Last week I purchased the new 3G iPhone and thought I would share my review of the phone. I was not caught up in the hype of owning an iPhone and had no intention of getting one until my HipTop 2 died. I hopped on twitter and asked others about their experience with various phones and the only one that fit my requirements that was available is the iPhone.

The Good
This has to be one of the best phones I have ever owned. The various applications you can add and that are included make the phone useful beyond any standard phone…

• SMS – although it is just SMS the iPhone allows you to track a conversation easily between your SMS friends. I have used SMS before and sometimes I forget the conversation if there is a large gap between. The iPhone makes that problem obsolete.
• Contacts - finally a contacts area that integrates all the other applications on the phone. You can text, phone, email or visit a site all from one contact. You can even add a picture and set custom ring tones for each contact.
• Maps – Do you get lost? With an iPhone that won’t ever be a problem again. The map works with the built in GPS that shows you where you are. If your in need of a coffee just fire up the map and enter Tim Hortons and all the local coffee places will be shown around you and you can find directions to them in seconds.
• Weather – have to hunt for the local weather? The iPhone keeps the current temperature and weather conditions available and 7 day forecast.
• Email - With many different options to setup emails the tool is easy to use and intuitive.
• Safari – Surfing with the iPhone is in full colour and works with almost every site. The zoom feature means you can focus in on smaller type. You can open multiple sites in various windows and flip between windows.
• WiFi - You can hook up to wifi and not use as much of your phone transfer.

The Bad
Even though it is a great phone there are some bad things with this phone…

• Rogers/Fido coverage is not the greatest. I have noticed dropped coverage in Surrey for Internet. As more people come on I am worried that this problem will only get worse.
• The keyboard is easy to use and you do get use to it. With only a few days under my belt I can type about 10 words per minute. With my old QWERTY phone keyboard I could type around 30 to 40 words per minute.
• The Internet browser will reload randomly. I am surfing a site and go to the next page and the browser just reloaded. If it is a forum it can be annoying because whatever you had typed is now gone.
• The email needs a select all button. If you have 50 or more emails in the inbox and want to just clear them out you need to select each one individually and the delete them all. I would prefer a select all and delete button.
• 3rd party applications stop loading in the background. So if your listening to music through last.fm and want to read an email. The music will stop as soon as you leave that application.

The Ugly
These things are horrible about the phone…

• You have to sign-up for a 3 year contract or no iPhone for you.
• iTunes Canada does not have all the applications that the US iTunes does.
• If you wish to develop for the iPhone you need to do so on an Apple computer.
• Power Users will be unhappy with the 4 to 5 hour battery life.

Do you have an iPhone? If so what is your favorite applications?