After my recent flurry of posts about my new iPhone 3G, I’ve noticed lots of new visitors attracted to my site by this particular subject. With the rumours of Apple planning on shifting 45 million more of them next year its likely to remain a popular topic for some time.

And with good reason as the iPhone is the most powerful pocket-sized device available so far thanks to the ability to add additional applications that extend the functionality nearly to infinity. It truly is a Swiss Army Knife of gadgets.

As a result of my recent health problems, I’ve pretty much had the last month with nothing but time on my hands and my iPhone in my hands. I’ve barely put it down, its the first thing I fondle when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I stroke before drifting off to sleep.

As much as I adore my iPhone, and believe me I do, I’m not going to lie to you about the smoothness of the experience. I’ve been suffering with some of the issues and problems you may have read about; apps crashing on launch, apps and updates not installing properly and the dreaded poor signal on the 3G network, but even with these niggles, it is still an amazing piece of kit.

I believe the problems I’ve had are addressable and Apple will be able to fix them through software updates. The last update, to 2.0.2 has already stopped the crashes on the phone itself and since installing it, I haven’t had a spontaneous restart.

I did have to do a full restore though, as I had lost some apps when iTunes tried to install their updated versions. It took a couple of hours and the most recent back-up I had done was around a week old, so I lost some SMS messages and a few other bits of data, but the phone is now working well.

The 3G issues persist for me and it could be that the coverage where I live isn’t that great, but I have trouble believing that, since I live in London. I hope it improves and soon.

I’ve installed dozens of apps already, stretching across 5 home screens and I thought I would share a few interesting ones with you, that you might not have heard of yet.

Simplify Media
Simplify Media is very cool, it allows you to stream your entire iTunes collection (unprotected tracks only, nothing with iTunes DRM), over wi-fi, Edge and 3G to your iPhone and it really works. In real terms, it means there is no storage limit on your iPhone, it will hold as much as your Mac or PC at home. You install a small piece of software on your networked computer, install the app on your iPhone, log into both devices with the same account and your entire musical collection magically pops up on your iPhone and you can play any track! The app is currently free, but after 100,000 downloads, they will start charging for it. Grab it while you can!

Sol Free Solitaire
There are many versions of this popular solo card game, but I like this one, mainly because it is free. I’m not much of a gamer, but I used to play Solitaire on Windows PCs and its nice to have a version to play on my iPhone. The interface is smooth, you tap the card you want to move, then tap the card you wish to move it to and it away it goes. There are several variations to play, my favourite is Klondike 3,

Dual Level
This is another app that’s free, which makes it preferable to the paid versions. Its a simple idea, when you start the app, the screen turns into virtual horizontal and a vertical spirit levels linked to the built in accelerometers. You can use it to level hanging pictures or anything else you might use a spirit level for - very cool!

iVote
This is a simple app which lists poll questions for you to respond to, ranging from politics to personal, with the results available for you to break down in various ways. It’s more geared towards Americas (like almost everything online!), but it is a fun app and a real time waster. I like it!

WhosHere
Of all the social networking apps, this one shows the most promise with its simple, yet focused function. It’s a chat app that uses your location to show you other iPhone and iPod Touch users and their approximate proximity. In other words, its a location based chat application which is very clever. You fill out a profile with as much, or as little (or nothing) and tap the near button - you are then presented with a list of people, their profiles and the approx distance from you. You can set the proximity of your search from as little as 5 miles up to 3000 miles. You can also blur your location, up to 2 miles from where you really are, so you do have options to maintain some privacy. The app’s user base seems to be growing fast and yes, this one is free too.

PhotoSwap
PhotoSwap is very new, its only been available for less than a week (at the time of my writing) and I find it strangely addictive. The premise is simple, you take a photograph on your iPhone and the app sends it to a random stranger, while you receive a photo from the same random stranger that receives yours - that’s the photo swap. Once you receive a photo, you have the option of replying directly to that person with another photo, effectively having a conversation with iPhone snaps. I’ve received all sorts of photos; city skylines, beach views, people’s homes, pets, all sorts really. And before your sick imagination conjures visions of body parts, I’ll disappoint you - I have yet to receive anything offensive and there is a “report” button to tap if you do. The app allows you to chose a user name, plus one line of description for a mini-profile (accessed through the main settings via the home screen not directly from the app) and you can choose to show your location on a map. I would suggest turning off the location stuff if you are at home and only use it when you are out in public. It might sound a bit strange, but try it, I think you will agree that there is something very endearing about using it.

This is just a small selection of apps that have caught my attention, there are literally over 1000 of them available already, with more being added to the App Store every day. Have a look, I’m sure there are some that will appeal to you too.

And I’m still waiting for the two apps I’ll pay for, TomTom navigation software for the car and a SlingPlayer client. I’d lay you odds I have both before the year is out!