Apple iPhone 3G

Thanks for the great review. One small correction. You wrote: "There's still no progress bar" in the iPod. The fact is, when you tab the screen once while the song is playing, a progress bar will appear towards the top. It's still doesn't make sense not to have the progress bar on all the time--especially with a 3.5' screen!

How come Sandra only gets to (expertly) review all the `boring` handsets but when it comes to the `sexy` iPhone 3G we get one of the in-house TR Apple Fanboys?! ;)

Finally, an iPhone 3G review that concentrates on what the iPhone does, not what it doesn't!

Great review, I like all the comparison pictures with the old one. The iPhone 3G just looks so much better - it's amazing how the minor changes they have made to the exterior have enhanced the (already great) design so much.

MobileMe is actually proving to be the winner for me. Push email, contacts, calendars and bookmarks - as a Mac user the iPhone really has become an extension of all of my Macs and then some. Having this level of synchronisation is just incredible. A revolutionary change over my Nokia N95 8GB - which is a fantastic phone, but it just can't match the iPhone 3G in terms of the user experience.

My first iPhone. Definitely not my last!

Sandra should have done this review. Matt G - I wouldn't accuse anyone of being a Mac Fanboy at TR, they seem to lack a sense of humour when it comes to anything, err, funny. Good review - 10/10 for design though? It's a big black slab, boring! So the UI is designed well, but the phone itself is HUGE (hardly fits in a pocket like an E51 or E61)and tricky to hold without dropping (slipping), they should have put some kind of grippy stuff on the back.

The phone is great but it's over priced in my book, I would rather get a 12 month contract and a phone and buy the Ipod touch.

Ok, but with all respect, if you're not an Apple fan, how can you give 9 for features when:
- there is no AD2P (probably because Apple has no BT headphones/headsets to sell)
- no mms, 2mp camera, half speed 3G...
- no VGA screen
- No proper GPS software
- etc...

Yes, the interface is the best at the moment, but frankly the features if the iPhone 3G are less than what you could get a year ago in a high-end smartphone like a Tytn II (bar the screen size). It deserves a 7 at most (in this area). Otherwise what do you give to a Touch Pro, feature-wise?

full size or full featured? Because the iphone 3g is bigger than some competitive phones, has less features than some competitive phones, has worse battery life than competitors phones and is more expensive than competitors phones (the price of the phone may be being advertised as lower but cost of ownership over the 18 month contract has actually increased, as i'm sure you've already calculated)

In your opinion the... "The new black plastic back makes the phone considerably stickier and less prone to being dropped"

Well yes, it's arguably slightly more adhesive than the Aluminium version but it's still very easy to have it slip around in the hand, even if you have big hands. Some nice tactile rubber ribs (oh, err!) would have been good. Style over function even when function is the only requirement.

Then there's the non-user replacement battery and the complete locked down nature of the phone (even PAYG phones and phones that would be out of contact in 18 months that Apple will refuse to unlock) which forces customers to use awful iTunes (or to use JailBreak)

All in all, the iPhone 3G is very good, but don't forget to have a little perspective. To give it so many 10/10's in spite of all it's shortcomings (as Manni points out) is a bit generous.

I was delighted to so a Nokia getting 10/10 the other day though. (E61...fully agree with you on that one!)

;) (wink....meant in a good natured debate!)

Yeah it is missing a few features but honestly I think the reason why most people give it such a mark is just because it as that great to use. The features it does have are so well integrated and implemented that it really does put the UI and software on other phones to shame.

it's taking some time but other phone companies are starting to cotton onto the fact that its the software that really makes the iPhone great not the hardware features. Other phones may shoehorn a massive amount of features into a phone but as we've seen time and time again what good are they if the average user cannot access them easily and quickly?

"Unlimited Data... subject to fair usage policies"

Am I the only person who gets irritated by this sort of thing? 02 don't bother to give a firm limit, but I'd guess it's around 2-3GB before they start charging or disconnecting. Hardly "Unlimited".

Yes, I see your point Andy...I don't own one (I'm a tinkerer, tweaker and tuner kind of person who doesn't take kindly to being regulated by the company that sold me my phone) but I do admit that above all else; features, looks, design, build, price etc aside... the iPhone does have a certain appeal that cannot be quantified and is worth buying into if your of that persuasion.

BTW I did mean the E71 in an earlier post. Cheers.

Also, interestingly I find myself actually displaying more than a p[assing interest in RIM products these days. I definately would not have thought that 2 years ago.

As hear you Andy, but still:
- If the GPS software is not included in a WM smartphone, you have ten different options to chose from. Can you name one fully featured GPS software that works on the iPhone (even when you're out of a GSM/3G signal) and that is available today?
- The VGA screen, especially for a 3.5" size, have been available for years. I had one on my iPaq HX4700, there is one (although smaller) on the Eten glofish models which are now one year old, and on the new HTC phones (the Diamond and the upcoming Touch pro).
Again, I do am not discussing the interface or the design, as the iPhone (my personal opinion) is by far the best designed phone on the market today.
But feature-wise, each iPhone is about a year late compared to what the rest of the market is offering, and I feel it's misleading to pretend that the 3G iphone is at the top feature-wise. Yes, all the included features are extremely well integrated, but there is no excuse for the lack of VGA on a screen that big, for the lack of AD2P or for the lack of a proper GPS software (included or optional).
I'm not even mentioning the lack of removable battery, or HDSC memory slot...
Again, the iPhone is a great phone for who doesn't need added functionality, but it is lacking a lot of what is available today from competitors like HTC. And that remains true if Touch-Flo or Opera Mini are not as good as the iPhone interface or Safari.
This is not a problem in itself, but it becomes one when it gets such a biased review (give it a 7 in features and an 8 overall, and your review becomes truly excellent (wink)).

No MMS. No proper bluetooth. Crap camera. No video recording. No battery to swap. No card expansion. Yet 9/10 for features? I'm a Mac guy - MBP as main machine, MB is the other laptop at home...but even I couldn't give the iPhone 9/10 for features and given that, couldn't give it 9/10 for value.

Manni, what is the point of having lots of features that when you actually come to use make you want to throw your device out of the window?

I can't quite comprehend people's quarrel with the lack of MMS. Has anyone actually ever used it? It's like using powerpoint on your phone. It is foul.

Who said iTunes was awful? Strange person. How is it awful? It has a much more intuitive interface the WMP, has a tonne of good features (party shuffle is genius) and actually works when syncing your device (I have yet to find another combination of phone/mp3 player plus software that actually syncs well, in a timely fashion, with constant feedback on what the software/hardware is actually doing).

Lastly, good work Andy with a nicely presented review. Good man for sticking to your guns!

Matt G: You wanted to know why Sandra wasn't reviewing the iPhone 3G. Maybe it's because she didn't want to deal with the slaughter that Andy is having to deal with now.

A good review, I thought. Makes it perfectly clear that the iPhone is far from perfect, but is better implemented (not necessarily better featured) than almost anything else out there.

A few things really bug me about the iPhone though. Firstly, MMS - if almost every other phone available in the last 4 years can do it, why not the iPhone? It's not necessarily a deal-breaker, but it's a silly little issue that shouldn't exist in the first place. Copy & Paste seems like another foolish oversight. It's these little things that should be done right, but aren't that frustrate me.

But the most frustrating thing of all, for me, is that not one other manufacturer out there has come close to matching the iPhone interface. With 18 months to develop something, they've concentrated on beating Apple on the easy things (putting in proper Bluetooth, copy and paste, MMS, 3G (not Apple beating any more, of course)), but have completely failed to compete with Apple on the one thing that makes the iPhone special - the interface. For me, that is completely inexcusable, and the mobile manufacturers are playing right into Apple's hands...

I think that one of the 'problems' we're all debating over is caused by today's devices converging. Once clear cut markets such as phones for business, phones for fun, phones for media etc...are all merging. As someone mentioned on another thread, put a 3.5mm jack on an E71 and you have a great media phone, RIM products playing video would have been a crazy suggestion not so long ago, and God forbid...a nearly fully functional and fancy looking phone from Apple.

Customer expectations are increasing ahead of the drip-feed technology mentality that tech companies adopt in order to make a decent profit from one invention before moving on to the next.

But variety is the spice of life, so lets not rush towards that ubiquitous 'do it all' phone solution to quickly. Besides the next big technology step will involve making the physical phone itself, a thing of the past. How you gonna show off your wealth and social status then Mr. iPhone user!?

In the mean time, let's all trot along and go buy an E71. No? :)

Andy, I respect the fact that you defend your position, but let's try to keep this as objective as possible ;).
I was discussing the features, and the lack of a GPS application, you argued it's an extra you have to pay for, to which I replied I'd be happy to pay for an extra, but there is nothing I can buy, which is not the case on WM!
Now you may dislike it, but cannot say that WM is rubbish. If we go there, I'm going to raise the fact that it offers about 10 thousand different applications, many of them free, and amongst them quite a few dozens that I use daily (for example the ability to open and edit MS Office documents - keeping most of the formatting if I use TextMaker/Planmaker - some excellent multilingual dictionaries, excellent GPS software, a great movie database, etc...). Yes, its interface is not perfect, but its software catalog opens thousand of possibilities that the iPhone simply doesn't offer (yet).
So let's stick to the discussion about features, or it becomes slightly ridiculous as we are not comparing apples with apples (pun intended).
- Lack of VGA is a problen because 1) many people have converted their DVDs to Divx in 640x480, and don't want to do it all over again and 2) it's much more comfortable when using a web browser.
Again I'm not saying it's a wrong choice on Apple's part to chose not to implement these features. It doesn't make the iPhone a bad phone (although I wouldn't want one for all these reasons, I think the 3G is a great mainstream offer). I'm simply saying that in my opinion it's misleading to give 9 regarding the iPhone features, or an overall 10.
The iPhone integrates perfectly many features, and makes them useable for the masses. Great! But there are a lot of missing features, some of which would indeed be lost by the masses, but more advanced users want or need. I have been using many of these features on my Tytn II for more than a year now, and while the iPhone is slowly catching up, it's still way behind the rest of the market feature-wise (which again doesn't mean it's not ahead of the market design-wise or interface/useability-wise).
This website is called Trusted Reviews, and this is the first review that makes me think maybe I should not trust it as much as I do, which is why I'm voicing my surprise. Now let's agree to disagree!

Oh, and in response to Stephen Allred's comment; I said itunes is awful. And it is. The over controlling, endlessly updating, bloated piece of Orwellian software that it is. WMP isn't much better, granted. Which is why i use MediaMonkey.

MMS is, like PowerPoint, useless. Until you actually need it! Then it quickly becomes a life-saver that you never want to go without ever again. Even if you only need it once a year. Apple has no excuse for not offering this.

Gordon said on 21st July 2008

Err... you know what I think about Nokias lifethroughalens, so no ;)

Hehe, yes I thought that i'd read somewhere that you weren't a fan :)

PS can we get the ability to edit posts and quote people on here any time soon? Pretty please.

I was hoping we'd get a contradicting review from Gordon, but if even he sides with Andy, all is lost then, I surrender :)

By the way, Hallazinil is absolutely right: maybe advanced users are simply frustrated to have to stay behind (with inferior design and inferior interface) because the iPhone doesn't deliver feature-wise. We DO want a Windows Mobile iPhone (I mean, a smartphone designed as well as the iPhone, with a great interface that works, but with all the features we know we can have, and support for the existing software!). Somehow I feel this won't happen any time soon...

Oh, and in relation to the VGA comments, I still think the aliasing in OSX does a fantastic job, giving you damage limitation.

I wouldn't hold your breath for WM7. With Microsoft's recent spate of releases I am very wary of their new products. They even nerfed the 360 as a media hub recently. It no longer supports UPnP AV MediaServers, limiting you to using media centre. Microsoft doing something non standards based again! I'm glad my PS3 still supports UPnP MediaServers (That and it's better output dacs). The only reason I still have a Windows desktop is for gaming, but my next desktop will not be running Windows.

what about these?
- practically closed paltform;
- only one 3rd party application at time (hello multitasking!);
- Flash in hundred years?
- copy/paste ? right after the flash I guess;
- no video calling (the front camera?), or do really apple's main camera can make competition to the secondary on the others;
- where at least fm radio? many phones got TVs for years already, FM for 10 maybe;


and that just small part not mentioned it the review at all!

As for me I am going to buy Samsung Omnia (beats apple everhwhere, except the screen). Not sure I have patience to wait for Flame II

Looks like you stirred up a bit of a firestorm here, Andy... Brilliant review though!

I would have to disagree with the '9' for features... What the iPhone does, it does well, but you do have to admit that Apple have missed a trick here.. People have stated loud and clear since the original iPhone what they want...

1. MMS (yes I know everyone doesn't use it, but better to have the option, no?)
2. 'Proper' Bluetooth; people want to share things quick and easy, Bluetooth achieves that;
3: A decent camera: I think this people's BIGGEST gripe... at the end of the day, how hard could it have been to have stuck in a 3.2MP autofocus camera; they are dirt cheap!;
4: Cut 'n' paste... how hard can it be?;

Apple could have kept the price point, packed in the features and I bet that everyone would have still rushed out and bought the thing!

Now the good news... bar the camera, everything else is fixable in firmware... in fact, according to an Engadget article, Apple are working on MMS for AT&T, so anythings possible!

For me personally, the missing features are deal-breakers for me; my missus sends me pictures of our cheeky son, we video-call each other, we send pictures and music to each others' phones over bluetooth...

No phone is ever going to be perfect but some technological aspects of the iPhone are 12-18 months behind the rest of the industry and Apple know this... it just gives them something to hype next time...

Coming July 2010... the iPhone CP... now with Cut & Paste!!!

(BTW, I AM a Apple fanboy, but I think that everyone is sick of Apple saying 'This IS what you want' instead of listening!!!)

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, just when I had decided to go for the HTC Diamond on Orange (when they get more in) you write this review and I find myself on O2 trying to find out when the 3G will be on sale again. What should I do?

New member here...so be gentle with me.
Excellent review and fascinating comments. Manni has an understandable position but have to say that being in a 2.5 hour queue on Friday 11th to get this phone for wife's birthday(!)justifies the scores. Why? Have never owned Apple before, but the desire and love for this product in the queue was amazing. And having now had it 10 days..it is awesome...(although importing/organising contacts NEEDS cut and paste!)
Like Stephen I think my 'Windows' days are over. Mr Gates has given us something...but user friendly it aint..his decision to retire is well timed :)

I'd just like to add my 2p as well as agreeing with the review and most of the comments on here as well.

1. Proper bluetooth would have been nice but I don't yet see any decent bluetooth headphones on the market. Doesn't mean there won't be soon though so this is my bigest negative to Apple.

2. MMS is a strange omission but I rarely send photos. Emailing photos is a far better (and free!) option but that doesn't help when you want to send one to a normal mobile.

3. Camera - again not important to me but a small tweak to 3MP would have been a nice gesture. I can only assume Apple have designed their camera for creating contact pictures and emailing imprompu candid shots. This is actually what a phone should be used for, not as a camera replacement.

But none of these annoyances come anywhere close to detracting from what is by far the most usable mobile device I've ever owned. I don't care how many features a phone has... it still gets a low score if they are awkward to use. The iPhone may be lacking a few "standard" features but I'm finding I use almost every feature almost every day. In fact, the feature I use least is actually making calls! Ok, so I have no friends, i know ;)

That is why I agree with the review scores given.

2MP doesn't bother me, but the lack of video (at ANY resolution) is a bit of a letdown for me.

Am I alone in thinking that one of the greatest ommissions from the iphone is the lack of a basic word processor? I've had a play with one, and there doesn't seem to be any way of saving text, other than through the most basic lists application. I have had an extensive trawl through the apps store and can't find anything there either. I'm not necessarily after a fully implemented MS Word type application, but the ability to edit and review documents would be the decisive factor for me.

Re BT headphones, you should check the Motorola S9 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motorola-S9-Bluetooth-stereo-headphones/dp/B000N2KXZ2).
They are great BT stereo headphones, light, sweat/rain resistant, I use them to run or in the car (as you can take calls with them as well of course).
They won't work on an iPhone though...

I agree that there is no way that this phone should be achieving a score of 9/10 for features. To take the argument further, where do you draw the line. My phone is brilliant at being a phone - it has no other features, would you give that a 10/10 for features...I suspect not.

All those on here complaining about the lack of a decent bluetooth implementation have a good point - it's also very useful in a car for listing to music (why should I be forced to invest in a proprietry cable, when I can keep the phone in my pocket using a generic protocol).

Similarly with a decent Camera (and video) - I have kids and thanks to camera phones I have a good record of them growing up. Amongst the less-trendy circles in which I move, the camera is the second most used feature of any phone behind text-messaging.

As for the interface...yes, there is no argument that Apple are king of the interfaces, but why should this be rated so highly. Most of the time, a phone is going to have it's screen turned off - when you need it, you need to use a feature! After the initial play with the UI, you pretty much get used to most of the standard interfaces out there...they are nowt but a means to an end. If they allow you fairly simple access to your desired feature, they can be judged to have performed their job. If the o/s crashes regularly (and I'm looking at you Mr Balmer) then it should be marked down drastically.

I would also suggest a re-balancing of the weighting of the 5 sections in which you score reviews. Here you have 3 out of the 5 sections scoring 9/10, yet overall the other two categories manage to sway the overall score to 10/10. Personally I would argue that Performance and Features are the areas most likely to be cited as a reason to change a phone. Phones will inevitably come down in price so any score in this area will quickly become obsolete. If the phone is in your pocket then design is less important than the other areas, and I have already made the point about usability above.

Consistency is hard to achieve on a review site, especially as a lot of it is down to personal taste. One of the ways for a consumer to achieve consistency is to always read reviews by the same reviewer. I would love to see multiple reviews of this phone - now you've finished your review, can you shove the phone Sandra's way.

Have to say that the iPhone 3G (and the Touch I have owned for 12 months) do at least as well with the 480x320 res. screen as either of the VGA screened Windows Mobile devices I have owned (Toshibas e800 and G900).

I have to say that call clarity is superb and signal reception excellent - not having owned the previous generation I can't compare but I believe the last one was a bit ropey for both.

Now, to those decrying lack of MMS functionality, I must point out that pictures can be e-mailed.

And finally Cyril, to those who decry the lack of apps. The SDK was only made available earlier this year and quite a few of the apps that are currently available started ilfe outside of the official chain. I think apps in most of the "missing" categories should start appearing fairly quickly, though the availability of storage to the apps may yet be an issue. TomTom are reported to have a version of their Sat-nav software ready to roll - I presume they are working out with Apple how to distribute the quite sizable maps that come along with it.

I found a really neat feature today. You can have more than one SMTP server defined (switchable on and off at will or it will try them in order) so you can send your mail through the correct channel if you are connected over Wi-Fi or 3G (if authentication to your regular SMTP server proves an issue).

Anyway, just my two-penneth.

The apple has fallen far from the tree guys - it's not a 10.

Once again, I'm sure it'd be a fantastic PMP like the last iPhone, but it doesn't give you enough of the things that come as standard with any other phone this dear. Still no memory expansion. Still a measly 2MP camera. Still no video. And the removable battery is now becoming even more important with the reasonable desire to switch between a lighter and a heavier duty one with the 3G element. I also have to sympathise with some business users who just want to copy and paste - not too much to ask, eh? And for goodness sake, what is it with those ringtones?! It's the customer's phone too Apple, and it should sound like whatever they damn well please - especially if you fork out £150 quid + contract for it.

The price of user friendliness, IMHO, seems too high and is delivered in too arrogant a way through Apple's choice of exclusions, for me to like this phone yet. NOT. A. TEN. The touchscreen is not SO good to merit immunity from criticising all the other flaws with the phone. (I'll take an 8, but that's the best I can do.)

I think the only thing that can be said to be honest is that although everyones comments about what limitations the iPhone has, if you go for it and get one, those 'limitations' will not bother you in the slightest, the iPhone is such a well designed and user friendly piece of kit, especially compared to the Nokia N series phone Ive moved on from that. The camera is very good at doig what it is designed for, snapping spur of the moment pictures, although more megapixels would be nice just cramming megapixels behind a tiny lens probably isnt such a good idea.

As to the rest of the limitations, im sure mms is on its way (along with GPS turn by turn direction, cut and paste ect. Personally id prefer to have these functions implemented in an intuitive and non-crashing way rather than being quickly rushed out and causing end-user issues!

And as if by magic! MMS on your (jailbroken) iPhone
http://www.swirlyspace.com/iphone/apps/mms/

Thanks Stelph. Nice to see the jailbreakers take care of MMS.

The most obvious issue that all of these comments display is this - the iPhone interface is so far ahead of what anyone else out there can offer, that it allows it to get away with absolute murder in terms of what most people would consider "basic" functionality in this day and age.

That's not Apple's fault (well, that they're leaving the features out is, that they're getting away with it is not), it's everyone else's. I just wish that Apple, having gotten the hard part right (the interface) that it could get the easy part right too.

And it would be nice not to have to use iTunes too, but that's an issue I have with iPods in general.

I also beleive the scoring used here just does not make any sense, a 9 for features is totally wrong, yes it's got a nice interfaces, so the 10/10 for usability makes sense.

Actually one of the features this phone does have it could well do without, Apple's continuing obsession of having these phones locked.

I personally think Apple missed a trick with there I-Phone's, if I could have got one of these unlocked I would have snapped one up and purchased my first ever Apple device, and maybe have become a Mac Fanboy at the same time.

The phone is not pocketable without a bulge, its not a smartphone, beautiful big screen....that doesnt have an office/docs application, no replaceable battery, forces users to use software they dont want (iTunes) a la Microsoft (IE), 2004 standard camera, no memory card slot, no A2DP....no thanks.

I'll wait for a decent Symbian OS offering...Im not holding my breath for that though! Meantime, dont get the Hypephone...get the much better Nokia e71 or e66. All the features you could want without the vanity.

And I Love Gadgets, your analysis is spot on. What an anticipated product like the iPhone really needs is more of an Ebert and Roeper approach where several of the reviewers debate on the pros and cons.

If that was too time consuming (and with the onsluaght of news to keep up with it may very well be, but still workable for milestone products), they could at least reserve a portion of the comment section for the other relevant critics to give a line or two about what they thought of the product and give their own short verdict. I think the only way to achieve objectivity and consistency on a review site, is if several people discuss something, similar to the way Empire Magazine's 'On Trial' section works. But if everyone in the TR office happened to agree then that would be that, and it would just be up to the registered users to supply some form of dissent, but in any case I think several opinions are needed. Personally I prefer that approach rather than the 'towing the party line' feel I get here.

Just to reiterate, as always the actual review style from Andy and the presentation is as good as ever. But I'm with Gadgets on the opinion that the ratings need to change a bit. There should be a way to standardise the method for the total - either via a mean or a mode figure from all the component subratings.

And yes, Gordon - it IS a hornet's nest. Good. I'm glad to see global scrutiny over what you dish out your honours titles to.

Hi Andy, I'm not sure what you mean by abuse. What other types of customers are they?,are you saying you can only be a genuine customer if you get an 18 month contract with O2?. From what I can gather, after your 18 months contract, these phones are pretty useless unless you stay with O2, to me it seems very monopolized. If they sell for good money, whats wrong with that, basic supply & demand. Can you imagine if you wanted to buy a PS3 and it only worked with Sony TV's, or you bought a car and was only allowed to put Shell petrol in it. Phones appear to be the only type of product you buy were as a consumer your product can restricted in such a way, it amazes me how we allow it.

But that is the same with anything else, eg. the PS3 had the same problem.. I remember people selling them on Ebay for £1000+ etc, in the end supply comes back up and the price will stabilize. It's a free market, those people were not forced to pay £1000 for a PS3 from EBay. The same thing is most likely happening with the WII fit atm, so maybe Nintendo should start selling them via O2 on an 18 month contract.

Anyone noticed the audio quality dramatically improves on 1st Gen iPhone with 2.0 firmware?

Totally agree Ed, don't get me wrong I think the I-Phone is a fantastic product and as such should be scored high, but only high on what it's good at. eg. Design & Usability. I also think Value should be dropped a fair bit, mainly down to it's locking down to one provider, imagine buying a PS3 and only allowed to power it using NPower provided electricity.

Keith, I really don't see your problem with having a locked iPhone. You want to downgrade it's score due to the fact that it's locked to a network? Can you get a free sky box off Sky with no 12 month contract and then connect it to freesat? What about a V+ box off Virgin without a contract to virgin? I very much doubt it. Anyway after the 18 month contract the phone is yours so they have to unlock it, well thats what I have done with all other phones without a problem.

As for the ratings, I do think that the features are scored a little to high but i think the thing with this device is you actually use the features it does have more. Also has anyone tried the VNC software? remote control of your desktop PC from the iPhone? It is just superb and surely a useful feature as the app is free.

You really do have to use the iPhone/iPod touch to truly realize how good it is, I didn't buy the first iPhone I had the N95 because It was just better on paper. Then I bought the 16BGB iPod Touch and i started ignoring my N95 and thinking if only my iPod had a phone in it! It's even better now the V2.0 firmware is on there I have no desire to go into the menu on my N95 anymore it just looks so yesterday. So, I will be buying the new iPhone 3G when my T-Mobile contract is up next month and it will be like buying an Enzo Ferrari, not for the features and added extras but for the pure joy it is to use and to me that is worth 10/10.

deecee, The I-Phone is not a device thats linked to any fixed type of hardware like a V-box etc, so why compare it to devices that are?. And check out the 18 month bit, it will still be locked to O2, without the option to unlock. What I find confusing, is why are they people who defend this type of selling, it's most likely one of the reasons this country is known as Rip-Of-Britian. And remember, I'm not knocking the I-Phone for having less features, but at the end of the day it does have less features, it's not rocket science. All I ask is that, Apple sell there I-Phone direct, so simple. Until they do that then Value is way down in my books.

Anyway, If your happy being tied to O2 for the life of your phone then thats your right. I'm sure plenty of people are going to buy them, as such Apple is never likely to change it's policy on this, unless of course the current Credit Crunch will start to make manufacturers listen to there customers for a change.

Remember, I'm not knocking the I-Phone, I agree its a very nice indeed. But please people don't let something nice cloud your judgement, and I'd also say your rights to have something you pay good money for, not be so restrictive, if we continue doing this then all I can see for the future is consumers getting ripped of again & again.

Software glitches aside, this is still one of the best phones I've ever used. I wouldn't want to use a phone with buttons ever again.

My only problem is with reception. o2 reception (and 3G at that) is abysmal, compared to Orange and Vodafone. Constant jump in signal strength is not that cool when you want it to be consistent!

Great review. Unless I die, I can't see anything stopping me from buying this amazing piece of technology. Take a lesson Microsoft! Please...

From what I've read of this review and the comments, and my own experience of the iPhones, the only advantage of it is the fact that you can pull it out of your pocket and have people recognise the device.

The UI is nothing special, sure you can do some things fast, but the main screen is just like being locked to the WM5/6 program launcher, and there are so few settings that can be adjusted (thanks to Steve Jobs wish to force things on people) that the UI doesn't have to handle any tasks as complex as what the WM UI has to deal with. And, if you truly love the UI, there are plenty of iPhone style UIs for WM (along with more innovative things like PointUI and the Diamond/Raphaels Manilla).

The iPhone 3G is not revolutionary - and, for that matter neither was the original iPhone - it's year old tech in a nice box with an Apple printed on the case and no way of changing anything that Steve Jobs has decided is the way to go. Even the 3rd party apps are limited (you may say the iPhones SDK hasn't been around that long, but Apple are hardly making it easy to get!) to fairly basic operations.

The few features the iPhone posseses are implemented relatively well, but things like the camera limit its ability (even my Prophet takes better pictures with its switchable macro lens), and with the limitations of the email software - you can't have that many accounts, and the Exchange support is limited at best - the iPhone is nowhere near as good a device as even mid range WM devices, which are far cheaper and far more available.

Even Safiri (to me, the iPhones only plus) is outdone by Opera Mobile 9.5, and that's still a beta!

The media available on the iPhone is severly limited by the lack of support for things like AVRCP, or for that matter, any bluetooth audio support, and the inability to transfer media with anything other than iTunes. I'm not saying that WM's default WMP setup fares much better, but at least with WM you have a choice of what software to use!

The app store, one of Apples "revolutions", may make the iPhone have a less limited range of functions, but even that gets controlled by Apple, and adds nothing but the ability to install an app on the phone, rather than firing up iTunes (WMs CAB installers work far more effectively IMHO).

And now, I come to the hardware:
The device itself is bulkier than the competition (Samsung Omnia, HTC Diamond, and even the HTC Touch) and yet lacks VGA, proper GPS support and even HSUPA. MultiTouch may make up for some of these disadvantages, but how many apps actually make use of it? And, the tilt sensor implementation is limited in use aswell.

If Apple actually wants the iPhone to compete, rather than spending money on advertising year old "revolutions", things like Copy/Paste functionality are a must!

Unless you actively want an overpriced bulge in your trousers, or love getting chained down by Steve Jobs (I don't want to know the details...), the iPhone has no advantages over other devices on the market, and the things it does do are bettered by the competetion.

Good lord.. I really want one. And this from someone who dislikes apple products...

Just got my new i phone from o2.yep looks good and feels well made,it can even tell me the weather in new york.so far so good.But after owning it for less than 3 days you soon realise that this is just a converted i pod with a basic phone attached.Thank god i have 14 days to return it under contract.As a business user its less than useless,unable to connect to company email servers.its also unable to connect to BMW bluetooth but one of its biggest failings is the simple text message.you are unable to forward messages or attach photos,even a £10 phone can do this.I would rate this phone at 5 due to its poor connectivity and no more.Better luck next time apple my phones on its way back to you today.

Having just sent back an Omnia after having it for less than 16 hours for being useless, unreliable, unpleasant to use and just so darn Microsofty, I am in love with my iPhone, and I've never been a great fan of Apple kit before.

It has its drawbacks, yes, but in general, the fact that it just works makes it streets ahead of any other pocket device I have come across.

I'm even reasonably relaxed about the fact that it's incompatible with £2ks worth of supposedly ipod compatible kit I already have (a Denon S52 clock radio, and a Pioneer AVIC-X1 BT car radio).

Having read through this entire thread I feel compelled to add my thruppence. I bought my iphone in Australia on PAYG and had it unlocked by the network when I left. I paid them another $150Aus so by then it had cost me $850. This was an impulse buy. I have been buying macs since 1988 but was given a blackberry in 2003 and had one of those revolutionary experiences. Blackberries have unleashed me from my desk, allowing me to blast off huge epistles at blistering pace from anywhere with the coverage, which is enormously satisfying. Syncing with the mac was a pain, I bought a pc laptop just to do that job, then pocketsynmanager came along and could do the entourage sync via the address book. Heaven only knows why they couldn't crack the memos sync. It all ends up as notes which can't be edited - and I have hundreds of memos. Pushing the limits of this mismatch of platforms made me long for a mac based solution. But actually the blackberry did everything I needed. The iphone only turned my head because I AM a mac fanboy.
I think I am a well placed to say that this iphone is vastly overrated as a communication device, unless you just want to phone people and listen to music, in which case it is fantastic. Really fantastic. The music player is extraordinary. Why does it sound so much better than the ipods? It has actually made favourites sound fresh again, and for that alone it is worth the price tag (nobody can dispute this phone looks overpriced). Then there is the effortless contacts editing - as good as the blackberry if not better except for the fact you can't use numbers and email addresses etc from incoming mail to create new contacts. This lack of functionality is a bore when you are used to the smooth operation of the blackberry. But the touch screen is a joy for effortless data input, it just doesn't respond well to the hard finger bashing you need to do to knock out 1000 words. I can touch type much faster on the blackberry but probably I will get to a good pace with the apple, albeit with a greater error rate. No matter as I will not attempt to do that with the apple as the lack of cut and paste and any simple editing tools makes this phone useless for any considered writing tasks. Unless you write a perfect first draft. So the apple is a fantastic low end use phone with superb integrations of some excellent software - entourage, mail, safari and the wonderful itunes (its crazy to knock the software that has raised the bar for the whole industry so what if it controls your life, apple is for people who by self-selection are not tinkerers and tuners as one previous contributor put it. Apple users pay handsomely for solutions not endless permutations that they have to figure out how to use. They want to use something that works). But a smooth operating phone/browser/simple email device is all this iphone seems to want to be. There is so much functionality gap between the blackberry and iphone that it is pointless to compare. It is hard to see how it can become a whole lot more than what it is now. I can see why people knock the 9/10 for features but one thing I am certain of is that 90% or more of users will never have encountered features as functional as those on the apple. I feel certain that they will get their value for money out of the phone because they will be able to use all those features regularly and enjoy using them, which must be some component of the features (as well as being a component of interface). The 10% of owners who (like me) have become used to something more versatile will have to accept its limitations and enjoy it for its sheer effortlessness and for vanity reasons. Which might soon wear off alas.
I also think not including MMS was silly even if I have never used it myself.
Battery life is abysmal.
Who cares about VGA if you can see what you need to see perfectly well. Or a camera with only 2mb if you already own a digital camera. Is anyone seriously expecting a proper camera inside a smartphone?
It's O2 that won't unlock, not Apple of course. My unlocked phone behaves perfectly well on vodafone and also TIM in Italy.
I will probably get the Storm and put my iphone into early retirement.. or give it to a younger member of my family who hasn't actually got a job depending on it.
Can anyone explain why it is such a good music player?

My use of words like 'smooth' and 'functionality' is rather clumsy. I seem labelled them both as smooth, and they both are - so the great difference between them is sheer functionality. The Blackberry has bags more of it. The Apple has limited functionality with email and texting, and contacts editing. It has linear simple-to-use paths, but you can't ask any more from it. You soon know everything it can do, and compared to the Blackberry it's not a great deal (except elegant web browsing and simple emailing are of course wonderful things to have on a consumer phone and hence it IS 9/10 compared to other consumer phones).
But if you are serious about communicating as effortlessly and comprehensively as possible by email and text and phone, the Blackberry is hands down winner. For the same money.

I just trawled through some forums on the Blackberry site hoping for up to date info on pocketmac. I wanted to be reassured that things are going better - not worse - between these two uneasy bedmates. I found some unpleasant reading and one particularly torturous thread concerning the new macbook pros. And I found this entry from someone who had been hanging around for a fix from pocketmac.

Re: Pocketmac 4.1 does not USB sync with blackberry 8300 - someone please help
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corbett3000
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Posts: 4
Registered: 10-28-2008

corbett3000

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I have executed what is perhaps the only solution to this problem: I bought an iPhone. After much frustration and trying to run a business without a syncable phone...i coughed up the cash to Apple and switched.



DEAR BLACKBERRY: If this problem is your fault, I'm glad to have switched and I hope all your other Mac Book Pro weilding users do as well. I can tell you, I do like the iPhone and it is powerful enough for a business user like me. If this problem was not your fault, PLEASE sue Apple - I feel like they've extorded $300 out of me for this phone somehow.


Good luck all.