Apple - iPhone 3G Cell Phone Review

The phone fits in my hand very well and is comfortable to use as a phone or in my palm as a computer. Watching a movie on the phone is nice but the movies are in a different aspect ratio than the screen so you have to deal with the black bars or losing the sides of the frame. The iPod feature works very well and allows me to carry a good deal of music with me all the time.

The internet connection over the 3G is faster than I expected. The smaller screen does not affect the viewing of web pages as the phone has a feature that allows you to zoom in on a picture or paragraph of text. I thought the lack of a flash player would bother me but it really doesn't. I do not use a push e-mail service and have the phone set up to check my account automatically. At first it was killing my battery life until I changed the setting to check only once an hour, I don't use the e-mail for business, so waiting an hour for e-mail does not affect me at all.

The phone has buttons for checking weather, stocks, and you tube. The phone also has a button to connect you right to iTunes (you need to be connected via wifi to browse the iTunes) and the Apps store. The Apps store lets me down load apps (small programs) to my phone. The apps I have tried work well with the phone. Some of the apps are really useful and some have no real use but are fun. There are business and school related apps as well as games and entertainment related apps. The price range starts at free and goes up from there. Some of the apps were having problems crashing the phone from time to time but two software patches seem to have fixed the problem.

The phone has built in GPS that works really well in urban areas and is acceptable in more rural areas. The phone locates your position and shows it on Google maps. One thing missing is voice turn-by-turn navigation and internal maps. If there is no internet connection (like in a rural area) the GPS mapping does not work. I am hoping an application with internal maps and turn-by-turn navigation will be available soon in the Apps store. The Google maps program lets you search the area you are in to find restaurants and business in your area. The program will then show you on the map where you are and the location of the business or restaurant. It will even give you directions if you need them.

I also like the fact that the phone allows you to put photos on it. My wife and I recently went on vacation and I was able to load vacation pictures on my phone to show to friends and family. Going through the photos is as easy as turning a page.  The phone has a built in camera that takes fairly good pictures as well.

The battery life, well it's ok but not great. If I am using the internet or the GPS feature a lot I can literally watch the battery indicator get smaller. Watching video, talking on the phone, most of the apps and using the iPod feature all seem more battery friendly. I have found the phone needs to be charged every night.

I have quickly gotten to the point where I take this phone everywhere. I think that in a few years most phones will be iPhones or clones of iPhones.