iPhone 3G: Features explained

To view our take on its distinctions, strengths, and weaknesses, roll your mouse's pointer over the 'virtual' iPhone below and click on the red buttons. 

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Text only version (if you can't see the interactive version above).

Headphone socket

Sound quality is very good from the included wired stereo headphones (as good as those that come with iPods). They have a built-in microphone so you can also use them for phone calls.

You can use most third-party Bluetooth headsets, though only in mono. In a change over the first generation iPhone, the 3G model will support all third-party headphones without the need for a special adapter.

Proximity sensor

To prevent you accidentally launching a program during a call, the proximity sensor automatically deactivates the display when you hold the iPhone close to your face.

Wireless connections

Unlike many other handsets, the iPhone can’t use Bluetooth to wirelessly beam music, photos, and other files to other Bluetooth devices. And Wi-Fi can only be used to access the web; you can’t swap files with other Wi-Fi-enabled computers or portable devices or use it to make VoIP phone calls.

Battery Life

Battery life is pretty good, with Apple claiming a talk time of 10 hours using 2G, and 5 hours on a 3G connection. Standby time is rated as up to 300 hours. As with iPods (and unlike many other handsets), the iPhone’s battery is built-in so you can’t replace it yourself.

After the one-year warranty, you’ll be stung with a fee if you need it replaced.

SMS

For text-messaging, you type messages on a virtual QWERTY keypad that pops up on demand, and disappears again so you can see what’s on the screen. The keypad also pops up automatically whenever you hit a data-entry field on a webpage – a handy feature.

While the keyboard is easy enough to learn, it’s very different from those found on most smart phones. You can’t make your own custom preset messages, nor can you send MMS (multimedia messaging service) or instant messages.

Calendar

As an organiser, the iPhone has several drawbacks. You can view documents, but you can’t edit or create documents (although third-party software is available that enables this).

Entering and editing events on the calendar is not as intuitive as it is on some other smart phones. You have to tap a ‘+’ button, which launches a blank form for you to fill out. You also can’t drag and drop documents between the iPhone and your computer.

Photos

Photos looked great on the display’s 160 pixel-per-inch resolution, which is high for a phone screen. You get photos off the iPhone and on to your computer via USB or email.

But you can import photos only via iTunes and unlike most other higher-res camera phones, there’s no memory-card slot for getting images on and off the phone.

Camera

The 2-megapixel (MP) camera phone offers less resolution than the 5MP Nokia N95 for example. And the resulting photos aren't of comparable quality to those from high-res camera phones. However they're adequate for everyday shots.

YouTube player

A special YouTube player will let you view (and email) reformatted ‘mobile ready’ YouTube clips, but not all YouTube video clips are available for the iPhone 3G – but more are being added over time.

Touch screen display

The large (3.5 inch) touch-screen display is fantastic and legible even in bright sunlight. It gets touched (and smudged) a lot since it serves as virtually the phone’s only controls, but these are noticeable only when the screen is dark.

The iPhone responds well to fingertip control although as with all touchscreens mistakes can be made. You can slide content across the screen or enlarge it with a double tap. You can also zoom in on images by moving your fingers apart, or shrink images by pinching your fingers closer together. When you turn the iPhone, images and webpages automatically rotate to stay right side up.

Phone

Quality when listening to a call is good. However, there’s also no voice-activated dialing, speed dial, and no easy way to access frequently called numbers.

But its email-style voicemail lists allow you to skip listening to every message in sequence; you simply tap on the message you want to hear or click on it to return the call.

This feature even allows you to retrieve messages you’ve deleted by plucking them from a deleted directory, much as you retrieve email messages from your computer's recycling bin.

The virtual keypad ‘buttons’ are very large and well spaced, but you’ll have to keep your eyes on the screen because you can't feel the buttons.

Email

An interface provides shortcuts, complete with logos, to the major Web-based email services such as Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, AOL, and .Me Mail – Apple's new 'push' email service for the iPhone 3G. That made setting up those accounts easier than with most other phones we’ve tested.

You can view Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, JPEG, and html attachments. You can also launch a web address, or ‘dial’ a phone number by tapping on it. The readability of messages was excellent, even with a variety of font sizes, styles, and colours.

Web access

The full-featured Safari web browser is more computer-like than those of other smart phones, which filter out web site elements. You view the entire web page and zoom in to read it, which can make it hard to tell where you are.

It’s also easy to hit a link by accident and open a page you don’t want. And despite the Safari browser’s unique ability to view full webpages, you can't play Flash content, although that may be available later from a third-party application.

iPod

You can control the iPhone’s built-in 8 or 16-gigabyte iPod by gliding your finger over a new interface, which presents you with 3D rolodex of album covers you can ‘flip’ through. Sound quality from the included headphones is excellent.

Move from the iPod to most other iPhone functions and the music continues to play. In fact, you can still use the music player when the phone is off. This not only extends battery life, but also allows travelers to enjoy their music on a plane.