Philchoong.com

It’s been 4 days since the launch of the iPhone 3G. As announced, only Telstra, Optus and Vodafone made the cool gadget available. All the anticipation is over and reviews are flooding papers, magazines and Internet.

From what I’ve come across, its reviews have made me lost interest on the Iphone. It’s not yet the ideal smart phone as I imagined, beautifully designed but built impractically.

I’ve been using my Dopod D810/HTC P3600 for more than a year now and I’m very convinced that HTC produces the best smart phone in the market. I will list out some of the new features highlighted by the iPhone 3G compared to my current phone:

GPS:
One of the essentials when you’re on a trip with lots of driving to do. This US-funded service is made available for anyone to use for free, as long as you have the device to detect it. iPhone can do! With integrated GPS in the iPhone 3G let you have an idea where you are in Google maps. That means its useless if Google maps has yet visited your location. Driving without audible turn-by-turn instruction causes frustration. You wouldn’t want to drive and switch your attention onto the screens of your phone to know when to turn left or make a drift when possible.

Warning: Auto route recalculation not included! One wrong turn and your iPhone 3G is only as good as a conventional paper map. If you’re really driving using the Iphone 3G as a GPS unit, make sure you have a co-driver helping you to navigate with it. (What’s the difference by holding a map)

3G:
Having a smart phone in your palm means fast connectivity. With the iPhone 3G, Internet browsing using Apple’s Safari over the HSDPA network is faster than most phones out there. On top of that, if you’re hogging the wifi at your favourite hotspot, because it’s FOC, be concern that the iPhone will automatically switch the data connection to use HSDPA when the phone goes to sleep to save battery life. Means more data fees for your montly bill.

These 2 major features have impact the phone’s practicallity greatly. I rather stick to my old-yet-practical Dopod than hop to the prematurely built smart phone.