iPhone 3G review: Twice the hype, half the novelty
- m
- mr.cool
- 2Tu
- 26 Aug 2008
wat is the price of phone 3g
- R
- Revenant
- nTq
- 26 Aug 2008
Rego, 26 Aug 2008That still in no way justifies the price for this phone!!!!... moreExactly. If you look at most of the multimedia phones out there, they all have many more features than the iPhone. That is enough to make it a terrible multimedia phone. Remember people, a good web browser makes it a decent INTERNET phone, not a good multimedia phone...
- R
- Revenant
- nTq
- 26 Aug 2008
Anonymous, 26 Aug 2008Just because the iphone cannot take videos and send MMS, it... moreSo if you're so smart, and I'm not, how come you missed that I never said the iPhone was a teerrible phone. I said it was a terrible MULTIMEDIA phone. My point about the firmware wasn't that you need to update it to USE the phone - just that so many features are missing that most other multimedia devices can do out the box. You can use the main features straight out the box, but that wasn't my point. My point was that you need the update to use features that are standard on most multimedia phones. Video calling? It's a popular service where 3G coverage is available. I know 3G isn't widely available in the US but is that reason enough to alienate the international market? Yes, you can use iTunes to download music, but can't that only be done from the computer you register on? More restrictions.
You seem to have misinterpreted almost all of my points. And then you call ME dumb?
- R
- Rego
- PBt
- 26 Aug 2008
That still in no way justifies the price for this phone!!!!
Anyways, its for people with a lot of spare money to spend.
What extra do you get at that price as compared to any other phone with the same price??
- ?
- Anonymous
- 4TA
- 26 Aug 2008
Revenant, 25 Aug 2008Actually, the iPhone is a TERRIBLE multimedia phone. No MM... moreJust because the iphone cannot take videos and send MMS, it's already terrible? LOL. Taking videos and MMS are not the essence of a phone. It's making calls. The rest are just extras. You are a terrible person, lol. The iphone can send emails, so MMS is not the only deal. Most, if not all, iphone users have digital cameras, so the iphone not able to take videos is not a big deal for us because we can take better quality videos with our digital cameras. The iphone has Pandora Radio, AOL radio and also an ipod, we do not need FM radio. Video calling is silly, no one really uses that feature. Maybe 1 out of a million, lol. Again, we do not need to transfer via BT, we can email. How many options do you need to download music? LOL. We can buy music through itunes, we can also rip music from our personal cd collentions, we can even download songs from limewire if we want to. We are not freeloaders. We can get our own music. The iphone is a fun phone, has a great ipod and has an amazing web browser, and a revolutionary touch UI. Nice attempt to pull down the iphone. But you need to be really smart to do that, and you're not =)
- ?
- Anonymous
- jJe
- 26 Aug 2008
Ying, 14 Aug 2008I'm sorry aNgelo G, but do you honestly KNOW what you are t... moreYou said "the Nokia N95 isn't known for just its 5 megapixel ability. Unlike most camera phones, the lens equipped on the Nokia N95 is of prestigious quality" - Are you on drugs? The N95 takes decent pictures, but I wouldn't call it prestigious. Camera phones are only handy to use in case you do not have your digital camera with you. That's why I do not understand the hype on megapixels.
You said "the iPhone is not worthy to be dubbed as a smartphone" - Why? Who's dubbing it a smartphone? Did Apple dub it to be a smartphone? The iphone is a multi-media device, not necessarily a smartphone. It gets confused to be a smartphone, but it's not.
You asked "please explain the possibility of a simple image transfer then" - Have you heard of email?
You said "The main factor when deciding "best browser" is how closely a mobile browser mimics the PC browser" - You are wrong. A great web browser is being able to effortlessly surf the web. The ability to zoom-in and out of a page easily. The ability to access web sites with ease. The ability capture a page in the most effective format to fit the display of your phone. The absence of flash support and java with the iphone has not affected or hindered me in any way when I browse the web. I had the N95, the Viewty and the Touch Diamond, and they are far behind the iphone's web browsing capabilities.
You said "Much like the overall conception of the iPhone, the UI is too simple. The iPhone has an open one application limit" - You are again wrong. You can open ipod and browse the web at the same time with your iphone. If that is not multi-tasking, what would you call that? A person can only do so much at one time. What kind of multi-tasking do you require from a phone if I may ask?
You said "Either consumers are really that ignorant, or Apple's marketing is just that marvelous" Again, are you on drugs? If the iphone is just all about effective marketing, don't you think that the millions of iphone users would've realized that by now? Critics would say that if you already have the ist gen iphone, stick with it. Just like when that black N95 came out. It didn't really have a lot of difference from the old N95, so people were advised to keep their old N95 and that the black N95 would be a great choice for new buyers. Same logic here. I'm a new iphone user, so of course I'd be buying the 3g iphone. Use your common sense.
You said "The differences between the iPhone and the other manufacturers, the other manufacturers upgrades aren't so drastic yet pointless and leave consumers greatly unfulfilled." - Are you saying that the iphone is not capable of getting updates? Except for the 3G part, the 1st generation iphone can avail of all the updates that the 3g iphone has. Like being able to download applications from itunes.
You're obviously not an iphone user. Maybe the iphone's feature does not serve you right. It simply means that the iphone is not a device for you. Just because a coupe can only fit 2 people, and you have a family of 8, it does not mean that the two door car is already useless. A coupe can run faster than any van or suv, just like the iphone can outperform any smartphone. Do you want to do a comparison on which phone can flip through pictures faster? Or which phone can zoom in and out faster? Or which phone can load a web page faster.
- R
- Revenant
- nTq
- 25 Aug 2008
And before people start going on about how most of these shortcomings can be fixed with a future firmware update - it shouldn't NEED it. If the iPhone's supposed to be a multimedia device, surely you should be able to use the multimedia features straight out the box, instead of having to spend ages farting about with it to make it do things it really shoulda been able to do from the off...
- R
- Revenant
- nTq
- 25 Aug 2008
GUNNER, 22 Aug 2008Thanks for a such a long review.I'm a Apple fan,got a Macbo... moreActually, the iPhone is a TERRIBLE multimedia phone. No MMS, no video recording, no settings on the camera, no radio, no video calling, no bluetooth file transfer and the headset support doesn't even support A2DP. Not to mention the incredibly limited options for transferring music onto the phone in the first place. I'm sorry, but the ONLY things the iPhone has going for it is the UI and the web browsing experience, and without flash or java support the web browsing ain't even as good as it first appears to be. But to call the iPhone a great multimedia phone is utterly laughable. Sorry guys, but it just don't cut it...
- ?
- Anonymous
- TR{
- 24 Aug 2008
iPhone is the BEST talking about it's functions and stuff. BUT, I got iPhone for 3 weeks now i am expirencing a problem. My iPhone WOULDNT turn on. When i try turning it on it brings me to the Apple Logo and just Stays there. I tried to restore it. After the 4 hour process of restoring it. IT WORKED for 5 minutes until a call came in. OH GUESS WHAT? it froze and got screwed again. Tried to restart the phone and it gets Stuck with the apple screen.
I Was a apple fan. i LOVED it. but this time i am seriously disappointed. Seriously disappointed. It's a Great phone, but the reliablity of this phone is Horrible.
- D
- Didi
- w7i
- 23 Aug 2008
Can any one tell if iphone 3G can have FM radio??? Is there any possibiolity that it can be installed or use another accessory to have radio on the phone??
- n
- nick
- nxw
- 22 Aug 2008
Simon, 22 Aug 2008Well here's another opinion...
I'm an IT administrator w... moreactually simon, thats the thing, the n95 really isnt showing its age, because it packs more features than most phones being released today.
okay it isnt the most aesthetically pleasing phone but for its price, it delivers.
- G
- GUNNER
- iih
- 22 Aug 2008
Simon, 22 Aug 2008Well here's another opinion... I'm an IT administrator w... moreThanks for a such a long review.I'm a Apple fan,got a Macbook,Ipod and would love to own the Iphone,even though its ordinary as a phone but it's great as a multimedia phone.Nothing on earth justifies its $715 price tag for the 8gb phone. Apple products aren't for the masses,so Nokia will always be the king after all 1 billion people can't be wrong.N96 as phone comes in a different category all together.
- S
- Simon
- vu{
- 22 Aug 2008
Well here's another opinion...
I'm an IT administrator who has managed a variety of networks, owned countless tech gadgets, computers, PDAs and so called "smartphones". I.e. a true geek. I was lucky enough to have a hands on demo of the new HTC Touch Diamond the other day, which in theory is technically superior in pretty much every way to the iPhone. But in reality I hate it. It was sluggish and buggy, and its 3MP camera over-processed photos with no flash produced laughable shots (check out the GSM review if you don't beleive me). Just to let yu know my last phone was a Nokia N95 8GB (which is still in use for some functions and it's great customisation options).
Like a lot of other people here I couldn't believe the lack of features missing on the iPhone 3G when it was first announced. I actually recall talking people out of it in favor of other phones before I actually had a go of the thing. (I hadn't even picked up an iPhone before that point and laughed it off as a a basic gimmick)..But then everything changed when I started using a friend's..
The iPhone is far more than a basic phone with fancy touchscreen. Its a completely new way of using a portable multimedia device. The high res screen is simply gorgeous and its ambient light sensor means its always readable under any conditions. Likewise its intuitive menu design and accelerometer, and multitude of sensors make it an absolute pleasure to use and allow for some stunning features, apps and effects. Once you start surfing the net "touchscreen style" and using email on the thing you wonder how you ever lived without it. It's that good. It's one of those things you really have to experience for yourself for a couple of weeks to get used to (not just pick up in a store for a few minutes) to truly appreciate. Once you do, its hard to imagine going back to the cumbersome navigation and INTERNET surfing and low res screen of my N95.
Sure the iPhone lacks flash support among many other things, but Apple have already announced this will be remedied soon, and when it is, it will be hands down the best portable device to surf the net on bar none. The HTC Diamond and Samsung U900 are sluggish and cumbersome in comparison and feel like basic touch screens sitting on top of sluggish Windows Mobile 6 operating systems (which is exactly what they are). The iPhone 3G on the other hand is fast, responsive and constantly improving in performance thanks to frequent updates and cool free apps being released every day that are only a tap of the screen away.
Sure I'd love it if it had a 3MP+ camera with autofous, xenon flash and face detection, file saving (and editing) 640x480@30fps video recording, stereo bluetooth headset support, bluetooth file transfer, flash, java, multitasking, a slide out qwerty keyboard, expandable memory, exchangeable battery, and if it cooked and buttered my toast each morning, but those features would triple the price and complexity, lower the battery life and stuff its slick form factor, and create a whole heap of new technical problems with what is essentially a simple to use powerful phone/multimedia/internet/email GPS device with the capability to constantly grow with new apps and toys.
Apple has always been about simplicity and intuitive user-friendly design, and the iPhone delivers this experience in droves. So much so that a tech nerd like me was happy to forgo more advanced features for the pure joy of using the phone on an every day basis. Surfing the net with Safari is simply awesome and will only get better when flash support is added (this has been confirmed by the way). The N95 looks ancient with its clunky interface, awkwarkd hardkey navigation, and low res screen in comparison (while obviously addmittedly blitzing the iPhone in terms of camera/video support and overall features).
Personally I already have a seperate 7.2MP compact Canon camera and haven't seen snaps from any phone that come close to it's quality yet (its all about the quality of lens, flash, chipset, and amount of processing and compression - megapixels aint everything people!) so I couldn't care less about the megapixel count of something that will probably come out blurry and over-compressed half the time regardless (the N95 while better than the vast majority of phones is still nothing compared to a dedicated camera with less compression, dediciated processing, and high quality Xenon flash).
Persoanlly for a device with a a tiny lens and 2 megapxiel camera I've been quite impressed by the basic geo-tagged snaps the iPhone can take so far and that's really all I need it for (although basic video support would be handy I'll admit).
As we've already witnessed with the huge number of touchscreen phones now announced since the original iPhone release, Apple have really stirred up the market with their new device (just as they did with the music industry with the ipod and iTunes which many many people also hate) and persoanlly I think they deserve every bit of success they will reap with the iPhone 3G. While basic in implementation, its an absolute pleasure to use and I cant wait to see what their future phones are like and what functionality i can add to my exisiting phone as the Appstore and firmware matures.
In the meantime other competitors are announcing amazing looking phones to compete with Apple like the Sony Xperia X1 (which looks like it packs the functionality of the iPhone with everything the iPhone lacks at a much higher price) and with powerhouse Android and nVidia chipset based phones on the way over the next two years it will be definitely be an awesome time for new phones and portable multimedia devices in general. Like it or not the iPhone have shaken up the market and changed phones (and associated call and data plans from telecommunication providers) forever.
And what do we have announced from the so called superior phone market leader Nokia? A "barely indistinguishable from it's predecessor N96" which actually removes 3D hardware acceleration, keeps thee same low res "non-touch screen" and simply adds support for 900Mhz 3G (a plus in some regiana areas but meaningless in metro 2100Mhz 3G areas), a TV tuner that is useless in most parts of the world and it actually downsizes the battery and classes up the aesethetics a little.. Yippee. I really expected better from them after the awesome N95 (which was stunning when it came out, but lets face it's really showing its age now). Funnily enough not many people seem to be whinging about the fact that Nokia appear to be standing still with their "upcoming release" that adds notrhing noteable?
So in Short - iPhone - basic, simple, cool, intuitive, slick and easily expandable - its fresh approach to designa dn navigation is changing the phone market and the way phone manafacturers and telecommucations companies operate forever. There's no doubt it lacks some features that will be added, and some that unfortunately can't be addedd that it SHOULD have had to begin with, but personally I'm missing very few of them and loving using the phone more and more every day.
Other competitors in the meantime will be working hard to deliver killer phones with similar intuitive touchscreen designs with all the features that the iPhone lacks. A good thing wouldn't you agree?
So whether you love it or hate it the iPhone is a great thing for the mobile phone industry, and will benefit all consumers in the long run whether you go for one or not.
In the meantime I'll be using a combination of my iPhone, N95, laptop and dedicated Canon camera until the Sony Xperia X1 (and similar advanced devices) have proven to be as good as they look and work as well as they sound on paper :-)
- ?
- Anonymous
- M@T
- 21 Aug 2008
mark, 19 Aug 2008oh dear why are so many people complaining to Apple over th... moreHi..
I actually don't like the iPhone 3g because it does not have video recording software,it doesnt download files from the internet such as songs,it can't transfer files through bluetooth,it can't upload images or videos on online sites like facebook so what i think is that iphone's just a waste of money..
- H
- Hisham
- pS0
- 21 Aug 2008
Michael Alexander, 18 Aug 2008The nice thing about this phone is that not everybody has o... moreBeautiful and brilliant UI... Although I agree feature wise it does not compare to a Nokia N95 or a HTC Touch Diamond. I just upgraded from a touch diamond to an Iphone 3g and I cant have enough of this phone. It depends on your priorities, If you are happy with the basic functionality of a phone, then the Iphone 3g is a great device. Esp viewing videos and the ipod feature is fab!!!!
- ?
- Anonymous
- 4TA
- 21 Aug 2008
I don't think it's hyped at all. People actually tried this phone out and loved it, and that is what created the stir. Apple simply produced this product, if it's crappy, I don't think that it would sell and cause phones to evolve to the direction it's heading to right now. I don't think the Touch Diamond or the Omnia or the Viewty and other full touchscreen phones would have popped out of the scene if not for the iphone. They all hopped on the iphone bandwagon. The iphone is revolutionary, not merely a hyped product like antagonists would want it to be.
- ?
- Anonymous
- S1x
- 20 Aug 2008
I loved the tag line very much "Twice the hype, half the novelty"
It says it all.
Thanks for an honest and excellent review.
Greatly appreciated.
- m
- mark
- mmN
- 19 Aug 2008
oh dear why are so many people complaining to Apple over the I-Phone 3G. mmm was a rushed device me think so.
- M
- Michael Alexander
- mAM
- 18 Aug 2008
The nice thing about this phone is that not everybody has one at this moment. Only several millions of mobile phone users have an Apple-made phone, while more than a billion own a Nokia. The device has it's weak spots, but most of them can be fixed by new firmware updates. It's all about what you want your phone to do. If you want to browse the web, listen to music, watch movies and install the best mobile applications ever, then iPhone is the best choice by far...
- w
- wyL
- 0V3
- 17 Aug 2008
nice iphone 3g :}