iPhone 3G Review

Written by Dean Norman
Thursday, 04 September 2008
I've owned my iPhone 3G since the day it came out (July 11th) and have come to some conclusions and experienced the ins and outs now. I think it's time I wrote a review of the things I've found. I was the first person in town to get one - I waited in line starting at 5:45 in the morning to get it. I was the only one there until about 7 o'clock. This was the first time I had done anything like that (waiting in line for a movie or product release) and I enjoyed being the fool for a morning :) Previously I owned a Palm Treo 650 and it had a set of functions that worked well for me, but left some things to be desired. All of the other devices I had used or looked at lacked in some way. I went back and forth a lot before deciding that the iPhone had a feature set and drawbacks that I could live with. The things I liked about the Treo 650 were: Stable OS Touch Screen Camera Full QWERTY keyboard for textile feedback Native email, although it was useless with Gmail - I used browser-based email Expandable memory MMS Capability IR port for beaming of contacts and applications The things I didn't like about the Treo 650 were: No WiFi No 3G Dated OS POOR web browser It had gotten OLD I had thought I found the answer to all my problems in the Cingular (now AT&T) 8525 which has since been outdone by the AT&T Tilt. This phone had all the hardware I was looking for - WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth, 2.0MP camera and so on - and they went and screwed the whole phone up by putting windows mobile on it. The operating system had MAJOR flaws: Crashed fully at least once a day - I nicknamed it the "crash-o-matic" Doesn't close a program when you think it does (there is a program called "magic button" that takes care of this, but has it's own problems as well) and this causes serious wear on the battery when you have too many programs open Absolutely non-intuitive interface Poor "choosing" of connection option ie still choosing edge/3G even when connected to WiFi Terrible web-browser (IE mobile or somesuch) I installed Opera mobile and it sucked, too I ended up sending this phone back for a refund within my 30 days because it was so terrible. Rarely do I feel this way about an electronic device. It was unbelievably bad. I went back to my Treo 650, severely disappointed. A time later the original iPhone came out. At first I didn't think too highly of it. It was a bit frilly for what I needed and seemed like there was a lack of functionality - no MMS, at the time there was no 3G on a phone that was SO internet oriented, no video, no apps accept what Apple provided. Still, the presentation was very high quality as are all things Apple. It should be said that I am an Apple fan... Then Steve Jobs announced the release of the iPhone 3G. I had been looking for an original iPhone on Craigslist, but couldn't find one at the same time that I had the money to buy one used. So when it was introduced at $199 for the 8GB version and $299 for the 16GB version I decided to wait a little bit longer and get a new one. Initial Release The morning of July 11th I woke up at 5:30am and went straight to the AT&T Wireless store in the small town of Fort Bragg, CA. In San Francisco, New York and other major metropolitan areas they had lines around the corner since July 10th. In Fort Bragg, I was the only one there until about 7:00 (stores opened at 8:00 to begin selling the iPhone). At that point I still hadn't decided which phone I was going to get. When Rob showed up at 7:00 telling me he wanted the 16GB black model I decided I would get the white one, already having decided on the 16GB version. As it turned out, the color was rather irrelevant with the case I was bound to buy. Once inside the store I told my AT&T rep for the morning that I wanted the 16GB White iPhone and the process began. It was supposed to be activated in-store, but, as you'll remember, Apple was having problems that morning because they were selling so many. There are worse problems to have, I guess. He tried a few times to activate it and then said I'd just have to hook it up to iTunes to activate it. So I walked out of the store with a $330+ BRICK. Unable to receive calls and unable to record voicemail (my voicemail account was reset with the account-type change). The plan I chose was 450 anytime minutes and unlimited texting. My early nights preference ($8.99/mo) transferred over to my new account without needing to specify. I headed straight to the office where I would hook up my new brick to the iMac and attempt to set up. I was there for about an hour and a half before it would actually sync and my iPhone experience would begin. Initial Problems There were quite a few initial bugs with my iPhone. Apparently the phone I got didn't have the newest firmware, which I didn't find out until digging through the Apple forums considerably and actually re-checking a specific forum post a few days after my initial viewing of it. Initially the biggest issue was with text messaging. The on-screen keyboard would freeze on each letter with it "popped-up" for about 1 second until moving on to the next letter I had entered. It did, however, save all the letters I had enter and the predictive text functionality was intact - it was just WAY SLOW! This whole issue was fixed with the firmware update. All it took was a restore. I didn't quite realize what was involved in a "restore" function. Basically, your phone is completely wiped and then all information is restored to it with the exception of the songs and videos you've loaded if you chose the "manually manage songs and videos" function in iTunes. This whole process took 45 minutes to an hour and still takes at least 30 minutes even with the 2.1 update's fastER syncing. I experienced several issues with the App Store and the applications I downloaded. Almost all of them were buggy and crash prone. At the time I attributed it to the new development platform and the unfamiliarity to it of the 3rd party programmers. Now I attribute it to Apple not having a stable platform. At this point (2.1 update) almost all of the programs are 85% stable (none crash more than Safari ;) and I don't worry about any 3rd party apps messing with my phone's performance. There was also a considerable amount of non-congruence between the phone and iTunes. The phone's App Store program would say I needed an update on a particular app and iTunes on the iMac would not. Or vice-versa. Then, when I tried to download any app on the phone it would say (I can't remember the exact message) that I couldn't and it would be updated the next time I connected it to iTunes. Once connected, iTunes was also helpless, giving me an "unknown error" (specifically) error message when trying to update the app to the phone during the sync/update process. After a lot of watching and not knowing specifically, I believe this was an issue with the phone not knowing how to replace an app with the updated version and then thinking there were two apps with the same name on the phone and therefore returning an error message. This problem, also, has been totally fixed with the 2.1 update. Now the apps even maintain their current location in the home screen! Battery life has been a big deal with the iPhone and particularly the 3G. Apple new this would be an issue so they gave it the best battery of any 3G smart phone. I think they did this because they knew people couldn't just charge two of them at night and pop the second (or third) one in when the first one died - the battery is hardwired in the phone. For $79 plus shipping, Apple will replace it when it dies. This puts you out a phone during that time! Not the ideal situation, but one I decided I could live with and one I think everyone should know before they buy one. I haven't had to do this yet. As far as how long it lasts, it does pretty good. Not NEARLY what the long-life battery on my Treo 650 was: 3 solid days - even as much as I checked email over EDGE. It (my iPhone) gets through most of a day. I have become good friends with the charger. I have to have it with me a lot of the time. I am very conscious of what functions are turned on. There are quite a few that can reduce battery life including: Push email, calendar, and contacts if you have these set up Wifi 3G "Location Services" meaning, I assume, GPS, Wifi location, and cell tower triangulation Screen brightness (BIG one) even iPod EQ will reduce the battery life All of these functionalities are not really grouped in to one place. It would take 2 to 3 minutes to navigate everywhere in the phone you would need to go to adjust every one. Syncing with iTunes to backup your phone and exchange music, photos, and video was also very time-intensive. Some people reported it taking as long as 45 minutes to an hour. In my experience, I think 30 minutes was about right. It was grueling. Even with all of these issues and more I'm sure I've forgotten, the initial release was pretty darn fantastic, frankly. I was quite happy with it. As Of Now... So here's my take on the key functions of the iPhone as it stands now: I'll start with the very basics. As a cell phone, it works great. I live in an area without 3G. The call quality is crystal clear in an area with 2 or more bars and with 1 bar I can generally do just fine as well. The Phone application is intuitive and simple with no lacking in functionality, perhaps with the exception of voice-dialing for which there is an app in the app store (Say Who). It is also, of course, VERY elegant both as a physical piece of hardware and as presented on the screen. Easily the most seamless and classy presentation I have seen. Voicemail is also excellent with "visual voicemail". If you're not familiar, a voicemail is delivered to the handset as an audio file which is played back as it's downloaded (basically streamed) and played back once it's downloaded as many times as you need to hear it. Audio quality is very good and speakerphone is available. Sometimes things are crowded on the display and I'll accidentally tap something I didn't mean to in the phone app, but this is rare and mostly avoidable with experience. The number of ringtones that come standard is 25. They are simple and just about everyone could find one they like, but they're not great. It is also possible to use iTunes to create your own ringtone and pay $.99 to download it. You can choose a clip from quite a few songs (not all) on the iTunes store to add to your phone. Of the available songs, you choose up to a 30 second clip. The text messaging functionality is good at best. The presentation is excellent with appropriate sounds and pleasing visuals. It holds a backlog of very, very many texts, although I have some conversations that have gone on long enough for it to begin to no longer hold ancient messages. We're talking probably in the thousands as far as the number of messages contained. With the 2.1 update, not all messages are loaded which was previously a hang up in displaying the incoming text - it could take three to five seconds - it is now nearly instantaneous. The biggest problem with the SMS app is that you cannot forward a text, copy and paste a text, send MMS, or text to email. This is a big deal for some and, truly, a silly set of functionalities to leave out - especially for as long as they have. Initially I thought it would all be okay because the phone is so email oriented - I could email to MMS, I thought. Nope. You can email to email, but not send email to a cell phone's MMS address. The camera is mediocre. It is a 2.0 megapixel camera with NO VIDEO FUNCTION. When you enter the camera application, it is obviously displaying a series of photos ie a video, so why one cannot take a video is beyond me. Perhaps processor speed or write speed is an issue. There is no zoom function, so wysiwyg! From the time you press the "take photo" button to the time it actually snaps, there is a slight lag, also, so timing is key. The camera app does geotag your photos very accurately. I uploaded photos I had taken of Carson's birthday party to Google's Picasa Web Albums and they all were placed very accurately over a standard google map. IMPRESSIVE! And automated. Sometimes the photos come out absolutely astonishingly well and sometimes they are total junk. Most of the time they're fine. Email functionality is just good, as well. Sometimes it's better to use Safari to access web-based email (particularly with Gmail) than to use the native mail app. Personal Gripes Let me give you some insight into my personal situation and how I use the iPhone 3G: I live in an area with no 3G access. I have gone to larger metropolitan areas (and even some more rural areas like Ukiah) that have 3G and it is FAST! Almost as fast as wifi. Over EDGE, things are still fast enough to stream youtube videos with good reception. When I go to work at Stevenswood every night there is no cell phone reception there, but there is wifi access. To save battery, I turn on "Airplane Mode." This switch should be labeled "Cell Radio" or the like, not airplane mode. All it does is turn off the cell phone radio so that you aren't wasting battery. On older iterations of the iPhone OS, I've found, wifi can not be turned on in airplane mode. Silly, but I never experienced it since the 3G came with the 2.0 software. Gripe: don't call it airplane mode. I'm in airplane mode half the day and I'm not on an airplane. Hardware gripes: No SD card slot? Silly Hardwired battery? Silly No direct sending mechanism ie infrared? Silly Software gripes: No copy and paste (!) C'mon! Copy and Paste is from the beginning of time! No MMS. Seems like the BASICS No Video. Again - BASIC No turn-by-turn in Google Maps. NOT basic, but it would be so nice. As I understand it, this is a shortcoming of Google's terms of service and not of Apple's ability to impliment. With the innacuracy of the GPS, though (it is a weak GPS radio), I have a feeling it wouldn't be so hot, anyway. A lot of these things could be pawned off on the need to conserve space. I can understand that. Can't remember where I read that there are TEN radios in the iPhone 3G. I could only count five (EDGE, 3G, GPS, Bluetooth, Wifi), but I'm sure I'm missing something. Perhaps different radios for different bands of standard cell phone reception? Anyway, I still think they could have found room for an SD card slot or a infrared port. Perhaps in the future. Worth Upgrading? Here is a really good question: Is it worth upgrading to the 3G model if you already own an original iPhone? Boy, that's a tough one. On the whole, I would say no. Just get the 2.x software update (preferrably 2.1) and I would leave it at that. Particularly if you're in a non-3G area such as mine. The GPS is handy, but there is no turn-by-turn navigation and the Google Maps functionality (which is AMAZING) is still available in larger areas based on cell tower triangulation and SSID debauchery. In a 3G area, with the internet-friendly nature of the phone, I would say it is a worthwhile upgrade. Bottom line... The iPhone 3G is truly a great piece of equipment. As a standard cell phone it absolutely rocks! Due to my recent lack of a decent laptop, I have had to make due with it and it has performed on about 80% of the things I've needed to do. To someone who has been considering the iPhone 3G, I would give a resounding "GO FOR IT!" with the caveat of, "make sure you know what it's limitations are and that they are limitations you can deal with."
Last Updated ( Saturday, 01 November 2008 )