3G iPhone Applications and Problems
In June 2008, Steve Jobs unveiled the 3G iPhone at a conference for application developers. Apple offers 8 GB and a 16 GB options. The new phone's appearance only changed a little bit -- the new model has a slightly sleeker design and its back isn't silver any more. Customers who buy the 16 GB model can choose between an iPhone with a black or white plastic back. The 8 GB model only comes in black.
Perhaps the biggest announcement -- apart from the fact that the phone could take advantage of 3G network technology -- was that the new iPhone has a GPS receiver. One of the challenges of GPS devices is that they tend to drain batteries pretty quickly. That's because the device is constantly receiving signals from satellites orbiting the Earth.
Apples to Apples Why does Apple call the second generation of iPhones the 3G iPhone?
It's because the new iPhone can take advantage of the 3G cellular
network. So the phone is in its second generation, but the network is in its third. The United States has a fairly limited 3G network, so U.S. citizens might not be able to tap into the faster speeds even if they buy the 3G iPhone. |
Another important addition to the iPhone was support for Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft Exchange support means users can now synchronize their iPhones with their Microsoft Outlook accounts. By adding this feature, the iPhone becomes more competitive with other enterprise smartphones -- the phones businesses use to keep executives and employees connected when out of the office.
When it released the original iPhone, Apple didn't support third-party applications, though that didn't stop developers from writing them. But with the original iPhone, in order to even run a non-Apple application, an iPhone owner had to first jailbreak his or her phone. Jailbreaking just means the owner could load and run third party applications. But it came with a risk -- if you tried to install official updates from Apple with a jailbroken phone, Apple could tell that some hanky panky was going on. But the 3G iPhone acts as an application platform, and Apple encourages developers to create content for it.
Trouble in the Background Although Apple now encourages developers to create applications for the iPhone, the company still doesn't let any outside application access background processes. That means you have to run a program actively to take advantage of it. If you switch to a different program, all activity on the first program will stop. Apple may support third party background applications in the future. |
The transfer to the 3G iPhone didn't go without a hitch. Instead of allowing customers to purchase phones and activate them at home, Apple wanted them to activate the phones inside the store. Unfortunately, Apple's systems suffered an overload, causing massive delays during the product launch. Most customers ended up having to activate at home anyway.
Some of the new applications take advantage of the iPhone's accelerometer feature. Games like Super MonkeyBall let the player control the game character by tilting the phone in different ways. Could the iPhone become the next portable gaming platform? That's precisely what Apple claimed at its Sept. 9, 2009, press event. That brings us up to the current generation iPhone: the 3GS.
