I bought the first iPhone last July. The release of the 3G iPhone seemed more like a Mac Mini processor upgrade. Overall, I'm very pleased with the app store and the firmware update. I'm still extremely happy with my first generation iPhone, however, the iPhone 3G is a great entry point for people disciplined enough to wait for the 2nd generation.
I'll be curious to see how pleased people are with their iPhone upgrade after a couple months. Is it worth the higher monthly rate?
It seems like a LOT of complaints about this one - perhaps expectations were set pretty high after the first launch.
Apple is getting stupider about communicating it's product details... does it, or does it not have full GPS capability? It's really a simple question.
Apple is also really missing a huge opportunity by not including a higher-priced version of the iPod touch with GPS. Personally, I would buy two of them today if they had that additional functionality.
I'd actually prefer to have 3G settings that allow to choose which apps or types of apps I can have use 3G and which I prefer use GSM. FOr instance, when I'm using Safari or iTunes Store app I would like it to initialize the 3G, but if they are closed to turn it off automatically.
That's the best idea for this yet. I don't know of any technical reason why that couldn't be done.
I wonder if it's possible for a third party app to do this. There may be a limitation for that though.
I want to see it done intelligently. So if you go into a non-3G area, the 3G radio switches off automatically. DUH.
Or as you say, certain apps with high data needs use 3G, others don't - or maybe there's a popup like with GPS services.
Or the 3G radio only turns on when you need to download something to the phone? The 'push' is run as a simple 'ping' to the server over the GPRS/EDGE network and if there's something to be 'pushed', 3G radio powers up, transmits and then powers back down?
How about automatically turning off the 3G radio when wireless is in use?
These are things that can be sorted out in software, with only minimal user interaction, that would greatly extend the battery life - smart 3G switching.
I can see that most of you don't understand anything about 3G as used in the iPhone. It is not just a data connection. The 3G is used for both voice and data. So if you turn off 3G you have no voice connection either.
Using 3G for voice results in much better call quality as well, as many have noticed with the iPhone 3G. But this is only because W-CDMA (or UMTS as it is correctly called) provides much better codecs for the voice signal than previous GSM networks did.
In the old iPhone, GSM was the voice layer and GPRS provided a packet switched layer on top of that. EDGE is just an extension to GPRS with higher data rates. In the iPhone 3G UTMS provides both the voice and data layer in one. So you can't disable data without cutting voice as well.
Also if you go from an area outside of the UMTS coverage your phone will automatically drop down from 3G to GSM+EDGE. There is no way to just use UMTS for data and GSM for voice.
Its just a shame that in the US you have such crap coverage with UMTS. One other thing that is important is that the network controls to a large extent your battery life. If the network is not configured properly or has poor coverage you will burn through your battery extremely fast because the phone doesn't get told to reduce the transmitter output power.
Beware of 3rd-party car chargers. The 3G iPhone no longer works with many power adapters. It also no longer charges via FireWire, which I've been using for extra power cord for years. I don't know why they changed this but the fact that the large brick power adapter has been replaced by a very small and light A/C adapter. Did they move the AC/DC conversion into the device itself?
I think the new brick is a switching adapter, which is more expensive, but lighter and more compact. Good move.
I am also trying to find a way to charge in my car... I often take long drives and will need to recharge. For now, am AC->DC adapter will hold me over. Apple's online store says a few chargers work... it seems the speaker systems might not work.
I must be rather slow on the uptake here, but I was really surprised that there doesn't appear to be any way to view Numbers/Excel or Pages/Word docs, or even PDF docs on the iPhone 3G.
If I am wrong on this, would someone please point me in the right direction?
Much obliged.
A small application called FileMagnet (available for 5 Dollars) solves currently half of your problems, the developer assured me to add support for Keynote/Powerpoint and Numbers/Excel soon (http://magnetismstudios.com/FileMagnet/). Although you need a dedicated uploader to send files to the iPhone, I find it quite promising and more comfortable than to send every required file by e-mail.
I can see that most of you don't understand anything about 3G as used in the iPhone. It is not just a data connection. The 3G is used for both voice and data. So if you turn off 3G you have no voice connection either.
One limitation, illustrated in this example, is that you can't be on a GSM call and then go to Safari to check out movie times while having it connect to 3G without discoing the call in the process. You can't do any other network task while on a call with GSM either, unless you are WiFi connected. The other issue is that moving between GSM and UTMS and back will take about 4-6 seconds, in my testing, to reconnect to the carrier.
While both of these do not seem like something Apple would want to include, I would love to see a 3rd-party developer make an app that completes this task if Apple does not. The Jailbreak should be out within a week or two.
I use Safari more than any other network related service, and I do it spurts. I'll spend 10-30 minutes using the internet and then back in my pocket for a duration listening to music until a new email comes into read or i want to change my iPod playlist. I think these spurts would make the short network drop-off mostly unnoticeable when I leave an app like Safari Though accessing Safari would cause an initial delay as connects with 3G. The same goes for leaving Safari to immediately make a call, though I just timed this and I would have been reconnected before I finished location my contact.
Now, if you dialing a number from within Safari it would just connect you via 3G as it make little sense to disconnect there when you are clearly using the data and voice. Any minor delay will quickly be forgotten knowing that my battery usage will improve dramatically. Since I received my iPhone 3G yesterday I have been doing just that to preserve my fuel, but I've been going the manual route.
It always comes down to fuel. The iPhone is my Interceptor
If your favourite sites has RSS feeds, use them instead of the full site. This will dramatically lower your data transfers and lowers the CPU usage because of simpler layouts to handle. Apple redirects any RSS link to their own (really nice) iPhone RSS reader without any problems.
Password entry modification: In 2.0, you can see the character you typed before it becomes a circle. Security yet I know what I actually was typing in the password fields!! Good stuff.
Regarding battery life there is something strange going on. For some reason quite a lot of the battery power is lost over night, even though the thing only lies there in "idle".
It seems that my apartment is on the edge of the 3G network, which could mean that the phone keeps "jumping" between 3G and GSM, and if so, that will eat into the battery for sure (I know that from experience with other phones).
Or maybe there is some traffic due to the "push"-functions..... even though the phone is just lying there....
I will let the battery run until the phone shuts off and then recharge. That helped my "old" iPhone.
Just click on the '+' in the bottom center of the Safari window.
Thank you. For some reason, it didn't strike me to try that. When using iPhone, I feel very much like I did when using a Mac for the first time back in 1985 -- although the entry fee is considerably higher than the $3.00 3 1/2-inch floppy I had to buy!
Quote:
Apple has become very accurate with their battery testing by using real world setting.
Beware of 3rd-party car chargers. The 3G iPhone no longer works with many power adapters. It also no longer charges via FireWire, which I've been using for extra power cord for years. I don't know why they changed this but the fact that the large brick power adapter has been replaced by a very small and light A/C adapter.
I got a Griffin "PowerJolt" car charger at the AT&T store, which the reps swore would work with iPhone 3G. It is also a smallish adapter for a car's cigarette lighter, but has a removeable USB to iPhone connector cable. I thought it good to have a spare floating around.
Quote:
Did they move the AC/DC conversion into the device itself?
That would be a question I'd like answered as well.
I had my first Safari crash this morning. Not only that, I found I couldn't backspace to correct a phone number while entering it on the AT&T website. Grrr.
Did I mention I prefer Camino as my main Mac OS X browser?
If you have, would you please comment on the look and feel of any Pages/Word, Numbers/Excel or Preview/Acrobat files are handled with the 3G iPhone? Pros and cons of how they look and what you can interact with would be great.
Number of fixes Apple can do to optimize battery life:
* provide optional time interval (5, 15, 30 minutes, etc) for "pull" mails instead of default to push.
* provide quick access pop-up dialog to enable/disable network switching between different connection types when using software that required network access.
If you have, would you please comment on the look and feel of any Pages/Word, Numbers/Excel or Preview/Acrobat files are handled with the 3G iPhone? Pros and cons of how they look and what you can interact with would be great.
I have MobileMe. iPhone v2.0 can already read all those file types without needing MM. Just email it to yourself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HFU
Number of fixes Apple can do to optimize battery life:
* provide optional time interval (5, 15, 30 minutes, etc) for "pull" mails instead of default to push.
They already do this. You don't have to use Push, or you can pick and choose which items you want Push to work with.
I can see that most of you don't understand anything about 3G as used in the iPhone. It is not just a data connection. The 3G is used for both voice and data. So if you turn off 3G you have no voice connection either.
Your response isn't all that clear either. With 3G off, you still have a 2G voice connection, not NO voice connection. A 3G voice connection is higher quality, but 2G may be good enough if you're trying to conserve power.
It doesn't matter if the battery is best in its class as long as you can't swap it/replace it.
As the NY TImes reported on Saturday - " Until Apple put's in a replaceable battery, the iPhone will remain a toy rather than a tool."
Given that portable battery packs that recharge the internal battery via the dock connector for the iPod and iPhone 1.0 have been available, I'm sure they'll be one soon for iPhone 3G.
Comments
I'll be curious to see how pleased people are with their iPhone upgrade after a couple months. Is it worth the higher monthly rate?
It seems like a LOT of complaints about this one - perhaps expectations were set pretty high after the first launch.
Apple is getting stupider about communicating it's product details... does it, or does it not have full GPS capability? It's really a simple question.
Apple is also really missing a huge opportunity by not including a higher-priced version of the iPod touch with GPS. Personally, I would buy two of them today if they had that additional functionality.
more stupid
I
I'd actually prefer to have 3G settings that allow to choose which apps or types of apps I can have use 3G and which I prefer use GSM. FOr instance, when I'm using Safari or iTunes Store app I would like it to initialize the 3G, but if they are closed to turn it off automatically.
That's the best idea for this yet. I don't know of any technical reason why that couldn't be done.
I wonder if it's possible for a third party app to do this. There may be a limitation for that though.
I want to see it done intelligently. So if you go into a non-3G area, the 3G radio switches off automatically. DUH.
Or as you say, certain apps with high data needs use 3G, others don't - or maybe there's a popup like with GPS services.
Or the 3G radio only turns on when you need to download something to the phone? The 'push' is run as a simple 'ping' to the server over the GPRS/EDGE network and if there's something to be 'pushed', 3G radio powers up, transmits and then powers back down?
How about automatically turning off the 3G radio when wireless is in use?
These are things that can be sorted out in software, with only minimal user interaction, that would greatly extend the battery life - smart 3G switching.
I can see that most of you don't understand anything about 3G as used in the iPhone. It is not just a data connection. The 3G is used for both voice and data. So if you turn off 3G you have no voice connection either.
Using 3G for voice results in much better call quality as well, as many have noticed with the iPhone 3G. But this is only because W-CDMA (or UMTS as it is correctly called) provides much better codecs for the voice signal than previous GSM networks did.
In the old iPhone, GSM was the voice layer and GPRS provided a packet switched layer on top of that. EDGE is just an extension to GPRS with higher data rates. In the iPhone 3G UTMS provides both the voice and data layer in one. So you can't disable data without cutting voice as well.
Also if you go from an area outside of the UMTS coverage your phone will automatically drop down from 3G to GSM+EDGE. There is no way to just use UMTS for data and GSM for voice.
Its just a shame that in the US you have such crap coverage with UMTS. One other thing that is important is that the network controls to a large extent your battery life. If the network is not configured properly or has poor coverage you will burn through your battery extremely fast because the phone doesn't get told to reduce the transmitter output power.
Beware of 3rd-party car chargers. The 3G iPhone no longer works with many power adapters. It also no longer charges via FireWire, which I've been using for extra power cord for years. I don't know why they changed this but the fact that the large brick power adapter has been replaced by a very small and light A/C adapter. Did they move the AC/DC conversion into the device itself?
I think the new brick is a switching adapter, which is more expensive, but lighter and more compact. Good move.
I am also trying to find a way to charge in my car... I often take long drives and will need to recharge. For now, am AC->DC adapter will hold me over. Apple's online store says a few chargers work... it seems the speaker systems might not work.
I must be rather slow on the uptake here, but I was really surprised that there doesn't appear to be any way to view Numbers/Excel or Pages/Word docs, or even PDF docs on the iPhone 3G.
If I am wrong on this, would someone please point me in the right direction?
Much obliged.
A small application called FileMagnet (available for 5 Dollars) solves currently half of your problems, the developer assured me to add support for Keynote/Powerpoint and Numbers/Excel soon (http://magnetismstudios.com/FileMagnet/). Although you need a dedicated uploader to send files to the iPhone, I find it quite promising and more comfortable than to send every required file by e-mail.
I can see that most of you don't understand anything about 3G as used in the iPhone. It is not just a data connection. The 3G is used for both voice and data. So if you turn off 3G you have no voice connection either.
One limitation, illustrated in this example, is that you can't be on a GSM call and then go to Safari to check out movie times while having it connect to 3G without discoing the call in the process. You can't do any other network task while on a call with GSM either, unless you are WiFi connected. The other issue is that moving between GSM and UTMS and back will take about 4-6 seconds, in my testing, to reconnect to the carrier.
While both of these do not seem like something Apple would want to include, I would love to see a 3rd-party developer make an app that completes this task if Apple does not. The Jailbreak should be out within a week or two.
I use Safari more than any other network related service, and I do it spurts. I'll spend 10-30 minutes using the internet and then back in my pocket for a duration listening to music until a new email comes into read or i want to change my iPod playlist. I think these spurts would make the short network drop-off mostly unnoticeable when I leave an app like Safari Though accessing Safari would cause an initial delay as connects with 3G. The same goes for leaving Safari to immediately make a call, though I just timed this and I would have been reconnected before I finished location my contact.
Now, if you dialing a number from within Safari it would just connect you via 3G as it make little sense to disconnect there when you are clearly using the data and voice. Any minor delay will quickly be forgotten knowing that my battery usage will improve dramatically. Since I received my iPhone 3G yesterday I have been doing just that to preserve my fuel, but I've been going the manual route.
It always comes down to fuel. The iPhone is my Interceptor
It seems that my apartment is on the edge of the 3G network, which could mean that the phone keeps "jumping" between 3G and GSM, and if so, that will eat into the battery for sure (I know that from experience with other phones).
Or maybe there is some traffic due to the "push"-functions..... even though the phone is just lying there....
I will let the battery run until the phone shuts off and then recharge. That helped my "old" iPhone.
Just click on the '+' in the bottom center of the Safari window.
Thank you. For some reason, it didn't strike me to try that. When using iPhone, I feel very much like I did when using a Mac for the first time back in 1985 -- although the entry fee is considerably higher than the $3.00 3 1/2-inch floppy I had to buy!
Apple has become very accurate with their battery testing by using real world setting.
Beware of 3rd-party car chargers. The 3G iPhone no longer works with many power adapters. It also no longer charges via FireWire, which I've been using for extra power cord for years. I don't know why they changed this but the fact that the large brick power adapter has been replaced by a very small and light A/C adapter.
I got a Griffin "PowerJolt" car charger at the AT&T store, which the reps swore would work with iPhone 3G. It is also a smallish adapter for a car's cigarette lighter, but has a removeable USB to iPhone connector cable. I thought it good to have a spare floating around.
Did they move the AC/DC conversion into the device itself?
That would be a question I'd like answered as well.
PS: Safari is crashing a lot for me on v2.0.
I had my first Safari crash this morning. Not only that, I found I couldn't backspace to correct a phone number while entering it on the AT&T website. Grrr.
Did I mention I prefer Camino as my main Mac OS X browser?
If you have, would you please comment on the look and feel of any Pages/Word, Numbers/Excel or Preview/Acrobat files are handled with the 3G iPhone? Pros and cons of how they look and what you can interact with would be great.
* provide optional time interval (5, 15, 30 minutes, etc) for "pull" mails instead of default to push.
* provide quick access pop-up dialog to enable/disable network switching between different connection types when using software that required network access.
As the NY TImes reported on Saturday - " Until Apple put's in a replaceable battery, the iPhone will remain a toy rather than a tool."
Has anyone here upgraded to MobileMe?
If you have, would you please comment on the look and feel of any Pages/Word, Numbers/Excel or Preview/Acrobat files are handled with the 3G iPhone? Pros and cons of how they look and what you can interact with would be great.
I have MobileMe. iPhone v2.0 can already read all those file types without needing MM. Just email it to yourself.
Number of fixes Apple can do to optimize battery life:
* provide optional time interval (5, 15, 30 minutes, etc) for "pull" mails instead of default to push.
They already do this. You don't have to use Push, or you can pick and choose which items you want Push to work with.
I can see that most of you don't understand anything about 3G as used in the iPhone. It is not just a data connection. The 3G is used for both voice and data. So if you turn off 3G you have no voice connection either.
Your response isn't all that clear either. With 3G off, you still have a 2G voice connection, not NO voice connection. A 3G voice connection is higher quality, but 2G may be good enough if you're trying to conserve power.
It doesn't matter if the battery is best in its class as long as you can't swap it/replace it.
As the NY TImes reported on Saturday - " Until Apple put's in a replaceable battery, the iPhone will remain a toy rather than a tool."
That is such hyperbole.
I'd like to see how many people have extra batteries for their phones?
It doesn't matter if the battery is best in its class as long as you can't swap it/replace it.
As the NY TImes reported on Saturday - " Until Apple put's in a replaceable battery, the iPhone will remain a toy rather than a tool."
Given that portable battery packs that recharge the internal battery via the dock connector for the iPod and iPhone 1.0 have been available, I'm sure they'll be one soon for iPhone 3G.