First iPhone 3G Reviews: Mossberg, Baig, and Pogue

[everettmarshall]

I'm back on the fence on the 3G.

One month ago, I switched to Sprint for about a week and used a Crackberry Pearl ($99). Instinct wasn't out yet.

• Excellent GPS nav even in the middle of nowhere, turn by turn, and street NAMES in spoken directions, AND traffic avoidance re-route.
  
• A hot key for voice commands...(no training required)

I took the BB back and went back to AT&T because the device locked up quite a bit, but it was amazing how in just one week those became my goto apps...but I was traveling a lot that week too.

My hesitance comes from knowing that BlackBerries, Treo (I've had three), and far lesser smartphones (and even not so smartphones) can do these things VERY well for a smaller out of pocket expense and monthly fees.

iPhone is presented (if you believe the hype) as the greatest device in this category, yet doesn't do some very basic things as well as some other more tricked out functions. That, I think, is cause of all the whining. Let it do what these other lesser devices can already do. Then add the stuff that blows them away.

I love the platform and I know great apps will be available. But it's hard to tell if Apple will even allow 3rd party developers to address some of the holes in the set of standard features; referencing GPS with turn by turn and doing it without a $10 per month charge. (The Sprint package I had for $30 included it.)

Will they open it up? Or should I go back to Sprint and get the features I want (available NOW) on a device I don't particularly love.

Is the GPS chip in the iPhone really incapable of accuracy when you are moving?

I'll probably cave. See you in line.

 

[jeffh]

Great Post!!! I can't wait to get my iPhone. Verizon contract is up on the 28th of this month. So I will be in the AT&T store switching on the 28th. Unless anyone knows a way I can get it sooner.

Buy one now and get a temp number and forward all of your verizon calls to it (google verizon wireless call forwarding).

Initiate the port of your old verizon number once your contract is up.

 

[trunksu]

nothing in the reviews surprised me. we all knew 3G would kill the battery life but it sounds normal. we're still talking about a better overall battery life.

i can understand lots of people complaining about the GPS. when people heard the iPhone 3G will have GPS, many assumed it will have turn by turn audio prompts etc. (i was one of them till i did some research here on MacRumors)

i'm sure everyone as seen Verizon and Sprint commercials for their iPhone "clones" that brag about it before the iphone 3g was announced. let's just hope the Tomtom App will indeed be introduced.


ps - i personally have a Garmin for my car and i have to say it's awesome. if you don't have one i suggest you try one out from a friend etc. and on battery life the GPS prob last no longer than 2 hours.

 

[jragosta]

Anyone catch David Pogue on CNBC this morning? He did a sketch "live at NYC Apple Store" where he interviewed some knucklehead waiting in line at the NYC Apple Store. It was complete comedy and was made as a joke, but it was funny. He "interviewed a guy who said he has been standing in line for a year and he was so excited about getting the new great 3g iphone. Pogue then explained the new features (few) and then explained that existing iphone 2g owners don't need to upgrade. He talked about the new App Store and said their was already software programs ready to download Friday the gives you VoIP capability, video recording capability and picture messaging capability, amongst others. Very interesting........

If Pogue is suggesting that you can get the features of iPhone 3g from a software upgrade, he's even less intelligent than I thought. The biggest features that most people want in the iPhone 3g are GPS and 3g service. For me, better voice quality is the biggie. None of those will work on the previous iPhone.

 

[TCM333]

what's up with MMS!? why can any other phone on the planet have MMS, but the iPhone?? I thought the iPhone was the most advanced phone ever...

bring on MMS

 

[t0mat0]

what's up with MMS!? why can any other phone on the planet have MMS, but the iPhone?? I thought the iPhone was the most advanced phone ever...

bring on MMS

Bring on the parallel port, floppy disk/tape drive support. Bring on the semaphore and telegram support.

Or bring on the push email with attachment support.

 

[geeksharc]

critiques, critiques, and more critiques

Longtime apple fanboy (since the Apple II), but first-time MacRumors poster, so be gentle...

My iPhone perceptions are quite mixed. Overall, a brilliant paradigm-shifting UI (in particular, the Safari implementation is really quite outstanding), married to an OK phone, leading to something of an awkward attempt at convergence that makes me both swoon with joy and curse in frustration on pretty much a daily basis.

Based on everything I've read & reviewed to-date, it doesn't appear that v2.0 is going to resolve any of the following (to me) fundamental problems:

1) Crippled bluetooth implementation. In particular, the lack of the HID (Human Interface Device) profile is baffling to me, especially since Apple is obviously targeting the iPhone as a convergent device. I've seen no evidence of HID support thus far (I wonder what MacAlly had in mind when they announced their apparently abortive BTKeyMini)? Many of you will respond that who needs HID support when you've got the virtual keyboard, but that just doesn't cut it for me, sorry.

2) No copy/paste. I've seen enough user proposals for this feature (at least for text) that I believe it's doable, and this single issue has been a near deal-killer for me.

3) No local user file storage, leading to the dreaded "FSCK, I've gotta redownload that attachment someone sent me *yet again?*" syndrome. This problem is even more acute in situations where I'm out of coverage (for example, in a deep basement), and need to review an attachment a client sent me via email. I'm not sure the rational behind this--simple oversight? Security (if so, surely Apple could set up a secure sandbox dedicated to local user storage)? A perverse desire to maintain complete and utter control over the plumbing underlying the iPhone ecology? Dunno. But please, please, please, please & pretty-please, provide some simple mechanism for local user file storage!

4) No voice dialing. A no-brainer. 'nuff said.

5) No (officially) user-replaceable battery. Also a near deal-killer problem, about to become more acute with the 3G. Of course, this simply means I've become vastly more power-conscious, miserly hoarding my battery by switching off Bluetooth and WiFi wherever practical, and reducing brightness to the bare minimum.

At least Apple has apparently resolved the mass email delete issue in v2.0. I remember the first time I received 40+ messages in my iPhone inbox, and then discovered I had to delete. each. email. one. at. a. time.

Do I regret my original iPhone purchase? Absolutely not. Do I nonetheless continue to curse at the beast on a daily basis? Yep. Will I get a 3G? Probably not right away, as I can't make a compelling use case for it, given that what I primarily care about is couched in the v2.0 software itself, and not in the hardware (save for the user-replaceable battery situation which won't be resolved by the 3G).

-m

p.s.: I had a jailbroken iPhone up through v1.1.4, and I want to extend full props & kudos to the remarkable devs out there who have clearly demonstrated the potential of the iPhone as a general-purpose computing device that just happens to have a phone attached. I'm hoping that the App Store continues this tradition (judging by my experience thus far with the SDK, I think we're going to see a remarkable number of really fantastic apps in a really short period of time).

 

[imwoblin]

If Pogue is suggesting that you can get the features of iPhone 3g from a software upgrade, he's even less intelligent than I thought. The biggest features that most people want in the iPhone 3g are GPS and 3g service. For me, better voice quality is the biggie. None of those will work on the previous iPhone.

Pogue said that ATT's 3G service was spotty at best, and showed the ATT map which showed not a great deal of full 3G service, and also said that even in a big city like NYC service was spotty. He did say the new phone is awesome, but said the cost benefit of upgrading to the new 3G from a 2G really depends on coverage considering the added monthly service cost. He also said that the GPS really had no features but was certain someone would write a program to support it.

 

[jragosta]

Pogue said that ATT's 3G service was spotty at best, and showed the ATT map which showed not a great deal of full 3G service, and also said that even in a big city like NYC service was spotty.

That's complete and utter FUD. He must be looking at the 2004 map. The current AT&T map shows essentially complete 3G as far north as Paramus, as far east as Syosset, as far south as Red Bank, NJ, and as far west as Cranford, NJ. After that, it begins to get spotty. The entire NYC metro area is blanketed.

I live in a mid-sized metro area and the entire metro area including all the suburbs are covered.

 

[imwoblin]

That's complete and utter FUD. He must be looking at the 2004 map. The current AT&T map shows essentially complete 3G as far north as Paramus, as far east as Syosset, as far south as Red Bank, NJ, and as far west as Cranford, NJ. After that, it begins to get spotty. The entire NYC metro area is blanketed.

I live in a mid-sized metro area and the entire metro area including all the suburbs are covered.

Here is the ATT map he is using. I am surprised that the coverage is not that extensive... make sure you zoom in and check the box that says "view 3G mobile broadband service"

Linky: http://wireless.att.com/coverageviewer

 

[Terry W]

Copy/Paste Suggestion

I'm not sure how Copy and Paste is handled, either, on cell phones, but I don't imagine it'd be pretty hard. Excuse me, people who know what they're talking about, as I'm clueless...but couldn't you just set it up so, let's say (and I'm just making this up off the top of my head) you put two fingers on the screen (like you do with two-finger scrolling on a Macintosh) and slide it across the text to highlight, then either have some buttons on the virtual keyboard, or have some gesture to do it. It makes sense to me, but then again, I don't know how it works, so, I'm talking out of my ass.

Edit: Also, something similar...you could place your finger where you want to begin so that it magnifies (like it does), then place the second finger on the screen and drag through where you want? The iPhone already has multi-touch, so it shouldn't be that hard. (to highlight)



...Sounds a bit confusing...

Can't agree more that the fact that a Blackberry can copy/paste and the iPhone can't is absurd. What I think is also missing on the iPhone keyboard is an up/down/right/left arrows to more easily navigate through text you are typing (Blackberry makes it easy to do by using scroll wheel or button). If that were available, copy/paste would become much easier. My suggestion would be when you hold down your finger at a point in the text, instead of a magnifying glass popping up, the cursor would move to where you were holding down and the keyboard area would change to a smaller size and reveal nine buttons: shift, copy, cut, paste (grey'd if nothing has been previously copied/cut), up/down/right/left arrows, and an exit button to get back to the regular keyboard. You could then more precisely position the cursor using the arrows. To copy/cut text you either use your finger to highlight (like you currently do to move the cursor) or use the shift button and hit the arrows to highlight, much like you do on a regular keyboard. Thoughts?

 

[swatch]

Can't agree more that the fact that a Blackberry can copy/paste and the iPhone can't is absurd. What I think is also missing on the iPhone keyboard is an up/down/right/left arrows to more easily navigate through text you are typing (Blackberry makes it easy to do by using scroll wheel or button). If that were available, copy/paste would become much easier. My suggestion would be when you hold down your finger at a point in the text, instead of a magnifying glass popping up, the cursor would move to where you were holding down and the keyboard area would change to a smaller size and reveal nine buttons: shift, copy, cut, paste (grey'd if nothing has been previously copied/cut), up/down/right/left arrows, and an exit button to get back to the regular keyboard. You could then more precisely position the cursor using the arrows. To copy/cut text you either use your finger to highlight (like you currently do to move the cursor) or use the shift button and hit the arrows to highlight, much like you do on a regular keyboard. Thoughts?

I'm sure you've all seen this before, but just in case:

http://vimeo.com/266383

I like THIS approach to cut/paste on the iPhone.

 

[Terry W]

Agreed, much more elegant

I'm sure you've all seen this before, but just in case:

http://vimeo.com/266383

I like THIS approach to cut/paste on the iPhone.

AGREED - THIS IS MUCH MORE ELEGANT. Hadn't seen it before so thanks for re-posting. Especially the fact that the copied items stay in a clipboard and you can paste any of the last several items. And the video is hysterical.

 

[jragosta]

Here is the ATT map he is using. I am surprised that the coverage is not that extensive... make sure you zoom in and check the box that says "view 3G mobile broadband service"

Linky: http://wireless.att.com/coverageviewer

I can't see what the whining is about. And this certainly doesn't justify his statement that service is spotty in NYC. Click on where it says 'selected areas' and then pick New York, NY from the list. The entire metro area is fully covered.

 

[kupua]

!

Part of the real questions though that's NOT answered, it does it stop or at very least reduce the speaker squeal when its communication with the towers!

 

[kupua]

Copy and Paste...

Regarding copy and paste… I don't understand, going all the way back to when Uncle Steve and CO. said that how easy it is to program and all to API's is so easy to program for it and such. If so where the heck is that functionality? Duh...

 

[ryhnio]

well thats what we expected

 

[jasonv21]

Louder now!

Just google or youtube "taking an iphone apart" like in this video. Only I used a box cutter blade instead of the tool he used. You basically need to shove something sharp between the brushed metal and plastic the and cap will pop off. You are gonna be shocked at how much louder it gets.

UFOGoldorak, good looking out, did it, not too hard. Just didn't do the pin in the holes as I don't have anything that small, still makes a difference. Hopefully Apple won't see that I just voided the warranty if I have to take it in.

 

[ksscope]

Australian review

Just found this review on one of the Aussie forums:

http://www.gadgetguy.com.au/apple-iphone-3g-review-152395-.html

Seems a well-balanced review, with some valid criticism.

 

[jasonv21]

Awesome!

I'm sure you've all seen this before, but just in case:

http://vimeo.com/266383

I like THIS approach to cut/paste on the iPhone.

Ingenious, frackin' ingenius!

 

[koshper]

Bring on the parallel port, floppy disk/tape drive support. Bring on the semaphore and telegram support.

Or bring on the push email with attachment support.

fanboy alert! lets take away SMS while we're at it shall we?

I don't think asking for the iphone to have MMS is asking too much.

what alternative can the iphone do that my girlfriends basic nokia camera phone will be able to receive?

 

[t0mat0]

fanboy alert! lets take away SMS while we're at it shall we?

I don't think asking for the iphone to have MMS is asking too much.

what alternative can the iphone do that my girlfriends basic nokia camera phone will be able to receive?

Heck - i'd prefer to use email if the other person could actually receive push email Maybe attachments too. And not needing to worry if i've gone over my SMS plan.

Asking for Flash, or MMS isn't asking for much. But if other phones had more capabilities, we might need MMS as much...

I'd much prefer to receive or send a decent quality picture, rather than have to be reminded that i'm having to reduce the quality of the picture just so I can send it...
You make the point yourself - the basic Nokia can't receive it. Is that Apple's fault?

 

[mobilehavoc]

Just wanted to take a moment to point the obvious since everyone keeps looking to 3rd party apps as the saviors for all the stuff missing in the iPhone 2.0 software...keep in mind.

A) Apple has strict limitations in the SDK (not just GPS) including the infamous no background process which will severely limit apps. Good luck navigating with TomTom (IF they ever release it) and then getting a phone call...or needing to check something in your email. The examples are endless.

B) The killer software that does come out will cost $$$. Apple has a very strong interest in developers charing more $ because they get a cut of each sale and many believe they are shifting their business model to rely more on revenue from app store sales than hardware - common practice (see video game consoles).

So in the end, App Store will be great I'm sure but just know even if a company can create a demo on a jailbroken iPhone it doesn't mean it'll work on Apple's approved SDK iPhone.

 

[gnasher729]

I guess I never expected turn by turn instructions. That would require 1. consistent placement of the iPhone while in a car (so it can maintain signal) 2. a large enough antenna to allow continuous accurate tracking 3. battery sufficient to maintain continuous tracking and 4. enough memory to store all the necessary maps or else relying on 3G to power continuous map updates, which would take a bit of battery.

You can easily fit _all_ available road map data even on an 8 GB iPhone. Complete Western European maps are maybe 1.5 GB; USA is about the same. TomTom will probably sell a package with the software, a little gadget to attach the iPhone to your windscreen, and a car charger.

 

[gnasher729]

Anyone care to say what the default can go down to? Is that overridable? What's the actual setting called? Surely Google Maps is just communicating with the GPS on a continual if only cyclical basis?

All this would be in the iPhone SDK and under NDA, but if you think about it, figuring out your location takes battery power, and the more precise you want it the more power it takes (for low precision you just check for the nearest tower, for higher precision you want three towers with precise signal measurement for triangulation), and the more often you update, the more power it takes.

So if you are a software developer you will think how much precision you need and how often to check again. For example if I wrote an application that shows you a list of nearby cinemas and their programs, half a mile precision is fine for that, and I wouldn't check the position more than once every fifteen minutes. For GPS navigation, I would ask for ten meters precision and check every second if you're using a charger.