Our Review of the Apple iPhone 3G 8GB
The iPhone 3G is a revolutionary widescreen iPod music player, mobile phone and mini-computer in one, with rich HTML email and full web browsing. Scrolling through web pages on the new iPhone is as good as ever, if not better, thanks to the improved speeds.Whilst the hype surrounding the original iPhone might not have equally translated into sales, it can't be denied that the arrival of Steve Jobs and the boys revolutionised the mobile phone market – in the 12 months since the launch of the iPhone, we've seen numerous high powered smartphones, such as LG's Viewty and Samsung's Omnia and Tocco, all complete with touchscreen interfaces and multimedia features being touted as 'iPhone killers'.
Revolutionary or not, the two main points of contention with would-be first-gen iPhone customers was the lack of 3G support and the cost – Apple have responded to these criticisms by including high-speed 3G access this time round, and significantly reducing the asking price of the handset. Like its predecessor, this new 3G version is a revolutionary phone, widescreen iPod music player and mini-computer in one, with rich HTML email and full web browsing. Scrolling through web pages on the new iPhone is as good as ever, if not better, thanks to the improved speeds.
As a telephone, the iPhone is a dream to use. Scroll through your telephone numbers using the touch screen, or if you have lots of contacts use the search facility – a feature which is a vast improvement from the original. Three way conversations are also easy – you just flick from one to another using the large screen, or create a conference call. The visual voicemail facility also lets you prioritise your voice messages, so you can listen to the most important ones first.
Rich HTML Email on the phone looks just like email on your computer, so images appear alongside texts. Attachments are no longer pared-down versions of the original. You can rotate, zoom and pan in more than a dozen standard file and image formats, including PDF, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The iPhone features Safari, the standard web browser on Macs, and the most advanced on any phone, and will connect you to EDGE, 3G and Wi-Fi. SMS conversations appear as an ongoing chat, so you can easily follow the thread of your texts, and the multi-touch QWERTY keyboard allows makes for quick and easy typing, although, annoyingly, there still is no option for turning predictive typing off, nor can you forward messages or delete individual messages from a conversation thread, which means that your inbox gets filled up pretty darn quick!
Email support has been vastly improved; sending and receiving emails on the new 3G iPhone is as slick as anything else out there.
Email support has been vastly improved, and of course, with 3G HSDPA fully loaded, sending and receiving emails on the new 3G iPhone is as slick as anything else out there; Apple clearly have their eye on BlackBerry's slice of the PDA market. Push email support is included, and - amazingly - there's also support for MS Exchange. Basic functions that were missing from the first iPhone, such as the ability to delete old emails en masse, have now been included.
With its 3.5-inch widescreen display and multi-touch controls, the iPhone doubles up as an iPod, enabling you to watch videos, listen to music and sync it all to your iTunes. Another great feature of the iPhone is its mobile maps – GPS tells you exactly where you are, and how to get to where you're going. It even points out places of interest on the way. If you search for "Chinese" it will show you every Chinese restaurant in the area.
Sadly, the one downside to the 3G iPhone is that it inherits one of the weaknesses of its predecessor, in the form of a 2 Megapixel camera. Whilst Apple declare this iPhone to be "the most photo friendly phone ever", rival Smartphones, such last year's Nokia N95, win hands down on picture quality.
Pros
3G!
Incorporated GPS support
Intuitive touchscreen interface
Push email now supported
Cons
2 Megapixel camera
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Apple's mould-breaking iPhone just got better, with improvements in searching for phone contacts, support for push email, and GPS mapping. Browsing is also a much more enjoyable experience thanks to the faster 3G speeds.
