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Rogers finally announced yesterday the impending arrival of the "Jesus phone" in Canada, but as Ted Rogers and many others already know, Apple's holiest gadget has been seen in these parts for at least six months.

I'm one of thousands of Canadians who bought an iPhone in the United States, unlocked it so that it could be used on a carrier other than AT&T, and stuck a Rogers SIM card in it. Nothing illegal about it: I did it with the help of a courteous and concerned Rogers wireless agent (they exist).

That was in February. Two months and two Rogers bills later, I have two words for Canadians wondering whether they should drop what will probably be at least $400 on the device when it finally arrives later this year: Do it.

As an inveterate early adopter, a gadgethead and Mac lover, my endorsement should be taken for what it is. I am probably only slightly more reliable than Eliot Spitzer would be on the worthiness of his own peculiar fetishes.

But believe me when I say the iPhone is an elegant, well-made and, above all, useful device. It's a camera, an iPod, a phone, a planner and a mini-computer that can browse the Internet and send e-mail through a wireless Internet connection or over a cellular telephone network (Rogers calls it the Edge network).

These are the highlights, personally speaking:

THE PHONE

I'm not sure what other cellphones are capable of these days, but mine can do conference calls. Over a built-in speakerphone. It can also turn off caller ID if I choose, so people can't see who is calling. These options are built into the phone and are beyond simple to operate.

THE KEYBOARD

There is no raised keyboard; a virtual one appears on the screen when it's time to type a text message or e-mail, enter an Internet address or a new contact name, or type a short memo or reminder. The keyboard is not that easy to manipulate; I often hit the wrong key. But the software operating the keyboard is genius. It anticipates the next letter in a word and freezes out the keys around it so that "water" never comes out as "watew" or "wated." And it uncannily corrects misspelled words, turning "sifferemt" back into "different" with a tap of the space bar. Which brings us to...

TEXT MESSAGING

With a full, self-correcting keyboard, sending text messages is as easy as sending e-mail and a lot less complicated. It basically is an e-mail, but sent without the hassle of logging onto the Web. There's a limit on the number of characters you can send in one text, but that just makes the messages more concise.

SURFING THE WEB IN BED WHILE LISTENING TO MUSIC, TEXTING FRIENDS, CHECKING E-MAIL AND PLAYING SOLITAIRE

Yeah, I do that. There are great games to put on the iPhone. And it displays real Web pages, not the text-based versions shrunk down for use on regular cellphones and BlackBerrys. You want The Globe and Mail site, you've got it. The touch screen lets you move around the page, enlarge it, and hit links with your fingertips. And with a wireless Internet connection, the phone uploads pages quickly (though nothing like the speed of a regular computer).

MISCELLANEOUS AND DOWNSIDES

Like other devices on the market, the iPhone plays YouTube videos and has the amazing Google map function. Given all that it can do, its battery life is excellent, generally requiring a charge at the end of the day after heavy use, and once every other day if usage is light.

Its biggest drawback is the fact its Internet and e-mail functions are still extremely slow when performed over Rogers' Edge network rather than over a wireless Internet connection. It's like dialling into CompuServe in 1994. The problem is the phone's as much as it is the carrier's. The next generation of iPhones - the model Rogers is expected to sell - will probably be faster, but how much so remains to be seen.

And Rogers has a long way to go before it matches the free data providers given to iPhone users in the United States and elsewhere. I don't browse the Internet over the Edge network, not only because it's slow but because, at its current rates, Rogers would charge me $75 simply to load The Globe and Mail's home page. If someone e-mailed me a five-megabyte attachment and I opened it on the Edge network, Rogers would bill me $250 for the privilege.

This pretty much guarantees the phone will be more expensive to operate here than in the United States. But it'll still be worth it.