iPhone 3G Review
The iPhone 3G launch has blown over and we've been able to integrate the phone into our daily routine, I think we’re ready to put out a iPhone 3G review.
The iPhone 3G is slightly better than the 1st generation iPhone, meaning that only die-hards and non iPhone users should upgrade. Everything good about the iPhone is still here - the UI, the size and shape, the music player.
iPhone 3G is nominally faster in the right areas - my Brooklyn haunt is not one of them - so if you were expecting improvements over EDGE think again. While most folks in urban areas will see a bump, the iPhone 3G has yet to show marked improvements over the standard EDGE/Wi-Fi combo that worked so well in the first model.
The iPhone 3G is beginning to look like a red herring, something Apple threw in at AT&T’s request to showcase their network. 3G burns up battery life and does not automatically shut off when out of range.
I think GPS on the iPhone was aimed at the international market where the tendency to buy all-in-one devices. This makes a small group of specialized devices is more prevalent. Europe and Asia don’t want to spend $500 on an in-car GPS device when their phone can do it for them. Without turn-by-turn the iPhone’s GPS is useless in the car unless you have a navigator. A Garmin or Tom Tom device is more cost-effective in this case.
Then there is “push” email and Exchange support. IT shops have gotten away with saying “We don’t support the iPhone” for over a year now and now they have no choice but to support it. This is an enterprise play by Apple who sees that Windows Mobile is offensive to the soul and RIM’s BlackBerry is an email machine and little else. They could have added something simple like cut and paste rather than Exchange support in this iteration, but cut and paste doesn’t bring IT shops around. Exchange support does.
In this new firmware we also find MobileMe support, Apple’s answer to a personal Exchange server. As someone who uses all of the applications that MobileMe supports - Mail, iCal, Address Book in OS X . If I were coming from the Windows world I’d probably be hard-pressed to pay $99 a year for something that seems redundant. All of the sharing systems built into MobileMe already exist in some form elsewhere and everything else can be recreated simply by plugging the iPhone in and syncing to desktop applications like Outlook. The push calendar and contacts have been great but they are not particularly noticeable nor was I desperate for their addition.
Then we there is the App Store. This is where the 2.0 firmware differs from the first. A jailbroken first generation iPhone was a utopia. Nerds helped nerds break the Apple shackles and programmers made amazing programs for the iPhone without Apple’s tacit approval. Some of the apps were stupid and some were great. It was like a little Linux box in your hand. That is no more.
The App Store is a collection of applications you have to pay for and many well-known programming shops have brought out some amazing stuff. Browse the app store and you will find everything from silly to sublime. While most of the games showcase the iPhone’s amazing graphical capabilities, others look like they were written by a kid with a programming book and a dream. The iPhone 3G doesn’t have a monopoly on apps, because the 2.0 firmware works on the first generation and the Touch.
And then we come to battery life. I know multiple sites have waved their hands over the numbers and found that the iPhone 3G is in fact quite long-lasting. I have found that I can get a full 18 hours of normal usage given I don’t do much browsing. I also know that my use case is fairly uncommon - I have several thousand unread messages.
I’ve set the auto-fetch to every hour and I’ve seen some improvement in speed but the battery will be a major issue soon enough. The norm is that these things get worse, not better, over time. I worry that once the push notifier system described at WWDC launches in September the battery life will fall even more. Push is expensive in terms of battery life
The iPhone 3G is an undeniably compelling piece of hardware. You know I love it and want to marry it, but the battery issue must be dealt with and the only thing I can imagine Apple will do is release a new bit of firmware.
So, should you buy it? My response to that is a resounding yes. The iPhone 3G is a better phone than the first generation, at least in terms of the network improvements.
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