iPhone 3G hands-on
By Ryan Block 
posted June 9th 2008 4:36PM
posted June 9th 2008 4:36PM
- We did a quick data test -- at our location we went from 104Kbps on the EDGE iPhone to 215Kbps on the 3G model. 2x ain't bad, yo.
- The enable/disable 3G setting is real, and buried a few menus deep. There is no automatic switching, Apple just assumes you'll leave 3G on, and that the iPhone has the juice to support that usage.
- It's tri-band 3G, as we reported the other day. This same phone will ship worldwide.
- WiFi is still 802.11b/g, no support for n yet.
- Yes, that GPS is A-GPS, just as we mentioned.
- Geotagging photos is a thumbs-up. We were deep indoors though, so native GPS wasn't working and we couldn't get a clear idea of satellite acquisition time.
- The screen looks exactly the same -- maybe a tiny bit brighter, but the unit was new, so it'd be negligible.
- The camera is identical to the first -- 2 megapixels. No front-facing camera (of course).
- It's certainly thicker feeling, but they rocked it Treo-style and really tapered those edges, so it just doesn't feel that different. But because of that curved back, it'll dance around on your table a little more than your completely-flat original iPhone.
- The plastic back didn't feel too cheap. In fact, it felt pretty solid. It's very glossy, so it'll pick up fingerprints just as well as the glass up front (yay).
- It comes with a ridiculously, absurdly small power adapter. It basically looks like a tiny square with a USB port on one side, and power prongs on the other. It will power any other iDevice (iPod touch, 1st gen iPhone, etc.), and sell separately for those that want a smaller adapter.
- The dock (now sold separately) and adapter (if you want an extra) will both go for something like $29, although that price is not yet confirmed.
- No mention was made of copy/paste, MMS, etc.
- It doesn't look like this thing is going to fit in your old dock. The new dock does look smaller and more sculpted to the new iPhone's curves.
- The headphone jack is flush, as mentioned. It's still 3.5mm, so if you don't like the out of box phones (which won't stay in our ears), bring your own, no problem -- and no adapter needed!
- Yes, original iPhones are totally gone, you won't be seeing those made anymore. Long live the aluminum back!
Update: Laptop managed to sneak a couple photos of the white one -- yep, that's what it looks like.
I'm not as much disappointed in what new things they didn't add as to what they still haven't fixed.
The iPhone is still missing some fundamental (IMHO) functions that just about every other phone has.
These are:
1) Lack of voice dialing
2) The inability to import contacts from a sim card (I mean really, even the 'throw away' phones can do this. I'd be moving up from a phone to my first 'smartphone' and no way do I want to re-enter over 200 contacts. Having to edit I don't mind, although with no 'cut & paste it will be a chore.)
3) The inabilty to use bluetooth to 'beam' photos, contacts, etc to another phone. Again this is a real no-brainer just about every bluetooth enabled phone I've ever seen can beam small bits of data to another phone.
The fact that most of these functions can be enabled on a jailbroken phone tells me that the iPhone is capable of doing these things but Jobs and the development team didn't feel the need to implement them.
I take it you have a WinMo Phone.
If You have a Pro device, What you can do is :
1) E-mail your self the contacts
2) Download and Import them into Microsoft Office's Outlook ( If you haven't synced all your contacts already) and
3) Then import them into the iPhone.
The iPhone works with Microsoft Office's Outlook for calender and contacts. Matter-a-Fact, the iPod 5th Gen and up I believe work with office for contacts and Calender.
I have a crappy WinMo BJII and I'm in the process of attaching ( one by one, crappy ass Microsoft doesn't allow for mass selection when attaching files) and importing them into Outlook.
mogul, evdo rev. a, skyfire.
nationalgeographic.com: 5 seconds to load. pwnt.
nice move from apple, so everyone will have his ipod/iphone
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I plan to buy the new iphone. Should I get it at an Apple Store or at an ATT store? Is there any difference and/or preference??
It's best to go to where ever the lines are smaller. There're a lot more ATT stores in Manhattan than the 3 Manhatten Apple stores for my chances of getting iPhone on the first day are far greater than if there were 2 Apple stores ( as it was last year) and a couple ATT stores.
If you If in the middle of no where, there probably won't be a lot of lines, maybe just not enough phones in stock.
I suggest you go to either ATT or Apple stores.
There's no difference, same phone, same activation.
All this talk about MMS is great and all, but the real question I have is about instant messaging! My husband is in the army, and we rely on instant messaging a lot when he's deployed (which is all the time). I'm not going to bother with the new iPhone, but I am looking forward to all the updates. Buuuut...anyone know about instant messaging??
@Mark
well actually my Att store said that Apple requested them too discontinue sellin them until the iPhone 3G came out then they could sell them again but they did mention that they still had a few left jus couldnt sell them under apples command
still no bluetooth + a2dp !!
maybe too much of a power drain.
will wait for 3rd gen iphone...
until they put a2dp support, im not touching it...
I think Apple's leaving all those software lacks for the SDK. Video recording/copy and paste/MMS are all technologies that could be simply done by an app.
The mention of the curved back making it wobble and stuff on the table top is something I hadn't thought of... and something tells me, apple didn't either.
That could be kind of annoying. I enjoy the fact that my 1st gen iphone feels solid, and sits on my table solid. It has a few dings and scratches now, but I think that's cool. At least I'm not afraid to use my phone without having a 1" of carbon fibre and urethane around it. It's a phone for goodness sake, and a good looking one at that. I aint covering it, and it looks like I won't be getting a new iphone either (for now).
"Long live aluminum back" for real!!!
stupidest monthly billed ipod with a gsm chip ever...