Update(2/28): Since my voice is still scratchy from being sick, I decided to use a video review from Buy Me An iPhone (lest you hear my horrible scratchy voice).

If you were one of the masses who merely purchased an iPhone because of visual voicemail, cover flow or as a status symbol, then this post is not for you.

If you however purchased the “iDevice” because you were tired of recharging your iPhone 3-4 times a day, then you may fall in love with FastMac’s iV.

After testing this battery extender out for a few weeks, I can recommend iPhoneholics purchasing the iV, with few reservations.

Since the world is full of skeptics and what I affectionally call “sunshine people,” here are some of the great–and not so great features of FastMac’s iV.

The Good

The fact that I no longer have to bring my charger with me or face the consequences of an almost dead iPhone is very relieving.

Even after heavy use (such as emailing, calling, tweeting, gaming, friendfeeding, blogging or Facebooking), the iV holds me over for at least a good 36 hours before I end up draining it completely of energy.

While the “energizer like” battery was awesome, what I really enjoyed was the flashlight at the top, which was incredibly bright (warning: do not point at your eyes!).

This is very useful when taking pictures at night, as the iPhone lacks a flash (and I have a feeling Apple is probably never going to build one either).

Last but not least the iV is cross compatible (the “3G model”). It does not matter whether you have an original iPhone, a 3G iPhone, or an iPod Touch (both first and second generation) you can use iV as a second iBattery.

The Bad

Overall the iV was great, although there were a couple of things I did not enjoy.

The first was it’s size. After attaching your iPhone to iV, you suddenly notice your iPhone feels more like a brick rather than the slim, elegant device you came to know and love.

This makes it fairly difficult to pull out of pockets, not to mention awkward when typing in landscape mode.

Also recharging this hefty battery can take up to 6 hours, which is not exactly helpful if you are pressed for time.

Conclusion

FastMac’s iV is probably one of the few iPhone hardware devices I would recommend to iPhoneholics–especially if you use this device for business (more on that on future posts).

More iGoodness below