iPhone 3G

Today saw the worldwide release of Apple's new 3G iPhone. It didn't seem possible for a gadget to get as much hype as the iPhone did when it was released last year, but the madness has continued for this second generation. We've had a play, checked out the features, and guaged international reaction to the new version of the ultimate gadget of ultimate destiny.

But the launch hasn't gone smoothly. Any new iPhone needs to be activated using iTunes upon purchase, but the activation servers have been hammered and have actually been totally down for several hours now, resulting in customers being sent home with an non-activated iPhone, and unable to activate it when they get home. Some suppliers are also insisting hat iPhones are activated in-store (to prevent them being taken away and unlocked), but the activation failure means they won't be able to take their new iPhones home after purchase.

The main difference in this second iteration of Apple's flagship product is 3G communication, allowing significantly faster data transfer, enabling a decent web browsing experience anywhere with a 3G signal. The Americans haven't been too bothered about 3G, since it hasn't been fully rolled out across the pond; but here in the UK 3G is pretty much in every urban area. This has previously made the iPhone less attractive to UK customers than comparable 3G smartphones, but no longer.


So what else is new? The rear casing is now shiny black smudge-magnet plastic instead of aluminium, which is to prevent interference with the radio antennas inside. Maps now has GPS support, backed up with online data and geotagging for pictures you take. Microsoft Exchange is now supported, but not for tasks, and it seems to totally override any other form of contact list on the phone. There's also a new Apps Store, a centralised repository of iPhone applications. Other minor additions include a contacts search, view more attachments and a thrilling new scientific calculator!

Not everyone's wishlists for the new iPhone have been realised. Key features such as video recording, MMS capability, voice dialling, copy & paste and SMS forwarding are all missing. The inbuilt camera still tops out at 2MP, Flash isn't supported and predictive text can't be disabled properly. The inbuilt accelerometer can flip the screen horizontally, but this doesn't work for all applications, and the three most writing-intensive applications (notes, e-mail, and maps) won't let you type in landscape, meaning you still have to use frustrating single-finger prodding rather than thumb-typing.

Overall, the new iPhone 3G is a definite improvement, and is certainly the snazziest phone on the market with the best user interface I've seen - but it still has all the same types of flaws and left-out features of the previous iteration and other Apple products. With all the glamour and hype, it is very easy to overlook these. If you must have the latest and best gadget, there is absolutely no alternative - this is an awesome piece of kit - but the serious business users should probably look elsewhere... at least until the inevitable 3rd party software irons out the kinks.

See Also: 10 Things the 3G iPhone is Still Missing (Washington Post), Apple, O2 UK