The iPhone is a classy device that expands on its predecessor with new features at half the price, according to PCWorld on Friday. For new buyers that’s great, but current owners should trade the extra total cost against 3G network availability.

In addition, the iPhone 3G on one level "does little to capitalize on Apple’s already sizable jump on its competition," wrote Melissa Perenson. "...no removable media, no Java or Flash support in Safari, no cut-and-paste. Almost all of these are points that Apple could have easily fixed--which makes their omission all the more frustrating." Also, a charging dock is no longer included. That’s a US$30 extra.

In one location, Long Island, New York, where AT&T has 3G coverage, the author tested the data bandwidth at 210 Kbps for 3G vs 175 Kbps for the EDGE network.

On the other hand, the iPhone 3G has improvements that many users will appreciate:

• The 0.2 inch (5 mm) thicker iPhone 3G feels curvier and more comfortable in the hand.
• It’s lighter: 4.7 ounces (133 g) vs 4.8 ounces for the iPhone 2G, due to the plastic case.
• The charger is smaller and less obtrusive.
• The headphone jack is now flush and usable with any 3.5 mm connector.
• Images from the Web or e-mail can be dumped into the camera roll.
• Parental controls can, for example, manage YouTube access.
• While the camera is still 2 megapixels, the built-in GPS hardware can now geotag the photos in the EXIF data.

Despite the improvements, the total cost over a contract will go up about US$180/year. The author warned that if you’re not consistently in a 3G network friendly area and can manage with a Wi-Fi network for browsing, the extra cost isn’t a good value.