“Apple Inc.’s iPhone has been the world’s most influential smart phone since its debut a year ago, widely hailed for its beauty and functionality. It was a true hand-held computer that raised the bar for all its competitors. But that first iPhone had two big drawbacks: It was expensive, and it couldn’t access the fastest cellular-phone networks,” Walter S. Mossberg reports for The Wall Street Journal.
Video: Walt Mossberg reviews Apple iPhone 3G
Direct link to video here.
“The base version of the new iPhone costs $199 — half the $399 price of its predecessor; the higher-capacity version is now $299, down from $499. Yet, this new iPhone is much, much faster at fetching data over cellphone networks because it uses a speedy cellular technology called 3G. And it now sports a GPS chip for better location sensing,” Mossberg reports.
“I’ve been testing the iPhone 3G for a couple of weeks… I found that doing email and surfing the Internet typically was between three and five times as fast using AT&T’s 3G network as it was with the older AT&T network… Overall, I found it to be a more capable version of an already excellent device. And now that it’s open to third-party programs, the iPhone has a chance to become a true computing platform with wide versatility,” Mossberg reports.
“Apple has greatly improved the audio on the new iPhone. I found the speaker was much louder, for music and for the speakerphone… In my tests, I was able to connect the iPhone 3G to my company’s Exchange servers in a few minutes, and my corporate email, calendar and contacts were replicated on the phone. Any changes I made on the iPhone were reflected almost instantly in Microsoft Outlook on my company PC, and vice versa. Email was pushed to the phone as soon as it was received on the company’s servers,” Mossberg reports.
“The new iPhone and upgraded older iPhones also will be able to use a new Apple consumer service, MobileMe, which offers synchronized push email, calendars, photos and contacts,” Mossberg reports. “There are other improvements. You can now delete multiple emails at once, set parental controls and search your contacts. You can also save photos in emails or from Web sites.”
Much, much more in Mossberg’s full review – highly recommended – here.
but what do Enderle and Dvorak say
I’m all for a new iPhone but everyone screaming that 3G is the end all be all answer, read on:
“First, in my tests, the iPhone 3G’s battery was drained much more quickly in a typical day of use than the battery on the original iPhone, due to the higher power demands of 3G networks.”
and
“Apple claims that over 3G, the new iPhone can get five hours of talk time, or five hours of Internet use. Talk time is twice as long on the older EDGE network, and Internet time is an hour better with Wi-Fi.”
and
“I ran my own battery tests using the phone’s 3G capability. Although I left the Wi-Fi function on, I didn’t connect it to a network, so the phone had to rely on 3G. In my test of voice calling, I got 4 hours and 27 minutes, short of Apple’s maximum claim and nearly three hours less than what I recorded in the same test last year on the original iPhone. In my test of Internet use over 3G, I got 5 hours and 49 minutes, better than Apple’s claim, but far short of the nine hours I got using Wi-Fi in last year’s tests.”
and
“More important, in daily use, I found the battery indicator on the new 3G model slipping below 20% by early afternoon or midafternoon on some days, and it entirely ran out of juice on one day. I overcame this problem by learning to use Wi-Fi instead of 3G whenever possible, turning down the screen brightness and even turning off 3G altogether, which the phone permits.”
——-
I’m sorry, but if I have a choice of getting calls for my business or having a fast paper weight, I’ll pick the longer lasting phone.
The tone of Mossberg’s (and Pogue’s) reviews are much more cautious and balanced than the extremely positive summaries prepared by the Apple fan websites. They both say that for a number of people, upgrading to the 3g version may not be the right choice.
“There’s no copy and paste function, no universal search, no instant messaging and no MMS”. C’mon Apple! copy+paste should not be such a problem, or what? I personally don’t use MMS on my current phone but what are the reasons not to include it? It is basically standard on every cell phone that has a camera integrated. Still no iChat? OK, I read that AIM should cover that. (No video chats I understand – high data transfer, most likely bad performance on the iPhone CPU.) – Universal search (Spotlight) should not be such a deal either since Apple claims that the operation system is OS X. And why can’t I save attachments and other files????
All in all a great phone but with still some major minor flaws.
You can turn the 3G off? I was looking for something on this as Rogers in Canada, changed there plans to include a voice only with 3G turned on and a per megabyte charge.
If I can turn the 3G off I may get one and turn that functionality off till they come out with a reasonable Data Plan.
I can live with “minor flaws” considering that no other phone comes close to delivering the same user experience. By the standards applied, every other phone has major flaws.
OK I just read through the manual (On line at Apple), and from what I can see you can only turn off 3G \ Edge in Air Plane mode, I need to turn it off and use the Phone only.
I guess I have to wait till I can test it at the Apple Store.
i have to admit, i want the GPS, but the 3G is not earth shaking for me. has anyone else traveled with their iPhone and seen *huge* differences in 2.5 connection speed? my 2.5 speed in seattle was nearly the speed of my home wireless, while in a few other cities is is half the slow crawl i get at home. if the network were consistent, i wouldn’t need faster.
…not to mention, makes me question the 3G quality. if it has the same variations the 2.5 has (and costs how much more?) i would not be very happy with AT&T;!
2.5g is definitely faster in some cities versus others. I concurr, that in Seattle the experience is magnificent!!
I’m looking forward to upgrading my 1st Generation iPhone to the V2 software.
Does anyone know, will this be released on Friday? I notice on the tech specs for the iPhone 3G that iTunes 7.7 is required… will that be released today or tomorrow sometime?
Questions, questions, questions!
Walt, it’s called the iPhone 3G… Not the 3G iPhone.
Minor detail, but it’s annoying..
Walt is one ugly old man. That inbuilt web cam makes him look like a total dork. I can’t believe that a major publication like WSJ condones an amateur looking production like this, this is their technology guy?
So he HAD to use video to tell us it costs more in the long run and it has worse battery life?
Walt, this is your ego speaking. LOSE THE WEBCAM!
Nobody NEEDs to SEE YOU!
Here’s a link to iNetwork Speed Test for iPhone: http://www.inetworktest.com
These speeds just recorded from Memphis, TN. (Hello Elvis!)
WiFi network speed range: 646-1150 kbps
Edge network speed range: 53-164 kbps
Try it your self and see how fast your connection is. I ran several tests to create the range data.
How do these numbers compare to your area? Please share results. Thanks.
Ok, I’m interested in the better performance but more so I’m waiting for the 2.0 and the apps store. If the cost is more than the original over time and forces another 2 year agreement I’ll stay with with my current one and maybe go back to T-Mobile next June.
But if I get my hands on one this weekend and like it whats a couple hundred bucks for the fun of it?
Everybody was screaming for battery sucking GPS…you got it…now, start screaming about the battery life.
There should be 100 little external GPS add-ons
by every maker imaginable for those few who really need it, but no…Apple listens to its customers and did what they demanded. Now quit complaining about battery life…you got what you wanted.
Eh…I won’t be impressed until Pogue weighs in.
BATTERY LIFE?
@Blue Dream:
Amen. Quit your whining about the battery if you’re excited about the GPS. If you think the GPS is a (largely) pointless feature in the USA, then you can go back to your whining. ‘Cuz the battery issue is going to be a major one.
Crappier phone for more money. Don’t buy.
isn’t it theoretically an upgradeable OS that some of these gripes, regarding cut and paste, MMS, search, could be resolved on the same hardware?
For those not familiar with Walt’s reviews, it’s worth noting that he *always* finds a device’s battery life to be a problem and consistently gets hours less battery life than the spec. Other reviewers consistently report longer battery life than he also.
So, I’m not sure exactly what he does differently when he tests, but always take his assertions of “bad battery life” with a grain of salt.
Also @ Macs King …
You must be like, twelve or something. What Walts face looks like has nothing to do with his credentials. He is the WSJ tech reporter because he has deep credentials and a long history in the tech area. He is “old and ugly” because he has been reporting on this stuff and using computers much longer than you.
I don’t think Uncle Walt is really very nice in his little video. He makes a big deal out of the price and data plan issue, without any reference to the fact that AT&T;charges other 3G users the same price – so in effect this is not a higher rate, but a different rate for different service. He also makes a big deal out of the battery, and even says “bigger problems” as if there were smaller problems with the original iPhone battery (both are non removeable in the field). The original iPhone battery life is really good IMO, and I think most would agree. I have no problem turning wifi on and off when needed, and I will likely do the same with 3G service as well when away from a charger.
I know I will keep GPS turned off most of the time
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These anecdotal battery life tests are affected by distance to the sending towers. So, it’s possible that Walt’s office is just far from a cell tower, forcing his phones to stay on high power to get their signal.
There’s a several Li ion battery packs that plug into the bottom port of the iPhone which provide 24 hours of talk time. Just plug the unit into a recharge receptacle even while its connected to the phone for recharging.
No big deal!
I don’t get people complaining about the ‘higher’ pricing also. People you are paying for the 3G service, and AT&T;’s prices are competitive to other 3G phones and other companies who offer 3G.
If you can’t afford the 3G service, find a first gen. What is the real sell is the app store and that can be done on the first gen.
@Tom and FreddyThePig, I totally agree with you guys. I tried to point thas same fact out to out Canadian brethren but they all seem to be hell bent on a Rogers hate fest up there. The Mexicans and many European countries are charging more for their 3G service. I donthink that anything AT&T;or Rogers is doing is necessarily out of line for their respective markets. For all the AT&T;bashing in this country they have the fastest 3G network and are poised for 10X increases before they have to go on to the next generation.
Verizon and Sprint have already maxed out their 3G capability and will need to invest billions to go to the next step and will likely pass on those costs to subscribers and require new equipment on the subscriber end as well. One of the first apps I’d like to see is a slingbox connection to the new phone.
@bobchr
I can only speak for U.S. customers and their situation. The whole Rogers thing is a bit outrageous, in my opinion. But different country, different rules.