I've had my iPhone for almost 4 months now so I thought I'd do a run down of the apps I have installed in case anyone is looking for recommendations.

Some of these apps I use every day, some every now and again, and some very rarely - but they're useful to have 'just in case'.

To take screen shots of anything on your iPhone like this press the 'lock' button (top right) and the main button on the front of the phone at the same time. Images are saved to photo gallery.

1. Safari - default and best browser.

2. Calendar  - default app, I have 6 or 7 Google Calenders synced with this.

3. Contacts - default app.

4. App Store (self explanatory)

5. Opera Mini - recently released and very quick. Still a litte buggy, pages don't tend to render as well as they do in Safari. One for the future! (free)

6. Simplenote - free notepad app, syncs with web account and there's a Google Chrome plugin for quickly adding/editing/deleting notes.  I love this app. Unobtrusive ads (free), or there's a paid version.

7. Tasks - this is a homescreen bookmark to my Gmail tasks, nice little Google web interface.

8. Reeder - RSS reader that syncs with Google Reader. Really nice interface, much more intuitive than the Google Reader Mobile interface. Paid, but not expensive.

9. Facebook - official app, very good, lots of options to manage personal account and 'fan' pages. (free)

10. BBC News - Homescreen bookmark which will have to do until/if BBC release official iPhone Apps.

11. Sky Sports Football Score Centre - Lets you add your team so you can get the info/scores you want first, also includes scores for  most other major leagues. Doesn't like 3G very much. Free.

12. Foursquare - location based game/social app, fun but a little unreliable on slow connection.

13. Camera (default app)

14. Photos (default app)

15. Mailroom - Replacement Gmail web app - lets you log into multiple Gmail/Google Apps email accounts, also includes functionality such as archiving, labelling, deleting which default Mail App doesn't support for Gmail.

16. Hootsuite - Twitter app, syncs with web account, allows multiple Twitter accounts plus Facebook accounts. My main reason for using this is that it allows you to schedule tweets/status updates, which is very handy as I need to send messages from profiles in other timezones when I'm asleep! (Paid)

17. Phone (default app)

18. Messages (default app)

19 Mail (default app)

20. Tweetdeck - Twitter app which I've used since I had my phone. Generally very good, ability to add multiple search columns, multiple accounts etc. A little grumpy on slow connections and like it's desktop partner tweets sometimes disappear and get missed out. I'm waiting for Tweetie to be launched as the official Twitter for iPhone app and will probably switch to that as my main Twitter app.

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I've spent the past 2 weeks struggling with the pros and cons for the Apple iPhone 3GS and the Google/HTC Nexus as I'm overdue an upgrade!

I've finally decided on the iPhone 3GS - I wrote down some of my reasoning to help me make my decision.

iPhone

Pro: Tons of apps, always the first platform people will develop for and many of the services/website I use already have iPhone apps, only a few have Android apps.

Pro: HUGE user-base so lots of free tech support and less bugs in general as the user base is demanding of fixes.

Pro: The ability to jailbreak an iPhone removes many of the limitations.

Pro: True multitasking achieved if jailbroken.

Pro: Buying it on a contract means you can get handset insurance with your operator - it's £12 on Orange (twice the cost of normal insuarance!) which is a little steep, but over the past 10 years I've needed to claim 3 times, so I think it's worth having.

Pro: It's already a great phone - they can't make subsequent models *that* much better!?

Pro: Free wi-fi from any BT Openzone hotspot in the UK - almost means you won't need to rely on 3G in city centres etc.

Pro: I can get a 3GS for £89 on a 24 month contact for £35 per month with 600 mins, 500 texts and 'unlimited' (750mb) data. (Total monthly bill is £47 with insurance).

Pro: The touch keyboard is reputed to be better/less cramped than the Nexus and I have BIG fingers!

Pro: It has multi-touch (when you pinch the screen to zoom in/out) and the Nexus doesn't.

Con: Without jailbreaking multitasking is limited to 2 Apple apps running at any one time and 1 3rd party apps - from what I've been told.

Con: You're one of 'those people'!

Con: The new model will be out in June and will super-seed the 3GS leaving you feeling somewhat inadequate. (Phone envy is a horrible thing!).

Con: You're tied to a long-term contract.

Nexus One

Pro: It's not an iPhone!

Pro: Android can do some clever things, including true multitasking.

Pro: The phone is more powerful than the 3GS (but will you really notice this?)

Pro: You're not one of 'those people'!

Pro: Multiple homescreens can be very useful (iPhone only has 1).

Pro: Google's apps are integrated better with Android than with the iPhone - some features are lacking in the iPhone.

Pro: I love Google and use lots of their products, A LOT!

Con: The price - £330 is a lot of money, regardless of whether it's sim-free. You'll probably need to sign a long-term contract to get a decent mins/text/data plan?

Con: If it breaks - will you have to ship it back to the USA to be fixed? How long will this take? What will it cost? Can you survive for weeks on end without this type of device having come to rely on it whilst it's being repaired?

Con: Even if you get separate handset insurance you won't be able to get a next day replacement as you do with 'Orange Care' insurance.

Con: There are already major concerns in the US with the 3G - problems with the Nexus switching between 3G and 2G and not returning to 3G even if signal is available.

Con: Userbase is small and although a larger percent are very geeky, this means less general knowledge out there.

Con: Google are already being criticised for poor user support - HTC, Google and T-Mobile all seem to be sending users in the US to each other to sort out problems - will one of these companies take responsibility for user support?

In the end I've decided that whilst the iPhone isn't as exciting as the Nexus, is the safer option - it's tried and tested by millions of people. Whilst Android itself is brilliant (Steph has the HTC Hero and it's great), the jury is still out on the Nexus hardware, despite it's features being applauded. And whilst I could go for a HTC Hero or another Android phone (although the choice on Orange is limited) right now for what I need, what I want to pay and what is easily available, the iPhone seems like the best option.

I'm also keen to stay with Orange as I've been a customer for 10 years (which may entitle me to a loyalty discount!), plus the fact I have magic numbers (free calls to other nominated Orange users), 2 for 1 cinema tickets, and the best 3G coverage in the UK (if you believe them!).

....and for the record, yes I am a geek. And, yes I have spent WAY too much time thinking about this. It's only a phone.