Apple iPhone 3G review

The addition of a GPS receiver to the iPhone makes a huge difference to the Google Maps application, too. Instead of using triangulation based on cell mast and known Wi-Fi hotspots to make a 'best guess' on your current location, GPS provides more accurate data on a par with a dedicated sat nav device.

Third party applications

While not exclusive to iPhone 3G (as the same software used on the 3G handsets has been released for existing iPhones), the launch of the iTunes App Store has been timed to coincide with the release of the new handset.

With previous versions of the iPhone software, you had to install various warranty-voiding software hacks in order to install your own choice of third party applications or customisations.

This has now changed, and Apple has opened up the iPhone platform to legitimate third party software development, providing both a software development kit (SDK) and a corner of the iTunes store to act as both a shop front and delivery mechanism for free and paid-for add-on software.

Applications can be bought from a desktop iTunes installation and then copied across to your iPhone, or you can choose, buy and download over the air. For iPhone 3G users, this can be done using both Wi-Fi and 3G data connections. For 2G iPhone users, this is best done over Wi-Fi.

The emperor's new clothes

It's reasonable to argue that the iPhone 3G is just the original iPhone in a shiny new shell, and to a degree that's certainly true.

Yes, it has 3G voice and data support, and critically it will deliver a high-speed HSDPA data transfer experience, and the GPS chip can provide real and useful location information compared to the best-guess triangulation used by the non-GPS original iPhone. Beyond this, the iPhone 3G is indistinguishable from the 2G one.

Both phones now use exactly the same software (the iPhone OS 2.0 software was released for the 2G handsets the night before the 3G one went on sale), which means they both have exactly the same core capabilities.

Both play music, both play video, both can make and receive calls, both can send and receive text messages. Both have a two megapixel camera, they have the same size and resolution touch screen and come with the same storage capacities (8GB and 16GB). Both can now handle Exchange push email along with contact and calendar synchronisation, each has Cisco IP VPN support and the third party applications in new iTunes App Store are available to both models too.

So, why would you buy a iPhone 3G? If you're a heavy web surfer, then you will benefit from the iPhone 3G's improved data download capabilities. Fully featured web sites that are designed for a desktop browser (and with it a desktop internet connection) do take some time to download over a GPRS or Edge data connection, and this was the Achilles' heel of the original iPhone.

Heavy email users won't really notice a difference. GPRS and Edge data rates are more than sufficient for sending and receiving email, especially as both push and non-push mail on a mobile device is perfectly suited to trickling down in the background rather than always having to download on command. This is why RIM's BlackBerry devices have remained popular despite being GPRS and Edge-based.

The iPhone 3G is an excellent phone in terms of design and software capability, but so was the original iPhone. At best the iPhone 3G is a much-needed facelift and tweak, albeit hampered by battery life on a par with phones from the mid 90s. Is it going to reshape the mobile phone market? No, because its predecessor has already done it.

Author: Chris Green