MY review of the 2g and 3g iphones from a technician standpoint

[one1]

I've had my fingers in the cookie jar now enough to pretty much do it blindfolded. I've written a few DIY's for you guys and now I have an overall review of the two phones from a hardware stand point.

The 2g phone has a 2 piece motherboard. One is the CPU side, one is the COMM board side. If the COMM board goes out, you can replace it without replacing the entire motherboard. COMM boards can go as cheap as $30-$40 on ebay. On the same note, if the CPU side of the 2g dies, you do not have to replace the entire motherboard. The 2g phone uses a metal frame construction that is very rigid and solid. Minimal motherboard flexing and high strength protection to the guts. The 2g's connections are all soldered into place and are solid connections. This is an important point as we move along.........

The 3g uses a 1 piece motherboard with every component mounted onto it. If any portion of the 3g fails, the entire motherboard must be replaced. Cheapest one on ebay is $300. (compare to a $40 repair of the 2g) The 3g has an achilles heel to the motherboard, which is not good news when you are talking about a $300 part. This heel is dead center in the motherboard. A small silver box with a mirror on bottom and a magnet on top in it's own little spot in the metal framework. It is sandwiched to itself top over bottom using 4 very tiny carbon mounts that are extremely fragile to vibration as the material is very brittle. I've seen over ten phones with a "needs repair" screen from dropping the phone, which causes this part to break. IMO Apple should be contacted with class action over this phone as it has so many design flaws it should be a crime. Moving on.... the battery, home button, flex cable, side buttons, power buttons, and several other critical components rely on pressure fitting to make contact with the motherboard. Whereas on the 2g they are connected through direct ribbon cable connection with micro connectors, on the 3g they must lay against the motherboard with a metal tab that is bent to apply pressure to fit against the motherboard. THIS IS A HUGE design issue.

#1 - These types of connections are susceptible to corrosion and degradation without any moisture involved as they are open air connections that the copper tarnishes on over time.

#2- These connections have to remain perfectly aligned at all times to make connection. This is an issue with a plastic frame as it warps, cracks, and twists through natural process as the plastic ages. The iPhone plastic is very flexible and this causes several problems with the alignment of the tabs. This causes critical connections to simply lose connection for what will seem like no reason to the end user.

#3- Design flaw number 456789877680 on this phone is the fact that the home button relies on yet another pressure fitting where the LCD glass lays against the plastic frame. if you lift the glass up, you see two small metal tabs that come down and simply lay against the frame where there are two more metal tabs. No connectors, no pins, nothing. Your critical home button relies on the screen to always lay against the frame in just the right spot to make connection, as does every other critical connection on the 3g phone. They are all pressure fitted open tabs that simply lay against the motherboard. This is a problem on a plastic phone that has a lot of flexing to it. When you have to start pushing the home button harder and harder to make it work, you know your phones plastic frame is starting to warp and you are losing connection.

#4- This goes in with #3 in the fact that the rear case IS the frame of the iphone 3G. If yours is scratched up or you are having connection issues, and we know that soft plastic is experiencing both....., it will cost you over $100 for the part alone to replace it and you have to disassemble the entire phone to swap it out along with every component in the phone.

The truth is that I could go on all night about the 3g's flaws.

Conclusion: The 2g Phone is built on a solid metal frame with metal body. It has real connectors that self seal from the elements and lock into place when they are connected. The motherboard is two piece and cheap to replace each item individually. The back can be replaced if it gets scratched for under $30. It does not flex and therefore does not have critical design flaws for connections as it is built like a tank and is very heavy duty. Workmanship inside the 2g is military precise and the phone is a solid investment.

The 3g has so many issues with it's design it's amazing that the phone functions for longer than 3 months. The cheap plastic backing (which doubles as the frame) scratches easily and flexes wildly causing connection issues. The pressure fitted connections are simply a piece of metal bent over to contact the motherboard, there are only a few REAL connectors in the entire phone. The motherboard is a one piece design so if one simple component fails you must replace the entire motherboard. The motherboard itself has a critically fragile component that is prone to break if the phone is dropped. Apple will not replace the phone if this breaks. The open connections on the phone not only allow for issues with physical mating of the surfaces, they are prone to tarnish over a short period of time and corrode due to voltage going through them causing electrons to collect corrosion on the surface of the copper. Much like the motherboard, simply trying to replace the back of the phone due to scratches requires you to dig deep into the wallet as well as the phone as you must disassemble the entire unit down to the last screw to transfer over every component to the new phone cover.

If you want a solid phone that is cheap to work on with military construction standards the 2G phone is as good as it gets anywhere. While the 3g is a bit more flashy, the price to pay is far too great for the lack of quality does not justify the price.

As an engineer, the 2g still amazes me, and the 3g down right scares me.

[Chefanim]

Thanks for a well written insight. I'll be keeping my 2G.

[one1]

This is just a hardware review. From a working standpoint we all know that the 3g phone is faster and has always been stated as cheaper built. The problem is one that a lot of car manufacturers face. The 3g sports car is only good when it's running. It's parts are prone to failure and it's replacements are expensive as hell.

IMO the 3g is a Corvette C6. Fast as hell, built out of horrible quality parts. Nowhere near the quality of a Ferrari or Lambo, but will run just as fast for 1/4 the (subsidized) price. The 2g is a Lexus. Extremely well built from top quality military grade strength parts and likely to run forever without physical abuse. Very nice, and elegant in it's all metal trim body. Plenty enough performance for most people.

[Robcoffee]

Thanks for justifying my sticking to the 2g iphone! To be honest I never liked the plastic back of the 3g and the edge where I live gives around 300kbs which is plenty fast for my mobile browsing.

I hope Apple are able to take note of this sort of thing, so the next iPhone combines the best of both it's previous models!

[Chefanim]

This is just a hardware review. From a working standpoint we all know that the 3g phone is faster and has always been stated as cheaper built. The problem is one that a lot of car manufacturers face. The 3g sports car is only good when it's running. It's parts are prone to failure and it's replacements are expensive as hell.

IMO the 3g is a Corvette C6. Fast as hell, built out of horrible quality parts. Nowhere near the quality of a Ferrari or Lambo, but will run just as fast for 1/4 the (subsidized) price. The 2g is a Lexus. Extremely well built from top quality military grade strength parts and likely to run forever without physical abuse. Very nice, and elegant in it's all metal trim body. Plenty enough performance for most people.

I suppose this could go both ways. Everyone knows the 3G is only $200, and most people know the the original metal phone was much more. So its kind of status symbol.... so maybe the 3G is the corvette, and the 2G is the Rolls Royce.

[one1]

RR's have terrible dependability, but come with a lifetime wty. The Lexus LS460 reminds me much more of the 2g. You can put it in the middle of the best and it still holds it's ground. Most CEO's own an LS460.

[cpjr]

^^I want an LS460....

I'll settle for my few 2g's. LOL.

[one1]

I want an IS-F.

[bhz1]

Great write up which confirms what I believed. Every time I play with my son's or husband's 2G I notice that it seems so much more substantial. Since my son gets great wifi in his room, and my husband only uses the phone or occasionally texting, the 2Gs are fine for them. I need my 3G!

I'd still be using the 2G if it had 3G speed. I often use e-mail and internet away from home, much of the time no wifi. I love 3G because in the upstairs of my house its faster than the wifi. I "read in bed" at night with the iphone because my other half gets po'ed if I keep the lights on. I cant just hop into bed and fall asleep so the iphone is perfect. With the old 2G it would always revert to edge which was annoying. I actually shut the wifi off up there because its at the weakest point of signal and 3G is usually faster and doesnt drop.

[makesmoves]

Great confirmations of my inner thoughts. Not as specefic as u stated but my presumptions seem to be validated. Don't forget however(to all you have changed this from hardware to software) that the 2g can accept ALL firmwares while the 3g is 2.0 and above; for some this is very important. Yea i'm still on super tricked out 1.1.2, waiting for a better, like the original sunburst; DOCK.app and also vwallpaper. AND a cracked intelliscreen, I have a few iphones so i'm not tryin to 49.99 for every license. 2g kicks *** and especially with the TMOBILE APN that enhances data speed.

[MaxRabbit]

Thanks for the terrific review