3G iPhone

So it's official. And it has GPS. And it claims longer battery life (though if anyone can show me a phone with a battery life anywhere near the claims I'd like to see it). Is that seriously all they're bringing us or have I missed something?

timfire

It's also ~half the price ($199 for the 8GB, $299 for the 16GB).

And thinner.

Minisweeper

I could have predicted all of these things though. The price is very nice and although I wasn't aware it was thinner that's nice too. And sure I'm mighty impressed they got all that technology and crammed it into a smaller case but come on - apple are supposed to be revolutionary! I was chatting to our CTO the other day about what the new iPhone would bring and he said 'i dont know, with apple you can never guess. they're bound to do something completely incredible that noone's even thought of'. I just feel a tiny bit disappointed..

Wanderer

Disappointed? Sheesh you people are hard to please.

Have you seen Mobile Me?

11th of July in Australia, my order is in already!

Posted: Tuesday, 10 June 2008 at 8:53PM

Max_B

Disappointed?
Even Apple can't afford for a revolution each year. iPhone concept and system is breakthrough at least, if not revolutionary (I think it is in fact). Now we are in refinement steps. I'd like to order one. I'm waiting to see what kind of mapping apps (flying, trekking) will be available beside Plans which is mainly for driving.
MobileMe is clever, beside it's not cheap. I like Apple hardware and software, I don't like their will of making customers captive (that's the way they all do, big companies).

Jonny

Agreed... Everyone pretty much knew what was coming. The hype snowballed for quite some time now and always revolved around 3G and GPS. It wasn't a matter of what was coming...but when. And yeah, I feel like Apple added in some extra, unpredicted elements as well, mobileme for instance.

Minisweeper

Mobileme is nothing special though especially at that price tag. I was just hoping for them to release something which would make me say 'ahhh, wow, I hadn't thought of that'. GPS and 3G were both things they should have had in all along but chose not to. Don't get me wrong - I still want one. I'm glad they put those features in because in my opinion the current iPhone is not really an option due to the lack of 3g based on the type of device it wants to be. Now they've got round to it I'll almost certainly be getting myself one. Then again it seems with these new ones in order to make them cheaper they've tied them to contracts which has knocked me back down unless I can get one imported from elsewhere. As a side note - have they fixed bluetooth yet? What's the point in a bluetooth system which is only used for hands free?

sirlancelot

4 features I use on a daily basis that are why I will not be purchasing this overpriced device:

• A2DP (Phone -> Car Stereo bluetooth music streaming)
• External Memory (Quickly swapping from one device to another)
• MMS (Seriously, freebie phones even have this)
• Copy/Paste (OMG)

I'll wait and see if Apple ever produces a smartphone, maybe then I'll buy it. Seriously, Apple has a good plan: Charge people for badly implemented technology multiple times. Smart shoppers would wait until they get it right.

This device is not worth buying yet.

Krak

I've got the LG Voyager. Kicks ass. Got the touch screen and all that goes with it, as well as the QWERTY keyboard. After using the V and the eNV I can never go back to not having a QWERT keyboard. The touch screen takes a minute to get used to, but in the Voyager it has haptic feedback. The phone vibrates slightly when you press on the screen icons/buttons so you know you hit something - which is kinda nice. I really like the fact that I can edit photos I've taken with the phone. Nothing super fancy but it has the ability to zoom, crop, and rotate. I've seen an iPhone and have seen the many review of the Voayger vs iPhone. I wouldn't nab an iPhone over the Voyager. I am already on Verizone, don't want to switch to AT&T (USA), and I need my keyboard. But I am not sure how well the Voyager will stand up to abuse, I have seen some videos on the iPhone demonstrating this and I must say, I am impressed in that department. Either way, I'm with sirlancelot, they should have had all this from the start. Ridiculous really. But, there are people out there that will upgrade from the previous iPhone to this one. Shelling out another few hundred bucks. :( Go figure.

Wanderer

I wonder if anyone knows how much a server license costs for a Blackberry?

Look it up, you'll be amazed.

The average Joe is now able to have all that functionality and much more with an iPhone, with unlimited style and a state-of-the-art interface for a piddly annual subscription for "Mobile Me" which also now includes 20 gigabytes of storage space. That's twenty gigabytes!

Steve Jobs also cut $200 off the price for the handset as well.

What more do you want? Some free red jelly beans?

The only issue we have in Australia is which carrier to go with, none of whom have unveiled any plans as yet.

Posted: Wednesday, 11 June 2008 at 7:44PM

sirlancelot

I like Jelly Beans :)

In its current state, the iPhone is still for people willing to sacrifice functionality for style. My BB Pearl 2 cost me $200 up front, came with a $50 mail-in rebate, and I'm paying $60/month for unlimited data and messaging (including email w/ push), plus 1000 minutes. I also get HotSpot@Home which is perfect for where I work because I don't have cell service there...

Minisweeper

Wanderer - I'm fully aware that blackberry is ridiculously expensive which is why I dont use it. My Nokia E61i runs quite happily using both mail for exchange (push email from exchange servers, yes I know exchange licenses cost money) and gmail imap. I'd naturally expect any replacement phone to do the same and the fact that up until now the iPhone hasn't is also a bit daft. I'm curious that o2 have released their charges today and you can actually get the iPhone free with certain contracts. This leaves me optomistic that you can still pay money to get it SIM free...hmmm...

Wanderer

I have my iPhone 3G!
Using it right now, absolutely gorgeous.

jimw

I read where there were problems with the phone. I hope yours is working correctly.

Wanderer

It's working fine Jim, except when trying to sync with iTunes I get an Error 0xE8000001.

I think the idiot who activated it in-store disconnected it from iTunes incorrectly.

Will be calling Apple support tomorrow, it's late Sunday here right now.

My wife likes the GPS feature, she wants to use it to keep tabs on me!

Posted: Sunday, 13 July 2008 at 5:50PM

[-Stash-]

...I really tried not to be a baiting bastard, honest! (Or should that have read "I really tried not to be a bastard baiter"?)

dan39

Funny how everyone who complained about the first iPhone still manages to find new things to complain about, even after all of the improvements (3G, Enterprise support, Price reduction). Needless to say, more improvements are on the way via software updates...but I'm sure some people will still look for ways to complain.

To say that "iPhone is still for people willing to sacrifice functionality for style" is absolutely ludicrous. If nothing else, iPhone is revolutionary for the ease in which 3rd party developers can now harness onboard features like GPS, Multi Touch, and the Accelerometer. Downloadable apps (most of which are given away for free by their developers) range from productivity and finance apps to games. Anyone who's played the new Super Monkey Ball and Cro-Mag Rally games on the iPhone (which are among the first to arrive at the new iTunes App store) will see just a taste of what the accelerometer and multi touch can do for 3rd party applications. Instead of pushing buttons to control those applications (which is sooo 20th Century), you simply move your iPhone around in the air. It's like a Wii without the need for an external TV screen.

With literally hundreds of apps already having been created in the first few days of the iTunes Apps store, there will be no limit to what developers can create. Take Apple's extraordinarily easy-to-use API with 3rd party social networks, GPS, and your own network of friends, and you have the makings of a revolutionary device. That's what iPhone 2.0 is all about. Apps that can harness swarming patterns, or suggest relevant information depending on your proximity to things to bring the world around you into sync. It makes traveling in foreign cities a breeze (translation apps, and navigation/travel guides) and already has lots of apps that works seamlessly with everyday life (Evernote, WordPress, Facebook, G-Park, OmniFocus). The interface is just icing on that cake. There's even an app that lets you tune your guitar (or other musical instrument) to any key.

It's the new API that makes iPhone 3G revolutionary. Not the slim plastic casing. More and more developers are now flocking to develop for the iTunes App store. Those that decide to charge for their applications have been able to easily turn large profits in just a few weeks even after Apple takes its cut.

Not only is the iPhone easy to use and becoming more useful with every passing day as new apps are developed, but the economics of the iPhone and Apps store are encouraging more people to use it, and more people to develop for it. The biggest complaint (which I completely agree with) is that Apple's contract with AT&T allows it to shutdown applications that compete with AT&Ts mobile services (such as tethering apps).

Of course the iPhone doesn't do everything (yet). Most of the complaints voiced above are just a software update away. Not to mention that everyone who bought the original iPhone can instantly download the new iPhone 2.0 software with just a single click in iTunes.

(btw, I completely agree that mobileMe's launch was a disaster.)

Wanderer

Disaster?

I don't know what all the fuss was about. It all worked beautifully for me, syncing seemed quick and flawless, no more duplication of contacts (bye bye Nokia forever!) calendar entries perfectly updated. Certainly no emails were lost or delayed.

No complaints here, I certainly wasn't failed.

Posted: Saturday, 16 August 2008 at 3:07PM

WallPhone

> I certainly wasn't failed. Not even this way:

?

Wanderer

Anyone expecting those demo speeds needs their head read. Of course they are going to do all they can to speed things up, it's expected, it's understood.

All the websites I visit on the iPhone (3G) are speedy and snappy, no more but certainly no less than my desktop. Of course, on WiFi, it's very, very quick too.

Nope, not failed that way, although my comment was regarding MobileMe.

dan39

Even Steve Jobs admitted that the MobileMe launch wasn't up to Apple's Standards. It was not a flawless launch by any means. Luckily, the major problems have since been fixed. Apple also made amends by offering another free 60 days extension for MobileMe accounts, on top of the 30-day extension they already gave subscribers after the mess first happened. So, at least they've done a decent job at admitting their mistakes.

giginger

I like the phone but it's buggy. Very buggy. Plus the silent switch has fallen off on mine and I barely used it. MobileMe is pants. Subscribed but it kept deleting stuff from the calendar or removing contacts I'd just added to the phone. The opposite of what it should have done. Unsubscribed. Can't be arsed with that. Even if they are offering free usage for 2 months. It's a good phone but I hope this latest firmware update stabilises it. As it stands my N95 was a lot more stable.

Wanderer

Mine's only ever crashed when trying out crappy free games and my knob's fine thanks.

Are you sure you have your calendar and syncing prefs set up correctly?

Mine's worked flawlessly since the start, even with all the MobileMe hassles, and I've tried to break it believe me, such a breath of fresh air compared to my Nokia which duplicated my contacts every time instead of syncing.

The latest update did fix a little delay when calling up the address book, perhaps other things too, I'm wrapped with my iPhone and my THREE free months!

Posted: Thursday, 21 August 2008 at 8:09PM

giginger

The most crashes have been with Safari. The iPod has crashed a few times but that's mainly been because Safari has eaten up all the memory. I don't have many apps installed. Most of the games there are ones I had on my N95 in some form and were crap then. Updates have fixed a few things for me but the safari crashes are ongoing. I'm starting to wonder if I have a defective unit because it does become very hot at times. I mainly use safari on the train to and from work and I can really feel the device heating up. Plus I've left it on my desk a few times and been amazed how hot it is. Mainly in the area of the silver Apple logo on the back. There's not really a lot of preferences in MobileMe. At least not on the PC version of things. To be sure though I followed the instructions on the site. It only happened a few times but that's too much for me. With that sort of thing I don't have a lot of trust to give when it involves that sort of data. Luckily I noticed it had deleted it whilst the person was still there. I'm amused you've tried to break yours. I've not even tried to test it as far as it'll go yet and I've had faults. Actually, it's been more stable since I jailbroke it the other night.

Wanderer

I have 8 pages (screens?) full of apps! I thought that might break it.
Mine gets warm at times but never hot, mind you it's freezing in Melbourne at the moment.

Maybe take it to an Apple Store to get it checked out?

giginger

It's going to an Apple store anyway. I've been reading the support forums to see if anyone else has had their "knob" fall off. It seems a few people have and in each case they've had a replacement phone. I'll definitely mention the heating up though. In the meantime I'll keep sending the diagnostic reports to Apple in the hope that something gets done. They opened an Apple store near me a few months ago so it's all good. Just need to get an appointment at the Genius Bar at a time I can get there. Only open late 2 nights a week and I'm busy for the next few weekends. GAH!

dan39

I would take it in to the Apple Store. That doesn't sound right. My Safari has only crashed twice in the past month. And it happened on the same day. Turning the phone on and off fixed the issue that one time.

On a side not, I've there have been complaints and reports about the dropped calls in 3G. But it turns out that the new 3G Blackberry Bold is dropping calls as well, even though it has a very different hardware configuration. So, people are now starting think that AT&T's 3G network is to blame.

giginger

I managed to get an appointment for Thursday evening. Someone must've cancelled or something because it wasn't there before. It's sounding more and more like I managed to get a duff phone. I've not really noticed the dropped calls in 3G. There's been one or two but nothing more than I've experienced. What I have noticed is quite a few calls failed before it actually makes the call. I'm assuming that's the same thing. The weirdest thing I've had is that sitting on my desk at work it can have full 3G and then drop to 1 or 2 bars before going up again and then going down to 1 or 2 again. I only got that after the .0.1 update. Still have it after the .0.2 update. As it's going into the Apple Store on Thursday I've now removed the jailbreak. Shame, with the crashing I was really finding the scrobble app useful.

Wanderer

I got my first drop in 3G service today at a client's office building. One of the guys saw me fiddling and he came over with his phone and asked if I had service. We were both with the same provider and both had no 3G, didn't even drop back to EDGE.

I saw him at afternoon tea and his service had come back as had mine. I'm sure this is a service provider issue.

The GPS is almost useless indoors, especially in multi-storey buildings, I guess it's designed for outside use.

Minisweeper

GPS as a technology cannot be used indoors. It needs line of sight to the satellites. Even apple cant beat that but you should be able to get rough positions based on network information.

dan39

And if you have mobile service at the time, it will attempt to triangulate your position with that information as well. But as Minisweeper said, without line of sight to the satellites, there's no GPS device that will get you true GPS accuracy.