The phone itself doesn't have any feature that other phones don't already have. In fact the iphone is missing some things that even the oldest colour screen handsets have (bluetooth file transfer anyone?)

That being said what it does have is an AWESOME application store. The App store is second to none for the smart phone platform.

Before we get onto the applications lets look at what things come stock standard for the iPhone that are of use to the hunter:

GPS - The iPhone has GPS which integrates with google maps a very handy tool indeed. It loads GPS Maps and gives you directions but not turn by turn yet. This will come with the New Tom Tom Application that is due out soon.

Internet/Email This is great for checking AusVarmint.com or any other site and your email. No smart phone has a better internet browser or email application than the iPhone.

Camera -iPhone 3G 2mp Camera nothing great but still good enough for hunting pics. iPhone 3GS - 3megapixel camera, auto focus and video so it is perfect for taking hunting snaps and video.

(iPhone 3G)

iPod - Listen to music whilst you are hunting or connect it up to an external speaker and play your game calls.

So the above features you can get in any phone but what I'm about to show you all is what other phones & PDA's are missing - Good Hunting/Shooting Orientated Apps!!

iSnipe -$5.99 AUD

A ballistics calculator that covers most bases and will get you on target. There are other comprehensive ballistics applications out there but this one does the trick for the most part.

Motion X GPS Lite - Free or Full Version: $3.99 AUD

A Great GPS application that even the light version has enough for most people, it has Maps (where internet connection is availble ie: Cellular Network), waypoints, speed, bearing plus heaps more. Theres not much more to say about this as it is a full featured GPS  that will do what you need it to do.

Weather
There is a heap of Weather applications available on the iphone I recommend Pocket Weather ($2.49AUD) as it does tides and seems to have the biggest number of locations to get weather for. It is much better then the default application that comes with the iPhone.



Hunting Games:
There are several hunting/shooting games out there that are great especially the Deer Hunter ($3.99AUD) game which is a great way to kill time when needed. There are plenty more also.

Google Earth - Free
There is also a Google Earth client available which is great for looking at Aerial views of properties for scouting and finding water sources.

The iPhone also opens (but not edits) all sorts of office documents such as: Word Docs, Excel and PDF's. This is great as I keep my ADI reloaders guide in my phone as well as my spreadsheet of load data for my loads. This is good as my loading gear is in a shed so it’s a pain to quickly access the data you need but with the iPhone (or a print out) its easy.

There are a couple of downsides with the iPhone however - Because this is a "smart phone" and like all smart phones battery life suffers. I have to charge it every night but I use it lots mainly the iPod Player for podcasts and video but just as a phone as well. So if you are unable to access a car with a car charger, computer or powerpoint a lot for days on end the iPhone probably isn't the phone for you but there is nothing wrong with carrying a backup phone with a pre-paid simcard incase you need it in an emergency.
The other negative is that you are unable to do a bluetooth file transfers.

All in All I don't think there is another phone on the market that does so much for the hunter. This is largely due to the huge amount of applications available on the platform. There are plenty of other reasons to own this phone and ones that I won't go into as they dont relate to hunting/shooting but they are there and I don't think that anyone would be disappointed with the phone.