I was on holiday when the 3G iPhone was released and was only able to get one a couple of weeks ago and at £159 for a 16Gb version it is a bargain in comparison to the first one.

Two weeks in and now I am seriously wondering whether it was worth upgrading at all. While I was waiting I upgraded my old iPhone to version 2.0 software so that gave me all the features of the 3G iPhone apart from obviously the 3G speed and the built-in GPS. Was I really missing anything? I don’t think so.

First thing I noticed with the new 3G iPhone is that the battery life is worse than the old one. In order to get any kind of acceptable battery life out of it I had to turn off push email. I guess it would be okay if you only get a few emails a day but I would leave my phone switched on at night with a full battery and by the time I woke up in the morning the battery would dead.

Some of Apple’s recommendations for improving battery life are:

Minimise use of location services
Fetch new data less frequently:
Turn off push mail::
Turn off Wi-Fi:
Turn off Bluetooth:
Use Airplane Mode in low- or no-coverage areas:
Turn off 3G:

It wouldn’t be so bad if there was one button to press for all these power saving options

but as it stands with the exception of airplane mode which means you can’t use the phone you need to go through several screens to get to the right places to turn these features on or off.

To make matters worse, my Bose sound dock and in-car iPod adapter no longer charges the battery.

Download speeds on 3G vary considerably depending on your location. At times it can seem even slower than the 2.5G but as most of my data usage would be Wi-Fi I don’t really think I would miss the 3G data.

GPS on the iPhone I think is more of a gimmick than a necessity. Until they bring out a full blown navigation system like TomTom for example I can’t see it’s going to get a lot of use.

The 2.0 software is brilliant though together with the hundreds of applications you can get for your iPhone from third party developers. This is only get to get better as more and more software apps become available. If you couldn’t use the 2.0 software on the original iPhone (which you can) I would say the 3G iPhone is a must have.

If you haven’t already got an iPhone then go out and buy a 3G one now. You won’t regret it. If you’ve got an original iPhone and are still waiting for a 3G one you really aren’t missing that much.

Find more Apple iPhone 3G reviews at TestFreaks.co.uk

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