APPLE PHONE 3G

While not a huge physical upgrade over the first iPhone, the 3G hits two of the older mod critical weaknesses-poor call quality and slow Internet speeds. The 3G looks, feels, and acts like the original iPhone. There’s a slightly thinner metal bezel around the screen and the back of the handset is plastic rather than metal. And the 3G eschews the recessed headphone jack for a flush one that accepts ordinary music headphones. Alas, the original iPhone’s disappointing 2-megapixel camera, with no settings options, hasn’t changed. The iPod part, also unchanged, remains excellent.One of the biggest upgrades with this iteration of the phone is access to HSDPA 3.6, AT&T’s fastest download network. The phone also has 802.llb/g Wi-Fi with a built inVPN cli ent. Our phone connected to WPA and WPA2 protected networks without a hitch.
It was able to get a fix quickly outdoors, and a little flashing blue dot in the Maps app even followed us through the urban canyons of midtown Manhattan. There’s no driving directions application, though.
Another exciting new feature is the abil ity to sync to both Microsoft Exchange and Apple’s new MobileMe online service. We synced up with an Exchange 2007 server in seconds, and push e-mail arrived quickly.
Perhaps the best improvement is the App Store, which offers a catalog of more than 500 (and growing) third-party programs for the iPhone 3G that do everything from providing location-aware tourist guides to streaming Web radio. And you can select and download apps over the air right from the phone. (First gen iPhone and iPod Touch owners can get access, too, by upgrading to iPhone 2.0 soft ware.) Many apps are free, and we guarantee that within 15 minutes of activating your iPhone 3G, you’ll be playing with half a dozen of them.
While certainly not perfect, the iPhone 3G is powerful, easy to use, and fun. And apps will surely be developed to correct its missing features and make it even better.

Tags: apple iPhone