I am also impressed with the app store and the sheer amount of 3rd party applications now being developed. Apps which I use often include the Facebook app, eBay, paypal along with some lesser know apps such as news readers and games. I also downloaded the apple remote app which allows me to control my iTunes on the desktop. This is a decent app.

Another app which I purchased was the XBMC remote app which allows me to control the XBMC from anywhere in the house (which is fun to screw with people). I did download the word press application which is really poor and refused to work with my blog, even after an update, so I purchased the Blog Writer app which is flawless and allows me to blog from the iPhone.

The iPhone 3G is an indispensable gadget - but will benefit from Firmware revisions!

Criticisms of the iPhone are few, and can probably be rectified in firmware updates. These include the lack of turn by turn and voice instructions on the GPS system, which is OK if trying to find a location on foot, but renders the GPS functionality useless for navigating in a vehicle, especially in built up areas. There are already rumors that this will be fixed in the next firmware update, and it would be a welcome update allowing me to leave the tom tom at home.

Another criticism is the camera, lack of flash and no support for video. Whilst the camera is sufficient for taking shots in good light, night time shots are almost impossible. Many apps claim to rectify this, but without some sort of flash the results are not good. The lack of video support is also laughable as this is available in even low end mobile handsets nowadays.

Something else that really ticks me off about the iphone is the inability to stream music from iTunes over wifi to the iphone. This would allow me to play any tune from my library, anywhere in my home, without the need for syncing the music to the iphone. The fact that my music library is so large, and the iphone memory is small when you consider what is stored on there, the ability to stream from iTunes would really liberate this device, allowing me to listen to any of my music whilst at home. Third party apps can do it, so why can’t apple sort it out.

My last criticism, is not related to the iPhone itself, but to the O2 coverage in the UK. I can get 3G coverage most of the time when out in the open, but if I enter a building, the 3G coverage is lost. This means that if I visit friends and family, i have to rely on the GPRS connection to access email and the web. If O2 are to hold the monopoly on the iPhone in the UK, they really need to improve their coverage and squeeze some more speed out of the network.

I’ll keep adding to this post over the next few days.