Small Biz Technology Reviews | iPhone 3G – Coming This July Starting at $199!

The long wait is over for those consumers who love Apple iPhone’s technology. Apple finally took the wraps off its 3G iPhone. Thinner edges, full plastic back, flush headphone jack, and the iPhone 2.0 firmware. Apple’s taking a lot of the criticisms to heart ever since they launch the earlier iPhone. 3G is at the forefront, but they’re also making sure it’s available all over internationally, works with enterprises, runs Third party applications and does it all cheaper. Apple claims its 3G speeds beats the competition, with pageloads 36% faster than the N95 and beats the old EDGE data speed.

Battery life is at 300 hours of standby, 8-10 hours of 2G talk, 5 hours of 3G talk, 7 hours of video and 24 hours of audio. GPS is also a go. Apple is using A-GPS, which supplements regular satellite GPS data with info from cellular towers for faster location. WiFi data is also worked into the mix, which should give consumers a great deal of flexibility where ever they are. Downside however, as expected there’s no front-facing cam, and while its edges are thinner than before it’s still about a millimeter thicker at the center (12.3mm over 11.6mm before). Apple hopes to launch in 70 countries this year, with the black 8GB going for $199 and 16GB for $299 in black or white. I do believe that with these prices, Apple would require a contract. Apple will be hitting the 22 biggest market.

There is a news that customers who purchased a 2.5G iPhone on or after May 27 and want to swap it out for a new iPhone will be able to do so without incurring an additional handset charge for the new device. They will of course need to turn in their 2.5G iPhone. However, there are other telecom providers who said that they could not agree with the trade-in possibility without agreeing to a contract. Whew!

Among the lucky 22 countries where the iPhone 3G would be available by the 11th of July are;

Australia, Austria, Belgium (French), Belgium (Dutch), Canada (English), Canada (French), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (French), Switzerland (German), UK, USA.

On top of that, iPhone are slated to be available by this year to these other countries;

Argentina, Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, C. African Republic, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, India, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macau, Madagascar, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Niger, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Senegal, Singapore, Qatar, Slovakia, South Africa, Turkey, Uruguay.

Here are the Technical Specifications of the iPhone 3G;

Size and weight

Height:

4.5 inches (115.5 mm)

Width:

2.4 inches (62.1 mm)

Depth:

0.48 inch (12.3 mm)

Weight:

4.7 ounces (133 grams)

Display

• 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display
• 480-by-320-pixel resolution at 163 ppi
• Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Audio

• Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
• Audio formats supported: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 1, 2, and 3), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
• User-configurable maximum volume limit

Color

• 8GB model: Black
• 16GB model: Black or white

Capacity²

• 8GB or 16GB flash drive

Cellular and wireless

• UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
• GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
• Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

GPS

• Assisted GPS

Video

• Video formats supported: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats.

Camera and photos

• 2.0 megapixels
• Photo geotagging
• iPhone and third-party application integration

External buttons and controls

Connectors and input/output

• 30-pin dock connector
• 3.5-mm stereo headphone minijack
• Built-in speaker
• Microphone
• SIM card tray

Sensors

• Accelerometer
• Proximity sensor
• Ambient light sensor

Power and battery

• Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery³
• Charging via USB to computer system or power adapter

• Talk time:⁴

  Up to 5 hours on 3G

  Up to 10 hours on 2G

• Standby time: Up to 300 hours⁵

• Internet use:

  Up to 5 hours on 3G⁶

  Up to 6 hours on Wi-Fi⁷

• Video playback: Up to 7 hours⁸
• Audio playback: Up to 24 hours

Mac system requirements

• Mac computer with USB 2.0 port
• Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later
• iTunes 7.7 or later

Windows system requirements

• PC with USB 2.0 port
• Windows Vista; or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later
• iTunes 7.7 or later

Environmental requirements

• Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
• Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)
• Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
• Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)

In the box

• iPhone 3G
• Stereo Headset with mic
• Dock Connector to USB Cable
• USB Power Adapter
• Documentation
• Cleaning/polishing cloth
• SIM eject tool

In as much as I would like to provide with much informations about this iPhone 3G, I can’t. I would probably wait for it to be delivered on my doorstep to be able to come up with a comprehensive review and I intend to do it and compare it with the other 3G phones that I have taken hold of so far.

It is also reported that this iPhone could run Windows XP on it using Citrix ’s thin client desktop software XenDesktop. By using the Citrix ICA client — a UNIX application that allows devices to access Windows sessions on a Citrix server — Windows XP could run on iPhone through Wi-Fi. This I have to really see and would be posting here my review on this development. Hope that this phone really sets its mark in the field of 3G to beat the rest and to help consumers with their mobile and telecommuting needs.

Apple iPhone 3G’s Official Website is here.