Apple iPhone 3G

This entry is made exclusively for those gadget lovers who intend to buy, or keen on buying Apple iPhone 3G this coming 22 August 2008. Yes, iPhone 3G will be available in Singapore on 22 August 2008 onwards. Singtel has confirmed it via email for those who have reserved the phone online. From what I've heard, the phone does come in "bundle" with a 2-year Singtel mobile phone plan because this phone is currently exclusive for Singtel user only.

Well, here I'd like to summarize what I've found across the internet, regarding the good and the bad of iPhone 3G. Here we go.

The Good aka Pro:

• High-Speed 3G network: meaning, you can browse at a faster speed than the old iPhone does.
• The new design: Well, it looks slightly "slimmer" than the old iPhone. Truth is, the body of the phone itself is thicker in the center but the edges are thinner than before. If you ever notice it, the back of the phone is no longer a matte aluminum, but a black (or white if you choose to buy the 16G one) plastic.
• GPS navigation: fast GPS acquisition, depending on your location and reception. It utilizes the Assisted GPS (AGPS) supplemented by satellites, which better pinpoints your location.
• Camera: Slight improvement in the photo quality.
• Contact Search: Now you are able to search your contact by typing any portion of the name.
• Call quality: The call quality is improved by eliminating the presence of slight background hum and increasing the audio volume.

The Bad aka cons:

• Its high resolution 480 x 320 3.5-inch display is a magnet for fingerprints and smudges.
• The most irritating one is that the Bluetooth only supports headset and can't be used for file transfer.
• There is no MMS (Multimedia Message) feature in iPhone 3G.
• You can't shoot any video using the 2MP camera. Well, perhaps for those of you who don't really bother about shooting video using mobile phones, this drawback could be ignored.
• We might be familiar with "copy and paste" feature that common symbian / windows based phones have. Sadly, this feature can't be found here in iPhone 3G.
• After contemplating some pictures taken using iPhone 3G's 2MP camera, I conclude that the camera is really something Apple needs to improve when launching next generation of iPhone.
• The battery is short-lived, as in when you turn on everything (3G, wifi, bluetooth for headset, GPS), the battery could be drained very quickly. In addition, unlike most other smart phones, the iPhone battery is sealed and hence can't be replaced with a spare.
• No voice dialing for iPhone 3G.
• There is no way to extend the memory size of this phone as no memory-card slot can be found in this phone.

Conclusion:
iPhone has successfully delivered what other smart phones unable to deliver. The design, technology, user interfaces, all are brilliant! However, most features that a standard phone has are missing. For myself, at least for the time being, I'd prefer to buy iPod touch rather than iPhone 3G. Both of them are nearly the same, the UI, design, applications, and so on. The only difference is that iPod Touch is working offline, as in not receiving any GSM signal whatsoever. Last word, iPhone 3G is worth the design and all the technologies it utilizes, but it is not worth a phone..




*all images are courtesy of engadget.com