Hark, heralded iPhones ring

Tag : SIM Card Connector

THE 3G version of Apple's touchy-feely iPhone, the first officialversion of the gadget to work on Australian phone networks, finallywent on sale here today after hype worthy of the second coming.
Media and consumer attention over the past months have won it thenickname "Jesus phone".
But is the 3G iPhone, which combines phone calls and speedy mobiledata connections with an advanced touch-screen interface andiPod-like multimedia handling, really a religious experience?
The phone comes with stereo headphones, a charger, a cleaningcloth, a metal widget for fishing out the SIM card, a USB connectorfor hooking up the device to a Mac or a PC and a thin pamphletoutlining basic operations.
The manual is slim, presumably, to save trees and because Applebelieves the iPhone is dead simple to use.
Although Jesus may pack an iPhone, even he would find some thingsabout the gadget unforgivable. Finish on one of the review unitswas underwhelming, with a number of jagged scratches on the metalband that surrounds the facia detracting from the unit's sleekfeel.
The camera has a mere 2.0 megapixels and compares poorly to the 3-5megapixel cameras on most upmarket smartphones. There's no opticalzoom, no flash and it can't take video.
Get past the dud camera and there's much to enjoy. The touch-screenoffers simple, intuitive navigation around the functions, althoughtyping on the pop-up keyboard can be tricky.
Having a 3G data connection - the review unit was connected toVodafone's 3G network - means data-heavy services such as YouTubeload much faster than with the old GSM network iPhone, which neversold here.
YouTube clips took about 13 seconds to begin playing.