matty the Iphone is a great phone for people who want to use it right out the box without modding it to suit there needs (other than using the ap store that is)
Btw, any modern phone (not Windows Mobile unless like me, you use 3rd party Midlet manager, and the iPhone but that has Safari instead) should support Java/J2ME which means you can use Opera Mini on it - so you can have great mobile internet access regardless of the handset you choose.
Opera Mini is quite simply, the fastest mobile web browser available (using Opera's CacheX/TurboCache technology, or whatever they are calling it this week, it can compress web pages by upto 90% and thus saving you massive amounts of time and money (data usage), even when using GPRS it feels like 3G), and in terms of ease of use, whilst 4.2 is quite out of date and has a very professional but not modern interface (hasnt changed signifcantly in years - its become a case of if it aint broke, don't fix it, imho), works perfectly even for my needs 99% of the time (very intensive), but 5 is a real iPhone Safari beater - though at present it is still in BETA.
I run Internet Explorer 6 Mobile, Opera Mobile 9 and Opera Mini 4.2 and 5 on my phone, and even 4.2 outdoes the former two, even though they are more geared towards being "proper" browsers. The only reason I sometimes have to use Internet Explorer, is because it has full Flash support, whereas neither of the Opera's do (neither does Safari on the iPhone), so it can stream YouTube videos. For everything else, Mini wins hands down. Oh the other limitation Mini has, is when using internet banking, it only lets you go "so far", with both my HSBC and Santander IB services, I can login, and view the initial screen with balance etc, but certain functions and requests don't work, im guessing its related to the caching technology limitations/security but it doesnt bother me much anyway.
For what its worth here is my opinion. I has a K800i -best phone I have ever had and its still going strong after two kids have used it. I have had the HTC touch screen phone with Opera and Windows mobile and all kinds of extra software on them. All I ever used them for eventually after playing was to make phone calls and to send messages. I now have the Blackberry flip and its all I need. Emails and phone calls. I use my pc for internet
nokia n97, basically an i-phone but hundreds times better
you arnt half talking some utter bollox there mate. The iPhone's fast and simple interface pisses all over the N97's cumbersome and slow piece of crap.
Anyone who doubts this, go and compare the two and you will notice within seconds how BAD the N97 interface is.
av had the n97 for 8 months now and what a load of shit they are, always runing dead slow and crashing.