After using my friends i-phone for the first time three months ago, i was flattered with the amazingly beautiful multi-touch interface and more importantly the immense processing power it had. The i-phone i used had more than a hundred third party applications (it was not legal then) and i wished Apple would release the SDK. A couple of months later, Apple after realizing the OS-X in it being tweaked, came up in rescue of it by releasing the official software development kit. The wi-fi in the device with a full html browser was very easy to use.  Me not having used the phone over the wap networks, dint feel the sluggishness with respect to internet browsing over ordinary networks. But internet users over the mobile complained it was not on par with the canadian rivals BlackBerry’s capabilities regards browsing. Also the phone was pretty expensive with the base model at over a half grand.

 

After months of rumour and speculation, Apple launched the i-Phone 3G in a june conference where Steve Jobs surprised the mobile world not only with a 3G i-Phone, but also with a price tag, half that of the original device that went on sale an year ago. The 3G phone has a host of new features that set it apart from the ordinary device.

GPS :  The assisted GPS on the new device works by communicating with tracking satellites unlike the old i-phone which located itself based on the nearby towers. The new device also offers tracking facilities that enable you to know the path you’ve followed on a trip or so.

3G : The new phone downloads pages from the internet in 3G networks with a maximum speed of about 384 Kbps, thats more than double that of the previous generation phone. The device supports three new 3G bands ( 850, 1900,2100 MHz) that enable the device to be used in all high speed networks in the world. The new phone continues the support for UMTS and HSDPA networks and automatically switches to the fastest network.

Enterprise Support : in an effort to attract the Blackberry users, Apple incorporated Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, push e-mail, calender and contacts. The release of the SDK enables corporate users to design applications to suit their necessity. i-phone 3G uses Cisco IPSec VPN to ensure the highest level of IP encryption.

SDK : The release of the official software development kit enables more third party applications to be developed. The apple store now has currently about 500 apps of which more than a 100 are free. 

 Besides the new features, the i-phone 3G also has an inbuilt accelerometer (on which many of the phones games are based on), an awesome multi touch interface, 3D positional audio and a decent 2 megapixel camera. The software update 2.0 with which the phone comes decreases the bugs and also adds new features to the device. the battery life also has been substantially increased to a 5hr 3G life, 10 hr 2G life, 5hrs of 3G internet and 6hrs of Wifi usage. The device has a standby time of about 12.5 days. Unlike the previous phone which prevented many headphones to be plugged into the 3.5 mm jack because of a groove, it is now possible to plugin any good headphones you love.

 despite support for a host of new features, the device still lacks the age old MMS facility and a video recording feature.

  the addition of 3G and GPS with avery affordable price tag of $199 make the i-phone 3G a worthy prospect. For everyone who needs a  good business phone with awesome multimedia capabilities, it makes a very good deal for your hard earned cash and for all apple lovers, this is a must buy.

Video : A guided tour 

Gallery : i-phone 3G

Specifications : Tech Specs

Official Page :apple.com/iphone