iPhone Parousia

iPhone 3G
Manufacturer: Apple (product page)
System requirements: Macintosh computer running Mac OS X 10.4.10 or later, USB 2.0 port, iTunes 7.7; Windows PC running Windows Vista or Windows XP SP2, USB 2.0 port, iTunes 7.7
Price: US$199 (8GB), US$299 (16GB) with new two-year contract in the US, $399/$499 unsubsidized for existing AT&T users. Worldwide prices vary depending on country and carrier.

Buzz about the next version of the iPhone began before even the original iPhone was released just over a year ago. Although the EDGE-capable "2G" iPhone ended up being a smash success during its one-year reign, critics wanted a 3G version from the very beginning. And so Apple giveth. Even though the iPhone 3G may not seem much different than its predecessor to the average person on the street, that didn't stop the Apple RDF from permeating excited customers' brains as iPhone Launch Day 2.0 drew near.

Unfortunately, most of us knowwhat happened on Launch Day 2.0. Activation woes galore turned what could have been a hype-worthy day that surpassed the original iPhone launch into a headache for pretty much everyone involved—and not just in the US, but across the entire world. Whether this affected Apple's first-day sales in any significant way we will probably never know. However, launch day is just one day, and things appear to have smoothed out since then. Customers lined up down and around the block for days in a row after the launch, making the iPhone 3G launch apparently far more successful than the original iPhone's launch.

In this review, we take a long, hard look at the iPhone 3G, both as a consumer device and as an enterprise device. After all, part of the appeal of the new device is that a number of software improvements have finally made it enterprise-ready, or so claims Apple's marketing. From a business user's point of view, however, if you think that the iPhone is a drop-in BlackBerry replacement, think again. 

Unboxing and accessories

The iPhone 3G's box is nearly identical to the iPhone 2G's box in every possible way. Every dimension and every color, down to the way the top slides off of the bottom to reveal the iPhone laying on top of a packet containing the microfiber cloth and documentation, which in turn lifts off to reveal the accessories—it's all the same, except for the "3G" printed on the side of the box.

Contained within the accessory reservoir are a pair of iPhone headphones, an iPhone/iPod USB cord, and a USB-compatible power brick.

Faithful readers may remember our observations from last year, when we snappeda photo of the accessories included with the original iPhone (which included all of the above, plus a dock). "[T]his many accessories may or may not continue to come included in the box as future iPhone generations get released. As one commenter aptly observed in the discussion about Infinite Loop's iPhone unboxing photos, 'Look at all those accessories. I can't wait for the 3rd or so generation iPhone that comes with a phone and a cable.'" It certainly looks as if Apple has begun down the path of fewer included accessories with the iPhone 3G. Sometimes, it just sucks to be right.

If you want a dock for your iPhone 3G (which we, personally, consider important to us), then you'll either have to buy aniPhone 3G dock separately from Apple for $29, or buy the$9 iPhone 3G Universal Dock adapter (for use with your Apple Universal Dock, if you have one).

Meet the new iPhone, same as the old iPhone

The iPhone 3G is available in 8GB and 16GB form, and with either black or white backings (the front is black for everyone). Only the 16GB version is available in both black and white, while the 8GB version is only available in black. We have had many people ask us what our opinions are on white versus black (although it appears that the masses, in general, prefer black). Black seems to look slicker overall, but it's extremely finger-printy and it displays imperfections (smudges and scratches) much more than white does. White might get a little dirty, but, just as was the case with the old black and white plastic iPods, white tends to hide imperfections better. Ultimately, this choice comes down to personal preference.

The iPhone 3G is 4.5 inches tall, 2.4 inches wide, and 0.48 inches thick with a 3.5 inch (diagonal) screen—almost exactly identical to the old iPhone, which was 0.46 inches thick. However, the difference in thickness is practically invisible, thanks to Apple's slight refinement of the shape of the back casing. The back side of the iPhone now tapers towards the edges of the device, making itseem thinner in the hand than the old iPhone despite its extra thickness. Maybe the old iPhone is just big-boned.

EDGE iPhone on the left, iPhone 3G on the right

As you can see, the back of the new iPhone is also now plastic instead of metal. This change shaves 0.1 ounces off the weight of the device, to 4.7 ounces, which is surprisingly noticeable when holding the iPhone. Even though the weight difference from the original iPhone seems noticeable, the device still feels good to hold and pocket, and it doesn't feel cheap or empty. And, although it's still heftier than some competitors—like the Motorola Q, which weighs in at 4.0 ounces, and the BlackBerry Pearl at 3.2 ounces—the weight is once again considered a non-issue by all of the Ars Technica reviewers. Speaking of the BlackBerry Pearl, here are a couple of size comparison photos:

There are other, very minor differences in the iPhone 3G's accessories compared to the original set. Apple changed the shape and reduced the size of the miniature power brick that comes with the iPhone, making it not quite so smooth, but definitely more compact.

New on the left, old on the right

New power plug on top

The iPhone headphones have also pretty much stayed the same. They are still a slightly modified version of iPod headphones, except with a built-in speaker/clicker on the cord to the right earbud so that you can hold phone conversations over the headphones and control your music. After spending roughly the past year using this functionality built into our iPhone headphones, we find it hard to function without them. The iPhone 3G's headphones, however, gain about one inch in length from the old iPhone's headphones:

Of course, there are some third-party headphone solutions if you're interested in a different audio experience than the one Apple offers while still preserving the clicking and audio-in features. Wetested out a pair of Skullcandy iPhone headphones at Macworld 2008, for example, and found them to offer better audio quality than Apple's. We'll speak more about audio quality on the iPhone 3G later in the review. 

The little things

Okay, so not all parts of the new iPhone are the same as the old iPhone. There are a number of physical differences besides thickness and weight that differentiate the two, and could serve as possible deciding factors on whether to upgrade from an old iPhone or another device.

External speaker

Bottom external speakers and connector ports. iPhone 3G on top, EDGE iPhone on bottom

One of our major complaints about the original iPhone when we reviewed it last year was the incrediblequietness of the iPhone's external speaker, especially when it's being used for typical phone things, like ringing and playing other notification sounds. Apple has released a few firmware updates since then that have boosted the volume a bit, but the original iPhone is still rather quiet for most notification noises when compared to other devices.

The new iPhone, however, makes significant improvements to this situation. External speaker volume is boosted significantly (and quality appears to be boosted as well). When cranked up to max volume—useful when the device is buried in your laptop bag or if it's in another room—most included ringtones that are not "Old Phone" can be heard with ease, and volume overall is much more comparable to the competition.

Of course, the speaker is also louder when playing music or videos out
loud. While most users may not do this very often (it's still more
enjoyable to listen to music over headphones), being able to play audio
out loud can be quite helpful for showcasing YouTube or iTunes videos
to friends or family directly from your iPhone. This also means that
speakerphone volume is louder, and you can even hear that practically
silent "new mail" notification—which we harped on last year—from across
the room.

One complaint about the speaker, however, is that its placement makes
it awkward when you are using the iPhone with your hands—playing a
game, replying to e-mail, etc. We would have preferred to have the
speaker moved somewhere where your hands don't cover it (in fact, if
you place even a single finger over the left speaker, it's almost as if
there's no speaker at all!).

Yellow fever

The iPhone 3G's screen is slightly brighter on maximum brightness than its predecessor—not that the old iPhone was ever considered dim. The screen is still impressive, and the content presented on it comes out sharp, contrasty, and extremely readable. This was already one of the iPhone's perks, and it remains one.

However, there have been reports of a yellow tinge on the iPhone 3G's screen that have concerned a number of would-be users. We observed this tinge as well:

iPhone 3G on the right

As you can see from the image above, the iPhone 3G is indeed just slightly more yellow than its EDGE predecessor, which is slightly more blue. If this concerns you, we don't think it should. The difference is not noticeable when using the iPhone 3G on its own—it's not like Big Bird stole the device and used it as a shower loofah. Things are as bright, contrasty, and usable as ever, and we never would have noticed it ourselves without placing the devices next to each other on the same screen.

In fact, Apple has commented to a number of publications that the color tweak was by design. "We moved the white point in order to make [the display feel] more natural," Apple's senior director of iPhone product marketing Bob BorcherstoldMacworld over the weekend. He likened the cool blue of the old iPhone to harsh fluorescent lighting, and said that the company felt customers would welcome the change.

Still, for those who hate change, there's a way to go back to the cooler screen temp. As it turns out, the shipping version of iPhone 2.0's software is not the most recent version floating around online. The version of the firmware that was "leaked" the day before the iPhone's US launch is actually a slightly newer version, ending in 347, than the one being shipped (ending in 345).If you restore your brand-new iPhone through iTunes, it will download a new firmware version from Apple (347) and install it for you. Voila, you are now back to blue, although Apple claims that, in the future, this could be turned into a preference.

In the end, no one is doing detailed color work on this thing, and we are confident that most users will either never notice this shift in the first place or, if they do, they'll forget about it quickly.

Camera

There are a lot of things about the iPhone's built-in camera thathaven't changed. It's still at the top-left corner of the back of the device (no front-facing camera for you!), it's still two megapixels in resolution (read Ars writerIljitsch van Beijum's explanation of why more megapixels in this case is not necessarily better), it still lacks auto-focus capabilities, it still suffers in the dim-lighting department, and it's still tiny. But, according to our measurements, the new iPhone's camera is exactly 1mm larger than the old one. This probably does not provide any significant difference in photography, but it's at least worth noting.

A more significant change, we believe, is not really related to the camera itself, but rather involves the back panel of the iPhone. On the original iPhone, the camera's lens (or at least the plastic covering it) lays flush against the back casing of the device. This, in our experience, has made it vulnerable to scratching if you don't use any sort of case or protection. (The Ars team in general feels that naked is the way to go with an iPhone.) And if the plastic on the lens gets scratched, it will in turn make your photos blurrier.

Jacqui's old iPhone camera after six months of naked use

Although the change isn't easy to capture in a picture, the iPhone 3G's camera is just slightly recessed from the case. You can easily feel a tiny lip, less than a millimeter in depth, if you run your fingers over the lens.

Thismay—though your mileage may vary—help very slightly to protect the lens from the casual scratches that it would pick up from rolling around in a bag or a pocket. Consider the camera on the BlackBerry Pearl, which is recessed several millimeters into the device. It may get a little dusty in there every so often, but it is virtually immune to casual scratches.

Audio, audio jacks, and call quality

Unlike the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G's audio jack is no longer recessed. As it turns out, people like to use headphones other than the included set from Apple—who knew? Instead of being several millimeters into the top of the device, the jack now lays flush with the casing.

iPhone 3G on top, EDGE iPhone on bottom

At the WWDC 2008, Steve Jobs declared the iPhone 3G's audio to be "dramatically improved." Although the three of us who contributed to this review have never considered ourselves audiophiles, weare musicians and music fans. If the change is so dramatic, we should be able to tell, right?

Wrong. We listened, and we listened, and we listened some more to songs from every genre on both devices, trying to tell a difference. Classical, jazz, classic rock, country, pop, R&B, Fergie Ferg—they all produced what sounded like identical results between the new and old iPhones, and these results held for both the headphone jack and the bus interface on the bottom of the device. That's not to say the audio quality is poor, though. In fact, we found it to be quite good, especially for a device that is designed to go with us to noisy places like the gym, trains, buses, airports, and the office. We were more than satisfied, even if we couldn't tell a difference between new and old.

With regards to call quality, we found that the iPhone 3G provided good results, but nothing we hadn't already heard from the old iPhone or other, similar devices. Of course, call quality is also highly-dependent upon carrier and coverage, so results will surely vary depending on which market you are in and whether you are locked in someone's basement. Still, we found it satisfactory in a number of cities across the US, including Chicago, somewhere in the middle of Wisconsin, Denver, and San Francisco.

But enough about the physical changes. What's it like to use?

Activation, or not

As we mentioned at the beginning of this review, launch-day activation woes stopped Apple and AT&T from carrying out their new activation policy for the iPhone 3G. Last year,we praised Apple heavily for making it easy for users to do activate their phones by letting them do so at home through iTunes. Unfortunately for AT&T, this user-friendly activation policy also made it possible for enterprising hackers to walk out of stores without signing up for a contract, hack the device at home, and either use it unlocked on another carrier or sell it to someone on the other side of the world for unlocked use. The company that AT&T uses to perform its device activations reported significant unexpected losses last fiscal year due to this practice, and although AT&T itself didn't do poorly in iPhone revenues, it could have done better.

With the price of the iPhone being so heavily subsidized this time around, it became all the more important for Apple and AT&T to put a stop the practice of unlocking the device and using it on a rival's network. And so Apple changed its easy-to-use, pleasantly un-annoying signup process to make it, well, more annoying, by forcing all activations to take place in-store. Nowadays when you purchase an iPhone, you can expect to walk into either an Apple retail store or an AT&T store, sign a new contract or re-up your existing contract, and have your iPhone activated right there by an employee.

Although we understand the need for such a process (especially with the $200 subsidy), we don't hesitate to say that we hate it. Indeed, this is exactly how things work with every subsidized cell phone purchased through a mobile carrier here in the US, and that's the problem. No one—and we meanno one—enjoys going into a store to get a new phone and doing the contract tango with an employee trained to upsell you on everything. It's very un-Apple-like to give into this absurd process, too, but until the mobile industry changes here in the US and devices locked to a single carrier are no longer the overwhelming norm, that's just the way it is. And that's very unfortunate.

Syncing

Like the original iPhone, all syncing with the device takes place through iTunes on either a Mac or Windows. Upon first sync, you will be asked whether you want to set it up as a new device or restore from a backup (the latter would be if you have backup data available from an older iPhone). After that, you're faced with the familiar iTunes syncing screen. From here, you can choose what data to sync (e-mail settings, Safari bookmarks, contacts, calendars), music and playlists, videos, podcasts, applications, and photos.

For those unfamiliar with this process—which also works pretty much the same way with iPods—a handy color-coded bar is provided at the bottom of the main screen to show you how much space you have used for what type of media. If you attempt to sync something to your iPhone when it doesn't have enough space, iTunes will let you know. This process is best learned by simply clicking around, but it's intuitive and easy enough to use that even many of our parents are able to navigate it.

From this screen, you can restore your iPhone to its original factory settings—useful if you just plain want to start over, or sell/give your iPhone to someone else in the future. And, of course, this is where you'll receive and apply all of your iPhone's software updates.

Once you get synced up, you're ready to go. Watch out, world, because you're about to become a mobile powerhouse. Or something.

Hitting the 3G-spot and iPhone 2.0

Ever since the day of the first iPhone's announcement at Macworld 2007, critics have panned the device for bringing slower EDGE data speeds to a 3G fight. While AT&T's faster 3G coverage is steadily spreading past the few hundred major metro areas it's limited to right now, Apple chose to go with EDGE in the first iPhone for its near-ubiquitous coverage and comparatively Energizer-bunny-like stamina.

A year after launching its first mobile phone, Apple clearly listened to the millions of voices that cried out and saw fit to name its second iPhone after one of its most-requested features. We took the iPhone 3G for a spin in Chicago, IL, Aurora, CO, and Waukesha, WI, across a few different web sites and speed tests to see just what all the fuss was about.

Chicago, IL, State Street

• Ars Technica front page
  • 3G: 13.5 seconds
  • EDGE: 21 seconds
• ChicagoTribune.com
  • 3G: 21 seconds
  • EDGE: 49 seconds
• Chicago TribuneiPhone site
  • 3G: 6 seconds
  • EDGE: 12 seconds
• Ars forums
  • 3G: 21 seconds
  • EDGE: 25 seconds
• MobileSpeedTest.com
  • 3G: 316.2 Kbps down

Waukesha, WI, corner of E. Moreland Blvd. and Springdale Rd.

• Ars Technica front page
  • 3G: 16.5 seconds
  • EDGE: 45 seconds
• ChicagoTribune.com
  • 3G: 42 seconds (Safari crashed the first time, though)
  • EDGE: 1 minute, 42 seconds
• Chicago Tribune iPhone site
  • 3G: 9.5 seconds
  • 28.4 seconds
• DSL Reportsmobile site
  • 3G: 2.9 seconds for 100K file (with warning of the test being too fast to measure)
  • 3G: 5.8 seconds for 400K file at 617 Kbps
  • EDGE: 6.2 seconds for 100K file at 153 Kbps

Aurora, CO, corner of Alameda Ave. and 225

• Ars Technica front page
  • 3G: 25 seconds (three bars)
  • EDGE: 62 seconds (five bars)
• ChicagoTribune.com
  • 3G: 45 seconds
  • EDGE: 115 seconds
• Chicago Tribune iPhone site
  • 3G: 23 seconds
  • EDGE: 44 seconds
• DSL Reports mobile site
  • 3G: 5.1 seconds for 400K, 701 Kbps
  • EDGE: 4.1 seconds for 100K 84 Kbps

As usual, 3G's lead over EDGE can vary depending on factors like one's market, signal strength, and which way the wind is blowing. Still, in our testing, 3G usually matched Apple's claims of at least twice the speed of EDGE, and even almost a full three times faster in some cases. 

iPhone 2.0 software

Apple's major 2.0 update to the iPhone OS is arguably the star of Apple's Christmas in July 2008 show. iPhone 2.0, as it is generally referred to, brings a bevy of significant new features to Apple's own applications like Exchange support and improved e-mail organization. More importantly, iPhone 2.0 finally opens the iPhone platform for third-party developers to build true, native applications that run alongside Apple's own apps.

With an independent, invite-onlypress event in March 2008, Apple announced the true iPhone SDK that everyone was waiting for, along with aforementioned new features and the convenient, centralized App Store that all developers can sell their apps through. After improving the SDK and iPhone 2.0 software through a beta process, as well asannouncing the iPhone 3G (among other products) at last month's WWDC, iPhone 2.0 was officially released for free to original iPhone owners on Friday, July 11th, 2008 to coincide with the launch of the iPhone 3G. The software was pre-loaded on iPhone 3Gs out of the box.

This same software update for the iPod touch took a little while longer to arrive, reportedly appearing in iTunes on the morning of Saturday, July 12, 2008. Due to differences in Apple's accounting practices between the iPhone and iPod touch, owners of the latter must pay $9.95 for the update. This is $10 cheaper than a similar iPod touch software update released in January this year toadd the five applications it was missing from the iPhone: Mail, Maps, Stocks, Notes, and Weather. While the iPod touch 2.0 can't do anything about the missing phone and camera functionality, this 2.0 update brings the iPod touch to what is otherwise complete feature parity with the updated iPhone. This being the case, we will stick with Apple's terminology and refer to these two software updates collectively as "iPhone 2.0" or "iPhone OS."

What's new?

A handful of Apple's core iPhone OS apps have received at least some kind of polish, while others such as SMS, Notes, and Stocks have remained virtually unchanged. Though much of the iPhone's core hardware hasn't changed or improved in speed, the OS generally feels snappier. Applications open slightly faster, though some apps like SMS and Mail still seem to chug slightly after collecting more than a dozen messages in our inboxes. Using the Home button to quit Apple's default apps and return to the home screen doesn't appear to have improved on our phones, but this process is already pretty snappy to begin with.

Mail

The cornerstone of any smartphone is its e-mail application, and the iPhone 1.x e-mail client was met with mixed reactions. After all, BlackBerry has a strong lead in this space with a pleasant, efficient e-mail application and support for Microsoft Exchange. The Mail application in the original iPhone software certainly got a few things right, but the lack of any search options, clunky multi-message management, and no Exchange support were among Mail's top shortcomings.

With iPhone 2.0, Apple has made a significant effort to improve the iPhone's e-mail experience and cater to the needs of Enterprise users. Beyond the Exchange support that we'll get to in a minute, the most noticeable new feature is probably the much-requested ability to move and delete multiple messages with a single action.

It is still possible to quickly swipe to the right across a message in list view to invoke a delete button. But now, pressing the Edit button on the right of Mail's top toolbar reveals a series of checkboxes next to each message, along with Delete and Move buttons at the bottom of the message list. Tapping anywhere on a message in this Edit mode will select it, filling in the checkbox on the right with a red checkmark and highlighting the message with a subtle blue to ensure it stands out from the rest. The Delete and Move buttons at the bottom also begin counting up the selected messages, offering a quick way to know just how many messages will be deleted or moved after what could be a long inbox cleansing session.

A number of other minor Mail enhancements are also present, such as a condensed "CC/Bcc, From" combination field below the To field when composing messages. Tapping this line expands those three fields, and thankfully allows for picking another account to send from on the fly. This should make it easier to avoid complaints from the boss for e-mailing that NWS link with your default work account.

Last on Mail's notable list is another much-requested feature: the ability to save photos attached to messages. As photos are displayed in-line in a message, you can simply tap and hold on one to invoke a dialog with a "save image" button. Opting to do so will add the photo to the iPhone's camera roll as the latest image, which can then easily be synchronized back to a computer or used with any of the iPhone's other apps and features.

Exchange and MobileMe

This thing is not truly Enterprise-ready

If you think that the iPhone is a drop-in BlackBerry replacement, think again. More than one BlackBerry user will run out and get the iPhone, only to be disappointed upon learning everything that the iPhone can't do. This won't happen to everyone, but it has and will happen to plenty of folks.

Touted by Apple as one of the new phone's most significant features, the iPhone 2.0's Exchange support is a clear sign that Apple is vying for Enterprise and business users. Apple licensed Exchange directly from Microsoft, and as mentioned elsewhere in this review, it's even going so far asincorporating Exchange into the next version of OS X, dubbed Snow Leopard.

In our testing, we found iPhone 2.0's initial Exchange support to be a mixed bag. E-mail performance was on par with the BlackBerry, though the iPhone did seem to update our inbox faster than a BlackBerry Pearl. Reconciliation was far superior on the iPhone, as we routinely had stranded messages on the Pearl after moving or deleting from Outlook. So far, our iPhone 3G's ActiveSync is keeping messages 100 percent in sync.

The iPhone's Exchange support loses some of its shiny appeal, however, when you branch out from basic mobile e-mail synchronization. As mentioned elsewhere in this review, Mail's UI for navigating between accounts and mailboxes hasn't improved, and it requires us to tap a frustratingly excessive number of times just to move between messages in business and personal accounts.

Even worse, there's still no search. That's right: after a year of complaints from consumers and getting slammed by the business sector for this, Apple answers this issue with... nothing. No external Spotlight app (as many hoped for searching across other types of data on the iPhone), and no search box like even Address Book received in the iPhone 2.0 update.BlackBerry users be very clear on this: you cannot search your email on the iPhone.

At least Apple can do pretty colors right

Plenty of other critical features are missing as well. There's still no task management feature by default, and Calendar users are still stuck without a week view. Support for multiple, colorized calendars is an improvement, but there's no way to create or remove calendars. Invites cannot be created, and despite what looked like aninvitemanagement system appearing in leaked iPhone 2.0 screenshots back in April, the feature is gone in the current shipping version. It doesn't help that someone forgot to remove the "New Invitation Alerts" preference from iPhone 2.0's main Settings application.

If you ask us, the iPhone 3G is still lacking in too many key hardware and software areas to earn it a strong recommendation for the Enterprise, and especially for road warriors. In its current form, iPhone 2.0's Exchange support is a decent start, but it probably won't appeal to many users who need more than basic e-mail and calendar push capabilities.

Not so MobileMe

If you're a customer of MobileMe, Apple's .Mac replacement that introduces OTA (over-the-air) push support for key features, you may have noticed that it didn't exactly start off on the right foot last week. Most services, especially the new web apps and push support, were up and down all weekend, and the changeover didn't even begin until about half a day after Apple's stated deadline. MobileMe's key iPhone-compatible services still aren't standing on two feet as of this writing, so we can't give that part of the iPhone 2.0 package a thorough review until Apple gets its act together.

Announced at WWDC 2008, MobileMe is a rebranded version of Apple's .Mac suite of Internet services, which includes most of the same features, but with a significant upgrade in the form of push support for mail, calendars, contacts, and Safari bookmarks. Apple also revamped its web apps and finally introduced a calendar app for managing all this information from any PC with a decent Internet connection and a fairly modern browser. Still priced at $99 per year (which you can find for a little cheaper at Amazon and other sites), MobileMe and its array of services is now one of the most affordable Exchange-like packages for the general consumer.

 

The iPhone fits into MobileMe with support for OTA, near-instant push synchronization of mail, calendars, contacts, and Safari bookmarks. For example: change a contact's e-mail address on your Mac, and your iPhone should see the change in mere seconds, with no dock-and-sync process required. In fact, Apple has an Outlook plug-in for Windows users on the way; ideal for those who have a Mac or two at home, but who slave away on a PC at work. All your key MobileMe information can stay synchronized between your Mac, your PC, and an iPhone or iPod touch—including bookmarks from Safari and Internet Explorer on Windows.

While this all sounds great on Apple's MobileMe product pages, the service has proven to be incredibly unreliable since its (attempted) launch last week and through the weekend, and it turns out that Apple's definition of "push" varies slightly from Microsoft's.

For starters, MobileMe's flakiness this weekend made testing most of its iPhone features nearly impossible. The one feature that did seem to remain pretty reliable come Saturday afternoon was mail, which more or less held to Apple's promise of push service, at least on the iPhone. We had coworkers and friends e-mail our MobileMe account from a variety of services and addresses, and those messages all arrived on our iPhone almost instantly, initiating the standard notification alarm and vibration alert every time.

We found a significant flaw, however, in Apple's MobileMe marketing and software. Even though the service is advertised as "Exchange for the rest of us," it turns out that Apple's Mac desktop component is still pushing this information, at best, every 15 minutes. The problem, described with very limited details in anApple support document, is with the synching engine built into OS X. In previous years, .Mac offered the option of synchronizing information periodically every hour, day, or week. An "Automatically" option was always available, but even now in MobileMe, Apple says this option still only synchs your information with the MobileMe servers every 15 minutes.

This means that (once MobileMe is more stable) you can log intome.com, create a new calendar event, and see that event appear on your iPhone within a few seconds (though sometimes up to 20 seconds in our testing). If you create an appointment, edit a contact, or delete some e-mail on your Mac with this "Automatically" setting, though, it could take up to 15 minutes for those actions to sync up to MobleMe, then back down to your other devices.

Perhaps Apple didn't get the memo about what "push" actually means during all the hustle and bustle of releasing three major products last week. Or perhaps—and this is speculation on our part—this is the reason why Apple is building Exchange support into next year's major OS X update,Snow Leopard.

Almost there

With all of these welcome improvements, though, we still feel that Mail has a ways to go, especially for Enterprise users. At the top of our (admittedly shortening) list of gripes is the fact that search isstill nowhere to be found. Considering that Spotlight is such a hit feature in OS X and that Apple has had a year of listening to this often-cited complaint, the fact that search is still MIA is getting pretty unforgivable. It's also going to be a big minus to potential corporate consumers for whom an exceptional e-mail experience is a deal-breaking issue.

Speaking of the experience, we aren't excited about the fact that navigating between accounts, inboxes, and folders still involves so many taps. When viewing a message in our MobileMe account, for example, it takes five taps to get to the message list of our Ars account; six if we want to get to a specific message in the second account. Keeping in mind the fact that Apple designed the iPhone and its syncing features with multiple e-mail accounts in mind, this tedious navigation is really aggravating. We have no problem imagining that it's a show-stopper for plenty of Enterprise users.

Other notable new features

Most of iPhone 2.0's new features are found under the Settings application that adjusts system-wide preferences. In Settings, a number of new preferences affect a range of behavior. Under General > Network, for example, is a switch for shutting off 3G, which forces the iPhone to rely on the more battery-friendly EDGE network. A Location Services on/off switch is in the General area for those who would prefer not to harness location-based features of iPhone 2.0 and third-party software.

For those with contacts stored in a SIM from a previous phone, a new "Import SIM Contacts" button under General > Mail, Contacts, Calendar should make the transition to an iPhone a bit easier. Road and hotspot warriors will also appreciate the ability to add alternative SMTP servers under each Mail account for times when a hotspot doesn't accept current settings, or a server is taking a nap.

A particularly interesting choice from Apple is its recommendation to third-party developers to store entries for application preferences or settings at the bottom of the initial Settings area, and not in the apps themselves. This can lead to a disjointed and confusing experience with iPhone 2.0 applications, as it breaks the typical model of configuring an app's behavior from the app itself. Installing AIM, for example, involves a brief setup dialog to enter our chat account. After we got online and chatting, it took us a while to realize there was absolutely no way to look at preferences so that we could adjust or remove our account.

We finally discovered AIM's preferences in the Settings app, but this strikes us as a bad behavior for Apple to encourage among iPhone app developers. Most users are accustomed to adjusting an applications behavior in standard ways like the App Menu > Preferences dialog, and system preferences in, well, Apple's System Preferences application. Mixing application and system preferences is atypical and disjointing, and we can only imagine less tech-savvy users getting even more confused and perhaps frustrated when they can't bend an application to their will. 

One notable new feature that's not Settings-related is a scientific mode for the Calculator application when the iPhone is turned on its side.

App Store and GPS...ish

At WWDC in June 2007, Apple failed to wow either developers or consumers by announcing a "Third-Party Web 2.0 Applications" iPhone SDK, which was less of an SDK and more of a series of web development guidelines. At the time, it was safe to assume that Apple had a real iPhone SDK up its sleeve somewhere, but developers were left with only speculation and frustration in the wake of Apple's "just use Safari [or: Safari is your new bicycle]" announcement.

Along with the aforementioned native iPhone SDK announcement in March this year, Apple also introduced a new "App Store" section of the iTunes Store where developers can sell their applications (in fact, it's the only place where iPhone apps can be sold legitimately). Applications are listed with descriptions, screenshots (but strangely, no video), and can be offered for free or at a commercial price. Apple handles all transactions and file hosting in exchange for a $99 yearly fee and 30 percent of each transaction, though it asks for no percentage for apps that are free.

When users download an application, it is wrapped in the same FairPlay DRM the iTunes Store is known for (even free apps), but it is fortunately bound to a user's account and not a device. If you, for example, own both an iPhone and an iPod touch and they're both tied to your library, you can pay $9.99 once forSuper Monkey Ball and play it on both devices. Lose or destroy your iPhone? Hook your new one up to iTunes let it install all your apps at no extra charge.

For the Enterprise, Apple went an extra step and incorporated a system for deploying applications securely over an intranet, and only to authorized iPhones. A custom App Store can be set up to host only the applications a business wants to make available to its employees.

Back in the land of general consumers, though, iPhone 2.0 applications can be purchased in iTunes on a computer or via an App Store portal on an iPhone, whichwe explored last Thursday. Apps smaller than 10MB can be downloaded over 3G or even EDGE (if youreally want), while anything larger has to move over WiFi to help prevent AT&T's network from choking. If you purchase an app on your iPhone, iTunes will ask to copy it back up to your library the next time you sync. Those who frequently restore can rejoice: if you accidentally delete a free or paid app from your iPhone, you can re-download it from iTunes or the iPhone for free.

As convenient and streamlined as the App Store is in this initial offering, it still leaves a bit to be desired in light of traditional distribution methods. For one, Apple provides developers no way to offer demo versions of their applications; you either like what you see on the App Store's product page and pay to download a copy, or you don't. Some developers have resorted to offering two completely separate versions of their apps, like the Iconfactory did withTwitterrific andTwitterrific Premium, a paid version of the former (iTunes Store links).

There is also no way for developers to let a portion of users beta test new versions of software before uploading them to the store. The certificate Apple provides to developers allows software to run on up to five different handsets. But this is a far cry from letting a more dynamic batch of users help squash bugs or test new features before unleashing a new version to the App Store's Updates section for all users to see.

Setting these rectifiable issues aside for now, though, it's safe to call the App Store an initial success.Early reports tallied up download counts on Thursday after Apple soft-launched the App Store and had accurate download counts running. Strangely, the only place to publicly view an app's download count is on its App Store page on an iPhone, but Apple reset all these counts sometime on Friday and they haven't worked since. For a good example, though, the popular commercial gameSuper Monkey Ball from Sega ($9.99) had been downloaded nearly 11,000 times on Thursday. This generated $109,440 in total revenue for Sega before the store's official launch, and even before iPhone 2.0 software was technically available to the public; early adopters downloaded the iPhone 2.0 software from a direct link discovered on Apple's servers.

Anearly App Store survey that Ars Technica took on Thursday revealed that, of the 500-plus apps available at launch, 25 percent of them were free and less than 6 percent of them cost over $9.99. While the utility of some of these initial apps is questionable at best, it's important to remember that there are nearly 3,500 other developers big and small who were already accepted to the store but not listed for various unknown reasons (the possibilities of which we explored in the aforementioned survey), and tens of thousands more who have applied. Even if you pass off this past weekend as a small-but-early success for the iPhone App Store, developers ranging from that bearded guy down the street to large manufacturers likeSling Media andTomTom have yet to get into the store and push the platform to see what it's really worth.

GPS... ish

The iPhone's GPS is an Assisted GPS (A-GPS for short), which means that an Assistance Server is called over the cellular network to both offload and speed up the location acquisition process. Assistance Servers have a better satellite signal and more computing power, so the iPhone 3G can conserve its battery and do less work while still obtaining accurate location information. In addition to A-GPS on the iPhone 3G, both the old and new iPhone also can make use of cell tower triangulation, as well as a directory of WiFi hotspots provided bySkyhook Wireless for a third method of finding one's location.

Out of the box, two of the iPhone 2.0's stock apps utilize the location-based features provided by the methods mentioned above: Maps and Photos. Maps provides basic GPS features, using the "locate me" feature introduced in the 1.1.3 update to iPhone software in January at Macworld 08. Seamlessly switching between using GPS, network triangulation, and WiFi hotspots to gather location information, Maps will display a blue dot to represent your location and update it on the fly if you're traveling.

In our testing this feature worked well, and one of our writers, David Chartier, was able to test it extensively on a serendipitous road trip from Denver, CO to Chicago, IL. Throughout virtually the entire trip, the iPhone maintained at least 1-2 signal bars and dropped EDGE data access only a few times (3G was nowhere to be found outside of Denver and Chicago).

During those dips in network signal strength the iPhone took noticeably longer to pinpoint David's location, and only once did Maps resort to circling a general area instead of acquiring an actual location.

As one of the most energy-intensive features on a mobile device, though, using the GPS for any lengthy amount of time unsurprisingly gobbled up our iPhone 3G's battery. A car charger is definitely recommended for any lengthy trips, as we could watch our battery steadily decline over just 10- to15-minute periods of usage. Your mileage may vary in less rural areas with better coverage.

Maps doesn't do anything snazzier besides harnessing the blue dot for already existing features—like directions—which didn't receive major upgrades in iPhone 2.0. Beyond watching one's progress across Google Maps, the iPhone offers none of the turn-by-turn directions that are so much of a hit with the kids these days. Fortunately, the App Store already has a "Navigation" category, and TomTom says that it's "just about ready" with an iPhone version of its software.

The Photos app harnesses iPhone 2.0's A-GPS abilities to auto-geotag photos with location information, which is great for keeping a record of where photos were shot in addition to when. This data can be used in other applications and services like Flickr for visualizing photos on a map, but is otherwise inaccessible (at least, out of the box) after shooting the photo on an iPhone.

Arguably, the most appealing aspect of having A-GPS in the iPhone 3G is that it opens up the world of location-based applications that have already appeared to harness its abilities.Loopt, for example, is a free, location-based social network that allows users to see which friends are nearby, post photos and notes about what's happening at a location, and generally stalk anyone that gives them permission to do so. Each time Loopt is opened, it asks if it can grab the user's location information; then it automatically posts that location to the user's profile.

GTD-based task management applicationOmniFocus ($19.99) can quickly collect location information, then later show you a list of tasks based on your location, or even your grocery list when you're near a store.Evernote, a shoebox service that lets users collect notes, photos, and audio recordings, can also record location information with each entry, then let users search by location on the web or across Windows and Mac desktop applications.

Clearly, location-based services are one of the most promising new categories for mobile software. 3G may be the big-ticket feature of the new iPhone, but we wouldn't be surprised to hear that Apple kicked around "iPhone GPS" as an alternative name.

What's next

When it came time to start organizing all the applications we had downloaded, it was easy to get miffed at the gimmicky "jiggling" UI and complete lack of any organizational tools—such as "sort alphabetically by name" or simply "reset to default" options.

With the promising new world of third-party developer applications on every iPhone 3G out of the box, we hope to see refinements to the OS that allow for easier application organization, as well as more guidance from Apple to the developer community on basic application design. Over the last year, Apple delivered on its original promises of introducing new software features, and now a major OS update that is compatible with what is now the old 'n busted original iPhone. Now we expect to see more refinement of the general OS, as well as a lot more attention paid to the inexcusable faults in Exchange support.

Hacks, battery life, and durability (oh my!)

State of the Hacks

In the short span of time between the introduction of the iPhone SDK and the subsequent rollout of the App Store, hacking the iPhone went from being the hottest hobby on the geek block to being old hat. Indeed, making use of the SDK and Apple's provided dev tools makes developing for the iPhone a dream (not just compared to hacking, but compared to developing for most other mobile platforms too). However, there is still a small place for hacks in this new, third-party-app-filled world.

Most notably, jailbreaking the iPhone could still be considered useful for running unofficial apps that can't be released through the App Store, like those related to "adult" topics (not that there ever were adult-themed unofficial iPhone apps that we know of). Or, more importantly, a hacked iPhone could unlock the software and allow users to take their phones to other networks. But even such unlocked usage is a less of an issue than it was previously, since the iPhone is now available in 22 countries (and in some of those countries, from multiple carriers). Still, in countries where there are strict limitations, like the US, users will continue to want an unlock, even if only out of spite for AT&T.

Allegedly, the iPhone 2.0 firmware hasalready been jailbroken and unlocked, although a tool to do so has yet to be publicly released. When the crack is released, we will surely cover it on Infinite Loop, although we don't see it being as popular this time around as it has been in the past. Now that Apple is requiring iPhone activations to be done in-store, there's less of an incentive for people to buy iPhones just for unlocking purposes anyway. After all, you're still on the hook for that contract through AT&T even if you've hacked your phone and taken it to T-Mobile.

Battery life

Yes, the iPhone's battery is still non-user-replaceable. Users raised a fuss about this issue at the original iPhone's launch, but most of us have since either gotten used to it or forgotten about it. Why? Because it turned out that the original iPhone had decent battery life for most casual, consumer-oriented tasks. Now that the iPhone is essentially launchingagain to a whole new audience and has much stronger enterprise support, however, the battery life issue is once again at the forefront of people's attention. While most consumers don't carry around more than one battery with them, many business people do, and for good reason. Users who spend a lot of time on the road will often run out of charge during a typical day of commuting, and these folks will find the lack of a user-replaceable battery incredibly frustrating.

However, we don't see Apple's philosophy on this changing anytime soon (read: ever), so let's take a look at what you can expect if you decide that you can deal with it. (Check out our dissection section later in this review to learn more technical details about the battery.)

Apple advertises that the iPhone 3G can get up to 5 hours of Internet use on 3G (up to 6 hours on WiFi), up to 7 hours of video playback, and up to 24 hours of audio playback. Apple also says that users can get up to 5 hours of talk time on 3G (up to 10 on 2G), and a standby time of up to 300 hours. Of course, we all know that marketing data does not often reflect real world use, so we put the iPhone 3G through a few battery tests of our own.

Using the iPhone constantly for various tasks like reading e-mail, surfing the web, sending updates to Twitter, and using other apps that make use of the network connection, we managed to get anywhere from 3 to 4.5 hours of Internet use out of the device. This, of course, varies depending on your device's settings (for example, having it automatically check for e-mail periodically will drain the battery quicker than if you just manually check e-mail) and on what, exactly, you're doing. However, most of our typical use consisted of a number of similar tasks, and our average was roughly the same. Compared to Apple's estimated 5 hours, our results weren't terrible, although they are less than the 4 to 5 hours we used to be able to squeeze out of the original iPhone. And, again, if you're a road warrior demands hours and hours of use, the fact that you can't swap out the battery after 3 or 4 hours could quickly become a headache. Pushing roughly the same amount of data, we have found that the BlackBerry Pearl (for example) lasts longer.

As for video playback, we watched several TV shows purchased from iTunes back to back until the battery died completely. Doing this, the battery went from full to empty in just a hair under 4 hours. This is just over half of what Apple advertises, and with no background apps running and no e-mail checking automatically (but with WiFi and 3G on).

Running an iPod playlist on repeat with no background apps running (3G on here too) lasted us a surprising 28 hours. This is four hourslonger than what Apple advertises, although when we compare Apple's testing conditions (printed in gray at the bottom of thetech specs page) against ours, we don't see much of a difference. Compared to last year's results on the audio test (we managed to squeeze out only 12 hours), this seems even more curious, but it's likely due to changes in the device's hardware and battery.

Nonetheless, as almost all mobile consumers know, you almost never find yourself doing absolutely nothing but listening to audio for 28 hours straight, or surfing the web on a handheld device for 3-4 hours straight. You take breaks, you put it down, you go to sleep, you have meetings, you get off that cramped airplane. You might listen to musicwhile surfing the web for a half hour, then you might watch a video for an hour, then you might not touch the device for three hours, then you might check your e-mail for 10 minutes and go to bed, etc. Given our typical on-and-off, scatterbrained usage, we felt like the battery drained faster than the old iPhone's battery.

For example, Jacqui has found that she can remove her iPhone from its dock and use it based on the above mixed-use scenario without having to return it to the dock for at least three days, at which time it typically has at least a quarter (if not a third) of the battery left. This time around, that same scenario lasted about two days.

On the flip side, Ars EIC Ken Fisher had to charge his iPhone multiple times within a single day while on a normal business trip to San Francisco. Ken found himself having to return back to his BlackBerry multiple times when his iPhone battery died in the middle of a task. For business users who are used to the BlackBerry way of life, the iPhone's battery life, charge cycle (we found the charge cycle to be approximately 2.5 hours, which is slower than some BlackBerrys), and lack of user-replaceable options make the device incredibly frustrating. 

Durability

Since the new and old iPhones are so incredibly similar, we felt that it wasn't necessary to perform all of the same stress tests that we did on the old device in order to test its durability. If you're new to the iPhone, we urge you to check out thetests that we did last yearto get a more complete view of what kind of abuse this thing will stand up to.

The front of the iPhone 3G is exactly the same as the old iPhone—that is, it's made of extremely scratch-resistant glass. Therefore, almost nothing in your everyday life will scratch this thing—keys, knives, change rolling around in your pocket, other electronics, rocks, etc. Hell, even skidding it face down across the concrete (or, to take an example out of Jacqui's real life, skidding it face down across the floor of her gym after she accidentally jerks it off the treadmill... repeatedly) won't do much damage to the screen. So in this sense, you are pretty safe.

Cracking, however, can be an issue if you drop it from some distance too many times, or if you hit it at just the right angle. For example, while some of us have dropped our iPhones many times without repercussion, Ars writer Jonathan Gitlin managed to crack a bit of the screen of his iPod Touch after the device fell out of his hoodie pocket and hit the floorhard on its bottom corner. So, while the screen may resist scratches and most drops, even the iPhone isn't invincible.

The back of the new iPhone, however, is now different than the old model. As we noted in the introduction, users may now choose between black or white plastic backings, similar to the classicfifth-generation iPods andfirst-generation iPod nanos. As users learned then—and we have learned again now—that plastic is indeed scratchable.

Now, don't worry. The back of your iPhone won't end up looking likethis after it comes out of your pocket, since itis scratch-resistant to some degree. However, we were able to visibly nick the black plastic edge of one of our iPhone 3Gs (yes, on purpose) using a key without much effort, so it shouldn't come as a surprise if, after extended periods of use, the back ends up looking a little "well-loved." Maybe it's about time to start investing in some of those iPod socks after all.

Now for a look inside.

Dissection analysis (pass the Junior Mints)

A long battery life can be one of a mobile device's biggest selling points. Phones that die in just a few hours have only limited uses and are one of the biggest reasons that manufacturers like Nokia and RIM have dominated the business space over the past few years.

The complete iPhone 3G breakdown (image courtesyiFixit)

The introduction of Apple's second-generation iPhone, with all the features and capabilities it entails, meant that Apple had to find a way to increase battery capacity without drastically expanding the footprint and heft of the device. Specifically, the following factors loom large in the new iPhone's battery life picture:

• High-powered and potentially less-than-amazingly-optimized
  third-party applications will eat battery like it's going out of style.
  Sit down and playSuper Monkey Ball for 20 minutes, and you'll notice a
  big chunk of battery life missing.
• 3G data speeds means more network traffic which means less battery life.
• Excessive use of the GPS/location functionality will also noticeably impact battery life.

The hardware configuration of the first iPhone was organized as follows: The two main circuit boards were stacked on top of each other and stuffed into the top of the device near the camera; below the circuitry was a more or less square-sized battery, which was soldered directly onto the board.

With the 3G iPhone, Apple has had to take a different approach to accommodate a larger battery. This new battery is longer, more rectangular, and takes up a considerable portion of the iPhone's interior real estate. Besides its physical dimensions, this new battery has two interesting differences from the older model.

First, the battery is a bit thinner, to keep the overall thickness of the device to roughly the same specifications as the original.

The battery in the iPhone 3G is not soldered and uses spring-loaded contacts (image courtesyiFixit)

Second, the battery lays on top of the main circuitry and interfaces via a series of three spring-loaded pins. This is a big-win for users, repair companies, and refurbishers in that it is now possible for the battery to be easily removed and replaced without having to expend considerable time and resources doing so.

This undoubtedly makes it easier for Apple and Apple-certified repair technicians to do their job. Because there is no need to solder (a skill that takes a real time investment to become proficient at), it's now entirely possible for an Apple employee to replace an iPhone battery in-store rather than dole out brand-new iPhones as replacement devices.

Simplifying the touchscreen

Another interesting improvement to the iPhone design is the “re-factoring” of the touchscreen. The original iPhone's protective glass exterior was physically attached to the LCD component. iFixit has determined that in the new iPhone, the glass covering and the LCD are separate components, a design update that should considerably decrease the amount of money you pay when you crack that screen.

iFixit also notes that in almost every case of a broken iPhone screen, it is the glass that is damaged, not the LCD. So accident-prone iPhone users should be very happy, since only the glass will now need to be replaced.

Apple branded chips proliferate

As we have noted on several occasions in the past, every iPod or iPhone product produced after the originaliPod nano has contained one or more Apple-branded chips. Typically, these are products from traditional vendors like Samsung that have been tweaked by Apple engineers to their exact specifications. A whole cottage industry has sprung up around de-soldering these parts and stripping their ceramic casings to determine who designed and produced them.

The top of the main iPhone 3G circuit board (image courtesySemiconductor Insights)

Apple, in a not-so-shocking move, has upped the ante in this arena by purchasing an entire fabless semiconductor company, P.A. Semi,to design and produce system-on-chips for the iPhone and iPods. The purchase announcement in April of this year would seem to indicate that any new mobile hardware coming out in 2009 or later will probably be host to even more custom Apple chips and less tweaked and rebranded models.

The bottom of the main iPhone 3G circuit board (image courtesySemiconductor Insights)

iFixit was the first to tear down the new iPhone 3G—they flew to New Zealand and were fourth in line. And, with the help ofSemiConductor insights, almost all of the chips on the new circuit board have been identified.

If you're interested in the nitty-gritty of who produced what and what each chip does, TechOnlinedug through everything and crowned Infineon and TriQuint big winners, with both contributing several parts to the iPhone. TriQuint is probably the biggest surprise, as this is their first appearance in an Apple product and they are providing three power filter/duplexer/amplifier chips (one for each signal band).

TechOnline also notes that the GPS chip in the iPhone uses assisted GPS for the best accuracy possible (within a few meters) and uses multi-path mitigation so your GPS location is still accurate in urban environments when signals can get bounced around and unexpectedly delayed.

The chip breakdown is as follows:

• Broadcom: 1
• Infineon: 4
• Intel: 1
• Linear Technology: 1
• Marvell: 1
• National Semi: 1
• NXP: 1
• Samsung (main CPU): 1
• Skyworks: 1
• SST: 1
• ST Micro: 1
• Toshiba (NAND Flash): 1
• Triquint: 3
• Wolfson: 1

VisitiFixit for detailed and high-resolution shots of everything that Apple packed into the new iPhone 3G. 

Conclusion

The $199 (or $299, or $399, or $499) question is: is it worth it? As usual, the answer is "it depends." If you're using some old, crappy cell phone, you're looking for something new, and you're not allergic to AT&T, then go for it. Do it now. Well, maybe wait until the lines subside.

If you've got a smartphone for personal use—iPhone or otherwise—then the answer depends on how much you value the new features. Are 3G, the louder speaker, and GPS worth at least $200 plus $10 more per month for two years? Remember that you can get the iPhone 2.0 firmware and the App Store on an older iPhone as well. For us reviewers who are using the iPhone 3G as a personal phone, we feel happy with the decision to purchase it. Sure, it's not a religious experience, but we're definitely satisfied. If you want to wait and see what comes out of Apple in another six months to a year, however, there's no huge reason not to do so.

If you're a business user, then we feel the answer is no, it's not worth it. The original iPhone was not made to be an enterprise device, and the new iPhone isn't either. Although some baby steps have been made, BlackBerry users will find themselves frustrated with the lack of complete Exchange support and may even end up returning their devices, or at least carrying an iPhone alongside a BlackBerry. We already know several who have done this, and it will happen to many more.

Although we have dropped numerical scores from our product reviews, we feel the need to enumerate the iPhone 3G in comparison to our original iPhone score. A year ago, we gave the iPhone an 8 overall (with significant caveats based on personal use). The original iPhone was truly an innovation in the mobile space and it has most certainly shaken things up over the last 12 months. The iPhone 3G is being marketed not only as a faster device, however, but as a business-capable device as well. So, not only is it being compared to the original iPhone, it is being compared more heavily to its competitors in the smartphone space than its predecessors. Because of this, we at Ars have agreed that the new device deserves a 6. It's great as a consumer device, but with enterprise users' expectations having been raised this time around, we feel it still has quite a ways to go.

The good:

• Data speeds are faster (duh)
• External speaker is louder, better
• Third-party apps, finally
• Screen still virtually unscratchable

The bad:

• For most casual users, battery gets sapped quicker thanks to 3G chip, power-sucking apps
• Still locked to AT&T and still requires a new two-year contract (US-only. Contracts in other countries vary.)
• Plastic back means potential for scratch city

The ugly:

• In-store activation requirements crud up the previously-smooth process, Apple caves to the broken mobile system (at least in the US)
• Battery life, combined with non-user-replaceable battery, make for an ugly situation for road warriors
• Not yet fit for serious business users, as Exchange support is pretty weak

(Ars Technica Editor In Chief Ken Fisher contributed notes and extensive testing to this review.)