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The most telling thing you learn when playing with the 3G iPhone is how annoying it is when someone tries to take it off you. If gadgets were drugs, this one would be an opiate.

The new, curvier incarnation of the iPhone - which comes out just over a year after its predecessor appeared in the US - is the first handset that truly gives a sense of holding a small computer, rather than a communications device.

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Imagine a regular phone and e-mail device, coupled with an extremely compelling and speedy web browser, a video player, a photo organiser, a navigation tool, and an iPod - and you get some idea of how dependent you might become on it.

The image on the massive 3.5-inch screen is TV-crisp. The entire front surface is touch sensitive except for one button, which always takes you back to the home page. Yes, the screen gets smudged, but even after a couple of drops it remained scratch-free.

Every time you go to type, a full QWERTY keyboard pops up automatically. The keys, while small, are easy to use, and surprisingly forgiving - even to the fat of thumb.

In e-mail mode, the entire contents of your various accounts are tastefully adapted for the small screen, and accessible at the touch of a button from the home page.

Crucially - and unlike its predecessor, the 3G iPhone is fully compatible with Microsoft Outlook, meaning that your work e-mails can be forwarded to the device. BlackBerry, whose customers have enjoyed "push e-mail" for years, has witnessed many threats to its dominance in the corporate e-mail market, but none will have chastened it quite so much as this one.

The maps feature - undoubtedly one of the most useful - makes navigation a dream. The expansive screen means you can see big chunks of a city or town without scrolling.

One click and the phone's GPS chip - another new feature in the latest model - locates you on a map via satellite. Search for a second location by street name or postcode and the phone marks out the route - and gives directions.

It’s the web browser that’s the real eye-popper, though. Pages appear exactly as they would on a PC and, as with the old mode, pinching and swiping your fingers across the scene zooms in or sends you scampering around the page. The difference is that the new device runs on the faster, 3G network, making the whole experience of using the web much more PC-like. At least in theory.

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