If you told me 6 months ago I would buy an iPhone I wouldn't have believed you. I hated touch screen phones, and the cost of the iPhone was extremely off putting for me. However quite recently after playing around on an iPhone, I suddenly saw some great benefits. I used to carry around my phone, iPod and Nintendo DS in my bag, 3 separate things for 3 separate functions. After browsing the famous app store, I was surprised to notice games for as little as 79p, up to £3-5, yet I was paying over £10 for games for my DS and some were even available on the iPhone too! After some research, I decided to sell my old mobile phone, my Nintendo DS and the iPod which actually paid off for most of the cost of the iPhone I got, and I've never regretted it.

The first thing I loved about my iPhone when it arrived was the sleek and shiny feel it had to it, especially compared to my old smaller and bulkier phone. I was immediately very protective over my new iPhone (you would be after paying £440 for it!) and immediately bought a cover and a screen protector for it, covering up the nice sleek, shiny phone under this rubberised black case. Still, it would keep my phone in better condition than my boyfriend's iPhone, which is covered in scratches due to him not using a cover and dropping it several times.

When switching on the phone I marvelled over the large touch screen and just how clear the screen was. It does remind me of the quality of the new iPods and the touch screen is so responsive its spot on. I have had difficulties using touch screen phones in the past, often they're too responsive and I just can't get the hang of them but I've never had any problems at all using the screen on my iPhone. Using the on screen keyboard was easier for me than on other phones and after a few uses I was becoming apt at typing away using it.

I was excited to download apps straight away, and it really couldn't have been any easier to start using this phone! I already have iTunes installed on my computer, so after entering a few details it was ready to go. Buying apps from the store is really easy, it also recommends apps for you and you can read reviews to see if the app is any good before you buy it. I have downloaded quite a few games for my iPhone, some that I did have for my Nintendo DS such as Diner Dash and Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney and OK the iPhone doesn't have a dual screen but the games were considerably cheaper and played the same to me, I was hooked!

Another great feature is the Internet. I could use the internet on my old phone but with it's small screen and slow load times I never bothered with it. I love being able to check my emails at the touch of a screen (no buttons here!) and connecting to Wi-Fi networks is easy. I use 3G when out and about; I love using the iPhone to browse websites and check e-mails, or read the latest news and play games online. The screen size makes everything easy to read, and when browsing a website it's easy to zoom in and out by simply tapping the screen or sliding your finger across the screen. The only downside is it doesn't display flash content, but then I'm not expecting it to be like using my home PC.
The camera on the iPhone is 3 mega pixels with auto focus and video recording and whilst the camera isn't the best, especially when it doesn't have a flash, it's not actually the worst camera phone out there and considering how sleek and slim the iPhone is it's actually pretty good. One feature I found rather quirky is the iPhone knows your current location when you take a photo, and later whilst I was browsing my photos using Picasa, the software loaded a Google map and showed me exactly where my photos were taken! To be honest I can't see me forgetting where I took my photos, but I thought it was a quirky little feature.

Navigating around the phone is so simple. We've all seen the iPhone adverts now, slide your finger to move through the various menus but you can customise where every single app sits and on what screen. Along the bottom is a bar which remains static on the menu and I have my Phone, Mail, Internet and iPod shortcuts there. On the first screen I have important features such as Messages, Contacts and Calendar and the remaining screens can be used for all your apps that you download. I have the 16GB iPhone and I could have paid £50 more for double the space, but I've found 16GB is plenty enough for me. I choose what parts of my iTunes library I want on my phone and I have tons of apps and photos and still have a couple of gig spare.

After all the features the iPhone has, you can't forget its basic need of being a decent mobile phone, which it is. The sound quality when making a call is good and I've never had any problems there. One thing I liked was the phone goes dark whilst you're making a call, it helps save the battery, however if you need to press a number (press 1 for new orders, press 2 for cancellations etc...) the phone senses I've moved it away from my ear and lights up with the keypad displayed, another nifty feature! Texting is simple on the iPhone and whilst it does take some getting used to at first using a touch screen qwerty keyboard, I love how it guesses what word you meant when you accidentally press the wrong keys, and it's almost always right. If it's not, simply hit an X and it types what you originally typed. Practice makes perfect and I surprised myself when I got the hang of it rather quickly!

Battery life on the iPhone isn't great, because I use mine often such as checking e-mails and browsing the Internet during the day and playing games or making phone calls, I usually charge mine every day. The battery doesn't go into the red after a day of usage though; I just prefer to charge mine daily so I'm never without my phone. It also charges when you plug it into your PC to download updates or apps or add music to your phone, and I recommend connecting it often as Apple release updates every so often. Coming soon is OS 4.0 which will include iBooks and multi tasking of your apps amongst other features.

Yes an iPhone is expensive but, if you use all the features like I do, then it's really worth every penny. I've never been so glued to a mobile phone before. My old mobile spent most of the time in my bag unless I needed to send a text, now I'm constantly using my phone because it's more than just a mobile phone to me. I didn't want an expensive monthly contract so I bought mine pay as you go on Orange direct from the Apple store for £440, however selling my old phone, Nintendo DS and iPod helped offset the majority of the cost for me. I love my iPhone 3GS, and despite the new iPhone 4 coming out soon, I'll be happy enough with my current phone for some time yet!