“On schedule, Apple released the new iPhone 3G today and the new iPhone and iPod Touch 2.0 software update. I’ve spent some hands on time and here are some quick thoughts. More over the weekend. First, the hardware. The new iPhone 3G hardware is very nice, similar to the original perhaps a tad thicker but overall, has great hand feel. The metal back has been replaced by plastic but feels good and should wear just fine. 3G speeds are nice and impressive and the GPS features work well where I am here in North Jersey. Sound is fantastic and noticeably better than the first generation of devices and in general is among the best sounding phones on the market. It’s too early for me to talk battery life but it looks like it passes my personal battery test, can I make it through a very busy day of phone calls and data access without a recharge,” Michael Gartenberg blogs for Jupiter Research.

“It underscores the problem with phones, as they increase features and those features become usable, we will use them more and that will affect battery life. Earlier advanced phones features were so bad that they didn’t get used much. Start using your phone a lot for 3G access, phone calls and media playing and it’s going to be a challenge to make the battery last as long as you’d like,” Gartenberg writes.

“The new hardware though is only part of the story and frankly the least interesting part I think. It’s evolutionary and not revolutionary (as it should be) The real magic is in the new software that’s available on the 3G as well as first generation devices (As well as the iPod Touch). That’s because the iPhone is a now a bona fide software platform. I’ve talked in the past how everyone wants to be a platform, because platforms are powerful, they generate revenue. But there’s a natural catch-22 to platforms. Developers typically are not interested in developing until there’s a solid base (like a million + units) and device companies can’t get that base without third party apps. Apple has now broken this logjam, giving a real user base of millions of devices to developers and developers have delivered rather nicely,” Gartenberg writes.

Read Gartenberg’s take on the new software features in his full post here.