I love it, I love it, I love it! (Apple iPhone 3G 16 GB)

Member Name: phillipsdj

Product:	Apple iPhone 3G 16 GB
Date:	13/05/09 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great phone, great iPod, great apps

Disadvantages: No Bluetooth, accidental phone calls if you don't lock the screen!

I genuinely don't know where to begin with this review, there is so much to talk write about! I should probably admit from the start that I absolutely love my phone, however I will do my best to keep my review impartial!

I got my iPhone a little over 3 months ago, paying around £150 for the handset on o2's £35/month contract, this gives me 400 texts, 400 minutes and unlimited web - all of which are more than enough for me - and I have not yet gone over my entitlement.

Standby/Call Time:
The Apple site claims talktime of 5 hours and standby time of upto 300 hours. Although I have not tested these (I am not able to leave my phone alone for 3 hours, let alone 300!) I have no reason to disbelieve them - I suspect that to get 300 hours of standby time you would have to turn off all e-mail/data push functions but other than that these claims are believable.

The phone:
We all know the iPhone shape so I'm not going to bother describing it.
The handset is used completely by touchscreen which I was concerned would be awkward to use, but at 3.5inch from corner to corner it is more than big enough and simple to navigate. As the iPhone has SO MANY features you actually have an icon for all phone-type features - clicking this gives you 5 options:
*Favourites - as you would imagine this allows you to specify some contacts as favourites and makes it slightly quicker to find their details.
*Recents - this lists your recent call activity
*Contacts - your list of contacts. One of my favourite features of the phone is the ability to store so many details for each contact, more on this in a bit.
*Keypad - this button brings up a keypad on your screen with each number being a nice (big) size. One of my major gripes with modern phones was that they were getting so small that the buttons were becoming impossible to press - this is no longer an issue with the iPhone as each key is approx. 2cm x 1.5cm big.
*Voicemail - this lists any voicemails you may have received. A nice feature from Apple/o2 is visual voicemail, you actually get a list of new voicemails on your screen so you don't have to phone 121/901 to find out who has left you messages.

The call quality is very clear, I can hear people perfectly and I have never had any complaints from people I was speaking to.

Apps:
Standard issue: The phone comes pre-loaded with certain apps (or applications) these are:
*Camera - like most mobile phones these days the iPhone has an inbuilt digital camera. At 2mp it is by no means the best on the market but in this day and age where most of us have separate digital cameras this will more than suffice.
*SMS - where your text messages are stored. I like this on the iPhone because it stores all your texts to and from each contact on one page, like a conversation, which makes it easy to know what they are referring to if, like me, you can have text 'chats' which go on for days but with a day or 2 between replies!
*Contacts - another link to your contact list. Each individual contact has a dedicated page on which you can store as many phone numbers as they have, the same for e-mail addresses, address, URL and many other fields including birthday, Company name, a note and many, many more. If you have entered an address for a contact and then click on this field the open will open up the maps function and show you the exact location and generate directions if you ask it to. (It's little features like this which excite me the most about the phone but also make it impossible to review because you are always remembering little things!...)
*Maps - the iPhone can provide maps for wherever you are in the world - the data resolution is obviously dependent on which Country/City you are looking at, with places like the US and UK having great detail. Using the inbuilt GPS system the handset can also pinpoint where you are in the world and provide maps and directions.
*Photos - where your photos are stored - this is for photos taken on your phone as well as any folders you have your iTunes syncing with.
*Youtube - a link to Youtube where you are able to search for, view and rate videos.
*Calendar - a calendar function, this is standard on most phones.
*Calculator - does exactly what it says on the tin!
*Weather - provides a 5 day forecast for wherever you are, or whatever City you specify.
*Settings - changeable settings (standard on all phones) for basic functions as well any apps you may have downloaded.
*Clock - has 4 functions, World Clock, Alarm, Stopwatch and Timer
*Stocks - this is another very useful function which allows you to watch the share price of any company you specify. This is good for is you can afford to invest, or if (like me) you are skint but still like to follow some companies!
*Notes - as it sounds
*iTunes - a link to the iTunes store allowing you to download songs/albums/podcasts etc
*App Store - (where most of my time goes!) a link to the iTunes App store, allowing you to download free and paid for applications.

Downloadable Apps:
Wow, where to begin?! The app store has something for everyone, so I'm not going to even try to list them, however sites like the following do their best to do so....
http://www.iphoneapps.co.uk/
Some of my most used apps are:

Facebook - as you would imagine this shows you your FB profile and let's you read status updates/view photos etc
Tube Map - as the name suggests this is an iPhone based tube map. There are a few of these on the market but I chose to pay for this particular one because it allows you to input your departure and arrival stations and plans your route.
eBay - allows you to search for, view and bid on items.
Stanza - allows you to read classic novels as free eBooks.
Wikipanion - a small version of Wikipedia
And many, many more!

Build:
My main fear when buying the iPhone was that it would be too fragile and wouldn't survive a busy life, however I dropped mine 3 times (twice on concrete, once at the train station) before I bought my case and apart from a small chip in the case have seen no negative impact.

Negatives:
Unfortunately there are a couple, I would like to give a perfect review but that would make me a liar.

The loud speaker - the speaker quality, if listening externally, is not the best. It is very tinny and can be extremely quiet.
The earphones - as with all iPhone products I would discourage you from using the supplied the earphones and urge you to buy a better quality pair if you really enjoy music.
Bluetooth - The iPhone only allows you to use Bluetooth to connect to external speakers and hands free sets, you are not able to connect to friends etc. Although the reasons behind this are clear it is still slightly infuriating.
Touchscreen - if like me you are a bit forgetful and don't remember to immediately lock the screen after making calls you can often find yourself accidentally phoning your wife, mother in law, dentist etc because your fingers have rested on the screen. However this is a lesson quickly learned for most people. (Unfortunately, I accidentally phoned all of the above before I learned my lesson!)

Summary: My favourite gadget so far

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