I have a confession to make.  Up until the launch of the 3G version, I was pretty much an iPhone virgin.  Yes, I’d quickly pawed at demo models in Apple stores, but never for any significant length of time.  More blasphemous, perhaps, I didn’t really understand the hype, wrote it off as another side effect of the Cult Of Mac.  Yes, the design was slick and it all looked pretty straightforward to use, but it was by no means the first touchscreen phone and I was relatively content with usability in most handsets.

More importantly, the first-gen iPhone lacked 3G; since I was living in the UK at the time, where 3G connections are relatively mainstream, I couldn’t imagine going back to anything slower.  The missing MMS and video recording, crippled Bluetooth, they were just icing on the decision-cake.

So this review, then, of the iPhone 3G is from the perspective of a newbie.  It’s an accompaniment rather than a replacement to Vincent’s iPhone 3G review over at SlashGear; he’s had a twelve month love affair with the original model.  In fact, you know that picture of a guy punching the air with delight, fresh out of the Apple store with his new first-gen iPhone?  Well, that’s actually Vincent.

First impressions count for a lot with a new toy, especially one as hyped as this cellphone, and Apple seem to do all this particularly well.  The sturdy, minimalistic  box, discretely bundled documentation (which basically amounts to a quick-start guide) and of course the almost jewellery-like iPhone 3G itself all do a great job of distracting you from the fact that there’s not actually much included.  Dinky charger with USB port, the sync/charge cable, handsfree headset and a scrap of screen-wiping cloth are basically your lot.  I realise there are masses of companies out there looking for your case business, but even so I’d have liked to have seen a cheap slip-case bundled at the very least.

Downloading and installing iTunes was as straightforward as any new software ever is, and the activation process slow (probably more to do with server load than anything else).  As soon as it’s done, the iPhone starts syncronizing with your computer; I’d have liked more choice (or at least a more obvious way of choosing) which folders were copied.  As standard, it appeared to scan for any supported media file and add that to the list.

Of course, all that is forgotten when you unplug it from the computer and start marvelling at the iPhone’s incredible screen.  The cellphone itself nestles in the hand, the newly curved body making it feel slim and almost indecently tactile, and the touchscreen never seems to miss a tap.  It almost makes me want to go back through all the reviews I’ve ever written of touchscreen-based devices and mark them down a few points in comparison, it’s really that good.

Since much of the change in functionality has been covered in the SlashGear review, I’ll merely cover what stood out for the newbie – whether good or bad.  The camera is an obvious weak spot, I spent a couple of seconds trying to tap for a zoom control before realising it lacks even a basic digital zoom.  Since the SMS app is so well laid out, with its threaded conversations, it’s all the more puzzling not to have MMS support.  And why no dynamic icon for the weather, which changes according to what’s actually going on outside?  It seems strange not to, when the calendar icon always shows today’s date.

The pluses outweigh the minuses, though.  Safari is hands-down better than any mobile browser I’ve used, and it whips along both on 3G or WiFi connections.  Incidentally, the iPhone’s ability to seamlessly grab whatever connection is near is another neat trick.  Adding an Exchange account was straightforward (although the initial synchronization had added a rogue email setup from my computer, and I spent a few minutes editing it rather than creating a new account), although not prompting for a server address until after one has failed to be discovered seems a curious waste of time.

If anything, though, it’s the integration between functionality that’s most impressive.  By which I mean the joined-up-working of all the apps fitting together.  To illustrate, today I was looking for details of a particular department store.  As usual, I started in Google, but as soon as I hit ‘Maps’ on the shortcut bar the iPhone swept me into its own mapping application.  The store itself is a nationwide chain, but searching for its name brought up a map centred on where I was, since the iPhone 3G now has GPS.  Tapping on the pin took me to a dedicated info page, from which I could easily call.

Now on a PC that’s nothing special, in fact I generally avoid dedicated toolbars and search systems preferring to handle it all myself.  But on a mobile device, let’s face it, you need all the help you can get.  The day before I’d been trying to do a similar thing using the Samsung Instinct, not a bad cellphone by any measure, and the experience was chalk & cheese.  Oh, all the same functionality is there on the Instinct, certainly; it’s just that the way you access it seems more primitive, less integrated.  In a new city (as I was), I know which device I’d want to be carrying with me.

Obviously there are things I would change.  I keep tilting the iPhone in the hope that there’ll be more apps with landscape support, and the inability to highlight text (such as when wanting to delete part of an URL in Safari) is an annoyance.  I’m also no fan of the bundled earphones, but it could be that I’ve got bizarrely shaped ears rather than a flaw on Apple’s part.

Battery life appears somewhat lacking, too.  Maybe it’s because it’s new and I’m using it more than is typical, but it’s early evening and the battery meter is looking perilously low having been fully charged last night.  I’m tempted to point at push-email via Exchange as a likely culprit, but I fear that if I was making calls as well as everything else it might be touch & go as to lasting out the day.

There’s been some discussion about whether the new functionality – primarily 3G and GPS – make the real difference to the iPhone 3G, or whether it’s more the updated Firmware 2.0.  Since I’ve never really used the original handset, and since if you wanted to pick one up now it would have to be second hand, it all strikes me as a moot point for fresh users like me.  The question has to be, “is the iPhone 3G good enough to end your cellular searching?”

I want to say yes, and frankly unless you fit into a few relatively small niches – namely, you regularly use, or want to us, wireless headphones, you regularly shoot video on your cellphone, or you’re an avid picture-messager – you’d likely be done proud by the iPhone 3G.  Over the course of its contract it won’t be a cheap handset, no matter what Apple and AT&T (or any of the other carriers) say, but I can safely say that the sheer joy of usability will see you soon forget whatever monthly bill you’ve signed yourself up for.

More importantly, I can understand a little better now why when I passed the San Francisco Apple store there are still, a couple of days after launch, queues around the block.  Flaws and all, Apple have another success on their hands, and it’s not just a fashion one.  Longer term battery life and performance running third-party apps remains to be seen, but right now, if you’re looking for a new cellphone, it’s worth passing by your local store to see how long the queues are.

iPhone 3G Live unboxing at Apple Store on 5th Ave. in NYC