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When it's visible, the keyboard has what appear to be very small keys, but your fingers soon adjust to them (the fat-thumbed may take a little longer).

Where the screen really kicks in, is using the internet browser. For a start, it's big enough to give the feeling that you are looking at a page on the web. You navigate around with flicks of the finger, a bit like the way you spin a globe. Place two fingers on the screen and pull them apart and you 'zoom in' on the page. Pinch them together again and you pull out.

At times, the screen appears to be imbued with its own intelligence. Tilt the whole thing from the vertical to the horizontal 'view' and the image immediately finds the 'right way up'. Slide up a list - your contacts, say - with a sweeping gesture and the scroll slows gradually to a stop, like an object sliding across ice.

The 8-gigabyte memory is big enough to hold just under 2,000 songs - it syncs, of course, with iTunes, Apple's music program - and you can also transfer photos.

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The camera is only 2 megapixels, far fewer than the best 'camera-centric' phones, but the image is perfectly clear, if a little troubled by low light.

The downsides? When you’re out and about, web pages can take up to 30 seconds to load. The phone runs on what is known as the Edge network, which is significantly slower than 3G - the fastest mobile network. (Bear in mind this is one of the things you will most want to show off. Not so much of a thrill in your bedroom.)

Cushioning this is the fact that it has 'wi-fi', meaning that in a 'wi-fi hotspot' or your home if you have a wireless internet connection, the browser will work at broadband speed. O2 has also done a deal with the Cloud which means that in any of the latter's 8,000 hotspots across the UK - mostly cafes and transport hubs - internet access will be free.

There's also no GPS - the now increasingly common satellite-based feature which is able to tell you where you are and give you directions.

Many have said the iPhone’s £269 price tag does not matter and that Apple fanatics and the style-conscious will buy it regardless. They’re probably right. But for O2 customers tired of carting round a phone and a music player - and remember that an 'iPod Classic' costs £159 – it’s certainly worth considering.

In short: exceptional, expensive, slow at times but a heck of a lot more useful than a regular ‘status symbol’.

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The iPhone is available from 6.02pm on Friday from Apple stores and the Carphone Warehouse

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