Though we're just in the middle of the year, it goes without saying that the iPhone 3G can comfortably take its place at number one on the list of "Best Gadgets for 2008". In order to provide a quality review for our readers, the MAG team acquired both an 8GB (black) and a 16GB (white) version for testing.
Apple's claim that they "reinvented the phone" is not an unsubstantiated one – and I say this for two main reasons. Firstly, in the pre-iPhone era, phones were more focused on hardware than software and secondly, their main purpose was to make a phone call - all other features were secondary. The iPhone changed all that. Apple entered the game as an underdog and rewrote all the rules to their advantage. In this review, we will be focusing on the hardware.
The first thing you notice when you take up an iPhone 3G is how snuggly it fits in the palm of your hands. The new tapering design provides a comfortable grip and weighing 4.7 ounces, it feels very compact. The display is amazingly gorgeous and also very bright - whether it's an album artwork, a keynote slide, or a picture from your photo gallery - everything looks great on the iPhone's display.
The decision to begin adding color to the iPhone line-up was a very tasteful one. I must admit, I was very skeptical about the marketability of the white iPhone when it was first announced, but the moment I saw it in person, I knew Apple had found a winner. There aren't many noticeable differences between the white and the black versions. It's really just a matter of preference. In our testing, we found that it was easier to see finger smudges on the black version than on the white. The trade-off however, is that the white has to be cleaned more thoroughly and more often as dirt shows on the edges of all the indentations including the SIM tray and those for the speakers. The finish on the iPhone protects it from being scratched easily except for the Apple logo at the back. We literally were able to take a key and gently scratch the touch-screen without any damage whatsoever.
The iPhone boasts a pretty impressive speaker which can be quickly muted by simply covering the opening with your finger. Audio quality through the headphones is also up to par, however, you will find that your music is not as loud as compared to listening on an iPod. The built in 2.0 megapixel camera takes good pictures – not great, but satisfactory. The lack of flash makes it only possible to take good pictures in the day or in very bright soft light. Put it this way, the iPhone will not replace your digital camera just yet, but for candid snapshots, it's great. To get an idea of the quality of the pictures, check out our iPhone 3G Unboxing Gallery. We used one iPhone to take pictures of the other.
The iPhone offers the best battery life compared to all other 3G devices we have played around with (including the Blackberry Bold which gives about 3 hrs with data usage). However, there is still much to be desired. Of course, individual experiences will vary depending on what you are doing on your iPhone. Typically, we found the iPhone lasted for 1 full day with the following activity: 4 hours of total music playback, 2 hours of total 3G data usage, 1 hour total Wi-Fi usage and 1 hour gaming and 3 hrs talk time. Given the small convenient size of the charger, we recommend carrying it along, so you can juice up whenever possible. It takes under two hours to increase charge from 10% battery life to 100%.
The iPhone 3G also contains a built in GPS which provides assisted GPS tracking with the aid of Wi-Fi and cellular tower triangulation. We will go into more details about the GPS during our iPhone 2.0 firmware review.
Apple again raised the bar with the iPhone 3G and after such a spectacular upgrade from the first generation, one cannot help but get excited thinking what the next generation will bring.
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