Apple successfully launched the new iPhone on Friday, with buyers raiding stores in Asia and long queues forming in Europe and the United States. I am providing a honest review on the iPhone, you have to decide whether the iPhone is worth your money.
Activating the iPhone 3G
Getting the phone activated was one of the big concerns, it could be a pretty long process depending on how good your sales associate is familiar with activating the devices. There has been problems reported in adding the new iPhone 3G to the existing user accounts you need to get a new AT&T family plan. Even if you don’t like AT&T’s service, coverage, or pricing, it’s your only option if you have to have an iPhone. Even if you succeed with the unlocking, Apple is determined to brick your phone each time it updates the device’s firmware. It simply isn’t sustainable.
Poor Battery Life
Unfortunately, as Apple doesn’t design any of the chips or battery technology that goes into the iPhone, it doesn’t really have much control over things like 3G battery life. And thus, the iPhone 3G suffers like any other smartphone when operating on a 3G network. If you have used the iPod Touch you may get a feeling that the iPhone 3G battery is a bit heavy. The device absorbs battery juice like anything. I recommend you carry along portable chargers to keep this device alive.
Voice Assisted GPS Unavailable
The iPhone 3G supports Assisted GPS, so it can now pinpoint exactly where you are located. Unfortunately there’s no support for voice assisted turn-by-turn directions using GPS, it looks like we’ll have to wait for a 3rd party application to truly harness the power of the iPhone here. They really need to add a Apple or Google made GPS applications to the iPhone 3G.
Faster CPU Needed
You will definitely feel the need for more processing power than in a normal smartphone with the fact that it supports 3G that loads pages quicker and Assisted GPS.
More Megapixel Wanted
Apple did put all the latest stuff from accelerometers to light sensors then why stick to a dated 2 Megapixel sensor when its main rival the Nokia N95 sports a 5 Megapixel camera.
Limited Storage
Right now 8GB and 16GB are your only choices, but I bet we’ll see a 32GB version by the end of the year. At 32GB you’ll have a device that could truly serve as a full-time iPod replacement, with room to store thousands of MP3s and high-quality video files. Now that might be worth buying—depending on the price.
Is 3G worth ?
If the majority of sites you use on your iPhone are small, text heavy sites, then you honestly won’t notice a huge difference between Edge and 3G, and it won’t feel like WiFi anywhere to you. However, if you use sites with more images and content to download, 3G will feel more like WiFi and Edge just won’t cut it.
