Apple iPhone 3G (8GB/16GB)
Click Below to Read the Rest of This Review:
Page 1 - Introducing the iPhone 3G: The Phone, Package, and Pack-Ins Page 2 - The Process: Pricing, Buying and Activating the iPhone 3G Page 3 - What's Changed: 3G Data Services Page 4 - What's Changed: GPS Page 5 - What's Changed: Battery Life, Audio, Interference, and Video Page 6 - What's Changed: The Phone Page 7 - What's Changed: iPhone Software 2.0 Page 8 - What's Stayed Mostly the Same: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Camera Page 9 - Accessory Compatibility, Defects, and Warranty Coverage Page 10 - Conclusions
Last year, Apple did everything imaginable to generate hype for its first mobile phone, the iPhone (iLounge rating: B+).
It spent months teasing people with crumbs of information, transforming
its favorite journalists into spokesmen for the product, and
encouraging customers to form long lines at its stores. The result was
a tidal wave of free publicity that instantly established the iPhone as
another amazing icon of Apple design, but once the dust cleared, it was
obvious that the hype hadn’t translated into iPod-like sales: high
prices and slow data speeds had kept mainstream customers away. Price
drops in the United States and overseas spurred additional demand, but
it was quickly apparent that something more was needed.
Apple’s release of the new iPhone 3G ($199/8GB, $299/16GB)
is proof positive that the company—despite what some of its most ardent
apologists or detractors might claim—is capable both of making big
mistakes and learning from them. It is a rapid second attempt to get
closer to the product that customers actually wanted, namely a device
with the same interface, only cheaper, faster, and more widely
available, and though it makes some significant stumbles of its own, it
mostly achieves these goals. Inside are new cellular chips and
antennas, while the outside has a sleeker but less expensive-looking
body, and the box is familiar, yet marked with a lower initial price
tag. It is, perhaps intentionally, what the iPod 3G was to the original
iPod: mostly the same thing, but cheaper to make, cheaper to sell, and
capable of much more than its pre-installed software would suggest.
Unfortunately, the iPhone 3G’s improvements are offset by
regressions that make it less of a joy to use than its now-discontinued
predecessor. Just like the iPod 3G before it, battery life has fallen
behind to a startling level, and the screen quality has taken a step
backwards; there are other surprises that Apple, in a continuation of a
disturbing trend that began last year, tried to keep quiet until as
late as possible. All of these issues, and much more, are discussed in
our comprehensive 10-page review of the iPhone 3G, which includes
extensive testing results from four of our editors located inside and
outside of the United States. To ease reading, we’ve included both
links to individual pages and convenient executive summaries of their
contents. Enjoy.
The Phone, Package, and Pack-Ins
Executive Summary: While Apple has preserved the core features of
the original iPhone and its packaging, and added new internal hardware,
the iPhone 3G has stepped downwards in both casing and pack-ins from
the original iPhone.
“Don’t mess with a good thing” is about as perennially wise as maxims
get, and Apple generally knows as much: for years, it has kept its
MacBook and MacBook Pro designs generally the same as their iBook and
PowerBook predecessors, the Mac Pro hardly changed from the Power Mac
G5 that inspired it, and the Mac mini looks the same as it did three
years ago. Sure, Apple makes tweaks here and there, and certainly has
new enclosures in the works, but the company no longer discards its
best designs after only a year on the market—unless there’s a reason.
With the exception of the phone itself, the rest of Apple’s iPhone
3G package looks incredibly familiar: a small, attractive cardboard box
opens to reveal the plastic-wrapped iPhone 3G on top of a tray, on top
of a small collection of manuals, on top of a handful of accessories.
Most of the iPhone 3Gs manufactured are black 8-Gigabyte models, with
7.1GB of usable storage capacity; the rest are either black or white
16-Gigabyte models with 14.6GB of empty space. The black ones come in
black boxes, and the white ones in white ones, each with the identical
front of the iPhone 3G on its face. Silver is used to represent the
device’s front bezel, as well as the iPhone 3G and Apple logos on its
other sides. Capacities are indicated only on the back of the box; they
have not doubled since last year.
There is little remarkable about the contents of each package. As
with the prior iPhone and all of its iPods, you get a USB cable and
stereo headphones, brief instructions, and a couple of Apple stickers.
There’s also a black screen cleaning cloth, a metal SIM card removal
tool, and in the United States, a redesigned version of the 2006 USB Power Adapter.
This one is smaller and easier to carry than the last, but usable only
in countries with identical wall blades, a potential inconvenience for
foreign travelers. International versions of the phone include the old
Adapter, with blades specific to their countries. Gone from all of the
packages are the original iPhone’s Dock, which has been redesigned to fit the iPhone 3G and is now sold separately for $29.
That brings us to the iPhone 3G itself. Praise for the original
iPhone’s physical design was unanimous last year: without question,
Apple had found a way to make a touchscreen-based phone classy,
relatively resilient, and completely intuitive. Matte metal and plastic
rear and side casings were offset by small touches of chrome and a
glass screen cover that all proved scratch-resistant, though not
completely scratch-proof—like the MacBook Pro, it was a major step up
from the company’s easily marred iPods and MacBooks. Its crowning
feature was a 3.5-inch, 480x320-pixel display that was considerably
better in every way than the ones in then-current iPods, perfectly
sized for watching movies, viewing album art, and even playing games.
Though some had hoped that Apple would release a smaller flip phone,
the broad consensus was that the original device was perfectly sized
and shaped for a smartphone, particularly given its ability to browse
full-sized web pages.
With the iPhone 3G, Apple has kept most of the elements in the same
general places as last time, but otherwise has regressed aesthetically
from the original case design. We will glide right through the
dimensions, which buck recent Apple trends by measuring larger in every
dimension than the original iPhone, if only slightly: the original
iPhone measured 4.5” (115mm) tall by 2.4” (61mm) wide by 0.46” (11.6mm)
deep, and weighed 4.8 ounces (135 grams). iPhone 3G measures 0.5mm
taller, 1.1mm wider, and 0.7mm thicker, and weighs an also
imperceptibly different 4.7 ounces (133 grams). To offset these
changes, Apple has used a more tapered casing, which is thicker at the
center than at the edges; the result is that iPhone 3G no longer lays
flat on a table, instead rocking back and forth on its arched back.
None of these changes, which result in the iPhone 3G’s still black,
still glass face having a little more of each on the left and right
than before, really matter; it’s the rear casing that provokes negative
reactions. Gone is the just-right matte silver and black casing,
replaced by decidedly cheaper-looking glossy black or white plastic. As
suggested before, Apple wouldn’t have discarded the original iPhone’s
classy casing design in favor of this one without a reason, and you can
decide for yourself whether that reason is “cost reduction” or “because
there are so many wireless antennas inside that there’s no way to use a
partially metal shell any more.” We lean heavily towards the first
theory.
The black and white iPhone 3G models both attract fingerprints to an
unprecedented degree, but the black version is much worse, despite the
fact that we otherwise prefer the color. We would normally be reluctant
to use the word “nauseating” in a discussion of Apple products, but the
way that our iPhone 3G looked when it arrived at our office—covered in
the fingerprints and smudges of the AT&T employee who opened the
box and activated it—was just that disgusting. These photos show how
the iPhone 3G looked straight out of the box when we began our
photography session; it’s obvious why Apple was so afraid to let people
photograph it after its WWDC unveiling.
There is some good news. The included cleaning cloth can bring the
black iPhone 3G closer to cleanliness—assuming you carry it around—and
if you don’t mind seeing your phone constantly looking dirty, the black
version is fine. Unfortunately, our chrome Apple logo was already
permanently scratched by the time we opened the package ourselves;
expect the same thing to happen if your phone, like ours, is left on a
hard surface during an in-store activation process.
A better option is to buy either a protective case or the white iPhone
3G. Everybody thought that Apple was moving away from white plastics
when it discontinued the first-generation iPod nano and
fifth-generation iPod, but the iPhone 3G’s white version has
rejuvenated the color. Though it still picks up fingerprints, they’re
nowhere near as obvious as on the black version, so you won’t notice
blemishes unless they’re from something other than finger oils.
To offset the cheapening of the iPhone 3G’s shell, Apple has swapped
the original iPhone’s black side and top buttons with polished metal
ones, preserved the chrome front bezel, rear Apple logo and
metal-ringed rear camera, and added a chrome ring to the top headphone
port. It has also added all but invisible metal mesh inside the ear
speaker, bottom speaker, and bottom microphone ports, most likely for
the protection of these elements rather than for visual reasons. Though
the changes don’t make up for the rear casing, they’re all welcome
improvements. Two screws are now found on the unit’s bottom alongside
the Dock Connector port, the first fasteners to be visible on literally
any of Apple’s iPod or iPhone devices; only obsessive industrial
designers would mind.
Less conspicuous are are other hardware changes: Apple has shifted the
device’s proximity and ambient light sensors from above the ear speaker
to its left, as well as adding new wireless antennas, a GPS chip, and a
redesigned headphone port that sits flush with the rest of the unit. We
discuss each of these changes in the sections below.
credit and read more -
ilounge.com
Technorati Favorites
One feature that we hoped to see on the iPhone that never existed on
the Palm devices was the ability to dial phone numbers stored in the
database. Unfortunately, uf you tap a phone number in the iPhone
version of SplashID, an “unsupported URL” message appears. We were
assured, however, that this bug would be fixed in a future release of
SplashID.
We ran into problems downloading the
correct version at first, but after working with the vendor, the
procedure went smoothly. The developer is also offering upgrade paths
to the new version of the desktop for free for existing Palm Desktop
owners. Find it [2] 
Pandora
for the iPhone is as easy to use as the website. Just type an artist
you want to hear, it will build a radio station of similar songs and
broadcast them in FMish-quality. The picks are usually accurate, but
the science behind picking them is hilarious: The app explained that I
have a soft spot for "boastin' lyrics" and "headnodic beats". Pandora
works well over Wi-Fi, 3G, and even EDGE.
Made from non-slip silicone, the 
Incipio’s 
July 30th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
well, we all know the story of my internal cracking, but never had a problem with the external casing…
July 30th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Mine is starting to crack near the headphone jack. I bet the black ones are cracking as well, but you just don’t notice as much.
July 30th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
My black iPhone is fine, but then again I’ve never used headsets.
BTW- Is AppleCare available for iPhones in the US? None in Canada yet.
Scary!
July 30th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
My White 3G is flawless. Dealing with MobileMess is headache enough, if this happend to me I think I’d go freaking POSTAL.
July 30th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
My white iPhone 3G is fine. I just swapped it out for a brand new one though…
July 30th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I had some cracks appear in mine after a week and a half, though nothing as severe as the one above. I brought it in and they replaced it straight away, though the first two replacement iPhones they opened had visible defects. So not only is cracking an issue, but quality control is as well. I’m thinking I might exchange my white model for a black one. If my phone is going to crack, I’d rather not see it.
July 30th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I just exchanged my white 16GB iPhone for the new one… Had cracking all around on the top
and same one on the picture above too 
July 30th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Seems to me like abuse… if people took care of their phones that would not happen. The above picture looks like someone bent the headphone plug while it was plugged in. Got mine on day one and looks just like it did that day.
July 30th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I’ve had the white 16GB since July 11 and use the headphone jack daily and have no signs of cracking or wear for that matter.
July 30th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
No problems with mine so far - but I rarely use my phone for music - and that cracking looks like it just couldn’t handle the headphone jacking in. That many pieces of hardware in that amount of time - wouldn’t amaze me too much if there were issues.
July 30th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
I have a black 8GB since July 11. No sign of any cracking. I even dropped mine from waist height on the hardwood floor in the living room. My heart almost broke, but the iphone was intact.
July 30th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
If you look at the pic, you can clearly tell the metal ring around the port is way out-of-round, almost egg shaped. Looks to my un-trained eye like it took a hit with a plug in there. Hard to see how these can be stress cracks. If the impact was to the left, as the plug looks, it would have cracks on the oppisite side like that.
Hey, lets be careful out there…..
July 30th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
I’m with scott. My iphone took a spill onto the concrete patio at my townhouse and if it had been made of plastic, the entire back corner would have cracked seriously. (I have an original, not a 3G.) As it is, there are huge gouges in the metal.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
No cracks on my white iphone. I use the headphone jack but not for running or anything strenuous like that.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Had my white one since the first day, no cracks, no scratches. It’s a great looking phone.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
No crack problems on my black iPhone 3G. Wish I could say the same about some people I run into now and again
July 30th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
i’ve had mine for 1 week, its black and upon readin this i have noticed a tiny crack at the headphone jack