Anand Reviews the Apple iPhone 3G
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 16, 2008 8:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
Other 2.0 Firmware Features
Other than the App Store, there are a number of other features enabled by the 2.0 firmware including better support for Exchange servers (which I’ll talk about shortly) and the ability to search through your contacts.
If you have thousands of contacts, the iPhone’s quick scrolling may not be enough to find the ones you want - but with most of my work contacts shifting jobs or leaving the industry fairly regularly, my address book just isn’t that big. That being said, there are others that may appreciate the contact search more than me - it’s nice, just not what I really wanted.
What I really wanted was the ability to search emails. I’m constantly emailing myself addresses, recipes (I have been known to wield a mean spatula) and other random things that I want quick access to. The problem is that even with a dedicated email account for personal stuff, it quickly gets lost on the iPhone. For the company that made Spotlight such a big feature of OS X, it’s honestly unacceptable that the iPhone still lacks email search support. It may sound like I’m being too harsh on Apple, but climb to the top and expectations rise with you.
That's nice. Wait, what? You still can’t search emails? Silly.
You can now save images from web pages you browse to by simply touching and holding your finger over the image - it will be added to your camera roll.
You can also now take screenshots, just hold down the Home button and hit the power button.
The new Calculator in 2.0
There’s also an option to import contacts from your SIM card into your address book, which seems like it’s something that would help if you happened to have an older SIM card that you were trying to migrate over to your iPhone. Since all iPhones ship with a new SIM card I’m guessing you’d have to import the contacts then swap SIM cards
The new firmware does seem to make things slower. I find that selecting items, launching certain applications and even accessing my contacts is slower than it used to be on the pre-2.0 firmware (even comparing the original iPhone to itself). Obviously there’s a lot more going on now, but it’s unclear how much additional performance tweaking can be done and how CPU bound we are at this point.
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michael2k - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
Like it or not, the iPhone is hardware.AnandTech is run by Anand, and whatever strikes his fancy (be they MacBook Airs or iPhones) gets reviewed.
imaheadcase - Monday, July 21, 2008 - link
"Like it or not, the iPhone is hardware.AnandTech is run by Anand, and whatever strikes his fancy (be they MacBook Airs or iPhones) gets reviewed. "
Yes its hardware, so is a toaster..I away his review on the latest model toasters that come out, as well as the top of the line flashlights... i rest my case.
robinthakur - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
Its sad that you aren't realistic enough to know that currently lots of people are looking for a decent and unbiased iPhone 3G review, and Anandtech (A technology site I recall) offers a very good and highly technical review, the best I've seen. Where's the issue there? Are you annoyed that the iPhone is again in great demand and in the news? Its hardly the iPhone's fault that the HTC *fill in this weeks model* garners about as much press attention as a comeback by Kelly Clarkson, its fundamentally outdated and playing catchup to the new kid on the block.Griswold - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
You really need to roll over and die.at80eighty - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
you ungrateful morons don't seem to get a simple fact. this site is FREEAnand & Co. owe you nothing & yet they keep putting up good/great articles
Lately all i see is whine & cheese about how anandtech has lost its hardware focus , while commenting in 'the third' article of hardware
more often than not this is a one stop place for getting your info. don't like it , don't click.
and im not a mindless fanboy - someone here was recently criticizing the AT staff over something , but he made clear , precise & constructive points why he felt so - and thats a good way to go about it. your stale WAAWAAWAA is just a stupid annoyance
Dennis Travis - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
VERY well said. Almost the exact words I was thinking.Keep up the EXCELLENT work Anand and Staff!
imaheadcase - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
What he said, roll over and die.Brianoes - Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - link
What are you talking about? I think that Anand's article provides one of the, no, the clearest and most consise iPhone article, and I'm done hunting for them to learn some more random details that I may have been interested in. His conclusion was not the standard three paragraph garbage you see on most other review sites - thanks for the really in depth final conclusion and summary.The first and last good iPhone review I've read, coming from an iPod Touch user for the past three months.
Brian
imaheadcase - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
What am i talking about? I guess you are oblivious to the fact that the iphone is a niche market. Like every smart phone out there. Yet they review a iphone and no other phone? You know why they don't review others phones..because there are millions of sites that do that all the time.Stick with actually HARDWARE analysis like next to Anandtech on top of page. Leave the phones/cars/apple related stuff/ game reviews, etc to other sites who do it 24/7.
Goty - Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - link
I think there needs to be some emphasis in the section dealing with reception on the fact that coverage is STRONGLY influenced by where you are. When I was at college, a large number of my friends were Verizon customers, but most dropped Verizon and switched to either Cingular/AT&T or regional carriers because Verizon coverage in the area was practically nonexistent. None of their phones got reception in any of the buildings on campus or in any most of the apartment complexes, and signal strength in open air was limited to one or two bars at best.