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iPhone 3G review: Twice the hype, half the novelty

11 August 2008 | Read the review | Post your comment
iPhone 3G review: Twice the hype, half the novelty - read the full textIt's finally here - the iPhone 3G. No, we mean that literally. It's finally at our office and boy, are we excited! GPS, HSDPA purring under the new iPhone hood with a hefty number of software enhancements. But all them software goodies...

 

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iPhone is the BEST talking about it's functions and stuff. BUT, I got iPhone for 3 weeks now i am expirencing a problem. My iPhone WOULDNT turn on. When i try turning it on it brings me to the Apple Logo and just Stays there. I tried to restore it. After the 4 hour process of restoring it. IT WORKED for 5 minutes until a call came in. OH GUESS WHAT? it froze and got screwed again. Tried to restart the phone and it gets Stuck with the apple screen.

I Was a apple fan. i LOVED it. but this time i am seriously disappointed. Seriously disappointed. It's a Great phone, but the reliablity of this phone is Horrible.


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  • 2008-08-24 15:14
  • TR{5

Can any one tell if iphone 3G can have FM radio??? Is there any possibiolity that it can be installed or use another accessory to have radio on the phone??

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  • 2008-08-23 18:29
  • w7ij

> In reply to Simon @ 2008-08-22 13:36 from vu{jactually simon, thats the thing, the n95 really isnt showing its age, because it packs more features than most phones being released today.

okay it isnt the most aesthetically pleasing phone but for its price, it delivers.

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  • 2008-08-22 20:33
  • nxwQ

> In reply to Simon @ 2008-08-22 13:36 from vu{jThanks for a such a long review.I'm a Apple fan,got a Macbook,Ipod and would love to own the Iphone,even though its ordinary as a phone but it's great as a multimedia phone.Nothing on earth justifies its $715 price tag for the 8gb phone. Apple products aren't for the masses,so Nokia will always be the king after all 1 billion people can't be wrong.N96 as phone comes in a different category all together.

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  • 2008-08-22 18:04
  • iih@

Well here's another opinion...

I'm an IT administrator who has managed a variety of networks, owned countless tech gadgets, computers, PDAs and so called "smartphones". I.e. a true geek. I was lucky enough to have a hands on demo of the new HTC Touch Diamond the other day, which in theory is technically superior in pretty much every way to the iPhone. But in reality I hate it. It was sluggish and buggy, and its 3MP camera over-processed photos with no flash produced laughable shots (check out the GSM review if you don't beleive me). Just to let yu know my last phone was a Nokia N95 8GB (which is still in use for some functions and it's great customisation options).

Like a lot of other people here I couldn't believe the lack of features missing on the iPhone 3G when it was first announced. I actually recall talking people out of it in favor of other phones before I actually had a go of the thing. (I hadn't even picked up an iPhone before that point and laughed it off as a a basic gimmick)..But then everything changed when I started using a friend's..

The iPhone is far more than a basic phone with fancy touchscreen. Its a completely new way of using a portable multimedia device. The high res screen is simply gorgeous and its ambient light sensor means its always readable under any conditions. Likewise its intuitive menu design and accelerometer, and multitude of sensors make it an absolute pleasure to use and allow for some stunning features, apps and effects. Once you start surfing the net "touchscreen style" and using email on the thing you wonder how you ever lived without it. It's that good. It's one of those things you really have to experience for yourself for a couple of weeks to get used to (not just pick up in a store for a few minutes) to truly appreciate. Once you do, its hard to imagine going back to the cumbersome navigation and INTERNET surfing and low res screen of my N95.

Sure the iPhone lacks flash support among many other things, but Apple have already announced this will be remedied soon, and when it is, it will be hands down the best portable device to surf the net on bar none. The HTC Diamond and Samsung U900 are sluggish and cumbersome in comparison and feel like basic touch screens sitting on top of sluggish Windows Mobile 6 operating systems (which is exactly what they are). The iPhone 3G on the other hand is fast, responsive and constantly improving in performance thanks to frequent updates and cool free apps being released every day that are only a tap of the screen away.

Sure I'd love it if it had a 3MP+ camera with autofous, xenon flash and face detection, file saving (and editing) 640x480@30fps video recording, stereo bluetooth headset support, bluetooth file transfer, flash, java, multitasking, a slide out qwerty keyboard, expandable memory, exchangeable battery, and if it cooked and buttered my toast each morning, but those features would triple the price and complexity, lower the battery life and stuff its slick form factor, and create a whole heap of new technical problems with what is essentially a simple to use powerful phone/multimedia/internet/email GPS device with the capability to constantly grow with new apps and toys.

Apple has always been about simplicity and intuitive user-friendly design, and the iPhone delivers this experience in droves. So much so that a tech nerd like me was happy to forgo more advanced features for the pure joy of using the phone on an every day basis. Surfing the net with Safari is simply awesome and will only get better when flash support is added (this has been confirmed by the way). The N95 looks ancient with its clunky interface, awkwarkd hardkey navigation, and low res screen in comparison (while obviously addmittedly blitzing the iPhone in terms of camera/video support and overall features).

Personally I already have a seperate 7.2MP compact Canon camera and haven't seen snaps from any phone that come close to it's quality yet (its all about the quality of lens, flash, chipset, and amount of processing and compression - megapixels aint everything people!) so I couldn't care less about the megapixel count of something that will probably come out blurry and over-compressed half the time regardless (the N95 while better than the vast majority of phones is still nothing compared to a dedicated camera with less compression, dediciated processing, and high quality Xenon flash).

Persoanlly for a device with a a tiny lens and 2 megapxiel camera I've been quite impressed by the basic geo-tagged snaps the iPhone can take so far and that's really all I need it for (although basic video support would be handy I'll admit).

As we've already witnessed with the huge number of touchscreen phones now announced since the original iPhone release, Apple have really stirred up the market with their new device (just as they did with the music industry with the ipod and iTunes which many many people also hate) and persoanlly I think they deserve every bit of success they will reap with the iPhone 3G. While basic in implementation, its an absolute pleasure to use and I cant wait to see what their future phones are like and what functionality i can add to my exisiting phone as the Appstore and firmware matures.

In the meantime other competitors are announcing amazing looking phones to compete with Apple like the Sony Xperia X1 (which looks like it packs the functionality of the iPhone with everything the iPhone lacks at a much higher price) and with powerhouse Android and nVidia chipset based phones on the way over the next two years it will be definitely be an awesome time for new phones and portable multimedia devices in general. Like it or not the iPhone have shaken up the market and changed phones (and associated call and data plans from telecommunication providers) forever.

And what do we have announced from the so called superior phone market leader Nokia? A "barely indistinguishable from it's predecessor N96" which actually removes 3D hardware acceleration, keeps thee same low res "non-touch screen" and simply adds support for 900Mhz 3G (a plus in some regiana areas but meaningless in metro 2100Mhz 3G areas), a TV tuner that is useless in most parts of the world and it actually downsizes the battery and classes up the aesethetics a little.. Yippee. I really expected better from them after the awesome N95 (which was stunning when it came out, but lets face it's really showing its age now). Funnily enough not many people seem to be whinging about the fact that Nokia appear to be standing still with their "upcoming release" that adds notrhing noteable?

So in Short - iPhone - basic, simple, cool, intuitive, slick and easily expandable - its fresh approach to designa dn navigation is changing the phone market and the way phone manafacturers and telecommucations companies operate forever. There's no doubt it lacks some features that will be added, and some that unfortunately can't be addedd that it SHOULD have had to begin with, but personally I'm missing very few of them and loving using the phone more and more every day.

Other competitors in the meantime will be working hard to deliver killer phones with similar intuitive touchscreen designs with all the features that the iPhone lacks. A good thing wouldn't you agree?

So whether you love it or hate it the iPhone is a great thing for the mobile phone industry, and will benefit all consumers in the long run whether you go for one or not.

In the meantime I'll be using a combination of my iPhone, N95, laptop and dedicated Canon camera until the Sony Xperia X1 (and similar advanced devices) have proven to be as good as they look and work as well as they sound on paper :-)

  • Reply
  • 2008-08-22 13:36
  • vu{j

> In reply to mark @ 2008-08-19 22:49 from mmNjHi..
I actually don't like the iPhone 3g because it does not have video recording software,it doesnt download files from the internet such as songs,it can't transfer files through bluetooth,it can't upload images or videos on online sites like facebook so what i think is that iphone's just a waste of money..

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  • 2008-08-21 14:16
  • M@T2

> In reply to Michael Alexander @ 2008-08-18 03:57 from mAMxBeautiful and brilliant UI... Although I agree feature wise it does not compare to a Nokia N95 or a HTC Touch Diamond. I just upgraded from a touch diamond to an Iphone 3g and I cant have enough of this phone. It depends on your priorities, If you are happy with the basic functionality of a phone, then the Iphone 3g is a great device. Esp viewing videos and the ipod feature is fab!!!!

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  • 2008-08-21 12:55
  • pS0v

I don't think it's hyped at all. People actually tried this phone out and loved it, and that is what created the stir. Apple simply produced this product, if it's crappy, I don't think that it would sell and cause phones to evolve to the direction it's heading to right now. I don't think the Touch Diamond or the Omnia or the Viewty and other full touchscreen phones would have popped out of the scene if not for the iphone. They all hopped on the iphone bandwagon. The iphone is revolutionary, not merely a hyped product like antagonists would want it to be.

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  • 2008-08-21 10:02
  • 4TAp

I loved the tag line very much "Twice the hype, half the novelty"

It says it all.

Thanks for an honest and excellent review.

Greatly appreciated.

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  • 2008-08-20 06:28
  • S1xp

oh dear why are so many people complaining to Apple over the I-Phone 3G. mmm was a rushed device me think so.

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  • 2008-08-19 22:49
  • mmNj

The nice thing about this phone is that not everybody has one at this moment. Only several millions of mobile phone users have an Apple-made phone, while more than a billion own a Nokia. The device has it's weak spots, but most of them can be fixed by new firmware updates. It's all about what you want your phone to do. If you want to browse the web, listen to music, watch movies and install the best mobile applications ever, then iPhone is the best choice by far...

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  • 2008-08-18 03:57
  • mAMx

nice iphone 3g :}

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  • 2008-08-17 22:06
  • 0V3F

Switched from long-term Nokia & Sony Ericsson owner to Apple iPhone a few months back and have since upgraded to the 3G version.

Make no mistake, this is by far the best mobile phone available.

Apple have set the benchmark.. its time for the rest to catch up!

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  • 2008-08-16 09:46
  • pKDh

iPhone is just a glorified iPod with phone functionality. Nothing wrong with that if that's what you're looking for... iPhone is aimed at simpletons. It's not designed for tech savvy people. It's for those people who wants an iPod but at the same time don't want to carry a separate simpleton phone.

Funny most people in the US don't know about world phones and how much more sophisticated they are. They're a 3rd world in terms of mobile/cell phones. They only recently implemented 3G and it's still not available in many parts of the states. Geez, only about a decade behind...

iPhone does beat other phones on one count and that is the UI. Apple are great in that area and comes from experience with their macs. UI, hardware design, aesthetics has always been their strong points.

I've used iPHone extensively but would never buy one, simply because there are just too many shortcomings and their 'walled garden' approach. Whoever turned the into M$???!!! Remember all the jokes about M$ for Apple fanboys?

We all know there are tons of features even some very basic features that are missing on the iPHone. There walled garden approach just makes things worse.

I think Apple is the only company to have so many fanboys. Most of us don't have any allegiance with any company and I would happily switch depending who is producing the best tech for my needs.

  • Reply
  • 2008-08-16 03:04
  • nS9h

One thing I don't like about it is that you are unable to save files. However, I do want to get an iPhone because my vongamer .com wallpapers will look awesome on the super colorful screen!!

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  • 2008-08-16 00:15
  • b7AD

> In reply to aNgelo G @ 2008-08-15 08:07 from 4x74After reviewing your camera standpoint, I notice it's quite contradicting. I'm assuming your rhetorical question "So what is the point of having a 8mp, 5mp or 2mp?" was being applied to mobile devices solely. Yet, prior to that statement, you mentioned "...most of user use a camera as a point and shot. Look at it, upload it on the web and shares it. They don't care about the real features of it". Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't images taken with a stand alone digital camera follow the same processes? From sites like Myspace to Facebook, aren't most photos being taken with some type of stand alone digital camera, uploaded, and then cropped? So shouldn't the same attitude taken with mobile devices questionable megapixel count, be applied towards digital cameras as well. I feel so.

Take a look at this blog.
http://amnesiablog.wordpress.c...s-nokia-n95/

Obviously enough, the quality of images differ greatly, but pay attention to the images sizes, the possible PRINT sizes. This is where the 5 megapixels enter.

I think you missed the point in my previous post regarding the Nokia N95 when I stated "...isn't known for just its 5 megapixel ability. Unlike most camera phones, the lens equipped on the Nokia N95 is of prestigious quality..." Images resulting from the combined attributes of the Carl Zeiss optics and the 5 megapixel CMOS sensor of the Nokia N95 definitively presented challenges to the stand alone digital camera world.

Ultimately the Nokia N95 may not beat a full pledge camera, but within time, surely enough mobile camera phones will be in the same ranks as stand alone cameras.

I'm sorry but I'm quite confused regarding your fifth paragraph. You start with conversations of phone hacking, then to an evolving community, then off topics talks of MAC vs PC. I seriously tried to understand your point. I will though respond to your question of have I or did I ever hack a phone. No, I have not. Reason being, I need no extended functionality. I now pose the same question to you with the addition, "...if the OS of the iPhone is so wonderful, why the needed hack?" In my opinion, being a great OS is more than just being a "smooth OS". I feel it's quite "stupid" to introduce a SMARTPHONE, a device built to perform PC like functions, and severely handicapped the OS, to where hacks are needed to enjoy what the device was build for.

Again, you misunderstood my point concerning connectivity options. The ONLY way an iPhone can transfer an image to another mobile device is by WIFI. My previous asked question was if there was no available WIFI signal to do this, what other connectivity options do you have MOBILE to MOBILE? Not MOBILE, PC, then to MOBILE either. In other words, if you took a group photo, and your friend asked "Hey, can you send me that pic on my phone?", what could you possibly do? Respond with, "...if you can find me a WIFI signal I can..."? What if your friend has a low end device? What then? Point being yet again "...in this league, there are many "must have" functions, users and developers alike, have adopted in which the iPhone lack..."

Like most, you really don't know what flash is. Your H.264 comment proved that. H.264 is a type of compression, an encoding. H.264 encoded content results in better picture quality, better (lower) bit rates for streaming, and smaller overall file sizes compared to past versions. This codec can be used in many file formats. A decoder is what renders the codec. When specifically talking about rendering flash content, a flash player is needed. FlashLite is a mobile flash player, a decoder. There are 3 versions. The Nokia N95 8Gb supports the most recent version of Flashlite straight out the box. FlashLite 3 supports most of Flash 8 content, as well as the codec H.264. This means I can fully and completely view sites like Youtube on my phone's browser, just like if I was browsing it at home on my PC. The most recent Flash update is Flash 9. This is most known for High Definition video which, NO, FlashLite 3 don't support unlike a PC browser...yet.

Nokia my not have a "King Phone", but they surely did build a masterpiece. A masterpiece which set an industry standard in high end device development. Can Apple say the same about the iPhone? Remember. Touchscreen phones have been out way before the iPhone. Same goes for large VGA resolution, or higher, screen equipped phones. So again, I ask you?

  • Reply
  • 2008-08-15 19:54
  • 4ZxV

> In reply to Ying @ 2008-08-14 21:35 from q28eHi Ying
Basically, I have to admit that most of your points are very truthful. Sorry about mentioning the perfect phone, I wanted to say ideal.

I will come back to camera features on a phone. You are right, most of user use a camera as a point and shot. Look at it, upload it on the web and shares it. They don't care about the real features of it. So what is the point of having a 8mp, 5mp or 2mp? Doesn't change much to them. Lens are very important, and most of phone don't do optical zoom. I work in the web environment as a web designer and picture quality is crucial. A phone will never beat a camera. It is proven so far that a device that is made with a certain purpose will not be crushed by a multi functional device ( unless we are talking about a computer). Never less, my point is that a camera on a phone is one of the least important features people should argue about. It has to be good enough to show up right on your mobile device and on your monitor, but uploading to the web, shrinking it, changing the aspect ration and so on are things common people don't think about. So what is the point of having a 2520 x 1984 resolution when most of the people don't use that resolution for common tasks?

Yes the iPhone is simple. Most of what is simple is best. Having to much is like not having enough.

For the MS Exchange purpose I can't say anything about it because I am not aware of it. I don't use that kind of service. I just know they added it in version 2.0, but can't comment about it.

One question I do have for you Ying: Do you or did you have a hacked phone? Did you take the time to add what necessary utilities you need to make your experience better? Why something better then something else? A community that evolves around a product greatly increases it's value. Symbian is great because it's open source. OS x is good because a lot of people took their time to build great applications around it. When was the last time you used a smooth OS as this? U work on a PC or a MAC? I work on both. From windows 98, to 2000 to xp and now vista 64. It's good but most of it's innovative features come from Apple. Apple was always ahead of time in OS user experience and stability. MACs don't crush as much as PCs. Yes I still love my Vista machine cause it costs me half the price to upgrade the hardware.

Transferring images or files? You can enable MMS, bluetooth transfer, iPhone to iPhone transfer or Wifi. You install SSH and you can brows your phone from your comp via WIFI. You can access all internal files and do wtv you want.

Let's talk about browser. Hummm Flash, what 98% computer browsers have...but what about mobile devices.....Flash???...WRONG....it's flash mobile or flash light. Yea ok you can see some flash content, but good luck getting h.264 or any new features on that. Unless I am wrong, no cellphone has real Flash capabilities. Just to let you know, Apple is working with Adobe to actually make it happen.

Java.... you are right, it lacks that and should have it.

Multitasking: yep one of the biggest deception in the iPhone. I do miss my n82 for that matter, but I dead hear rumors about upcoming multitasking capabilities in the future software update. Gotto wait to see it.

"The differences between the iPhone and the other manufacturers, the other manufacturers upgrades aren't so drastic yet pointless and leave consumers greatly unfulfilled. They still have the choice of maintaining their "old" devices, but can still go head to head with the "newer" ones." Sorry but you are wrong on this one. Nokia even admitted their mistake. Nokia does great phones, but they don't have a King phone that they can advertise as "THE PHONE".

Motorola is going down in the cellphone industry because they overkilled the Razr look.

Sony Ericson is missing out on more and more stander features: one of the biggest WIFI. Also, it's a personal taste, but SE has the worst interface ever.

On and on with each company.

My point is not to say that the iPhone is king of phones, it's just to say that with it's great involvement from developers and Apple, it achieves great success. I hatted when people talk shit ( I am not talking about you Ying, cause obviously you bring good arguments to the table).

  • Reply
  • 2008-08-15 08:07
  • 4x74

> In reply to aNgelo G @ 2008-08-14 15:23 from kxJ{I'm sorry aNgelo G, but do you honestly KNOW what you are talking about?

Regarding your most recent post, "5mp camera so what? It's good for taking random pictures, no camera phone on the camera is like a true camera...", the Nokia N95 isn't known for just its 5 megapixel ability. Unlike most camera phones, the lens equipped on the Nokia N95 is of prestigious quality. The Nokia N95 is one of the few rare phones that incorporated a high quality lens to accommodate the CMOS sensors. I would think a previous so called owner of the Nokia N82, and someone bold enough to state "By the way, mega pixel is not what counts, but lens!" would know and recognize that. Furthermore, the purpose of ANY camera is only "good for taking random pictures", unless you're a professional photographer, which the average consumer is not. Question. Are you suggesting the average consumer purchase a single $300-$600 digital camera over devices which not only offer high quality imagery, but advance options to send and share those precious "random pictures" on the spot?

In reply to aNgelo G @ 2008-08-14 05:05 from 4x74

The iPhone is simple, much like you and everyone else who proclaims this device. It's because of this simplicity the device is popular, or even "good" for that matter. Beyond that, the iPhone is not worthy to be dubbed as a smartphone. In my opinion, the iPhone doesn't differ much from a typical ordinary mobile phone.

What you and many others need to understand is that iPhone is classified as a smartphone. In this league, there are many "must have" functions, users and developers alike, have adopted in which the iPhone lack. Your statement ".....so stop complaining about mms, bluetooth and so on. You can use wifi or adhoc to transfer in between phones" proves why the iPhone "sucks". Given the scenario where the other phone did not support WIFI, or a WLAN signal was not available, please explain the possibility of a simple image transfer then.

The main factor when deciding "best browser" is how closely a mobile browser mimics the PC browser. The iPhone is quite far from being the "best browser" as you so diligently put it. Try viewing the 360 degree view of the precious iPhone. Unsuccessful? The iPhone safari browser lacks flash support and java.

Much like the overall conception of the iPhone, the UI is too simple. The iPhone has an open one application limit. Multitasking is essential in the smartphone world. The only thing Apple pushed in the UI field are the highly attractive icon designs and animations.

I do agree with your statement when you noted Apple is "playing it smart". Either consumers are really that ignorant, or Apple's marketing is just that marvelous. The iPhone 3G has nothing more to offer over the original iPhone other than HSPDA and GPS. Based on your concept of "upgrading", that in detail would require the multiple purchases of redundant devices whenever Apple decides to upgrade slightly or in your terms, come closer to the perfect phone. I'm sorry but technology advances with time. There will never be a "perfect phone". The IDEAL phone is one that can adapt with the ever so changing technology.

Yes. Consumers will all eventually replace, upgrade, their devices. The differences between the iPhone and the other manufacturers, the other manufacturers upgrades aren't so drastic yet pointless and leave consumers greatly unfulfilled. They still have the choice of maintaining their "old" devices, but can still go head to head with the "newer" ones.

  • Reply
  • 2008-08-14 21:35
  • q28e

unsure if anyone has mentioned this one, but if you want it to pick up your corpoarate email via Exchange through a SSL connection, the phone does not support self signed certificates, basically most small to medium sized businesses that create their own certificates. You have to pay for a full authorative certificate from someone like Verisign or Thawte, usually an expensive buy. A major handicap when Windows mobile devices, symbian devices with mail for exchange (eg nokia E90) and blackberry's have no such problems!! Not a business phone!!

  • Reply
  • 2008-08-14 19:31
  • myVd

> In reply to aNgelo G @ 2008-08-14 15:23 from kxJ{"No one yet knowing a better phone?"

Sorry, I cracked. :D

Sorta self-defeating by showing your "blind" fanboy loyalty, doesn't it? Blind to the subpar camera, limited bluetooth, blah blah blah. Just say you like it (despite its obvious limitations) and be done with it.

  • Reply
  • 2008-08-14 19:08
  • Rxcj
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