So yes, we waited in line forEVER (and yes, that’s how I would say it if I was actually speaking this blog out loud) to upgrade our original IPhones. You know how they say you can’t ever predict a crowd, and everybody feeds off eachother? There’s that rumor that people in large groups don’t act like themselves when in an area filled with people? That is totally true. People were acting all sorts of crazy about being cut in line, who was there first… Hell, there was even somebody orchestrating the whole thing, giving us numbers and such, claiming he was friends with the manager of the store. The manager sure told him. Lol.

So anyways, I wanted to review this pseudo marvelous little gadget. I must admit, it IS alot faster (hence the 3G badge Apple so kindly bound to it’s name) but the problem is, I’m never anywhere where I can’t get on Wi-Fi. There’s an option to override 3g if you’re at home, school, or just anywhere that has free access, and that’s what I do most of the time. I’ve tried 3G alone once or twice and it was really good. It comes in handy when you get lost. Nothing is more grueling than trying to use googlemaps when you’re moving at one KB per minute.

Shane’s phone has had problems with the keypad, but I haven’t experienced it on mine yet. It touch keys stick so they take forever to actually type, and they kind of freeze. I have a more annoying problem though. Mine randomly freezes and goes to the apple screen to shut itself off. Yes, that’s right. These phones are not even a month old and they do that. Not all of them do though. I’ve been reading that this batch has more problems than the original iPhone and I totally believe it.

There’s access to the App store now on both the old and new iphones. It came with the software update. That’s nice because the 3G’s haven’t been jailbroken like the original ones, so without the app store we would be staring at a really boring phone with no extra ammenities.

There’s also a ‘contacts’ button that takes you directly to your address book- you no longer have to go into your phone button and click around. There’s a nice little scrolly bar thing too so you can just go right to the letter of the alphabet you’re looking for.

The BEST noteworthy thing about getting the iphone 3g (that goes along with the application store) is the Pandora app. For those who haven’t used pandora, it’s a music genome project that streams free music. You’re allowed to make as many ‘stations’ as you want, using a band. Then it streams music from them along with other bands or singers that sound like them. It’s awesome. So now when I’m running or at the gym, I can just stream whatever music I want to. This works great if you have music ADD like me- if I had every song I ever wanted, or every band I ever wanted, my phone would be filled up. Even though I bought the 16gb on accident (yes, on accident/purpose. I had no choice really after waiting 5-6 hours in line). It saves you from listening to the same stuff over and over. Everyone likes a little randomness, no?

Don’t be fooled by the price tag, they’re extremely particular on who gets that $199/299 price. You either have to be a previous iphone owner or be eligible for an upgrade. Otherwise you pay $399/499, or you can get it out of contract for $599/699. I would never pay that much. I was just ecstatic that I had a previous iphone I could sell to get the new one. I had to play a trick on ATT though. I sold the iphone and put my sim card in an old one that I had. I kept the iphone plan on (so we were paying for the iphone plans sans iphone).. so they couldn’t say much since we still paid. It’s too late now but if you didn’t try that before the new one came out… you shoulda. Lol.

Googlemaps is the same really as the original. Except it keeps trying to tell me I live in kentucky.

All in all I would say it was worth it. The reception is better, the speakers are louder. IF you live in a 3G available area, the net surfing speeds are faster. But if all you wanted was the app store, stick with your original one.