Both Mike and I are very late to the iPhone party as Apple premiere mobile device has only been available in Big Sky County for the last three weeks.  Thus far, I must say that the iPhone is absolutely everything I hoped it would be.

I have been in Portland for the last week for a couple of work-related events.  I rented a car on my own dime to be able to get around (and also visit family and friends in the Portland area) and was offered a $12.99 daily rental for a Garmin GPS system.  My wife and I first discovered car-based GPS systems in Portland on vacation and usually opt for the service because, as my wife says, “it is cheaper than a divorce.”  Ah hem.

I had been interested in the prospects of iOS-device-as-a-GPS since acquiring an iPad and seeing all of the excellent mapping and geography apps, but, this is the first time I had the device with the 3g network in my pocket.  I declined the GPS at the rental counter and brought a car-adapter-to-USB charger plus an extra iPhone cable.

Simply put?  It was exquisite!  All of the function of my previous unitasker GPS was present in the app, but, the information was more updated (and always fresh from the app’s database) and although I found it wasn’t quite as easy to use as the Garmin, I found it to be more than up to the task of getting me around Portland.

There are dozens of apps available for this purpose, but, I have fallen in love with GPS Drive from MotionX.  It is cheap (just $0.99) and the in-app purchase of voice-based directions is less than $30 a year.  For less than I was paying for renting a GPS on a long weekend, I now have the app and extended service for a whole year.

I know, I know… I am gushing about technology that most of you have had for a while, but, how cool is the iPhone?!