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Today David Pogue of the New York Times published his review of the new 3G iPhone.  He has been testing out a model for a little bit and has reported his findings.  Pogue took a different direction than that of Walt Mossberg, who also reviewed the phone.  Pogue’s article focuses less on the faster data speed, price, and battery life and more on positive new features, GPS, and 3rd party applications.

To get it out fo the way, Pogue agrees with the world in general on how the data plan is too expensive and negates the discounted hardware.  He does say the new 3G connectivity is worth it though, as it not only brings higher speeds, but it also allows the user to surf the web while talking on the phone (not possible on the original iPhone).

Some of the things he applauds the new iPhone for: standard headphone jack, improved audio quality, and GPS.  The headphone jack is a no-brainer.  Apple has still never fully explained why they actively prevented most headphones from working with the iPhone, but at least they know a mistake when they see one.

I was surprised to read about the improved audio quality.  Pogue says, “You sound crystal clear to your callers, and they sound crystal clear to you…in fact, few cell phones sound this good.”  The reception around my house is so lousy, I’m just glad to get any kind of sound at all, but it’s nice to know that the primary components of the phone got an upgrade this time around.

The GPS is a little dissapointing to me, but Pogue doesn’t dispair.  Despite the fact that the GPS antenna is too weak to give decent turn-by-turn directions and is often blocked by the metal in your car, he sees a lot of potential for location-based services.

Finally, he does discuss some of the things he sees missing in the new iPhone.  The standard holes where MMS, cut and paste, and the like are still there.  Even so, Pogue agrees with many others that the hidden gem of the iPhone is the new Apps.

He describes how many 3rd party Apps look really exciting and will probably make both new and old iPhones way better than they could possibly have been in the past.  If you want to read the whole article, check it out…it’s a good read!