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First iPhone 3G Reviews: Mossberg, Baig, and Pogue

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,548
30,865


The first iPhone 3G reviews are in from the reporters who have had early access to the iPhone 3G for the past two weeks. While we encourage you to read their reviews in full, we've highlighted some of interesting tidbits:

Walt Mossberg / AllThingsD

- "it mostly keeps its promises."
- "more capable version of an already excellent device"
- Battery drained much more quickly using 3G
- Greatly improved audio, much louder speaker
- Data speeds 3-5x faster than original iPhone
- Better voice coverage with 3G. "At my neighborhood shopping center, where the first iPhone got little or no AT&T service, the iPhone 3G registered strong coverage."

Edward Baig / USA Today

- "iPhone 3G: The Sequel, is worth the wait."
- Still no recording video, no stereo bluetooth or voice dialing
- Supports PowerPoint attachments; mass move or delete multiple e-mail messages
- 10-30 seconds to load popular websites on 3G.
- GPS was very accurate
- Speaker sounded better for both speakerphone and music.
- "started receiving low battery warnings toward the end of a busy work day; I found myself charging the device overnight, the same as with the older iPhone."

David Pogue / NYTimes

- Sound is much improved. "In fact, few cellphones sound this good."
- Feels better in your hand due to the curved back
- "According to Apple, the iPhone’s G.P.S. antenna is much too small to emulate the turn-by-turn navigation of a G.P.S. unit for a vehicle, for example."
- No voice dialing, video recording, copy/paste, memory card slot, Bluetooth stereo, MMS
- "the really big deal is the iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store, neither of which requires buying a new iPhone."



Article Link
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2008/07/08/first-iphone-3g-reviews-mossberg-baig-and-pogue/
L

levitynyc

macrumors 65816
Aug 19, 2006
1,123
3,704
I was looking forward to the better sound part. Maybe speaker phone will be useful now.
 
kjs862

kjs862

macrumors 65816
Jan 21, 2004
1,297
24
When was this information released from Apple regarding the GPS antenna?
 
Quillz

Quillz

macrumors 65816
Jan 6, 2006
1,421
0
Los Angeles, CA
So, it sounds like the iPhone 3G is a good buy for those who don't have an iPhone, but not necessarily worth a full upgrade for those who already own an iPhone.

Like David Pogue, I'm much more excited about the 2.0 firmware update than I am about the new hardware.
 
Mykbibby

Mykbibby

macrumors 6502a
Jun 1, 2007
559
161
Palm Springs, CA
iPhone 3G with GPS: Know exactly where you are at all times! It can't help you with directions, but at least you know where you are!

I can look around, thank you very much...
 
THX1139

THX1139

macrumors 68000
Mar 4, 2006
1,928
0
I logged into MacRumors to see what the latest is and instead wind up at iPhoneRumors. Seriously, there 6 articles on the front page about iPhone!!! I long for the olden days when this forum was mostly about Mac Computers. I really wish Apple would spin the iPhone off into a separate company.
 
evilyankeefan

evilyankeefan

macrumors regular
Aug 12, 2007
200
1
Quillz said:
So, it sounds like the iPhone 3G is a good buy for those who don't have an iPhone, but not necessarily worth a full upgrade for those who already own an iPhone.

Like David Pogue, I'm much more excited about the 2.0 firmware update than I am about the new hardware.
Click to expand...

I'd have to agree with this though the temptation for a new shiny toy will be gnawing at me until I cave. :)
 
nickspohn

nickspohn

macrumors 68040
Jun 9, 2007
3,592
0
So either Ed doesn't get in a car and try out the GPS, or David is living in a cave.
 
P

pyrophite

macrumors member
Mar 9, 2006
36
1
So the GPS now basically does not much more than give me slightly more accurate readings than "my location" in google maps? Oh wait, if i'm dumped in the middle of nowhere with no cell towers, i can find where i am.... wonderful. The demo they gave seemed to have pretty good real time signal aquisition, unless that was just all show, and no substance. Ugh, that was one of my reasons to buy this in the first place, an all in one device that i can put in my car for GPS, and hands free bluetooth calls.

Now since i cant use it for turn by turn directions, it's basically a blackberry with worse keyboard, and better application support...
 
B

btallada9870

macrumors regular
Jul 16, 2007
105
76
THX1139 said:
I logged into MacRumors to see what the latest is and instead wind up at iPhoneRumors. Seriously, there 6 articles on the front page about iPhone!!! I long for the olden days when this forum was mostly about Mac Computers. I really wish Apple would spin the iPhone off into a separate company.
Click to expand...

so when the next mac is days from being released, and i log on and find 6 articles about that i'll be sure to complain and annoy everyone ;)
 
dagamer34

dagamer34

macrumors 65816
May 1, 2007
1,359
101
Houston, TX
pyrophite said:
So the GPS now basically does not much more than give me slightly more accurate readings than "my location" in google maps? Oh wait, if i'm dumped in the middle of nowhere with no cell towers, i can find where i am.... wonderful. The demo they gave seemed to have pretty good real time signal aquisition, unless that was just all show, and no substance. Ugh, that was one of my reasons to buy this in the first place, an all in one device that i can put in my car for GPS, and hands free bluetooth calls.

Now since i cant use it for turn by turn directions, it's basically a blackberry with worse keyboard, and better application support...
Click to expand...

Third-party software that uses CoreLocation will be MUCH more accurate when using the GPS chip in the 3G iPhone than just WiFi + cell towers.
 
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