Steve's iPhone 3G Review
As if there hasn’t been enough chatter about the iPhone 3G release this weekend and the 2.0 software upgrade, here is my experience to add to the heap. I’ll try to be brief.
1. Purchasing
A bit of a nightmare, but that’s what I get for going on day one (and being awesome). I blame AT&T and the weird new system of in-store activation. I went at 8am - waited til 11am - then had to sit in-store on the phone with an AT&T support rep who seemed like he had maybe seen an iPhone commercial on TV once.
2. Activation
We gave up on in-store activation, and I took it to work and tried there. Servers were down, Interwebs were crying FAIL. An hour and a half later, servers were up, and just like iPhone v1, activation took about a minute and blew my mind at how easy it was.
3. The Phone
It’s just a little lighter and almost imperceptibly thicker. Screen is “warmer” which means more yellow than v1’s bluish color temp. It bugs me for the most part, not used to it yet. I got the 16g white, and the plastic back is easier to hold and reminds me of Eve from Wall-E. The faster 3G is really welcome, since I use the iPhone for internet constantly, but it drains the battery like crazy. I tend to turn it off and on if I know I’m gonna be out for a stretch. The decreased battery life is the one big downside to the 3G. Speakers in and out are improved. Not a whole lot else seems changed. Like a lot of people, I would have liked it if Apple had upgraded the camera and adding video recording, but that’ll come. The GPS is really welcome, and I find that on Google maps it finds me exactly (by showing a little blue dot as opposed to the larger more vague cross hair circle) SOME of time. That said, when it pinpoints me exactly and follows me on the map I just wanna run around the city and watch my blue dot follow me. Which is probably weird.
4. The App Store
Pretty much amazing, and available to all v1 users too. The iPhone experience is so great largely because every time they update the software, the device just gets better, like ALOT better - for free. The app store is one of those gizmo watershed moments that just changed the whole industry in a flash - it’s crazy easy to find, install and start playing with the apps, and most of the biggies are free. Addictive.
5. Individual Apps
Remote: Apple’s genius app that turns your iPhone into a remote control for your home iTunes setup, or AppleTV. I am using this one a lot, and it’s just about perfect.
Free.
Twitterific: I bought this Twitter app for 9.99 because I use it on the desktop, and it is clearly one of the best designed and thought out of the first app sore offerings, but as I use it, it definitely has some bugs to iron out. Still use it all the time.
Free and premium versions.
Urbanspoon: A really cute app to find local restaurants. It finds you with the GPS, then you shake the iPhone, a slot-machine sound plays, and it picks you a restaurant complete with maps and user ratings.
Free.
Shazam: Hear a song? Want to know what it is? Hold the iPhone up to the speaker, it “thinks” for about 30 seconds, then comes back with the album cover and buy links etc. This app is amazing and apparently was created by aliens in space. Try it and try not to think that we are in the year 3000.
Free.
Jott: An app that makes notes from your speech. Heard it’s great, but I wouldn’t know because their new-user process is made of pure concentrated fail. Tried on the phone, didn’t work, trying online, still not there yet.
Free and worth every penny.
Pandora: Love it! This app ties into your Pandora account for playing music from your favorite artists and tapping into the Music Genome Project’s user-sourced database for playing stuff you might like. Works really well, dig it. Wish it would play in the background when the app isn’t active.
Free.
Limbo/Whrrl/Loopt: These are the first contenders in the new mobile social networking space, a space that some lucky (and good) service will own in the coming months. So far I haven’t found one to be superior. I’ll keep you posted.
All in all I love it, as I did the v1 (but hate AT&T’s service). Can’t imagine using anything else. It’s also fun watching the online haters get their panties in a bunch about all the iPhone buzz while trying to squeeze new drops of love out of their Nokia S-6730S1B’s while convincing themsleves that the iPhone sucks. Good luck guys!
