Apple's iPhone 3G: Great, But Needs Work
The new iPhone is a definite improvement over the old one, but be prepared to spend a lot of time reading the manual
by
Olga Kharif
Technology
Story Tools
Editor's Rating:
The Good: Beautiful design, lots of cool features and applications to try
The Bad: The learning curve is steep, and some features don't work well
The Bottom Line: Good choice if you like touchscreen phones and don't mind taking time to learn how to use features
Reader Reviews
After testing Apple's (
AAPL) original iPhone last year, I didn't regret having to ship it back. The phone was slow, so browsing the Web was a pain. And it wouldn't let me to take a call while continuing to browse the Web—a feature that many other phones offered at that point. With the new iPhone 3G, though, I'm torn. There are lots of wonderful things about the gadget that I'll miss. At the same time, the latest version still needs work.
On the plus side, while the iPhone 3G is expensive, its price is comparable with that of similar devices from other manufacturers. Research In Motion's (
RIMM) BlackBerry Curve, which offers Global Positioning System (GPS), a Qwerty keyboard, and a full browser, costs $150 with a two-year contract at AT&T (
T) vs. $199 for Apple's least expensive iPhone 3G model. Unlimited BlackBerry and iPhone data plans at AT&T cost the same: $30 a month. At Sprint Nextel (
S), the Samsung Instinct costs $130 with a two-year contract, and an unlimited data and voice plan will set you back by $100 a month—the typical bill an iPhone 3G owner will run up.
The iPhone 3G design is amazing—and different from the original iPhone in subtle but important ways. The 3G version is more rounded in the back, so it fits in the palm of your hand better and feels more substantial. The new model contains 10 wireless radios vs. just six in the original model, so the phone can access more carriers' networks worldwide and offer GPS capabilities. With the new device you can multitask, surfing the Web while taking a call at the same time.
Snazzy Software
But the best part is the software. I loved being able to easily associate photos and map locations with people on my contacts list, to save photos received via e-mail directly into my photo albums, and to see who left me voice mails (a capability called visual voice mail that was a hit with the prior iPhone as well). I could also get keyboards in 20 languages, including my native tongue, Russian.
The Safari browser lets you keep open as many as eight Web pages at the same time—a capability I've not seen on other smartphones. You can also save your favorite sites as icons on your home page for quicker access. And there is the big one: access to Apple's App Store, offering access to hundreds of cool third-party applications, such as news and games and related reviews.
Ironically, it's also the software area where I felt let down. Applications that come preloaded onto the device are a mixed bag. You can use the phone's iTunes application to purchase songs, but not podcasts. You have to download the latter onto your iTunes account first, then sync up the phone. The Stocks application had a 20-minute delay (many online services already offer real-time quotes).
GPS, which is one of the main selling points of the new iPhone, isn't fully integrated with the preloaded software. Instead of using the GPS capability to automatically link me with weather forecasts for my current location, I had to manually set up my city to get local weather. The included Maps application could use GPS to track my movements on a map, but didn't provide turn-by-turn navigation instructions in a convenient way. A slide may say, "Turn right onto Burnside Rd." long after you've made that turn (and the accompanying map shows that you've made it). I had to flip to the next direction manually—clearly, not something I am going to do while driving. I would have expected Apple to start offering turn-by-turn, voice-enabled directions by now.