I am forced to reconstruct this anecdotal review due to an ironic failure of software. Such is life.

About two days ago now I remembered I was to be eligible for an ‘incentive pricing’ deal on a new AT&T phone because apparently that avenue opens after one year of a contract. Indeed, I had been eligible for two days at that time and naturally I couldn’t wait for one more minute after this revelation and darted down to the AT&T store and snapped up a new iPhone 3GS.

Did I have an iPhone 3G already? Certainly.
Was it an almost completely integral part of my daily life? Oh yes.
Was I desperate for the massive gains provided by the new hardware? Absolutely.

I do love my iPhone, which is a 3G, but it had been proving too pokey for my tastes. Internet at my fingertips was just not good enough for this technology whore. It had to be at hand faster.

So now there’s a 3GS by my side. I’ve heard the reviews – an average of a 50% speed gain and make no mistake, that is a substantial number to be taken in a positive light.

And it’s true! I haven’t run quantifiable tests but I can tell it’s fast. Fast enough to keep up with me. And that’s a literal statement.

I would find that I could launch, for example, the Messages app for text messaging, and pick the contact of my choosing, and then proceed to type, typically, almost my entire message before the phone caught up and even started displaying the letters.

On the new phone? Not so! It keeps up just like it should. Which, to make a long review less long, is essentially how I feel about the phone. It is good. It is the way the iPhone should be – from a hardware standpoint.

Will there be a new one that’s arguably better one year from now? Yes, most likely. Who knows what it will be capable of! Possibly that video chatting feature fans and speculators alike have been fiending for. We can only hope.

Because despite the fact that I deem myself far too visually unpleasant to appear on video chats, damn it all the feature is terribly tempting.

But as it is, can I now use a compass in conjunction with Google Maps and GPS or just on its own for the hell of it? Yes I can and it’s halfway accurate to boot! Can I now record passable casual video? Yup. Far superior still shots? Yup. Voice commands? Sure can, if I figure out what it actually accepts.

I’m a big fan of the iPhone. AT&T’s service occasionally leaves things to be desired but in this populous area I live in, service is almost always just fine. So hey, good times.