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David Pogue reviews the iPhone 3G

nytimes.com — So the iPhone 3G is a nice upgrade. It more than keeps pace with advancing technology, and new buyers will generally be delighted. But it ’s not so much better that it turns all those original iPhones into has-beens. Indeed, the really big deal is the iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store, neither of which requires buying a new iPhone...

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  • znicket, on 07/09/2008, -8/+20Excellent review. He points out that the OS is still fantastic compared to the competition and lists the new benefits that will be available to older phones as well. Better review than Mossberg's in my opinion as he touched upon the possibilities of the phone instead of droning on about keyboards and battery life.
  • jedisushi, on 07/09/2008, -5/+35I'll be keeping my 1st generation iPhone - it's all about the platform and the software for me (GPS and 3G are spiffy, but not overwhelming factors for me personally). I'd say it's very likely that I'll buy the next revision, though.
    • phore, on 07/09/2008, -1/+3Hopefully the next version would offer 32GB or 64GB options for flash memory. The main thing thats stopping me from jumping to the new phone is that the memory wasnt increased. The Apps store is really what I'm excited about.
      • MrMongoose, on 07/10/2008, -1/+2Hopefully the next version lets you use the thing as a USB drive, otherwise more storage isn't going to be that useful.
      • psylence, on 07/10/2008, -0/+3Not useful? My music collection would like a word with you.
      • TimmyGUNZ, on 07/10/2008, -1/+1MrMongoose, I would imagine that partitioning space off for USB storage could be achieved via a software update.
      • coldfusion1970, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1Its unlikely that Apple will allow the iPhone/Touch to be useable as a USB harddisk as that means users may disconnect it without ejecting it properly, which could corrupt all their data.
    • Revolution101, on 07/10/2008, -0/+3Being an early adopter of the first revision, I'm very excited for the 3g phone. I'll be getting a 3g network here in less than a months time and GPS has always been on my wishlist. The only real bummers were the lack of a better camera and 32 gigs or more of space.
    • thatsmyaibo, on 07/10/2008, -0/+2I just wish the GPS was more sophisticated like TeleNav. The iPhone GPS is pretty weak. No turn by turn and no voice guidance. That being said, I finally decided to drop Sprint and get an iPhone. I'm tired of carrying the Samsung Instinct and an iPod Touch.
    • apocalyps333, on 07/10/2008, -0/+0Those people who have the 1st generation iPhone, will their plan rates increase like the new iPhone users (once their contract expires)?
      • comment23, on 07/10/2008, -0/+2That's a good question, but I think the answer is no. Part of the difference in rates is for the 3G, which is not in the 1st gen iPhone.
  • lradatz, on 07/09/2008, -2/+11I wish someone would talk more about the upgraded audio. 1st gen iPhone has the worst speakerphone. If it's a big improvement it would be my number one reason for upgrading, seeing how there is no 3g within 50 miles of me...
    • maxsunset, on 07/10/2008, -3/+2RTFA
    • spookyttws, on 07/10/2008, -0/+3How do you know where 3g coverage is? Seriously, I'd like to have a look at my area.

      EDIT: Ah a quick Google search revealed:
      http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/
      For anyone else interested as well.
    • cgjamj, on 07/10/2008, -0/+2Couldn't agree with you more about the speaker phone quality, or lack there of. That's been one of my biggest complaints with my iPhone. The Razr had the best speaker phone of any phone I've used to date.
  • ob22, on 07/09/2008, -2/+1is that a separate contacts button i see in the video?
  • wonderchemist, on 07/10/2008, -1/+2What? No encore?
  • Pake, on 07/10/2008, -13/+7Same damn phone with 3G and apparently we need to read every article telling us the same damn thing... that it's the same damn phone with 3G.

    Spoiler: The article tells you it's the same damn phone, but with 3G!
    • coldfusion1970, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1Errr, you're not forced to read it.
  • DDMX, on 07/10/2008, -15/+28Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do with the G.P.S. According to Apple, the iPhone’s G.P.S. antenna is much too small to emulate the turn-by-turn navigation of a G.P.S. unit for a vehicle, for example.

    No Turn by turn Navigation = Fail.
    • jobobshishkabob, on 07/10/2008, -2/+21I'm probably wrong, but didn't TomTom say they had that working?
      • DDMX, on 07/10/2008, -2/+3They did, but I'm not sure if they were testing it on an actual 3G iPhone, or just a simulator.
      • kenvsryu, on 07/10/2008, -3/+1I can't wait to pay $150 for tomtom on my iphone! Oh wait tomtom standalones are $150.
      • jobobshishkabob, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1Who says that it's $150?
    • senatorpjt, on 07/10/2008, -4/+4That doesn't really bother me because I had a car GPS way before the iPhone came out.
    • TomFrost, on 07/10/2008, -0/+10Do you have a source? I mean.. that's not really how GPS works. The GPS unit figures out its position based on what 4 satellites up in high-earth-orbit say the current time is, and then doing some calculations with the speed of light. Having a smaller antenna doesn't mean that the device can't receive the digital time signal quite as accurately. It may not have an extremely accurate clock, which could affect that -- but highly accurate clock chips aren't as limited by size as they are by cost.
      • TomFrost, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1Alright, let me be the first to point out that I made this comment before reading the article, and now see that David Pogue wrote the text you put in the original comment, and not you. This worries me even more -- because either Pogue didn't report well, or people inside Apple are blowing BS at him to make excuses for their shortcomings instead of being straightforward. Uncool either way!
      • DDMX, on 07/10/2008, -0/+2I'm just quoting the article
      • lukeydukey, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1If i'm not mistaken the iPhone actually uses A-GPS.
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_GPS
    • psylence, on 07/10/2008, -6/+9Too small an antenna? Do you even know what the hell you are talking about?
      • moresheth, on 07/10/2008, -0/+8He took that quote straight from TFA. So if it doesn't make sense, you can blame David Pogue.
    • skyshock1, on 07/10/2008, -8/+3My nokia n95 has GPS that does this way before the iPhone came out. Apple is trying to play catch-up.
    • nevermind13, on 07/10/2008, -0/+0I thought I read apple said GPS kills the battery life. So it switches on quick to get an accurate position and directions, then turns right off. Which, in my opinion, isn't much more useful than the location services Google Maps already offers.
      • jarjarbinx, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1In a car, you can always have a car charger...
    • EtherGnat, on 07/10/2008, -2/+2Source?
    • mightycbu, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1doesn't Assisted-GPS solve that, because the iPhone has A-GPS
    • coldfusion1970, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1Actually Apple say that they never made that comment about the antenna being too small for 'turn by turn' GPS.
  • marius404, on 07/10/2008, -10/+5Some one needs to submit a story about NY Times inability to figure out that no one wants to sign in to their damn site to read their ***** article. Maybe one day it will dawn on them that more people reading their stories means more people looking at their adds which means more money for their pockets. Then again, maybe they will just continue to be pricks.
    • GreenAlien, on 07/10/2008, -1/+11I didn't need to sign in to read the article.
    • senatorpjt, on 07/10/2008, -3/+8www.bugmenot.com

      you're apparently the last person on the internet to figure it out, congratulations.
  • Sarawanan, on 07/10/2008, -5/+15This guy does the best reviews, no doubt.
    • wtfpwned98, on 07/10/2008, -2/+1If by "best" you mean "most pro-Apple," I would agree. He used to write for Macworld, and if you've been following Apple for longer than a few years you'll know that this whole community of journalists might as well be on Apple's payroll. Total cult of Mac type, Pogue. If you think he's going for that whole "objective" thing, I'd like to see a negative review first. I know a total Mac geek with an iPhone, and when I thought she was going to tell me how great it was (when I saw her recently) she just couldn't stop bitching about the lack of customization available. It just won't do what she knows it could have done if Apple wasn't so hell-bent on making everything so simple. Remember, she loves Apple, but she's a power user (on it constantly...mentioned you can't use it while laying on your side in bed, because the screen rotates) and thinks it could have been so much more usable if it had a few ways to tweak it (e.g. being able to turn off the feature that makes the screen rotate).
    • MikeSobe, on 07/10/2008, -1/+1Yahtzee?
  • elambing, on 07/10/2008, -2/+2can a current iphone owner please tell me how much space is filled with just general stuff on the iphone? and how much space will be required for new apps? im getting the 16gig size no matter what but id like to know just how much i can cram on there
    • jarjarbinx, on 07/10/2008, -0/+2On my 8GB iPhone, I have 821 songs, 43 videos (including 4 complete movies (handbrake 400 MB)), 456 photos, 14++ 3rd party apps and with 547 MB left. In any case, the convenience is that it syncs with iTunes so there is no need to put everything
  • jobobshishkabob, on 07/10/2008, -3/+14Would people please stop bitching about the increased data price. It's the same as the rest of AT&T's smartphones (the price you are actually supposed to pay, not the MediaNET plan that they let you get away with). It's cheaper than some blackberry plans. When I was trying to upgrade my phone with Verizon, they were going to require me to pay $45 a month for data for a freaking Motorola Q. I think they lowered that to $30, which brings me back to my original point. Its the same as other comparable 3G devices. Also, they said that 3G would lower battery life last year, yet people complained. Now that they have it, and it is lowering battery life, people complain.
    • parallax7d, on 07/10/2008, -3/+4people complain because its still a ripoff
    • lharrod, on 07/10/2008, -0/+2What's cool is that 3G can be toggled on/off for those of us that value battery life the most, or if you're in wi-fi spots often, etc.
  • VitriolAndAngst, on 07/10/2008, -1/+7The GPS will probably be provided by third-party software. Apple just doesn't want the liability of it. I'd say their "assisted" GPS, will probably be more accurate, on average, than that expensive GPS you put in the car.

    Good review overall. There is a lot more 3D, Graphics and Video processing on the new phone. So even though 2.0 software is MOST of the improvements, people who want a portable game system can have it all with the new phone. The avalanche of new apps will shore up a lot of the holes. Apple has just improved their infrastructure so that other people can make the phone better, without making it too difficult to get to the things you do 90% of the time.

    I'm trying NOT to sound like an rabid Apple fan, but they seem to get this "create the platform to enable usability" better than anyone else.

    But I WILL NOT, however, be getting this phone like I thought. AT&T has made the network too slow for what it could have been. And it would cost me about $260 per month for a family of two rather than $85 per month for two with T-Mobile. Granted, I don't browse the web -- but for these prices, I'll hold off on such a luxury. I consider what I'm paying now on Cell and Home DSL, and Phone to be ridiculous. I don't need a car payment on my phone.
    • madmanz123, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1I think there is some general misinformation going around. I keep hearing things like "GPS antenna too small for turn by turn". Can anyone really confirm that or is it along the lines of what Vitrio has said (and I think), that they just want to leave turn by turn to the major players.

      Frankly with Google's maps, infoline voice recognition and brains I'll be shocked if they don't put out their own custom GPS software, it only makes sense to use all that raw data together.
      • VitriolAndAngst, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1I think Apple is being very smart here. They are not experts in GPS, and they don't want to ruin this market for other vendors.

        They want to make money on the platform -- if they provide GPS, it might sell a few more units as another check mark on features. But if they make a home for the GPS vendors they get advocacy and in the end, users get better products.

        Take a look at the iPod and see the huge market for peripherals and even a dock in many modern cars. That wouldn't be there if Apple went into the speaker business.
    • psylence, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1GPS is built in to the phone. Do you mean navigation?
      • VitriolAndAngst, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1I thought that was obvious. Most people think of GPS as the navigation tools -- but you are right, it is the location chip. All phones since 2005 have a GPS chip in them by law (for the Government, that is), but they most aren't giving you any new features and they probably aren't meant for accuracy.
    • radonaldson54, on 07/10/2008, -1/+1"There is a lot more 3D, Graphics and Video processing on the new phone. So even though 2.0 software is MOST of the improvements, people who want a portable game system can have it all with the new phone."

      The hardware is the same as the old iPhone in terms of graphics, so why does portable gaming require the new iPhone?
      • VitriolAndAngst, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1No. Take a look at the state of the art chips they put in the thing. The OLD iPhone puts the PSP to shame. The new one has a chip that could allow video compression/decompression in real time up and down. It is the most powerful hand-held device right now.

        Don't have time to find a link -- but look it up if you want. Apple got some lockin with three different vendors and bought another for these custom mobile chips.
  • oxygen911, on 07/10/2008, -2/+16Hey I heard that if you read a David Pogue article on your iPhone™ you immediately get a free Starbucks™ coffee and one free John Mayer song from iTunes™. Is this true? I hope so, because I ***** can't wait for this phone. I would literally shoot (non lethally of course, lol!) a random stranger on the street and drink a liter of their blood from their gaping, open wound, in order to be able to get my hands on one of these things the day it comes out.

    Dugg!
    • lharrod, on 07/10/2008, -0/+2Either you are excellent at sarcasm, or you are the Overlord of Apple Fans (or you're FSJ).
  • senatorpjt, on 07/10/2008, -1/+3So, the new iPhone is marginally faster than the old one. Fast enough to make it slightly less irritating but not fast enough to enable it to do anything fundamentally different than the old one. The only time I use EDGE anyway is if I'm out with people and we end up in a conversation hinging on some unknown factoid. I just put it into the phone and set it aside for a couple minutes, then look again and the answer's there.
  • roseviolet, on 07/10/2008, -1/+1Informative review, but I'm not waiting in line all day for it this time. Might wait a day or two first.
  • kuppoppo, on 07/10/2008, -10/+3So let me get this straight: the opinion of some random jackass who happens to have a job at a ***** second rate rag like the New York Times is suddenly worth submitting to Digg? Who gives a ***** *****? Wait for it to come out and then go try it in the store.
    • rationalbeats, on 07/10/2008, -1/+3You don't know David Pouge?

      Seriously pal, grow up.
    • oxygen911, on 07/10/2008, -3/+3lol "pal"
    • BossKey, on 07/10/2008, -1/+6The man you just described has written some of the best tech books I've ever read. They strike that rare balance between being easy to read yet containing deep technical information and handy tips that aren't obvious.

      He didn't get this story because he happens to work at NYT, he got hired by NYT because he knows his stuff.

      Your description reveals your total lack of knowledge of the author and the valuable help he has given to the user community, and therefore your post qualifies as a FAIL.
  • petaganayr, on 07/10/2008, -5/+5You know what guys...if you compare the Palm Treo 750 with Windows Mobile to the iPhone, in my opinion, the Palm Treo wins. It came out before the iPhone. It was 3G ready already. It has Nav, MMS, Copy n Paste, you can use it as a modem, touchscreen and all the features that the iPhone doesn't have. I think in the phone competition, the Treo 750 is an underdog because everybody is comparing the iPhone to the BlackBerry even if it doesn't have touch screen. My Palm Treo can play videos, music, view pictures and make a call. I can watch YouTube and navigate websites. I think the iPhone is too hyped up. You have to pay to replace the battery? I think most iPhone users got suckered into the hype. Just my opinion:-D
    • bbear, on 07/10/2008, -1/+2Unfortunately I have compared the Treo 750 to the iPhone and a phone that crashes makes me want to put my fist through a wall. Windows Mobile does have the iPhone beat on features though e.g. they managed to cram Windows Task Manager into a ***** phone and expect you to use it to kill crashed processes. However if you want to edit the registry you will need a 3rd party app. Maybe windows mobile 7 will include regedit and User Account Control from Vista.
  • aphex1112, on 07/10/2008, -1/+0Great review - and that mania he speaks of will be felt here in Oz tomorrow.
  • skyshock1, on 07/10/2008, -7/+2"the really big deal is the iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store neither of which requires buying a new iPhone..."

    WTF, no.

    The big deal is the 3G network ability and built-in GPS. BOTH of which requires buying a new iPhone.
  • caralosm, on 07/10/2008, -1/+1You weren't "totally original"...and you swore too!

    http://digg.com/apple/David_Pogue_s_Review_of_the_ ...
    • PosedMagnet, on 07/10/2008, -1/+0"and you swore too!"

      ...WTF? Who cares?
  • mtalexander, on 07/10/2008, -3/+1When you look at it you have to realise the release of the iPhone 3G isn't really targeted to the U.S.

    It's for the rest of the world.

    Up until now, you couldn't buy the iPhone anywhere but the U.S. So while the feature set may not have made much of a leap from the first, it's a huge leap for other countries - simply because it's available.

    3G is old tech in other parts of the world, and it would a big disadvantage to release a phone without that capability in other markets, because every phone has it.

    I think these reviews are very narrow minded in that respect and have to realise how far behind the U.S with their network capabilities at this point. It's certainly not apples fault that the 3G coverage is lacking.
    • waydee, on 07/10/2008, -0/+5The 1st gen iPhone was available in plenty of other countries.

      It flopped however because of its outdated tech, weird lack of features and the feeling that it was designed for the US market. The new one doesn't seem to change much apart from bring it up to par with most phones, still weird feature omissions though. The pricing won't help it either, it's far and away the most expensive phone you can get in most countries with some shockingly expensive and bad plans. I don't think it'll succeed where the 1st gen failed.

      • Aitese, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1Although I'm not an iPhone fan (apart from the browser) it's actaully got some not too bad tarrifs here in the UK. Most people who are used to paying nothing for their phone initially will balk at the £99 asking price but the a comparison with my currant plan and the O2 website I could pick up the 8GB for free or the 16GB for £59 while paying what I pay now for similar minutes and more SMS messages. But for me the cons far outweigh the pros. The camera on my n95 has been a godsend as I found despite owning a good Canon digi-cam I never carried it around with me and usually forgot it when going out. Plus having a set amount of minutes and texts is just not an option for me anymore as I love my Flext price plan (instead of minutes and texts you get a cash allowance and can use it how you want...all text, all voice or a mix of both)
  • Dylson, on 07/10/2008, -0/+3I am so happy that theapp store will be on the iPod touch! Thank you, Apple, for that one.
  • vacuum2440, on 07/10/2008, -1/+4not much of a review, more of an overview...
    don't get me wrong i love apple and i'm a fan of Pogue but honestly he's sometimes too much of a "fanboy" to do an up-front fair review
  • ibeetle, on 07/10/2008, -4/+2There was a time when David Pogue mattered. Now he is just a 40 something afraid of change.
    Unfortunately, Steve Jobs puts more stock in what Pogue says than his own company employees.
    David did not like some GUI changes in Leopard, never mind the changes were actually made back in Tiger, David just happen to notice them. He hammered Apple in 3 blogs and 2 NYT articles and 4 magazine articles about how he and, self appointed himself to speak for the entire Apple community hated these changes. Never mind the fact that 70% of Apple uses liked or did not care about the new GUI. He did not like them and he was going to see to it those changes were made.
    He is clinging to the old Apple and has no idea what younger Apple users want in a Operating System or product line.
    David Pogue giving a Apple product a bad review would be like Steve Ballmer being the first in line at the Apple store to buy him and his entire family a iPhone.
    Maybe 10 years ago, but today Apple does not need cheerleaders.
  • Firespray1138, on 07/10/2008, -3/+6But will it blend?
  • heysuburbia, on 07/10/2008, -0/+2Is it possible for third parties to develop thing such as cut-n-paste, gps tracking, mms, etc...? Been wondering this for a while. thanks
    • andrewcod, on 07/10/2008, -1/+1Cut and paste between apps? No. They could develop cut and paste within the app, however. But why they'd want to, I'm not sure. GPS tracking? Yes. MMS? I think the limiting factor here is that you'd have to pay AT&T for sending the MMS, however they haven't outlined a price for it from the iPhone since it doesn't officially support it. I think we might need to wait and see for that one... Basically, developers can use all the raw data/hardware they want to to develop any program they want to, but they haven't got the luxury of being able to keep their app running all the time. (At WWDC however, Steve Jobs did outline a new feature they're putting in which allows developers to give alerts to users as they happen. For example, when you get a new IM message you could be notified even if the app wasn't running. That will only be made available later this year, however.)
  • machine82, on 07/10/2008, -2/+4I don't keep my iphone in a case. It's always tossed in my pocket and still looks like when I bought it a year ago. The new app store is the only thing I care about and I always have to have the newest apple toys.
  • ageaton, on 07/10/2008, -4/+3There's an iphone coming out?
  • judicar, on 07/10/2008, -1/+4"Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do with the G.P.S. According to Apple, the iPhone’s G.P.S. antenna is much too small to emulate the turn-by-turn navigation of a G.P.S. unit for a vehicle, for example."

    Where's the source for this statement? Sounds to me like he's extrapolating from the iPhone SDK license agreement that prohibits using the GPS for turn by turn.
  • chemokid, on 07/10/2008, -3/+2I'm subscribed to the Technology RSS feed. Is there any way to filter out the 1000 iPhone articles that get pushed on a daily basis?
  • messmerizer, on 07/10/2008, -4/+2they purposely left out gps and 3g so they could release a new version later and all these ***** buy it AGAIN XD

    i'm happy with my ocean thats had gps and 3g for over a year now :P
  • archer75, on 07/10/2008, -1/+2I don't care how much the monthly fee is on other phones, I don't care how cheap the iphone is. I'm not paying $70/month for a phone!
  • cruzer2727, on 07/10/2008, -0/+2HTFU Friday!
  • CoMpUtErITGuY, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1When it gets bluetooth stereo on it, let me know.
  • IJstickI, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1A great, honest review.
  • johntkucz, on 07/10/2008, -0/+0phew! Good to know I can still rock out with my non-3G iphone with iphone 2.0 software
  •  

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