I recently bought the new iPhone 3GS. When the original iPhone came out I wanted it, but didn't really didn't need the "phone" part. Luckily there wasn't a long wait for the iPod Touch to come out. Of course it didn't have a mobile data network, camera, or GPS, but that seemed like a fair compromise. I have a nice Nikon DSLR, a GPS somewhere around here (old but serviceable), and what would I want with mobile data?

Time marches on and priorities change. Since then we've been writing iPhone applications for the last year at work so I always have an iPod touch with me, for work or pleasure. Meanwhile with a 2 year old (and then a puppy!) it isn't easy to always lug around a full sized camera. More and more I want to record movies, which is yet another piece of gear. Typically I'm carrying a point-n-shoot camera (2 to 3 times larger than an iphone), the iPod touch, and a cellphone. If we go on a longer trip that also means carrying a bunch of power and data cables.

What I really wanted was an iPhone that could shoot videos. Lo and behold that's just what they delivered in June. The pundits and press (depending on who you read) labelled it as being nothing but a faster model, which is complete nonsense. Not only is it much faster than the previous iPhone and even the faster 2nd gen iPod Touch, it has significantly more memory, much improved camera with autofocus (and a very clever touch-screen method of focusing and setting exposure), video capability with instant editing and upload ability, built in compass (which is significant for some applications), built-in Nike sensor, an oleophobic screen (easy to keep clean), background audio recording, and a powerful new graphics system that supports the latest OpenGL. And that's just the stuff I can remember off the top of my head.

But the main thing I wanted was an improved camera and video recording, everything else is bonus. They've done a great job improving the camera and the software to control it. When I take a landscape or portrait photo or video it knows which way I'm holding the phone and records that information, so all other programs know too, something expensive DSLRs do. Each photo is tagged with the GPS location (our DSLR needs an expensive add-on to do this...more bulk/gear). What's more all of the applications on the iPhone get access to the camera, so I can snap a photo and post it to Facebook in less than a minute. Or, using my new favorite application MotionX GPS I can go on a hike, taking photos along the way and then email (or send to facebook/twitter) not only the route, but waypoints and the photos. Check out this noontime hike Raz and I took last week (click the track to see photo & more info).

Back in the Vicinity days I used to do a bunch of skunk-works projects along these lines but the technology was nowhere near this integrated. You could get a Palm VII with wireless, but the coverage was laughable (non-existent in the Upper Valley) and there weren't integrated cameras or GPS. Other phones since have had various flavors of GPS and Video and photos, but there's no integration of features (heck you feel blessed if you can get your old phone #'s onto them) and the carrier locked out features and allowed no access to the location data. And of course few if any of them are programmable. No, the iPhone is more than I'd ever dreamed of back in those days, so it was inevitable that I eventually got one.

What's most surprising to me is how great it is to have all of these features together. I take the dog out into the woods a few times every day and am usually twiddling my thumbs while he does his business. Now I take photos. All of the photos on this page were taken in the woods by our house at various times of the day. They might be crisper if I had stabler hands or perhaps a tripod of sorts (macro-pod!), but still this is pretty darn good from a device half the size of my wallet with a lens the size of a pencil eraser. Where it really excels though is with Zane. Wherever we are, from changing his diaper to climbing on playground gear I can shoot a photo or video, or even record audio, unobtrusively and quickly. A couple weeks ago I spent a buck on an iPhone app called "Wheels on a Bus." While the song is sung over the speakers brightly colored animations play across the screen, inviting Zane to tap and move his finger over the screen to reveal hidden items, open doors, and make the bus drive. It's simple and fun and a great distraction to give him while changing a messy diaper. He's started singing the song. We use the built in browser to watch his webcam. There's a remote control app for turning on and off the music in his room. And of course lots of games to entertain parents. Our music is on it, as are movies, podcasts, email, facebook, twitter, calculators, references, maps, contacts, calendars, books, and all of the music apps that I've helped develop at work: PianoStudio, iShred, Guitar. Always-on data makes it easy to bring up a map, get directions, lookup a phone # or store hours or chat with someone whenever and mostly wherever you might be.. And, yeah, sometimes it's even used as a phone.

We borrowed the company's iPhone for a trip down to Washington earlier this year and used it all of the time: for directions, train maps, weather, getting info on museums, and finding restaurants. I would have probably loved the previous version, but the new iPhone 3GS is an amazing piece of gear.