I have just bought the parts to make my youngest son a souped-up, finely-tuned beast of a PC. Many of the necessary bits for a self-build I have lying around; case, hard drive and DVD burner from previous, now defunct, computers. But the up-to-date parts we needed to purchase amounted to £350 of chips and internal cards, etc. That’s a lot of pressure, in terms of pocket money and birthday money, for me to be under to create a monster machine that I hope will be useful well into the next decade.

Not everyone needs a computer like that. Perhaps a natty little netbook will do. But even a cheap netbook computer is an expensive piece of equipment for most of us. At least if you factor in having to buy Microsoft Office, security software, anti-virus, etc. You can get them cheap with a mobile contract, but the mobile contract itself will need a good hard looking at first.

But just for a minute consider that you might not need a computer at all. It might be quicker and cheaper to do everything you need to do on a computer with just an iPhone. More than that, the things you want to do on a computer might be simpler to do on the iPhone too. And before anyone accuses me of being an Apple fanboy – which I am not – let me say that my basic assertion might well apply to Blackberry, Palm or Android, etc, just that I am better placed to write about the iPhone.

So let’s have a quick look to see if it covers the basics:

• Internet – Safari comes embedded. I haven’t tried my banking site yet, but I did do my Tesco shop on it. Obviously many sites have mobile versions, but Safari on the iPhone handles most of the web fine without, especially in landscape mode. Sadly, Adobe Flash support is still lacking.
• Email – robust if a little featureless email. Compatible with POP, IMAP, MS Exchange, Gmail, Yahoo, etc. Doesn’t send attachments by itself, but other applications use it to send attachments. It can read office file types natively (Word, Excel, Powerpoint [without animation!], PDF).
• PIM – unquestionably one of the best ways to manage your dates and contacts, especially with the new search facility, so that even if that little note to self didn’t make it into the calendar, it can be easily found. I have a friend who hitherto has been paper-bound, but on purchasing an iPhone has gone ‘electronic’. I think this is the iPhone effect; I know for a fact that his two previous phones (Sony Ericsson P900, Blackberry something or other) were capable of the same, but without the revolutionary GUI.
• Office – Now with a number of office application suites, including QuickOffice for just £7.49, you can create, read and edit Microsoft Office files, as well as email them. There are two major shortcomings here; the onscreen keyboard (if you are creating a long document) and the iPhone filesystem not having a general user space accessible by the iPhone applications. Instead each app is restricted to its own space, though many are able to access your iDisk if you use MobileMe.

But after the basics there are all the other nicer things you use your computer for that the iPhone (and I say again, other smartphones) may do better.

• Blogging – there are many blogging apps that allow you to put news up on your Blog. I use the WordPress app for instance. It is quick and efficient. I just wish the iPhone camera was better. But then, my computer doesn’t even have a camera. I also recently discovered PhotoMarkr which conveniently copyrights and watermarks my photos before blogging them It also keeps an un-watermarked version automatically. Saves me using Photoshop then.
• eBay – Safari does it already, but there is a regularly updated eBay app. Works perfectly over wifi, but I wouldn’t use it over 3G if you are into sniping at the last minute.
• Social networking – oh, it’s all there, and you know it.
• YouTube – ditto.
• iTunes – well this would be more interesting if the version of Spotify allowed on the iPhone was the free one… Last.fm have an app though.
• Games – These are getting better and better, with something for everyone whether you like puzzles, action, racing or role-playing. And so cheap compared to what is in the shops. Fed up of your children spending ££s on console games? Take the plunge with an iPod Touch for them – because after the initial outlay the subsequent costs are more like pocket money prices, if not free! So they can spend their pocket money on sweets instead.
• Business and finance – not so much fun, but you can do all the usual expenses tracking, plus I’ve just started invoicing directly from my iPhone with Omni Invoice. It sends the invoice as an html email including my own logo in UK currency. Use it to track payments too.
• Reference - Wikipedia is accessible with various apps. There are many free eBook readers with access to more reference and free fiction than you will have time to read.
• News and TV – The NetNewsWire app for the latest from anywhere. Sky News videos play with their own Sky app, and you can have a TV guide that just shows you the channels you actually watch, or keep up to date with the sport with the free Eurosport app.
• Navigation – Google Maps app, Co-Pilot and TomTom ’satnav’. Definitely better than anything my PC/Mac has.

Enough already. Perhaps I don’t need to convince you anymore. I would just love to hear from someone, anyone, using their iPhone more than their computer. Or a really busy business person running their own business almost entirely off their iPhone/smartphone. Seriously.

If you need help with your computer(s) whether PC or Mac, iPhone or PDA, in the Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and M4 area, call us on 0845 8388707.

We don’t charge for  5 minutes of free advice, and if we can help you sort something out over the phone we know that you’ll spread the word. Otherwise, we are able to either come to you or help you remotely via a direct connection to your computer. Either way, we aim to get you up and running, more efficiently and with greater confidence.