While the iPhone 3G is much loved by Apple fans and tech geeks, and even dubbed the Jesus phone by some more extreme members of the cult, how does Apple’s golden boy stack up as a cell phone for real people?

First of all, I have to admit that until now I’ve been a cell phone Luddite. My previous cell phone was pretty basic, although I was starting to feel pressure to upgrade. As a marketing consultant, I’m often out of the office, but I still need to respond to emails and be “online”. It was getting to the point where I really needed to upgrade my dinosaur handset so that I could be more responsive to clients.

I was starting to think about buying a Blackberry, when a colleague, who’s a rabid Apple fan, insisted we all upgrade to the iPhone 3G. When he offered to get everyone an iPhone through the company, I wasn’t going to say no.

In addition to not having been a smart phone user, I should also confess that I’m a PC user (Windows XP). So I don’t have any particular affection for Apple products; I just need to get a job done.

The model reviewed here is a 16GB iPhone 3G connected to the Optus 3G mobile phone network in Sydney, Australia.

First impressions

When you buy an iPhone you need to get it activated at the point of purchase. So make sure you’ve got your SIM card with you. In my case I had to change carriers, and then needed to wait for the iPhone to come in, so I was using the new SIM card in another phone while I was waiting. Luckily I remembered to bring the SIM card with me when I picked up my iPhone.

The first things that strike you about the iPhone are its stylish looks and its and lack of keypad. While the lack of a keypad can be disconcerting at first, you soon get used to the idea of “sliding” and “touching” the screen to interact with and use the phone.

The 3.5 inch (480 x 320 pixel) display is easy to read and responds well to being touched. The interface is fairly intuitive. Pressing the round button directly under the display gets you to main screen, which contains icons for functions/applications like Contacts, SMS (Text), Calendar, Photos, Camera, YouTube, Stocks, Maps, Weather, Clock, Calculator, Notes, Settings, iTunes and App Store. Along the bottom of this screen are another four icons for Phone, Mail, Safari (web browser) and iPod (so you can use the phone as a media player).

To access a function you touch its corresponding icon with your finger. Once you’ve mastered this concept, you’ve basically mastered the interface.

To actually make a phone call you tap out the phone number on an onscreen keypad. I was a little doubtful about this approach, but it works well.

Hands free

When I picked up the phone I asked the assistant whether there was a hands free headset available. He helpfully explained that the supplied set of earphones also have a microphone so you can use them as a hands free.

On screen keyboard

When using email, updating a contact, or entering a website address into the browser, you’ll be presented with an onscreen keyboard so you can enter text. As with most of these kinds of devices, you end up using your thumbs to hit the keys. While obviously you wouldn’t use the onscreen keyboard to write the great American (or in my case, Australian) novel, it’s absolutely fine for writing short emails.

Syncing with Microsoft Outlook

Obviously one of the first things I wanted to do after I got the iPhone back to my office was to sync it with my email client, Microsoft Outlook. There’s very little by way of instruction provided with the iPhone, and it took me a little bit of Googling to work out that you need to install iTunes on your PC in order to be able to sync your iPhone with Outlook.

The iPhone connects to your computer via a USB cable, and you can charge your iPhone using your computer, although there’s also a mains adapter included.

Internet access

One of the big selling points of the iPhone 3G is its ability to allow you to surf the Web via the built-in Safari browser.

You can access the Internet when you’re out and about via the 3G broadband network. When you’re within range of a Wi-Fi network, you can use that instead.

The built-in Safari browser is designed to show web pages as they are, ie they’re shrunk to fit the screen. You can turn the iPhone on its side to get a better view, and tap the screen twice to zoom up on sections of web page.

While of course you can’t expect to have the same web experience on a mobile phone as you would a desktop or notebook computer, overall, this approach works well.

Call reliability

A number of reviewers have reported that their iPhone 3G drops out during phone calls, or has problem finding a signal.

This is a very hard issue to quantify, because obviously the handset is only part of the issue (there is of course the network).

For me, it’s been OK, though it doesn’t seem as good as finding a signal and keeping it as my old handset. Now, of course, that’s completely a subjective assessment, and all things considered, it’s not a big enough issue for me to not recommend an iPhone.

Battery life

Just before I was roped into getting an iPhone, a tech savvy journo friend of mine warned me about the poor battery life that iPhone 3G users were reporting. Some have even reported that the phone hasn’t survived a full day without needing a recharge, which is a bit of a worry, since a mobile phone that runs out of juice before the end of the day is not much help.

My experience is that if are a heavy mobile phone user — ie spend a couple of hours on the phone, check email, use Maps — you’ll find you need to recharge your phone battery every day. If you’re a lighter user, you might get away with a recharge every couple of days. However, if you’re anything like me, you’ll find you using your iPhone more than you did your old phone – just because it offers that much more functionality.

If you get into a habit of syncing your iPhone every night, you should also avoid battery issues.

Favourite feature

I’m not going to go through every feature, because most of them are obvious. Though I will say it is cool to be able to use the iPhone as a full featured media player (ie listen to music and play videos).

My favourite feature is the Maps, which allows you to plot your current position on a Google Map using the phone’s built in GPS. You can also use it to find an address, and to plot the way from your present location to the place you want to go.

From a practical perspective, this is very useful feature. Often I’m running late for a meeting, and rather than have to find the address in my emails, and then go to Google Maps, I can do all this on my iPhone on the train on the way to my meeting.

The bottom line

No it’s not perfect, but nevertheless the iPhone 3G is a great phone. It offers a high level of out-of-office/out-and-about functionality. It’s good for catching up with email and checking websites, and because it’s also an iPod, it’s very good for playing back music and video. With Maps, you’ll never loose your way again. The only question marks are the battery life and the reception problems some people have – but for most people these issues won’t be significantly enough to greatly affect their iPhone experience.

Related:

iPhone and iPod Touch Apps — users suck it and see — once

Review – Yelp for the iPhone / Touch

Real came slumming, but got approved instead

Badder, faster iPhone 3GS costs $179 to build

iPhone app: AP Mobile 3.0 pushes the news to you

Entry was posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 4:05 am under Opinion, Review, iPhone.  Print This Post

Read more entries by John Pospisil.
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