Wednesday, July 9, 2008

iPhone 3G — Twice as Fast. Half The Battery Life.


Just as Jun. 26, 2007 was likely your last chance to buy shares of Apple for less than $120, July 8, 2008 may well have been your last chance to buy them for under $170. A trio of iPhone 3G reviews went to press yesterday evening, and all are largely positive. There are some caveats though: battery life is disappointing (4 hours and 27 minutes of talk time? The first iteration of the device provided up to eight hours), as is lack of video and voice capture. And the device’s GPS receiver is apparently too weak to support turn-by-turn navigation. Oh, and you’ll likely need an adapter to use first gen iPhone accessories.

If you’ve been waiting to buy an iPhone until it dropped in price, or ran on faster cell networks, you might want to take the plunge, if you can live with the higher service costs and the weaker battery life. The same goes for those with existing iPhones who love the device but crave faster cellular data speeds. But if you already own an iPhone, and can usually use Wi-Fi for data, you probably should hold off and get the free software upgrade before deciding whether it’s worth getting the new hardware.”

– Walt Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal

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. That twist may come as a refreshing surprise to planned-obsolescence conspiracy theorists — and everyone who stood in line last year.

– David Pogue, The New York Times

The iPhone 3G … is worth the wait….It’s cheaper, faster and a lot friendlier for business. Apple’s blockbuster smartphone already had nifty features such as visual voicemail, a splendid built-in video iPod and the best mobile Web browser I’ve ever used. With GPS newly added to the mix, this handheld marvel has no equal among consumer-oriented smartphones.”

– Edward C. Baig, USA Today

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