Build quality is excellent, but then again you’d expect that from a company as design-obsessed as Apple. We can’t figure out why Apple hasn’t developed a fingerprint resistant material though, because you can’t think about the phone without covering it in fingerprints. We do have a quirk with ours though; on the right side of the phone near the 3 and 6 on the dialpad, where the chrome trim and glass display come together, there is a piece of plastic hanging out. It looks like it’s a piece of the protective film found on most new gadgets, like it had gotten stuck and ripped off. We’ve actually see this on first generation iPhones as well. It does not seem to be a wide-spread issue.

One thing we don’t like about the new design is the Apple logo, at least on our black unit. The shiny fruit stands out in stark contrast to the jet black background, and it’s a bit too flashy for our tastes. It’s less gaudy on the white, where the colors blend better. A grayed screen print, like iPhone text at the bottom, or even a brushed metal logo would have been more subtle. We realize most owners view the logo as a badge of honor, but to a non-believer it’s just another smug move by a company that is already plenty full of themselves.

The iPhone 3G is a superb piece of hardware. It’s beauty lies in its simplicity, and that all starts with the minimalistic design. Our plastic flap non-withstanding, the iPhone 3G picks up exactly where the iPhone left off, with the new plastic backing affording the phone a sleeker feel and appearance, despite the slight size increase. It is another fine piece of work by the designers over at Cupertino.