I have slowly become an apple fanboy for a long time, so if you are looking for a review of an iPhone versus the Blackberry or Palm this one is not for you. However, if you are one of the many people trying to decided if it is time for an upgrade then read on.

Prior to my recent purchase of the iPhone 3GS, I have been using the iphone first gen as a HEAVY user, ever since its release. I have developed several habits as a HEAVY user that will give you my point of reference.

First, it is a no brainer that you have to charge your phone every night as you sleep. If you are used to making it through 2 days on your phone, forget it. If you get in a bind you can disable PUSH or fetch at longer intervals, but these are just stop gaps to get you to the end of the day.

Second, there are just some sites that you cannot visit with the iPhone. Obviously, anything with Flash on the page, but also more regular sites like the non-mobile gmail page, or accessing your banking account page be prepared to for a flashback to dial-up days where you went to the kitchen after putting in the web address to go get yourself a soda.

Lastly, as the applications you use become more complex and your brain rewires to the iphone OS you will start to notice phone lag (if you haven't already). You will have to wait for the keyboard to scroll up for text entry, or pressing the home button doesn't quit your application as fast as you remember it doing when you first got the phone.

These are all compromises of the iPhone, and I am happy to report that many of those compromises are gone with the 3GS. First the sites that you wouldn't dare visit without you laptop are now simple to visit, on either 3g or wifi. Even the edge connection is noticeably faster at page loads. Where before I would pull out my laptop and boot it up, now I just use the phone.

Also applications that I had previously stopped using because of lag are now a joy to use (omnifocus I am looking at you). The os lag is not entirely gone, but I am still surprised by how fast the keyboard arrives or an application is fully running. Over the air syncs with applications, either on my computer or on a server, are faster as well. Perhaps the most telling surprise of the 3GS is that I have been able to go on the road, without my laptop, and been happy with the experience, except for the lack of a portable keyboard. Long emails and post are just too much on the virtual keyboard.

All the changes are not good, however. I spend most of my day on an airplane far away from any opportunity to charge my phone. With the first gen iphone every day would end in the red, but only with a 20% warning. With the 3GS, and the exact same use I see that 10% warning and many times almost get the spinning powerdown graphic as I am ending my day.

The promise of 3.0 software and push notifications is very slow in coming. When I first heard of the push notifications I couldn't wait for the idea of a chat client with push, but was forced to wait for the application devs to catch up. Make sure the applications your are hoping for are working on 3.0 improvements otherwise you will be disappointed.

Overall my recommendation for switchers or upgraders is this. If you have an original iphone and have noticed the speed lag the time to upgrade is now! What are doing reading on just goto the apple store already :-).

If you are a 3G owner I cannot recommend spending anything more then the subsidized price for the 3GS. If you can sell you 3G for enough to bring the price down go ahead and do it, but otherwise wait. My own experience was very positive, but it was $200 positive not $500 positive. Give the application devs the time to catch up to 3.0 software, and the bugs of discoloration, overheating, or rattle (none of which I have experienced) to be addressed. And if you wait as long as December for your contract to run it course I would recommend waiting until July for the 4th gen.

As a fellow gdgt'er afflicted with the addiction of wanting to buy every cool new thing I know how much of a time sink this decision has becomes. I hope this helps of few of you make your decision.