Apple iPhone 3G Review
The Apple iPhone 3G
A Revolutionary Phone
Apple’s release of the iPhone 3G was a response to many of the fallbacks from the first generation iPhone. Many little bugs and user requested applications have been added to the iPhone 3G making it even more functional and user-friendly than its predecessor. The new generation is only 0.7mm thicker than the old one, considering the hefty upgrades on the hardware – not to mention, it is actually 2 grams lighter.
With the new iPhone 3G, Apple managed to keep the same amazing touch screen interface that is just jaw dropping as to how accurate and easy-to-use it is. It still has the button on the top of the phone to lock the screen and the home button below the touch screen that takes you back to the iPhone’s main screen.
There are, however, two different iPhone 3G models: an 8GB version and a 16GB version. The difference, you ask? There is no difference other than the storage capacity and a little surprise Apple added – the 16GB versions come in an optional white color, if desired. If you’re willing to cough up the extra $200 for having double the capacity and the unique white color, then the 16GB was made for you if you don't mind paying the price of a laptop but for the iPhone
The main thing that makes this iPhone different than its predecessor is 3G. 3G is a high-speed internet provided by AT&T that only some phones are capable of using. It’s relatively new and allows cell phone users who have 3G capabilities to surf the internet at near broadband speeds. The iPhone 3G boasts this ability to use the 3G network provided by AT&T which has helped expand its features, making everything faster, more reliable, and more accurate. Now that you know the main difference between the first generation iPhone 2G and the second generation iPhone 3G, let’s move onto the fun part of the iPhone – the features.
Features
Apple seems to just know what people want – a functional phone that does everything you need and keeps you entertained. Not only did they figure out the perfect way to keep the upgrades going constantly, they let people like you and I voice our opinion! With the new App Store feature, programmers can create applications for the iPhone for all users to download directly to their phone. These applications can range from all sorts of games to an office planner, a restaurant finder to a gas price finder, movie times to shops and stores around you, radio to software that can discover music just by you humming it, a conversion tool to instant messaging – the possibilities are literally endless. You might actually forget your on a phone and think you're on a computer!
App Store
To navigate through the App Store (image on top), you can search through the categories, through the top 25/50 list, by searching, or just looking at the featured page. Some applications, unfortunately, must be bought for a few cents or dollars. Do not fret, there are hundreds and thousands of free applications that are just as amazing as the ones that aren’t free.
Moving on away from the App Store which could really be discussed for hours, it is impossible to review every application that has been released so let’s discuss what you get that already comes with the iPhone.
A new feature for the iPhone 3G (a personal favorite) is real-time GPS. It works in a very similar way to an actual car GPS. Your current location is represented by a blue pulsating dot that moves with you as you move. The GPS incorporates the Google Maps application from the old iPhone so your location will be displayed through there. Now with the GPS, you can accurately use your current location as your start point in getting directions to another location so an iPhone user has no reason to get lost ever again! It still has a lot of the old features, too – satellite map capability, traffic, and drop pin locations. Satellite map displays images of the world taken by satellite which can be specified to a small location for a bigger, enhanced image. Traffic details are indicated by colors (green – light traffic; read – heavy traffic). The drop pin allows you to set a location you wish to start or end at. Again, all this is incorporated into the GPS system allowing better map and direction functionality provided to the user.
Global Positioning System (GPS) Blue Dot Location
Another feature the iPhone comes with which the old one had is e-mail, now with exchange capability for the business oriented. In order to have exchange capabilities, however, you have to pay for the up-charge of an AT&T business plan. With this plan, you never have to worry about being near a computer to check your business e-mail when they all go directly to your phone. Like the old iPhone 2G, the 3G still has the capability to sync e-mails with the regular users of Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, and many others. The e-mail application allows you to receive, send, forward e-mails in every way as you would on a computer and is very easy to use.
Rearranging Icons (Note: this is a snapshot of the icons jiggling)
Delete application option on right
A small but quite handy feature that was added is the ability to rearrange your home screen icons. By holding down any icon on the screen for approximately a second, the icons start jiggling and dancing around. From this point, you just hold down on any particular icon and drag to arrange. This also has updated the home screen to have multiple pages to fit all the downloadable applications represented by little dots on the bottom of the screen (the glowing white dot represents your current page). This little feature also allows you to not only rearrange applications but delete them as well; however, please note that you can only delete applications that you personally downloaded. Every application that came with the phone will not be able to be deleted (it can still be rearranged though). To delete the application with this feature, you will see an “x” hovering around the icon and you simply press that “x” and you will get a screen that asks you to confirm this decision. To get out of this little jiggling galore of rearranging madness, simply press the home button below the touch screen and all changes made have been saved.
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Clock Application
Just for the sake of covering as much as possible in the features, let’s review all the applications that haven’t changed. Text messaging is the same format, very similar to the Apple computers iChat system where the messages back and forth are represented by color coordinated bubbles. The way Apple has designed text messaging makes it very simple to type and text quickly – the word recognition software is genius, you can mess up typing a word so horrifically and it will still know what you were trying to say and auto correct. There is still the same old Calendar feature where you can add events and notifications for these events – even make the event repeat daily, on a specific day, annually, etc. Photo albums are still there where you can take photos and have them automatically go to your library or add photos manually via computer. The camera is still a 2.0 megapixel camera with very good quality if there is enough light; however, once there isn’t enough light, the slower shutter speed makes clear pictures quite difficult. YouTube is even faster now with the 3G internet speeds so there is just a short wait before a video will start playing on the phone. The clock has four different modes: World Clock, Alarm, Stopwatch, and Timer. The world clock allows you to add as many different time zones to that screen from anywhere in the world; the alarm allows you to set as many alarms as you may need; the stopwatch can be used to time whatever it may be that you need to time (a race); the timer is used for, well, as a timer but it can also be used as a timer for your iPod feature! The timer can actually turn off your iPod so if you want to listen to music as you fall asleep but want it to eventually stop once you do fall asleep, set a timer and select the “Sleep iPod” function. There is a weather application that uses The Weather Channel as a quick reference to the week’s weather. 
The calculator on the iPhone looks relatively similar to the previous generation; however, when you turn it sideways it becomes a “…sophisticated scientific calculator with dozens of functions for solving complex scientific and advanced mathematic problems.” (Apple). Apple even threw in a little application for those who invest in the stock market – a stock application for you to keep track of the market! There is also an iTunes application for users to buy and download music from the iTunes store directly to their iPhone. The rest of the applications are pretty self explanatory: Notes, Safari (web browser), and iPod.
Downloadable Remote Application
One application that really is quite unique and convenient is something called Remote. If you already didn’t know, the iPhone has a wireless card in it allowing it to access a wireless router to use the high speed internet you have at home, at a friend’s house, at work, or wherever a wireless internet network is accessible. Remote is a downloadable application via App Store that allows you to control your iTunes playlist through the network. This means you have to be connected wirelessly to the same network your computer with iTunes is connected to. For example, if your computer is on network “A”, your iPhone must be on network “A” also – aka local area network (LAN). Once all this is done, it might sound like a lot to do but most people who have high-speed broadband internet already have a wireless router so the iPhone can just jump on that network quite easily. Once it’s on the network, you can connect your iPhone to your iTunes wirelessly and you can then control your iTunes music wherever you are as long as you are on the LAN. It is very convenient if you’re sitting on the couch feeling lazy but you really want to change the song that your computer is playing – pull out your iPhone, access the Remote application, and choose the song you want – no getting up required.
To tie it all together with one new feature added to the iPhone 3G: the ability to take screen shots. If you press the lock button (located on the top of the iPhone) and the home button (below the display) at the same time, you’ll here a shutter sound and the screen will flash white. What the iPhone has just done is take a screen shot of whatever you currently have up on the screen. At Laptop Broker, we found it useful to do this to show proof of our high scores on our little iPhone games. We aren’t sure if there’s a higher purpose for this screen shot function, but we have found our own use for it.
Rating: 5/5
iPhone Technology
3G: As stated previouisly, 3G technology allows the iPhone to access the internet at higher speeds than the previous iPhone. This allows you to surf the internet, check e-mail, get directions, and watch video – even if you’re already on the phone. The old network the first generation iPhone used is called EDGE – the 3G network is 2.4 times faster than the EDGE network.
Multi-Touch Screen Technology
Multi-Touch Control: iPhone multi-touch technology almost seems way beyond it’s time. There is no other touch phone out there with this functional of a touch screen. It is extremely accurate and best of all, multi-touch – this means it can respond to more than 1 contact point on the screen.
GPS: Yes, we already did talk about the GPS but let’s go in depth to the technology behind it. The regular GPS we are familiar with uses information from satellites that orbit the Earth. The iPhone receives this data and estimates the distance to the GPS satellites based on how long it takes the signal to reach it. The iPhone’s A-GPS (Assisted GPS) takes it a step further than conventional GPS systems. iPhone will actually find the closest satellite to uplink to currently in orbit which allows it to more quickly identify your position. This gives you a faster fix on your location than with a conventional GPS system.
Accelerometer: iPhone is motion responsive. When you tilt it sideways, upwards, backwards, downwards – it knows. Many application designers have used this to their advantage in making fun accelerometer games. When you access the iPod, if you tilt it sideways you get a view of all the albums and album art in your iPhone that you simply slide your finger across to flip through. This also works via Safari Web Browser to get a landscape view of a webpage you are viewing.
The way the accelerometer works is by using three elements: a silicon mass, a set of silicon springs, and an electrical current. The silicon springs measure the position of the silicon mass via an electrical current. Rotation of the iPhone causes a change in the electrical current passing through the silicon springs. The accelerometer registers the change and changes the iPhones display accordingly
Ambient Light Sensor
Sensors: Built in the iPhone which goes often unnoticed are two small sensors that pick up environment cues and adjust the screen properly. One sensor adjusts the backlight in regards to how bright it is around you in order to conserve battery life. The other sensor is a proximity sensor to turn off the display when you have the phone held to your ear. The proximity sensor prevents inadvertent touches on the display and conserves power.
Keyboard: While the keyboards on other phone stay fixed, the iPhone keyboard can adapt its keys and layout in different applications. It also appears when you need it and disappears when you don’t. It also corrects words you may type incorrectly using complex mathematics to track the pattern of the letters you type and it learns the words you type most often.
Rating: 5/5
Audio
Audio was one of the biggest downfalls to any iPhone first generation owner – the speakers just weren’t loud enough. With the new iPhone 3G, everyone including us here at Laptop Broker agree that the speakers have significantly improved (thank goodness!). The audio preferences also come with an equalizer so you can adjust the settings in regards to what kind of song you listen to.
Rating: 3.5/5
Laptop Broker’s Opinion
Here at Laptop Broker, we like to keep an eye out on the newest and most desired technology. Because of this, it’s no surprise to find the Apple iPhone 3G on our list. It is more than just your average phone, it is more than just your average iPod, it is more than just a laptop – it’s all that and more combine together in an explosion of multi-tasking galore. You can even use the iPhone to edit the Laptop Broker web page! If that isn’t amazing, I don’t’ know what is. Many employees here have already invested in the new iPhone 3G and all of us love it. If you're looking for cheap laptops and cheap cell phones, this isn't the phone for you since it will take a bite out of your wallet; personally, I think it's well worth the price. Of course some improvements can be made to make it better and there are many competitors that have arisen to take the iPhone down; but, to this day, no competitor has stood high enough to look down on the iPhone – it truly is a revolutionary phone.
Pros:
- Crisp LCD Display
- Improved Battery Life
- Improved Audio
- Built-in Wifi
- Global Positioning System (GPS)
- Accelerometer and Sensors
- Windows and Mac Compatibility
- Multi-Touch Screen Technology
- Highly Function
- Fun
- Aesthetically Appealing
- Plenty of Storage Space
- Downloadable Applications
- Customizability
- Ability to Take Screen Shots
- Ability to Back Up Phone
- Ability to Sync With iTunes and Outlook
Cons:
- No Flash For Camera
- No Video Recording
- Costly
- Legally For AT&T Only
- Battery Life Could Be Improved More
- Improving Audio More
Features: 5/5
Performance: 5/5
Price: 3/5
Usability: 5/5
Technology: 6/5
Overall Rating: 4.9/5
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