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When Jonathan Takiff (philly.com) conducted his own touchscreen-to-touchscreen comparison of three new smartphones — iPhone 3G, LG Dare, and Samsung Instinct — the results were crystal clear. “The new iPhone,” he reports, “still reigns supreme in overall performance and enjoyment.”

What makes the App Store “a win for the user”? Andy Ihnatko (suntimes.com) ticks off the reasons: “The entire universe of iPhone software is in one central location.” “Prices start at free.” “Buying and installing an app is dead simple and reliable.” And thanks to the App Store, iPhone and iPod touch now “represent a formidable and legitimate new computing platform.”

Thanks to a “dramatic overhaul,” Aperture 2, “Apple’s all-in-one photography tool, overtakes Adobe’s Lightroom,” reports Alex Singleton (macworld.co.uk). “Much faster than its predecessor,” Aperture 2 has “a new user interface [that] makes it more appealing to first-time users, and over 100 new features means it significantly leapfrogs Lightroom in functionality.”

“Better than the original in almost every way,” iPhone 3G “is an endless source of entertainment — as well as a platform for useful business applications that transform it from a cute gadget into a true hand-held computer,” suggests Mike Himowitz (baltimoresun.com).

Walt Mossberg and Katherine Boehret (allthingsd.com) consider the new App Store “the single best feature in Apple’s second generation iPhone 3G.” The “easy availability of so many programs,” they say, “makes the iPhone a true computing platform, like a pocket-sized Windows or Macintosh PC,” one that allows iPhone owners to “have a device with fresh, different capabilities every day.”