It seems like the iPhone 3G has been another smash hit. Certainly here in the UK, with pretty universal 3G signal coverage, there's lots of interest, and the handsets are selling out as quickly as they come into stock. Several people I know who waited out the first generation immediately signed up for the 3G edition.

Responses to the new platform seem mostly positive, although there's already some mild grumbling seeping through across the web. There's more software glitches, unsurprising; given the rush of new third-party applications there's countless potential software combinations interacting in unpredictable ways. The new units eschew the metal casing of the original iPhone, for a return to possibly scratch-prone iPod plastic. 3G mode depletes the battery rapidly, just as Apple said it would, when they justified their initial transport choice of GPRS/EDGE. The camera is unimproved over the first generation (although I have always been rather impressed with the iPhone camera. For a phone, with no flash it takes great photos, a textbook-worthy example of why it's nothing to do with the megapixel count)

So maybe it's not the holy grail of portable devices. It's certainly not for me. I don't like the idea of being locked to a single phone company. I don't want a smartphone that can't be used as a 3G modem - I've grown too used to being able to connect a variety of devices up to the net, using USB / bluetooth or even infra-red links. It's a little big for my idea of a phone.

As a portable, internet connected, media player cum tablet, it can't be beaten. The mobile browser is immeasurably better than any others I've used. The iPod, photo, and movie playing is slick, and the iPod + iTunes combination still the best available digital music library implementation. The straightforward syncing of contacts and calender information beggars belief (at least for Mac users, such as myself ). Thrown in a few simple PIM applications, ebooks and games from the Application store, and you're looking at a compelling platform.

Of course, you can get the majority of this behaviour in the iPod touch. Smaller and lighter than it's phone siblings. Metal back. iPhone-trouncing storage capacity (up to 32GB). Runs the same operating system and applications, same beautiful interface. No contract. The downside being that you can only use it as an internet device over WiFi, which means you need to be tethered to a hotspot. Except it doesn't mean this at all.

There's a simple recipe to open up the iPod touch's internet capabilities to something much closer to the iPhone.

1. Arrange a 3G phone+data connection with the phone provider of your choice. I use T-mobile , I'm very happy with the service.



2. Choose a phone handset, with a high speed modem capability. Make sure you get a model with WiFi . I have a Nokia E51 . It's lovely. Depending on your phone contract terms, you may get this as a freebie.




3. Configure your phone to act as a WiFi hotspot, using something like WalkingHotspot
   



4. Join your iPod touch with your phone's WiFi network. Enjoy 3.5G connectivity on the go!

Of course it's not a drop-in replacement. You don't get an in-device camera or GPS, although you may have these in your phone. You do get to spread the battery load between two devices, one with the big screen and multimedia capabilities, another with the data transmission hardware. Although WiFi use will run down your iPod battery faster, you might still find that this combination outperforms an iPhone 3G.

posted by cms on 2008-07-24 10:53:28