Apple iPhone 3G - My Best New Toy

Since my return from overseas living, I have had three cellphones. I started out with a Blackberry which I adored. When it began to have difficulties, I "upgraded" to a Samsung Blackjack - one of my more depressing forays into the world of cellphones. The day my contract allowed me to upgrade without extra charges, I dumped the Blackjack. I am trying hard to live frugally, so I opted for a refurbished iPhone with the smallest memory available. I would love to have had more memory and something brand new, but the current economy didn't allow that.

It has been three months and I am beyond delighted with my i-Phone. Let me get out of the way the only downside I have experienced with the phone - the battery life is not great. Of course, I can plug it into any computer to charge, but I'm not always by a computer. The real issue ends up being that there are so many cool things to do that one keeps using the phone and it runs the battery down.


The Apple iPhone 3G is actually the 2nd generation of the iPhone. I learned my lesson when I got the first generation Blackjack (Did I mention how bad that phone was?). 3G refers to a high-speed data transfer network for which this model has been optimized. The iPhone user interface is touch-screen activated. There is a volume control bar on the side of the phone for controlling the ringer volume at a touch and an on/off switch on top. The rest of the unit is a glossy screen. This makes the screen easy to clean with a wipe of the cloth I use on my eyeglasses. That said, I would recommend highly the use of a screen protector as the screen will show every fingerprint a CSI investigator could ever need.


At the bottom of the interface are your four primary buttons - phone, mail, safari and iPod that are always in place. Since for most people these are the primary buttons you want to reach, it's great to have those there.

If you push the phone button, you will get 5 options Favorite #s, Recent Calls, Contacts, Keypad, and Voicemail. These streamline your dialing and save you time by making your most frequently called numbers easy to get to. I have a few relatives whose numbers I need to have, but who I don't call often. There are others, however, that I want to be able to find quickly. With the favorite or recent, I can quickly find those folks with whom I'm most often in touch. Contacts allows me to have all the people in my life. I can scroll down or jump to a particular letter of the alphabet or I can search the more extensive contact list. If you need to dial the phone for someone not in your lists, the iPhone will produce a touch-screen telephone pad. Unlike some of its predecessors, the touchpad includes the traditional letters shown on a phone. No longer do you have to struggle when the phone directory asks you to spell the first three letters of someone's name.

Voicemail is totally a godsend on the iPhone. All your voicemails stack up in a list. You can listen to them in order, or tap on a particular one and just listen to that. No more calling your v-mail and having to sit through voicemails you don't want to deal with at the moment. If the message you've been waiting on has come in, you will see it.


The sound quality on the iPhone is very good. I used to have a Blackjack (gag!) with a mic that cut in and out. This microphone is solid and sounds great. The sound quality the other way is tremendous.




If you need to use the internet or write a text message a QWERTY keyboard appears to allow you to search. For good or bad, the first keyboard shows only letters. Click a button and you will get to keyboard with numbers and basic punctuation. Another punch will take you to less common symbols. Hitting the space bar will take you back to the first keyboard. This really isn't any worse than having to hit a shift key for caps, but does take some getting used to. I found it difficult to hit the correct keys, though that is getting better with practice. I also find that if I type what I think I should, and don't pay attention, the i-Phone will self-correct the word I want. This is very nice when I want to type "You're." I can just type "Youre" and the i-Phone will insert that pesky apostrophe unless I tell it not to.

I have to give huge thumbs up to the i-Phone's text messaging system. Unlike my previous Blackjack (yuck), this phone separates conversations by person I'm texting with. I get to see their side of the conversation and mine in alternating colored bubbles. No more looking to see what I texted 5 hours ago to someone to figure out what their "Yes" message might refer to. Also, no more having to look through texts from 3 or four people and try to follow separate strings.

The camera on the i-Phone works very well. I'm not a huge picture taker, but it's fun to have the ability. The i-Phone makes it easy to email or upload to places like facebook. I personally prefer getting the picture onto my home computer and manipulating it before I do that.

The applications that came on my i-Phone include Maps, a basic GPS system. It doesn't talk me through how to get to my destination, but will give me step by step written instructions. It also provides details of traffic conditions - for those of us in Southern California a wonderful application.

The phone is also set up to pull up videos from youtube. This is occasionally fun if I want to share something with friends who don't have easy access to internet.

The i-Phone also has the ability to download music and video. I do not do a lot of listening via the i-Phone. I certainly do not want to watch the latest movie in that small size. I have friends who do use their i-Phones as i-pods and like the dual functionality.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of other applications available from translating English into Pirate to calculating tips to ...well, if you can think of something useful it's probably there. If you can think of something too stupid for words, it's probably there, too. To download applications runs from the free to about $10. There are probably some that are more, but I haven't come across them yet. For a friend who travels a lot, one of the cooler applications helps her find restaurants near wherever she may be including information on menus, cost and customer reviews.

The i-Phone is currently available only through AT&T. There is a standard i-Phone package with upgrades available. Costs will vary depending on minutes, texts, etc. For myself, it turned out to be less expensive to get the bundled i-Phone package than the separate items I had on the Blackjack. It also helps that I work for a company to which AT&T offers corporate discounts. It is always worth asking about that possibility if you work for a large corporate entity. The worst, after all, that can be said is "no discount."

I know the iPhone isn't perfect, and I know that having had such a bad experience with my last phone, I tend to think everything is wonderful. That said, it's been three months and I'm still happy with my purchase. Having played on other folks' i-Phones, I know that added memory makes some functions speed up. If the money was there, I would have started with more memory. In the end, I'm having a great time with what I have, and would highly recommend it to others. I'd give it 4.75 stars, and I'd buy it again.