Apple iPhone 3G Smart Phone Review

Innovative design and seamless integration between software and hardware propelled the first-generation iPhone to instant stardom. Its successor, the iPhone 3G, at once expands upon that innovation–and delivers it at half the entry price of its predecessor. The result is a classy device whose abilities continue to make it a strong choice for smartphone shoppers who value form that supports function–but less of a must-have upgrade than you might think.

Up front, Apple largely delivers on its promises. iPhone 2.0 software supports, among other things, the newly launched and eagerly awaited iPhone App Store. (Owners of first-generation iPhone can download the software for free.) A faster wireless radio loads Web pages up to three times faster. An appealing lower price makes the iPhone more accessible to an audience beyond early adopters and gadget hounds ($299 for the 16GB version in either white or black or $199 for the 8GB version–that’s one-third the price of the original 4GB iPhone that shipped a year ago).

But in some ways, the iPhone 3G feels like an incremental upgrade at best–one that does little to capitalize on Apple’s already sizable jump on its competition. The list of details that remain overlooked or are not included is sizable–no removable media, no Java or Flash support in Safari, no cut-and-paste. Almost all of these are points that Apple could have easily fixed–which makes their omission all the more frustrating.

Source: PC World