Apple iPhone 3G 8GB Reviews

Whilst the hype surrounding the original iPhone might not have equally translated into sales, it can't be denied that the arrival of Steve Jobs and the boys revolutionised the mobile phone market – in the 12 months since the launch of the iPhone, we've seen numerous high powered smartphones complete with touchscreen interfaces and multimedia features being touted as 'iPhone killers'.

Revolutionary or not, the two main points of contention with would-be first-gen iPhone customers was the lack of 3G support and the cost – Apple have responded to these criticisms by including high-speed 3G access this time round, and significantly reducing the asking price of the handset. Like its predecessor, this new 3G version is a revolutionary phone, widescreen iPod music player and mini-computer in one, with rich HTML email and full web browsing.

As a telephone, the iPhone is a dream to use. Scroll through your telephone numbers using the touch screen, or if you have lots of contacts use the search facility - a feature which is a vast improvement from the original. Three way conversations are also easy – you just flick from one to another using the large screen, or create a conference call. The visual voicemail facility also lets you prioritise your voice messages, so you can listen to the most important ones first.

Rich HTML Email on the phone looks just like email on your computer, so images appear alongside texts. Attachments are no longer pared-down versions of the original. You can rotate, zoom and pan in more than a dozen standard file and image formats, including PDF, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The iPhone features Safari, the standard web browser on Macs, and the most advanced on any phone, and will connect you to EDGE, 3G and Wi-Fi. SMS conversations appear as an ongoing chat, so you can easily follow the thread of your texts, and the multi-touch QWERTY keyboard allows makes for quick and easy typing.

With its 3.5-inch widescreen display and multi-touch controls, the iPhone doubles up as an iPod, enabling you to watch videos, listen to music and sync it all to your iTunes.

Another great feature of the iPhone is its mobile maps – GPS tells you exactly where you are, and how to get to where you’re going. It even points out places of interest on the way. For example, if you search for "Chinese" it will show you every Chinese restaurant in the area.

Sadly, the one downside to the 3G iPhone is that it inherits one of the weaknesses of its predecessor, in the form of a paltry 2 Megapixel camera. Whilst Apple declare this iPhone to be "the most photo friendly phone ever", rival Smartphones, such last year's Nokia N95, win hands down on picture quality.

Height: (mm)	115.5
Width: (mm)	62.1
Depth: (mm)	12.3
Weight: (g)	133
Talk Time: (Hrs)	5.5
Stand By: (Hrs)	72
Camera:	Y
Camera Resolution:	2 Mega Pixels
Phone Type:	Standard
Coverage (Band):	Quad
Video:	Y
Bluetooth:	Y
Mp3 Player:	Y
Mp3 Ringtones:	Y
MMS:	Y
Java Games:	Y
Radio:	N
GPRS:	Y
Email:	Y
Intrenet Browsing:	Y
3G:	Y
Flash Memory:	N
PCSync:	Y
WiFi:	Y