Review: Apple iPhone 3G
I have been using the iPhone 3G ever since I waited in line and bought one a bit over two weeks ago. The big question people ask me is if it’s worth the $199 USD and increase in monthly service fees. It is, but only slightly. For the most part, the 2.0 firmware provided most of the improvements, like the App Store, and that’s completely free for first generation iPhone users. Rather than writing a full iPhone 3G review which you’ve probably already read elsewhere online, I’ll just post my thoughts on the more important points.
Specs
Hardware-wise, there are only a handful of real upgrades. Obviously, faster 3G connectivity ranks high on this list if you live in a city with good coverage. 3G reception in Atlanta has been great for me, but in Houston and Austin it is definitely spotty. In regards to the 3G vs EDGE argument, 3G is noticeably faster. I remember loading the New York Times homepage on my first generation iPhone over EDGE in 73 seconds. With 3G, that load time went down to 17 seconds (with 1 reception bar no less).
GPS is a very nice addition, especially with the prevalence of location-aware applications like Vicinity, Yelp, UrbanSpoon and many others. However, the built-in Maps application doesn’t have the ability to use it as a turn by turn navigation tool. You can use your current location as a starting point but it does not use it after you begin (just displays it). Also, don’t plan on using the GPS on any camping trips - the Maps application depends on an Internet connection to download the actual map tiles so if you don’t have any reception, the GPS is useless.
That being said, there is still the cool factor of being able to see your location move on the map as you’re driving. Until someone comes out with a navigation application and I can mount the iPhone 3G to my windshield, I just follow my blue dot until I reach my destination.
Other upgrades include the much louder speaker and tweaked case. You can actually hear the ringer when people call you and speaker phone is noticeably louder as well. I can’t begin to explain how many calls I have missed because I was in a moderately noisy environment and never heard the first generation iPhone ring. The new iPhone is a bit lighter at the expense of a cheaper-feeling rear case with tapered edges to create the illusion of a thinner phone. In addition, the headphones jack is no longer recessed so it can be used with the earbuds of your choice without resorting to an unsightly adapter.
Complaints
The battery life is excruciatingly horrible. I woke up at 2pm today, unplugged my iPhone from the charger, went about my day, came home at 2am and received a 10% battery warning. It should come with a car charger for free.
App Store
The real upgrade is the 2.0 firmware, which brings the App Store and greatly enhances the functionality of the iPhone. While there are no lack of App Store critics, I am quite content with it. There are hundreds of applications to satisfy almost any need you can think of, and for the not-so-legal needs, you can always jailbreak your iPhone and do things like share your Internet connection with your laptop and so on. There are apps to make your iPhone a notetaking powerhouse, keep track of your finances, find places to eat, listen to Pandora, remote control your iTunes library (my fave), kill time with games and more. I really can’t help but keep stating how pleased I am with the App Store. Using it for the first time felt something like finding a $100 bill in the jeans you’ve been wearing all day.
If I had to nitpick on one aspect of the App Store, it would have to be app upgrading process. Whenever I try to upgrade an application, it fails and tells me to sync with iTunes.
Overall
After using the iPhone 3G for a few weeks, it hasn’t changed my life but it has made some things easier. I don’t have to worry about updating my playlists with new music before heading out the door. I can just fire up the Pandora application and walk to class. When I get back to my apartment, I can open up the Apple Remote application and play music in my living room and pretend I have a high-end Sonos music system. As you might notice, that’s mostly just software though.
The iPhone 3G might be for you if you use your phone for more than just a bit of web browsing and email checking. The 3G connectivity is the most useful hardware upgrade while GPS is just a yet-to-be-fully-realized-until-navigation-apps-are-released luxury. The iPhone 3G receives 7 out of 10 Stammys.
If you plan on picking yours up anytime soon, you’ll probably still be subject to lines. I just snapped this at the Houston Galleria today:
Will you be upgrading? What are your favorite App Store apps? So far I’m digging Pandora, Things, Twinkle and Texas Hold’em.
Nice review and I’m defenatly thinking about getting one when I get back to Denmark, if only they had unlimited data there not those meager 300mb.
Btw, aren’t you mixing EDGE and EVDO up there?
Nice review Paul. Good to see an honest critique. One nitpick - I hope you misspoke, but using your iPhone to to what you want to do and run the software you want to run is hardly illegal.
Oh, and “I woke up at 2pm today” does not compute on any level whatsoever.
I agree with Gunnar. EVDO on at&t’s network just doesn’t make a lot of sense. I believe you flipped EDGE with EVDO.
Do you know of anything in the works to improve battery life? Turning off 3G when not needed?
I would loveeee to get an iPhone however; I’m stuck with Verizon for another year… Verizon is the worst.
I am still waiting to upgrade mine. First reason is that here in France they don’t have any iPhone in Stock. Since two weeks now!
I was going to upgrade for the reason that they will sell me a 3G for 49€ (instead of 149€) or 99€ for the 16GB instead of 199€. The phone plans here does not change price. We already pay much more than in the us. My us plan is way much cheaper than here.
I am waiting to see if they will unblock the one I have so It could be used with an other phone Cie. (The french law oblige to unblock a phone after 6 month).
Definitely I enjoyed the new applications AirMe (to upload picture to my flickr account with GPS positioning). Remote is great as you said in your review/impression. The one that is really interesting is Shazam which can tell you the title of the Song/Music that is played on an other device. Then Aim and Facebook are the one I use a lot.
I’ll be in Iceland on Saturday. I cannot wait to see the GPS working there.
Agreed about the battery. Pretty pathetic.
Great review. I’d recommend Klick for Flickr stuff and Tap Tap Revenge, another great game for the iPhone.
I’m sticking with my first gen iPhone. I could really care less about 3G and GPS. If AT&T allowed tethering, well that’s a different story.
My favorite apps so far: Zenbe, Shazam, Twitterriffic, Remote, iPint, Evernote, BoxOffice, and Last.fm
@gunnar - yup, you are correct I flipped EVDO and EDGE.
@Paul Freet - Good point, I should reword it to talk about things against AT&T TOS rather than illegal. for example - I believe the AT&T TOS forbid tethering your phone to share Internet. As for waking up at 2pm - I’m in Houston and yesterday Tropical Storm Edouard was supposed to take the area by storm (pun intended) and most people were taking the day off and staying home :-)
Battery problems?? Why always theres something related with battery problems??
Nice review, BTW.
Thanks Paul, I agree with your thoughts my largest complaint for both the first generation iphone and second ( I had the first for a while as well) is that the phone itself is not very good at all. People always tell me im breaking up and can’t hear what I’m saying and likewise when my friends call me.
This has mostly to do with AT&T’s poor service. I came from Verizon and NEVER lost one call, EVER.
I drop more calls than girls drop panties at senior prom.
I hope my near future move to Denver will let AT&T’s service exceed my current experience.
P.S. Everything other than the phone is A-mazing!
Very thorough review, Paul. I like the iPhone but still feel that the hardware is in Beta mode. My trusty Treo is still holding on, so maybe I’ll pick up the iPhone when it fails.
Love your reviews Paul. I am looking forward to getting one soon!
Just a off topic comment:
If you’re going to include the skribit widget on your site, and in addition are one of the people involved with it. You could at least write about some of the suggestions every now and then. If you are going to go months without writing a blog post on one of the suggestions, then as a user, why should i bother with entering any suggestions….just a suggestion.
I agree with a lot of what you said. You can turn off the 3G and bluetooth to save on battery life. I just got mine today and I agree with you on the apps store. How much did the Itunes library remote app cost? Do you know if using 3G is more expensive than using Wi-Fi?
hit me up
well i found the remote…
So far I enjoy Pandora and Yelp the most. Will try out more of the apps.
The app store is really great.
would love to see sort of app recommendation engine. Don’t know how that will work.
Have been on the waiting list at my local store since July 04, expect to have it soon! Shortages of the iPhone in Ireland is crazy at the moment but looking forward to getting it soon. Have been waiting for the 3G version of the iPhone as Ireland has about 85% 3G population coverage so will make a big difference, EDGE in the other 15%.
With a further 20 countries having the iPhone by the end of the month supplies will only get tighter, even with 800,000 units being knocked out each week.
My favourite apps include Twinkle and Remote (both free). The 2.0.1 update seems to have crippled the GPS function (at least here in the UK) - seems to be a lot less accurate than the original 2.0 firmware.
MMS/battery life aside, the most annoying thing I find is the lack of ‘Forward SMS’ facility. Oh, and not being able to attach more than 1 photo in an email :-(
the battery life is pathetic and my razr had superior voice quality. Apple support told me to bring it in. Well see what they find if anything
There are tons of things I love about the iPhone, but the things that annoy me the most:
- No MMS.
- No copy and paste.
- Bluetooth tethering.
- Bluetooth file transfer.
- Video clip recording.
All of the above, my old Sony Ericsson T610 did. And how old is that phone now?
The other thing, I miss is not being able to send/receieve SMS messages, or call/answer calls over Bluetooth via Address Book on OS X.
@David Winter. I think they removed this facility with Leopard.
@ David Winter: after Leopard, didn’t that feature disappear from OS X anyway? I used to use it occasionally, but then wasn’t able to on my old Nokia E61. That’s not an iPhone fault, just a generic OS X lack of feature.
[Whoops... show me for leaving a post open for two days before replying... :/]
having seen one in person now, and on reading your review, I think I should wait for 3G++. sigh.