After waiting for just over two weeks from the July 11 release date, I finally managed to get my mitts on the iPhone 3g. I must say, it was certainly worth the wait but of course there is no such thing as a path that is paved in gold and the iPhone 3g is by no means the end all to Mobile Phones/Smartphones. Follow me now for my first impressions and a few tips that may help out fellow iPhone/3g users.

The original iPhone was a device that was far ahead of it’s time. Apple set out to achieve the impossible with that device. They were in essence reinventing the wheel and the way that we looked at smartphones from here on it. Apple quickly snapped up market share in the crowded smart phone market, and in almost no time at all they were sitting pretty with the 2nd best smartphone on the market, next to RIM’s Blackberry. Since that initial release we have seen countless competitors step up in an attempt to dethrone the new heavyweight champion, not to mention the direct knock offs and clones of the iphone. Even still, none of this seems to waiver the champ. The iphone is still the hot device to have and hold. Now with the advent of the iPhone 3g, the world stood on it’s heels once again.

The Good

3g speed is everything that you may have heard about. It is fast, and cruising around on the internet is definitely fun when combined with both Safari, and the iphone’s accelerometer. The phone now sports a smooth, more rounded corner, look than the original iphone. The added GPS functionality is also a plus as I was moving from a blackberry 8800, which already had GPS functionality built in, and did not want to take steps back in this department. The App store provides many new downloadable applications that add even further to the iphone’s already full repertoire. Email has been stepped up in this model of the iphone adding the ability to sync with Microsoft Exchange servers and offering full push email support.

The Bad

Although the 3g speed is fun and blazingly fast, it is not found everywhere. Even though I live in the heart of San Francisco, I have found that I lose 3g and downgrade to Edge at almost regular intervals. Also, that 3g speed comes at the price of a severely depleted battery life. Speaking of battery life, the iphone 3g suffers all around from a less than adequate battery life. I say this as a former blackberry user who could go with out a phone charge for 2 - 3 days at a time. I now find that I must charge my iphone after an 8 hour long work day, and I haven’t even begun to make use of it’s ipod functionality yet!

The Ugly

The phone may only be synced with one exchange account. For some this may be a non - issue, for others it may be a deal breaker altogether, only you can judge. For me, it’s not so bad as I mainly make use of imap accounts. This brings me to another issue that some users have encountered, you can only sync your calendar and contacts with either Exchange or your personal accounts, not both. Again, for some this may be huge, for me, not so much. There is, of course, the lack of cut/paste support which many iphone users have been begging for since the first coming of the device. Apple has had leaks and rumors of this support coming in a firmware soon, but nothing solid. Lastly, there is still the lack of MMS support, so if you have to send pics taken with your camera via a text message, you might as well fugedaboutit.

Final Words

I must say that overall I am in love with this new device. Apple has seriously out done themselves with these smartphones, and although the naysayers may line up for years to come, I for one will be there to salute good craftmanship and the perfect blend of form and functionality. The UI is extremely user friendly and fun to use.

If you find that you are running into issues with the battery life then you can try a few different tips and tricks to increase your battery life. If that is not enough, then I highly reccommend picking up an external backup battery. They can be found both on ebay, or direct from a few promising manufacturers.

ebay: iphone backup batteries

Richard Solo Backup Battery

IphoneCK backup Battery

Kensington backup battery

or you can wait for the: Mophie backup battery for iphone 3g

If you’re looking for a good case to protect your new toy iphone, then I highly reccommend checking out casemate - They make quality cases that still have a clean look.