Gnomie Tony Policano writes:

Hi Chris,

My name is Tony Policano and I am an avid follower of your blog and YouTube videos. I have spent many late nights watching them too. Anyways, I don’t know if you are even interested in my review of the new iPhone 3G but I thought I would send it over to you. I have had the first iPhone since launch and it truly has changed the experience when mobile. I stood in line for seven hours to get the new iPhone 16 GB black iPhone and I think it was worth it.

I know you are an extremely busy guy but I would really love for you to read it.

I have tried many times to chat in the chat room but it always says that you are recording so I can never comment on anything so I thought the best way to communicate with you would be via email.

Thanks for your time!

The review:

As most of you are already aware, Apple officially launched the iPhone 3G back on Friday, July 11th. I was third in line at my local AT&T store here in Saint Paul, MN. This was actually the first time that I ever even waiting in line for something and with that said, let’s see how the new iPhone 3G compares to the original iPhone 2G.

Several things this time around were different from the original launch back in June, 2007 where one was easily able to walk into an Apple or AT&T store, purchase the iPhone, and activate in the comfort of your home through Apple’s iTunes software. Well I have to admit that was very convenient and certainly made the lines move extremely well I can understand why the process for the second iPhone was changed.

Due to the iPhone 3G now being subsidized by the carrier (AT&T), activations were handled in-store. This was mainly done to prevent the black market of iPhones that have been jail-broken and moved to other carriers all over the world requiring no contracts, just some computer knowledge, and a SIM card.

Being third in line and actually the first person activated and out of the store, I can tell you the knowledge by AT&T staff at least at my location was very poor and unorganized. Being that I was already an iPhone customer, the employee fairly quickly was able to set up my new iPhone plan in AT&T’s system but my newly acquired friends that were porting numbers from other carriers and new customers to AT&T altogether were seeing a much slower process. Not that this is a negative - new accounts require customer data, whereas existing customers only had to provide our account or cellular number.

The final step in activating the new iPhone 3G is an Apple employee plugging the iPhone into the computer and unbricking it via iTunes. This process was documented at 15 seconds and my activation after I walked the employee through plugging the sync cable directly to the computer (and not the monitor) took 26 minutes.

Now seeing that I can understand why the activations are being done in-store this time around, what I don’t get is why the AT&T or Apple employees really need to open the box and sync it. I personally think that it can be done at home but hey, that’s just my thought on it. Having it opened in the store really kills the unboxing excitement when they cut, scratch, and remove all the protective plastics on the phone.

The last step in the process is to bring it home and sync the new iPhone with your iTunes library. Wait, I should also comment that when I returned home shortly after leaving the store I was at a dead end because, in order to sync the anything on the iPhone, it must first be connected to iTunes for authorization.

Apple launched the iPhone in 22 different countries not to mention the 6 million existing iPhone users eagerly wanting to download and install the new 2.0 firmware brought Apple’s activations servers to a halt. I attempted to sync for around an hour before giving up and falling asleep.

I tried again around 5:00 pm local time and had a much better experience and shortly after that I was back in business.

Design: Apple’s creative and almost brilliant designs never seize to amaze me. I absolutely loved the original iPhone and had my doubts on with the new shiny black or white plastic backing but it was very well constructed and thought out; not to mention very useful seeing antennas work much better through plastic then aluminum.

The back is no longer flat - instead it curves at the edges giving it a much better hold in-hand experience. I also noticed my hands not struggling to grip the new iPhone where is the aluminum was very slick. The buttons on the iPhone are now metal except the home key located on the button front of the iPhone’s screen. It does give it a professional look and feel to it, I must admit. The other major cosmetic change was to the headphones jack is now flush, meaning you will no longer have to shave off your favorite headphones or god for bid use one of the adaptors.

Features: Let’s start with the major one, also used in the naming of this new device. 3G is a chip that allows the iPhone to use a much faster network than the Edge network where available. It allows data use on the iPhone to sail at "like broadband" speeds. It also allows another great feature and that’s being able to receive phone calls and Internet/data simultaneously instead of missing a call. That is a great thing, however, for users not in a 3G area, the phone reverts automatically to the Edge network, losing this functionality.

The second upgrade in the iPhone 3G is a built-in actual GPS receiver. I was not originally excited about this until I tested the Google maps and how accurately and fast it was to acquire my location. Even in my basement where my home office is located, I am able to pull a signal within seconds even showing me in the house, very close to my position.

Turn-by-turn navigation is not currently allowed as per Apple’s SDK program but we have heard several companies actively developing software. We will all have to stay tuned for more information as the year progresses forward. I, personally, am not too excited about the feature as I have a navigation system in my truck and I would much rather be talking on the phone than getting directions.

Again, that’s just me; I am sure several of you and maybe even myself will be in situations where it would be a great service. For now we will have to stick with Google maps.

Web and Data: As you are already aware, the iPhone is the absolute best mobile browsing device on the market today. Several other manufacturers have been hard at work but not one to date has come close to the experience that you will get on an iPhone running Apple’s Safari.

The application did not see any changes that I could detect other than some enhancements from the 2.0 software I will cover below. Instead, the 3G network is where you really notice the difference.

I am able to pull up full Web sites much faster than ever before. It is not Wi-Fi, but a very large step in the right direction. The experience is so much better when its loading pages twice - sometimes three to four times faster.

Email is also downloaded much faster, making that experience much smoother. For instance, I remember my POP3 connection over Edge taking 30-40 seconds just to connect and search for mail. The new 3G iPhone does it in seconds, making the wait much more acceptable.

One thing to note in my review of the new phone is that I was hoping to no longer see a dumbed down version of YouTube videos but it is still the case. It also applies to several new applications such as MLB.com’s At Bat software and AP Network news video feeds.

Camera: The camera in the device is exactly the same. Apple claims that it did enhance the software to improve picture quality, but I have not personally noticed it. I sure would have enjoyed seeing a better camera with auto focus and maybe even flash but this is not a wish list - it’s a review.

Sound Quality: Apple first spoke on this at the WWDC conference back in June. Apple did not demo it but I have. The sound quality is much, much louder, clearer, and crisp.

Software: With the release of the new iPhone, Apple also introduced all iPhones with the new 2.0 firmware update. the iPhone now has the ability to connect with corporate exchange networks, apply security and sync calendar all thanks to Microsoft Exchange support, also known as Sync.

It also allows you to get your mail and calendar pushed to the device instead of your iPhone calling out to fetch the messages. This was a huge deal for Apple as it now opens the door for many business customers whose IT departments and PCI regulations are stiffening about the use of non supported or unmanageable devices.

Companies large and small both want a way to be able to manage and apply security to the device receiving sensitive data. IT administrators can now apply rules that require a PIN lock when the device is idle for a set number of minutes. They are also able to remote wipe the device in the event you misplace or lose the device.

I will say with this some much used features were left out. The biggest feature missing now is the ability to wirelessly sync your To-Do lists and notes. In the corporate world, many users use these features daily to ensure they hit a deadline. I personally do not use these features and I will state that most users’ main purpose with a mobile device is the push email and calendar. Some 3rd party developers have already introduced very similar features but they’re not pushed and automatically updated.

The single most exciting software feature is the new App Store. This now brings 3rd party applications to the iPhone community and no longer is restricted to Web apps.

I have been spending lots of time trying the different applications but Apple launched the App store with over 500 different applications and I am sure many more to come. I have enjoyed several games on the device such as Super Monkey Ball by Sega, first seen back in January during Macworld.

Apple reports that around 25% of the applications are free and 90% of the remaining are under $10.00. I would have to agree with it.

I will say that one of my absolute favorites is a social networking software called LOOPT. Also seen back in June at WWDC. It allows you to see your friends on a make using the Phones GPS and Cellular triangulation to gather your location. In fact, I used it to update my friends that were eager to get up and join me in line waiting for the new iPhone. Every hour or so I would update my status with a picture of the line and how many people were currently waiting. It also plugs my blogging directly in my Facebook and Twitter profiles making it even easier to track me down. This application is also free by the way, so check it out!

The 2.0 Software also made some improvements to the mail client by now allowing you to delete multiple messages at once. It’s about time! I was very excited to see this change and now that I am using my iPhone on my company’s email, it’s come in handy time and time again, even over the first weekend.

Apple also made some changes to the Calculator. When you rotate the device, it changes or transforms into a scientific calculator. I personally do not need this but I have heard several others who are excited about this new feature.

Apple also built in parental controls that allow you to control access to various features of the device - a feature that I might use when I am out and about and my goofy friends get a hold of my phone and attempt "play" with my phone. This feature will be very nice for parents that wish to lock their children out of specific aspects of the iPhone or iPod touch.

It may also be used to restrict corporate owned devices from installing 3rd party software on a company managed device. I guess we will have to see where that takes us though.

Battery: Testing the battery on a new device is always difficult because I am always constantly playing with the device. When I am in the car, I am using the GPS and Google Maps, when I am at home, I might be playing games or maybe streaming radio from the several streaming music radio stations available.

I will say that right now I am concerned about the battery life. Today I left my house shortly after 1:00 pm and, granted, I was demoing the device and my friends were all playing with it pretty hard, but the battery was under 20% by 7:00 pm.

With the new 3G data and all the new applications, the battery is hard at work trying to keep up with everything. I will say I am happy that I have a charger at home, car, and at work to make sure I don’t find myself without power.

Having a shorter battery life is a problem on the iPhone because even with the new iPhone 3G, you still cannot replace the battery that could lead up to a dead paper weight if not properly managing your travels when about. Apple did introduce a feature in the settings menu that will allow users to turn off 3G data to preserve battery life but when that is performed the call quality, high speed Internet browsing, and the ability to talk on the phone and browse the Web at the same time is also disabled.

My advice here is to make sure you have chargers whereever you are going to be and definitely have one in your car!

3rd Party Applications: Well it is extremely nice to have all the applications now available; it also comes with a price and that is stability. Before the 2.0 software, I never saw my iPhone reboot and so far this weekend alone it has rebooted four times: three in 3rd party applications and one in Mail. It’s not to say that Apple will not be addressing some of the performance issues, but having it reboot really made me start feeling like I was back on a Windows Mobile platform. On my Windows Mobile devices, I really never had them reboot on me, but I would have to reboot them so that I could actually do stuff again.

I do hope that some of the reboots are addressed soon so that I can demo the device to friends and family and not have it reboot, ’cause you know it always happens when you are doing that.

Closing: So would I purchase the new iPhone 3G again now having a few days of playing with it? I mean most of the upgrades were done with by the 2.0 software release, right?

The answer is yes, I would wait another seven hours in line because the single most used application on my iPhone is Safari. I browse the Web almost every second I have available to pass the time. I absolutely love having the faster speed. If the speed or the 3G network is not yet available in your area, I would stick with the original iPhone until 3G is available or you find yourself browsing the Web more. I like having the GPS, but it’s definitely something that I can live without.