iPhone 3G Review

April 9, 2009

I recently got an iPhone 3G and away from all that Apple mania; I thought I would give an honest review. This is framed in the mindset of all the past Nokia devices (which I have posted about here also) which I have owned.

Okay so where to start? Well I think a good place would be what I could have bought instead. Strange place for a review; but its good to see what is out there and what I was looking at beforehand.

Nokia XpressMusic 5800 Nokia make great phones; I have stuck to the reliability of Symbian on their earlier phones for quite some time. I love Nokia; they mean reliability when you need your phone most - always a top feature other manufacturers never got quite right. Maybe its part inertia on my part - I can’t really say. Long story short is that this was a major competitor: over the iPhone it has expandability and a lot more hardware features (like RDS Radio), can play a lot more formats also. Downsides: Got terrible reviews for poor Symbian integration with touch; that plectrum looks downright stupid; it is not as sleek as iPhone in form factor (although it is smaller), screen didn’t seem as good to me.
HTC Magic Follow up to the HTC Dream or GPhone; this Android device has probably the coolest developer OS around. Lots of activity is going on around Android at the moment; so the first phones to land in the UK and Ireland should be more polished (using next gen Android: CupCake). Their is even rumors it will be adapted and put on net books: possibly making it the standard of mobile devices if given enough time. This will only bring more cool apps in time and reduce Apple’s iTunes Store lead. Downsides: Not available yet; so I couldn’t buy it. Doesn’t have as much apps yet. Isn’t as polished in the software interface as iPhone. All of these can be resolved with time however…
Palm Pre I hold out a lot of hope for this! Also Linux based; it promises a cool, open Web developer community as all the apps are online. Web apps need a lot more thought for offline use in my opinion, so I am reserving judgement on this. The interface seems to rock; and developing for it looks super easy… Downsides: not out yet, thus lack of Apps and pricing info.
Some junk WinMob Says it all really: a smart-phone but for less than a good plain old non-smartphone. Always made by some obscure Taiwanese outfit - not that is a bad thing; after-all most iPhone parts come from there. For those on a budget this was my last option; but darn cheap; just over €115 for one! I could have bought one for every member of my immediate family for the price of one iPhone: makes you think, doesn’t it?

On to the review of the iPhone:

Pros:

Beautiful Interface:
It looks amazing: lets be honest. I have never seen a phone look quite this good.

Fingers:
Using only your hands is great; lets face it: you cannot forget your hands. You can forget a stylus and even the iPhone itself; but those hands are sticking with ye!

**Time: **
I use my phone for time; Apple has it displayed elegantly, in the same place, almost in all the phones’ screens. I love this as I can keep myself aware of what I have to do next… All in glorious 24hr goodness, they way time was meant to be displayed…

Lots of apps:
The App store grows bigger every day and all those little useful Apps are really handy.

**Quick Interface: **
The software interface is very fast at getting you to where you want to go; to that Twitter application or your Web mail etc.

Maps and Location based services:
I have seen the future: and it is the Internet that is location aware. iPhone has taken the first tentative steps in this area with allowing apps to use location; as well as building it into the camera and maps applications.

Great iPod:
Apple doesn’t lie on this one. It is a great iPod. The best? I haven’t decided yet… but it’s not far off…

Safari:
It is the real web you get on an iPhone. Not only that: it is surprisingly comfortable to navigate with. I haven’t seen a mobile phone device come this close before. The N810 has a great browser with flash; but all round Safari wins on ease of use. I heard the earlier versions were very buggy; maybe I got in just as Safari matured properly.

Accelerometer:
Changing the view of applications as you rotate the phone was a masterstroke. Some things just need to be viewed vertically; others horizontally. The iPhone just makes it happen: seamlessly.. no buttons and no fuss. Thumbs up!

SO-SO

Camera:
Not a lot to complain or praise about the camera. It does it’s job… Their is no flash or other trickery other phones have to offer; so any sub-optimal light and the iPhone may as well just not have a camera…

Cons:

Cost:
Its darned expensive! I bought it contract-free and to say it burned a hole in pocket is an understatement.

One Inbox:
Nokia has this one on the button. I don’t care whether its SMS, MMS, E-Mail or a message through telekinesis: put it in one place please… It’s easier to check; and logically it makes more sense to not have to visit ten apps for each. Bonus points for allowing developers to hook in things like Twitter..

Smudgy:
It smudges and scratches like nothing I have seen. They tried to make it too shiny; at the cost of usability. I would prefer a grippier, less pretty surface: but I am sure I am in a minority on this. I could probably have even been overheard muttering “Smudgy piece of ****” . Add to any price the cost of a cover…

**Keyboard: **
Yes I know how ugly hardware keyboards look: but they do work. The on-screen keyboard to me: sucks. I much prefer the N810’s on-screen one that I can use with my thumbs. Using my index fingers just doesn’t feel right; and more to the point: all onscreen keyboards are crap. This is a major TODO for any willing iPhone competitor…

Background Apps:
This may sound like a minor niggle: it’s not. Only apps you can run in the background is the phone, iPod, Safari and Mail. I don’t even think Safari and Mail are true background apps; in fact I know they aren’t: they suspend when they are not at the forefront.

Status:
iPhone OS 3.0 is set to fix notifications; apps will be able to display a number next to their icon. I personally don’t think that is good enough. Is a notification area as seen on other phones (you know for like calendar?) too much to ask? I would prefer that as the idle screen rather than the pretty picture.

Activation:
I already feel Apple doesn’t trust me; but to force me to run around trying to find a computer with iTunes to activate the thing (I wasn’t near home) is just pure stupid. Do it over the air (for free; at your expense) or just don’t bother. Fail on this, major fail.

Rat race jailbreak:
Apple should just give up.. People are going to crack these no matter what. You only inconvenience your customers (hint: not the networks; us little people) with all this DRM nonsense. EA has it right: do the minimal DRM for contract purposes.

Pay to release even a free app:
Its a shame Apple thought 30% markup wasn’t steep enough… But even developer of free applications have to pay $99 to release it on the store. It would be fine if you could get the app another way… This just causes more junk apps to appear at a cost… If they did this on OS X it would be suicide; why not open up the iPhone to free software?
**
**
No 3.5G:
I expect this was due to power; which is totally forgivable and understandable. But a nice feature would be 3.5G for extra speed; I expect this and 4G (WiMax?) will appear in later models..