Apple iPhone 3G – 16GB – black Review
- Jul 06, 2009
                
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We liked: Critical new features that support high-speed 3G networks, third-party apps, expanded e-mail and improved call quality, excellent music especially from the brilliant iTunes App Store and excellent video experiences including iTunes’ movie rental compatibility, video podcast support, dedicated YouTube player, full-screen resizing, autobookmarking, and support for chapter bookmarks and embedded closed captions. We didn’t like: Changing the skin from aluminium,(fingerprints and smudges show up on the new skins whether you’ve chosen black or white) user inability to change the demanding and quickly depleting battery, same old camera with no flash, no mirror for self-portraits and an inability to cope with bright sunlight. The 3G connection was a bit tenuous and e-mail syncing could be improved and deficient support for Flash video content is annoying. Overall: Overall an improved model but coverage/reception in the USA could put buyers off. It’s worth the money if you have the coverage and don’t waste the juice. Spec: OS provided: Apple MacOS X; Talk time: Up to 600 min. Design and Interface Design differences are hard to spot as far as appearance goes; the thinner silver rim and silver mesh that’s behind the speaker, only minimally alter the look but the back now sports a black or white plastic fascia. Slightly tapered edges accommodate the iPhone 3G’s curved back, which irritatingly wobbles on a flat surface, so it is thinner around the perimeter now and marginally thicker by 0.02 inch. Measurements are the same (5.5 x 2.4 inches) and it weighs slightly less (0.1 ounce). The display size is the same as its predecessor with slightly more dots now per inch (163 vs.160); fluid movements, colors and sharp graphics are still there. Two new icons now join the home screen display: A Contacts icon to take you directly to phone book, and an App Store icon that opens the amazing iTunes App Store. iPhone’s home button is situated beneath the display and the volume rocker sits on the left of the spine along with the ringer mute switch. The controls are silver now rather than black and in the box; Apple has included a nifty SIM removal tool. At the base of the iPhone there’s the speaker, microphone, and charger port. The iPhone 3G thankfully has a 3.5mm headset jack that sits flush allowing use of any choice of 3.5mm headset now. The box holds a syncing cable, display cleaning cloth, headset, user documentation, removal tool for the SIM, and an electrical outlet plug that is compatible with any standard USB cable. There is no syncing dock so if you would like one, you’ll have to purchase one for $30 – Apple made sure its iPhone 3G wouldn’t fit in the earlier iPhone’s dock! The iPhone 3G proffers settings for both Exchange server and for MobileMe e-mail accounts that will sync all your Outlook e-mail, contacts, and calendar but though it supports multiple POP3 accounts concurrently (for instance, two Yahoo accounts), it will sync only with one Exchange server and of equal concern, with only one contact list or calendar at a time. This can be overcome by syncing your e-mail without syncing contacts and calendar. Personal e-mail and work accounts can be kept open simultaneously but you’ll have to make sure you switch between them (unlike on BlackBerry). MobileMe, from Apple, provides an alternative means of working around this problem. If iPhone loses Wi-Fi connection, syncing is interrupted despite 3G service. Syncing via 3G proves equally efficient but if your 3G connection is rickety, it takes longer. When data connection is only weak, the deletion and moving of messages can be tricky. Accessing all in-box folders and moving messages to a specified folder from the in-box is easy but searching for messages is not though you can call contacts if they included their phone number within their e-mail. To open attachments is a cinch as is saving attached images directly into your photo gallery by tapping on the image. PPS attachments can be opened and viewed in e-mails though you cannot edit them. Photo e-mailing has to be done conventionally by opening the photograph, choosing the e-mail option then selecting the account from which you’d like it sent. Big attachments aren’t terrific and on e-mail imbedded JPEG images don’t show. Beware – use of Exchange server support will require a business data plan (costing $45 per month) though iPhone don’t prompt you about this. On selection of the iTunes Store, you are taken to the main menu of the App Store, where searching applications by category and name you may browse through their Top 25 or lists of Featured applications. Wi-Fi downloads are nice and fast, only a few seconds though of course the app’s size will affect speed. Without Wi-Fi, apps less than 10Mb can still be downloaded over a 3G network or over EDGE (should 3G be unavailable). Navigation is easy and after loading your apps, the icons are displayed on your Home screen. With 3G, expect Safari to deliver speeds around 300Kbps to 500Kbps, sometimes faster. Loading web pages takes only seconds via 3G though having decent coverage helps. iPhone 3G employs Assisted GPS and satellites to better pinpoint location and offers live tracking for monitoring progress as you move along. On foot it was quite accurate with only the occasional blip caused by tall buildings or underpass interference. In a car, it wasn’t quite as precise. Google Maps may provide point-to-point directions in the iPhone 3G, however, it doesn’t support any turn-by-turn direction happening in real time. The iPod icon in the main menu shows a submenu of all content transferred from the computer’s own iTunes media library – podcasts, music and videos – and by default, includes shortcut icons identifying Artists, Playlists, Songs, and Video, which you can change if a different option suited you better. Apart from Apple products you can stream music from Pandora and AOL directly to iPhone – don’t expect to be able to play anything originating from Windows. For the best music performance from the phone you should probably invest in some good quality headphones. There’s a scientific calculator once you tip the phone to its side, parental controls to restrict access to explicit songs or the Safari browser perhaps and language support is available in 20 different language keyboards. There’s remote wipe (enabling data erase in case of theft or loss of phone) and integration with Cisco IPSec VPN for remote network access. Calendar colors, screen captures and a helpful new interface for password entering also feature. (The screen gives a temporary display of the last character entered to verify you haven’t mistyped.) The iPhone 3G possesses louder volume and much clearer audio and it is noticeably better than its predecessor for hearing at a whole host and variety of strangely positioned angles; there’s no longer the need to wave the phone about to find a sweet spot. Even in noisy environments, the iPhone is not difficult to hear and whether using GSM or 3G, reception didn’t vary. iPhone 3G has also improved on its performance over speakerphone calls. The iPhone’s external speaker now creates a louder output so callers can hear well. Typically, voices don’t sound just as natural, hardly a sinister thing and not unexpected on a speakerphone. Using automated calling systems doesn’t appear to show any problems either, the iPhone is understood by both regular and speakerphone calls. Tested with an Aliph Jawbone 2 the iPhone enjoyed first-class audio quality and as the handset autopairs happily with Jawbone 2 it avoids the need for a passcode. Even with a strong AT&T signal the 3G connection does still waver in buildings or any large construction that impedes the signal like underpasses, tunnels or large office blocks and reception remains an issue particularly in the USA, even urban areas. FCC radiation tests, declare iPhone 3G’s highest digital SAR at1.38 watts per kg. It is all fine and dandy to have your office in your pocket and to be able to perform all the wonderful functions, use all the magnificent applications and show off with this phone but if you are availing of the 3G elements you’ll run out of juice pretty quickly – it’s hard on the old battery. Apple has rated iPhone 3G’s battery at five hours talk time using 3G and ten hours using AT&T’s standard cellular network; there’s six hours Internet time via Wi-Fi, or five hours with 3G; seven hours video playback; a whole day (24 hours) available of music playback; with a standby time 12.5 days long. Testing seems to suggest that the manufacturer’s rating isn’t too unrealistic in real-world situations though it might be wise to err on the side of caution and lower your expectations a little. Some results have shown 4.95 hours (that’s very nearly the claimed 5) of 3G talk time and using EDGE the iPhone managed talk time of 8.75 hours (a bit short on the 10 hour claim). Playbacks for music and video, found that the iPhone 3G’s battery was capable of 25.5 hours audio playback (a reasonable reflection) but only 2.7 hours video playback (somewhat shy of the 7 hours claim) but this was when 3G was set to active. It seems that 3G does produce an unnecessary strain on performance/battery life so you should be advised to turn it off when you are not using it – an annoying thing to have to constantly do but worthwhile when you can enjoy things for longer and not have your session cut short. There have been improvements also to iPhone’s file transfer speed. Before, a single 500MB file used to take 1.6 minutes for transfer but now only takes the iPhone 3G 1.4 minutes. It might not seem a lot but all speed improvements are welcome. When compared to a same Samsung Instinct taking 4.28 minutes you can see the iPhone 3G’s quite pacey. In the real world when you are using the phone with all the bad habits you ordinarily possess the endurance isn’t quite as spectacular as the lab test claims are. Everyday Joe testers noticed the battery life of the iPhone 3G drops more quickly than on Apple’s original model, for the most part when employing GPS or the 3G network, which is to be expected. However, after only a couple of hours use, battery life dropped around 30 percent. With the large colour displays, which are magnificent, it’s no wonder the battery drains quickly and you should expect that more juice would be required with constant switching between applications. Reports have come back that even over a day of moderate use, its battery can be depleted by late evening despite our tester applying an iPhone 2.1 software update that promises to improve/extend battery life. With the iPhone 3G activation can no longer take place via iTunes. Now you must activate your phone and get your new contract signed either in an Apple store or an AT&T store. There’s still more to do…once you have left the store with your new phone in your pocket, you’ll have to get it synced with an iTunes account after initially downloading the latest iTunes 7.7 update (download for Windows or Mac) first. Should you be a customer who is replacing an original iPhone, don’t forget to make sure that you have backed up any or all of your data from your old iPhone first, which you’ll be able then to transfer to your brand new handset so that it contains all the information you are used to and can’t do without. As before, there’s no problem syncing multiple iPhones to a single iTunes account. |
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