Thanks to the wonders of the international dateline, the 3G iPhone came out in New Zealand today. The guys from iFixit got their grubby little hands on one and took it apart.
Once they popped the thing open they saw that Apple combined the logic and communication boards, making more room for the battery. They also didn’t solder the battery on this time, so that will make it a snap to replace (well, relative to before). Also worth noting is the LCD and touchscreen, among other parts, are now easier to replace (not glued together with extra bits). You can tell that Apple worked hard to make this better then the first generation iPhone, though many of these updates are found in the iPod Touch as well.
The guys at iFixit said they plan to keep updating their post with more information as they figure things out. If they find anything earth-shattering we’ll let you know about it.