The old phone was great in hotspots but depressingly slow on EDGE. Now you can get broadband speed everywhere. Download speeds have doubled and Apple claims 3G browsing beats the N95. Safari remains a joy to use.

Storage capacities remain at 8GB and 16GB, but the iPhone 3G is no smaller than the original. In fact, it's fractionally wider, and while the tapered rear makes it feel thinner it's the same thickness when you lay it face down on a table. The rear of the phone is now black or white plastic, which I don't like as much as the metal rear of the original.

Some say the iPhone is tricky to type on, but that's not true and never was. It won't ever match the BlackBerry for sheer speed, but once you've used the virtual keyboard for a bit you get used to it, and the excellent auto-correction.



The iPhone 3G still packs antiquated 2MP camera. Apple's iPhone supremo, Greg Joswiak, told me the camera software has been tweaked produce to better-quality pics, but imaging is still the phone's weakness: no flash, no video, autofocus, no video calling. On the plus side, it now does geotagging.

I've played with a few of the new apps and they're astonishin- much better than most software written for jailbroken iPhones. Super monkey Ball, for example, is controlled by the iPhone's accelerometer and has amaZingly smooth graphics. The look like truly glorious life waster and development has only just begun.