Managed to get my hands on an iPhone 3GS during the past few days. It’s certainly good fun, especially with the built-in GPS, but ultimately I’ve decided to stick with my trusty old GSM mobile for the moment. It’s mainly due to the restrictions that Apple imposes on you. This starts right away – you can’t even use the iPhone without first connecting it to a computer running iTunes. Yes, despite being a mobile device with wifi and 3G support, you have to plug in a cable and install iTunes (a program despised by many, including myself) before you can do anything with it.

More frustrations await when you actually start using the thing. For example, the phone’s browser doesn’t support Flash. This hobbles sites like BBC News which use Flash for video, among other things. And don’t think about installing a Flash plugin or alternative browser – Apple doesn’t let you. Then there’s the multitasking, or rather lack of. You can download a free app to listen to last.fm, but you can’t listen to this while checking email or surfing the web. Similarly, you can’t run Skype in the background. These gripes, and plenty of others, can be found over at pleasefixtheiphone.com. Some of the flaws like the touch screen’s response being too vague to play can games can be forgiven – the iPhone was never supposed to be a Nintendo DS – but given the shocking price tag, it’s difficult to accept those flaws which are really of Apple’s own making.

It’s surprising to see media labelling the iPhone as the ultimate geek accessory – because everything is so locked down there really isn’t much here to occupy the average geek. But, it will appeal to people who like things that look good and cost a lot of money – maybe that’s the type of customer Apple is targeting.