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After using the iPhone (mine is a 16 gig black 3Gs) for a few days I wanted to post some thoughts for those that are curious or considering… click through if you’re one of them.

The Good

The hardware is awesome. Its sleek and simple to use.  The original iPhone had a metal back which they did away with on the 3G and the 3Gs continues this trend with a full plastic case (to support better cell reception).  There are 5 buttons on the outside of the phone but really only 1 of them will be used regularly.  On the top right is a lock / power button, top left is a switch for silent / ring and below that are the volume + / – buttons.  On the bottom on the face of the phone is the home button which is the only one needed during navigation.

The rest of the phones interface is all apps.  The home screen contains the default apps and the other screens (accessed by swiping left and right) contain apps that are user-added.  There are 4 primary apps on the bottom that go with you as you swipe left and right (they default to Phone, Email, Safari and iPod but can be changed).  The apps open quickly, respond really well and despite reviews I haven’t had any crash or hang up yet.

The GPS and compass work really well and integrate into mapping apps almost seamlessly.  The only hang-up I have with the GPS is that any app that grabs your location from the GPS asks your permission first.  This is done for legal reasons so you cant fault Apple for it but I wish there was a Yes To All option instead of being asked each time you open an app that wants your location.

The catalog of apps is huge and popular apps have multiple versions and variations (how many Twitter apps exist???) which is a big plus.  It allows you to take them for a test drive and decide which features are really important.  There are also a lot of quality free apps, some of which are developed by popular retail chains.

Some of the better apps fully utilize the hardware as well.  For example the Barnes and Noble app allows you to take a photo with the phone of any Book, CD or DVD which the app then uses to determine the price and availability at your nearest store (based off of your GPS coordinates).  Another app allows you to take a pic of a video game, cd or dvd and it’ll tell you which stores nearby buy have it in stock and what the price is.  You can tap the store to call it or map directions to it.

ATT’s service has also been really strong.  Ive only lost 3G access once or twice for a few seconds and had 3G coverage during a road trip up near the Adirondacks.  The wifi definitely takes its toll on the battery but its easy to turn on / off and unless I’m streaming video I don’t notice a significant difference between wifi and 3G.  If you end up on the Edge network the performance definitely takes a hit but its infrequent enough to dismiss.

The hardware is definitely amazing and theres no question why these phones have sold so well.  Since the software is 75% apps, you really have no one to blame but yourself if you find the apps not being useful.