Apple - iPhone 3GS Cell Phone Review

I was one of the lucky users of the original Apple iPhone. This meant I got in on the ground floor. Not only did I pay $600 originally (and have many people laugh at me), but I've sat witness to all of its changes. What started out to be a really expensive phone is turning into what I originally envisioned, a really small mobile computing center. My original two year contract was up, and I just couldn't help myself but buy the new and improved Apple iPhone 3GS to get in on the additional speed and features.

Don't get me wrong; I could have gone along using my old iPhone for quite some time and been quite happy. But I knew there was something else out there calling my name. Last year when the first 3G came out, it wasn't quite as enticing, as it was just faster, and I wasn't about to break contract to upgrade. But faster and more features, without having to break contract? Now you're talking.

We have to first realize that the greatest improvement made to the iPhone over the last few years has been the third party software. There is literally an app for everything, and I have done my best to transform my phone into a working version of my computer. I have apps for fun and apps for work. I have games, a Kindle app to read electronic books without the use of a Kindle unit (Mackenzie Phillips' memoirs is a real page-turner!), and music. I have music I can listen to, such as Pandora, Y! Music, and AOL Radio, where I don't need to have the music downloaded. I even use Shazam which will identify music for me and buy it from iTunes if I want.

Of course native with the iPhone since the beginning is YouTube, and that's always fun and useful for research. I can map anything, and while it simulated a GPS before, it has it now built in with the 3GS, and it works so much better than it used to. I can have it follow along while I drive in real time. I have an  app for AT&T to check out the phone charges so far (we need that with two teenagers having phones), and I have a weather channel app which I like better than the native one that comes with the phone.

I can do most of my social networking with apps for Twitter and Facebook. I an send directly to my blog with apps, I have a special google map that even works with voice control, as well as Google Earth. I can check to see the TV listings and the movie listings. I can set my UVerse to record via my iPhone. I can check otu the entertainment headlines on TMZ, Variety, etc., or i can check out more serious news with the Tribute, USA Today, or directly off the AP wires.

The only thing I haven't found is while I have apps to check spelling and to look up things in the dicitionary or thesaurus, I haven't found an app that will allow me to copy and paste a block of test to spellcheck. This is a must for me and my typing. I haven't found it yet, but I'm sure it's there somewhere. I can even get text files in email from writers that contribute to a website, manually spellcheck and edit, then copy and paste and post to a non-blog website. I've literally done that while sitting at a youth football game. This, for me, is probably the 2nd best newest advancement in the last two years, the ability to copy and paste.

Now, for the really cool advancements made to the 3GS, other than the blazing speed. For one, it now works with Voice Control. I can tell it to play certain music or call certain people by speaking into it. Yet,  I have found that it doesn't always recognize what I'm saying, it does the iPhone's version of drunk dialing, so it makes me a little wary of using it sometimes.

But the best feature of all is the addition of a video camera, something that was sorely missing the past few years. Much cheaper cell phones had that feature, but the iPhone didn't get around to it until just now. Yet, it's been worth the wait. The videos aren't of that small, grainy type, but bign enough that if you film for more than a minute or so, the file is too large to email. It's no problem, though, as you can post directly to YouTube right from the phone with a touch of the button.

For me, all of this is the way of the future. Many of us don't even have dekstops anymore and just have laptop computers for the pure ease of function of it. And with all the advancements to mobile technology and phones, pretty soon we won't need that either. Even if they make big strides with that in a year, I think I'll be quite happy with the iPhone I have, though, for another two years,