I've had my 8GB 3G iPhone for a week now and so I think it's safe to post my thoughts on it. I'm very bad for getting over-excited with a new device and then later deciding it really isn't that good after all. Having said that, I loved my first generation iPhone as much as my Treo 650 so the new one does have a lot to live up to. I'll just concentrate on the new or changed things unique to the 3G iPhone as I discussed my thoughts on the addition of third party applications last week.

So the first big change is 3G. Whilst I think EDGE is acceptable I have to admit it is very nice to have 3G speeds whilst out and about. From the speed tests I've done I seem to get a performance that is only a little below my wireless network at home. This is very welcome for downloading email attachments for example, and it means I don't always have to stick to PDA friendly websites whilst I'm out and about. I've not had any particular problems getting a signal, about the same as other 3G phones I've tried.

The second biggy is the addition of assisted GPS. Apple have specifically prevented the use of this for turn by turn navigation in the terms of their license, and it's not clear why. At present it integrates with a number of different applications, the camera can now add location information to your snaps for example. It will also work within the GoogleMaps which is of course it's most useful place. I have to say this is surprisingly good. The little bouncing blue dot indicating my location appears very very quickly whilst out in my car. Googlemaps can be set to plot a route for you and, whilst you won't get real-time instructions, it will happily follow your location loading new maps as it goes. Slipping into an EDGE or GPRS only connection does slow the loading down quite a lot and it can struggle to keep up, but it's still useful and probably adequate for a lot of peoples navigation needs. It'll also very quickly find your location again if you switch the display off for a while.

Of course the problem with both these features is the effect it has on battery life. When using the GPS tracking feature I could almost watch the battery indicator empty itself. Thankfully I have an in car charger but if you don't then you can scratch my comment about it being a useful navigation tool if you want it permanently on. 

I'm pleased to say 3G doesn't seem to affect the battery too badly. Interestingly it did seem terrible for the first couple of charges, but after that the performance has only been slightly worse than my first generation iPhone. Quite a few people on iPhone forums have said the same thing and the consensus is that it seems to be a callibration issue. I have seen a couple of people report permanently appalling battery life so it's also possible there's a rogue batch out there.  (As an aside, heavy use of applications can also drain the battery but that's not unique to the 3G iPhone.)

The final change of any note is the new styling. I don't have any particularly strong feelings on this to be honest. In some ways the first generation was better as it wasn't such a fingerprint magnet, but the rounded back also looks good. One welcome addition is that the headphone socket has also been altered so that third party headphones can be used without an adapter.

Overall I'm pleased I made the upgrade. The battery life isn't quite as good but it is still perfectly acceptable for my day to day use. However, I won't be going on any long car journeys with the GPS on and the car charger at home. Philippa

Yesterday, Philippa gave her impressions on her first week with the iPhone 3G. Today it is my turn after four days tinkering with the 'wonder phone'.

The iPhone 3G- the phone that is dominating all of the smartphone and PDA headlines at the moment. The original iPhone was a landmark device which showed that a smartphone can be unique and was also one which turned around our perception of how we interact with a handheld. It was a genuinely great iPod with superb sound quality, great video playback and an entertainment experience which was matched by no other. As a phone it had its problem such as a terrible speaker phone, poor contact navigation and the occasional signal issue. Obviously the lack of any high speed internet besides Wi-Fi was a major drawback which hampered its mobile data credibility’s somewhat.

The iPhone 3G is supposed to change all that, and initial sales figures show that it has captured the imagination of the buying public in many countries much quicker than the original did. People queued to get their hands on the shiny black wonder phone that could do everything, and the costs at last came into line with other phones of a similar specification. So, it was with some gusto that I opened the iPhone 3G box and at last had some time to experience this brave new world of mobile communication and entertainment.

In the box you get the USB sync cable which slots into the power adaptor, a set of headphones and the iPhone 3G itself. There is no desktop cradle anymore and very little documentation. It is a Spartan bundle, but has no real omissions apart from the cradle which is a great touch in my opinion. The iPhone 3G itself feels almost identical to the original, but is lighter and the back part does feel nicer in the hand. Personally, I prefer the original design because it looks more expensive and is less prone to fingerprints than the 3G model. This phone gives the Touch Diamond a run for its money in the fingerprint stakes, and that is not an easy achievement.

First use provided little more excitement than the original iPhone. Of course there are some large improvements such as the iPhone 2.0 software and some tweaks to the internal applications. Small touches like the landscaped scientific calculator are good to see, but the core PIM software has not been changed in a way that makes it much more useable than before.

The screen is marginally better, but I would not have noticed if I hadn’t read about the new yellow hue to this version. From a hardware standpoint it is a case of not much being changed apart from the colour and a few small design tweaks. The inclusion of a little key to get to the SIM card slot is sweet, as is the fact that when closed you can barely see the slow is also a clever touch.

Voice and mobile data are two of the benchmarks by which the iPhone 3G will live or die, and I have been somewhat disappointed by both. The speakerphone is still poor and not even comparable to budget mobile phone, and the data side was a huge disappointment for me. Wi-Fi works as well as it did with the original iPhone, but the inclusion of 3G has highlighted that the iPhone is not a wonder model that beats all other smartphones out of the park. It was a phone that did what it did very well, but the inclusion of more advanced features has revealed its fallibilities. Battery life over the past four days for me has been absolutely horrific. With 3G enabled, the battery has lasted just under one day of light use and a few calls has dropped this down even further. Music playback is still relatively power friendly, but only with the phone in offline or GSM mode. The original iPhone (and iPod Touch) is a marvel of efficiency and could run for days on end, but sadly the 3G element has shown that the iPhone is not as power friendly as we all thought. There is some hope though as this thread shows and as such the above paragraph is a friendly warning to not get as annoyed as I did when I first started using it... It is good to know that it may well get better, but the next problem is the bigger one for me.

I have seen issues with the signal strength- the iPhone 3G will get barely 1 bar while my Sony Ericsson W910i will get 4 bars at home. Both had O2 SIM cards in them and the W910i is not even that good at carrying a signal (it compares poorly to my Nokia E71 for example). At work it is the same story, but sadly even worse with the iPhone 3G often displaying no service even in GSM mode. Of course this could be partly the fault of the network, but if so why do I have no issues with other phones on O2. I checked with a work colleague who also has an iPhone 3G and their signal is also non-existent at work, so I am ruling out a hardware fault.

Once again, I am going to give this a bit of time because there have been some strange goings on in Gatwick (where I live) recently. There have been lots of signal outages and times when ‘network busy’ appears for hours on end. I do suspect however that there is a tiny antenna in this iPhone and not a good one at that.

After four days, I am not particularly happy with the iPhone 3G. I know that some of you are thinking that I am rarely happy with any phone, but my first few days have been rather troublesome. Expect some more thoughts in a couple of days…

UPDATE: I forgot to make a point about the new App Store. Last week I defended the idea of software not having trial versions in this store, and then I fell foul of this process over the weekend.

I installed SplashMoney because that has been my favourite financial organiser on my mobile devices to date, and the current iPhone version is TERRIBLE! It crashes constantly and is very clumsy to use. This quote from a user on iTunes sums up the problem- "... but only pay £5.99 if you are willing to beta test it for them." This is one example where the App Store may run into problems.

Another Update: From SplashMoney- "SplashMoney 4.02 has been released internally, and has fixed all the crash related issues. Along with SplashMoney 4.02 on the iPhone, we will be releasing SplashMoney 4.02 on the Desktop (Windows and Mac). This will enable users to sync their accounts. We hope to release SplashMoney 4.02 later this week or early next week."

Links: Palm store / Windows Mobile store / Blackberry & Symbian

MobFinance US Edition - Mobile Stock Tracker is available in three flavours, depending on where you live. This is a 'very' good application to keep check of what is happening out there.

MobFinance US Edition is a powerful stock tracking and portfolio management program that enables investors to monitor portfolios from 10 US exchanges by retrieving stock quotes and live charts directly to mobile phone.

It offers a broad range of trade information about stocks, mutual funds, and derivatives from 10 major markets. With MobFinance, an investor can monitor his entire portfolio by retrieving stock quotes and live charts showing intraday, weekly and 12 month graphs, as well as today's headlines through Internet directly from your mobile phone anywhere at any time. Its data charts also enable an investor to observe the price trend and capture momentum.

Here's an article sure to cause some debate- "The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on Wednesday about the privacy implications of online advertising. Present for Congress's first real consideration of the issue were representatives from big-name internet companies such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook. In addition were privacy experts from the Center for Democracy & Technology and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who followed up the hearing with a heated discussion on the PBS News Hour.

Google argued that advertisements, their main source of revenue, are what allow them to keep the bulk of their services free for customers. Targeted ads, they suggested, are also beneficial to customers because they don't bog us down with largely useless information. Online shoppers or web surfers are exposed only to ads deemed relevant to them – or to what their data say about them.

So, what information do internet companies collect for advertising? On a typical search Google will collect your IP address, operating system, browser type, requested search query and cookies. Although generally none of the information collected is personally identifiable, internet users are still largely unaware of internet companies' – and third-party advertisers' – collection methods and use of their information." More at Pew.