The Apple iPhone still sits regally on the touch phone throne, seemingly untouchable in the, er, touch UI stakes. Pretenders like the LG KU990 Viewty, Samsung F480 Tocco and HTC Touch Diamond have tried to topple the Jesus Machine but haven’t come even close to matching the iPhone finger-licking fluid multi-touch UI. But if rivals thought it tough before, then wait until they see the new iPhone 3G. Gulp.
Really, the iPhone 3G, now in shiny 8GB and 16GB flavours, is the handset the first generation iPhone should have been – downloading to a rapido HSDPA tune and guiding us from A to B with its built in GPS receiver. Still, it’s better late then never.
Apart from these headline feature additions, the iPhone 3G has also had a design re-tune. From the front its looks the dead spit of the original despite being a tad wider but the around the back the metal casing has been swapped for a tapered plastic cover that somehow cast the illusion that it’s thinner. Despite the material downgrade we’re digging the new look.
Apple has also thankfully rectified the vexing recessing 3.5mm headphone socket with a standard jack, so you can now ditch the crud bundled headphones and plug-in your quality Sennheiser or Shure numbers. What a shame it couldn’t improve on the crummy two-megapixel camera as well.
With pell-mell HSDPA now at the downloading helm and supersonic Wi-Fi for back up, web browsing over the peerless Safari web browsers is uber slick, making the iPhone 3G the best phone around for full-fat internet browsing on the beat. Another boon is the App store that holds thousand of killer, and not so dangerous, apps and games to download for free or for a small outlay. With some top titles like Super Monkey Ball, the iPhone is turning into a top gaming machine.
Verdict
OK, we admit it has still got some noticeable deficiencies but the iPhone 3G is still a wonder of mobile gadgetry.
Best features
Fluid multi-touch UI
Awesome Safari web browser
High speeds connectivity with HSDPA and Wi-Fi
Killer apps store
Not so good
Crud 2MP camera
Closest rivals
LG U990 Viewty
When it comes to camera and video, this touch phone spanks the iPhone 3G’s botty read raw with a stunning five-megapixel camera and VGA-quality video capture.
Samsung F480 Tocco
This bijou and slimline tickler is rather dapper and stylish, flaunting widget-esque homescreen customisation, HSDPA and a five-megapixel camera.
Nokia N95
Along with the iPhone this Symbian smartphone got us randy about mobile phones again and its easy to see why with a feature set to make the mouth water.
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