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I'm with you. The other features are marginal for me. But i have residences in ky and fla, and at the latter i can't use the phone inside my townhouse. ATT knows of the tower signal deficiency but after 8 months of my reporting it and their acknowledging it, they haven't fixed it (it's in the middle of a suburban area, a mile or two from one of their "more bars in more places" billboards). So the chance of having it work there makes me eagerly anticipate getting one. In the end though i think the apps are going to be the big story about the iPhone, in the same way that the first spread sheet launched a boom in computer usage.

Make sure you check the 3G coverage map....

I wonder how many people will buy the iPhone while just assuming that they have 3G coverage....
 
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.

My guess is that a turn by turn implementation would be inaccurate and drain battery life. So you'd get people who drive for two hours and completely drain their battery, then complain about that. Also, you'd get people turning onto the wrong streets, especially when they're close together. Finally, the map might disappear temporarily because the 3G would temporarily be in a slow spot. Of course, someone who is actually using turn-by-turn on a cell phone might want to give some insight into whether these ideas hold water.

it wouldn't be hard to make a in-car adapter/dock so it will keep your iPhone charged while on the road.
 
We sure are a demanding lot, eh?

First we wanted copy & paste, Disk-Access mode, MMS, then Landscape keyboards, video recording, document editing, front facing cameras, GPS, and 3G.

After all this time, what we got was a "Lets beat iPhoneDevTeam at their own game with our own version of Installer", totalitarian exchange server integration, a crippled GPS function which acts nearly identically to the laughing stock that was the "locate me" function, and 3G, with extremely limited 3G coverage. And a price increase.

Now, all we are left wanting is copy & paste, Disk-Access mode, MMS, then Landscape keyboards, video recording, document editing, front facing cameras, GPS with route tracking, and 3G (on a 3G network).

I can't imagine why consumers are disappointed.

iPhone got off to a great start, but Apple, you're slipping...

If appstore could solve those shortcomings that'd be one thing, but it can't, and the competition has every intention of getting up after the knock-down, and swinging back to fill the wishes Apple is ignoring. It'll take them some time, but it's a shame, as Apple should enjoy the fruits of their great leap forward, not get trampled as everyone else slingshots past.

I know Apple loves to project that they answer only to themselves, and don't need to know what their customers want, but at some point, the groaning becomes loud enough that new potential customers can hear it.

I don't see the 3G having the widespread acceptance fervor that the original model enjoyed.

Perhaps the 3G is Apples sophomore slump.
 
don't really get why everyone is so mad about the reviews...
it's faster, cheaper, has better reception... sorry it's not the second commin' but c'mon, get real. did we really expect them to RE-INVENT iPhone...
iPhone rocks, now it's cheaper, and better....

HURRY EVERYONE, LETS COMPLAIN
 
I'm sure some apps will come out that give you the raw longitude/latitude coordinates, though.

TomTom has stated they are working on a GPS app. While they won't be allowed to give turn-by-turn instructions, they could have the maps on the device so you can find your way while camping and such. Even with the recent drop in GPS prices in the past year, I'd still rather have the iPhone cannibalize a device for sporadic usage for the reason mentioned above.
 
Uhh guys? TomTom already proved this wrong. They have turn by turn on the iphone already.
Perhaps the iPhone GPS is accurate, but that has little to do with how fast it is. It may be able to accurately show you where you are statically, but if you move faster than say 5 mph it may get too far behind to be useful. Even car GPS units sometimes have problems at speed. The Garmin Nuvi 200W that I tried out recently did fine under about 40 mph and then it got too far behind to be useful, and might give directions too late so that you missed your turn. Many street in my town have 45-55 mph speed limits or higher, so it was useless on those street. I ended up taking it back. If even a dedicated car GPS has problems keeping up, the iPhone may have very serious problem; only time will tell.
 
Sophomore slump? I'd pay money to see your face 6 months from now looking at then current iPhone 3G sales numbers.
 
wah wah wah! o_O

You guys seriously need to stop complaining, it's quite annoying... :rolleyes:

On a better note, I currently have a 1st gen iphone which will have the firmware update and my wife will get a white 3g iphone come Friday ;)... Can't wait until then. :apple:
 
"According to Apple, the iPhone’s G.P.S. antenna is much too small to emulate the turn-by-turn navigation of a G.P.S. unit for a vehicle, for example."

Uh...what?
 
Eh? Link.

Yep, they had it working, but as any number of developers have shown, just because you got something working on the iPhone, doesn't mean Apple's going to let you distribute for the device. And in this case, Apple specifically prohibits it.

No reason why, with 16gb, I can't have an option to load the maps locally. And what's this about the antennae being too small? The Garmin GPS I used two years ago did a fine job of turn-by-turn, and was smaller than the iPhone.

Not that any of it matters, since GPS won't work unless you're near a cell tower anyway. ...at which point, you might as well be using "LocateMe"... Or unless you go camping in the city.
 
I agree there was no real need to reinvent the iPhone, all it needed was a faster network connection, which it got. Though video chat would have been very cool and Star Trekish.
 
Yep, they had it working, but as any number of developers have shown, just because you got something working on the iPhone, doesn't mean Apple's going to let you distribute for the device. And in this case, Apple specifically prohibits it.

No reason why, with 16gb, I can't have an option to load the maps locally. And what's this about the antennae being too small? The Garmin GPS I used two years ago did a fine job of turn-by-turn, and was smaller than the iPhone.
Keep in mind that this was based on the iPhone simulator and not real hardware.. not to mention the oft-cited clause in Apple's SDK "TOS" (if that's what it's called).

What I'd really like to know is WHY Apple prohibits this type of thing. What reason could they possibly have?
 
Which leaves 3G and GPS as the big draws...

Sadly they both seem to have big caveats:

3G kills your battery life to the point where the early reviewers sometimes didn't even get a day's worth of usage of the phone (and that's before natural battery degredation).

GPS can't be used for exactly what everyone expects to use GPS for. I'm hoping this one is just a software issue and there will be AppStore apps that do provide usable driving direction type applications, but given the contents of these reviews and the fact that Apple has done a fairly horrible job of clearly communicating any information regarding the iPhone 3G -- launch details, plans for the future, plans for the development program (there are still tons of people who have signed up and never been approved, including big name Mac supporters), etc, I'm not sure what to think.

As for the battery, I suspect that reviewer was using it a lot more heavily than most people would. I can get 4 or 5 days out of the original iPhone with no problem at all - even at my heaviest use - so I expect I'll be OK with the new one.

But the real killer feature for me is the sound quality. My iPhone cuts out enough that I was tempted to dump it for that reason alone. If the new one is as much better as Mossberg claims, I'll be happy.
 
You guys are misunderstanding the GPS comments, it's not accurate enough to know exactly where you are and for example say "Turn left in 300 feet", but it will still give you a line to follow and show you where you are on that line. Still seems pretty useful to me.

This seems a little misleading given the demo at WWDC. I've driven down Lombard St and the iPhone looked to be tracking very well. On the other hand, you have to drive down Lombard St at about 5 MPH.
 

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This article doesn't want to make me run out on day 1 and try to find the new iphone. The battery life is shocking as I was under impression it had twice the capacity. I guess that doesn't matter when 3G is running.

I'll probably wait to get the iphone after release and get more reviews.
 
I am very happy so far with the build and quality of my current iPhone with no single scratch or dent on the Aluminium back. I doubt if the plastic ones would be half as good. I will take a pass on this one:

  1. I seriously wanted video recording. Though we can get this with 3rd party apps but the camera and optics are still crapy even in the new iPhone.
  2. Vodafone NZ is charging ridiculously high tariff's and on their monthly iPhone plans. Even after signing a two years contract the price of the 3G iPhone would be same as what I had to pay for my unlocked gen1 iPhone. Check here.
  3. No Copy/Paste support yet. Apple is holding back features so guess I will need to wait.

I can get the App store and ver2.0 s/w anyways and most of the h/w is same anyways and should be able to take advantage of almost all the new Apps except the ones which will need 3G & GPS. I guess these apps will need atleast another year or so to mature. By that time we'll be eyeing for WWDC-2009 keynotes for gen3 iPhone :)
 
Again, are you serious that I can't dial an address book entry via voice commands, or a random number? :confused::eek:
 
Sophomore slump? I'd pay money to see your face 6 months from now looking at then current iPhone 3G sales numbers.

I'll be genuinely surprised if it outperforms the iPhone I. Though, since consumers do not have the luxury of choosing, who knows. If you want an iPhone from here on out, it will be a 3G.

Still, the only people I know who are excited about the 3G are all right here on this site. Everyone else, upon seeing mine, asks if I'm going to get the new one, followed by things like "Oh, I heard Apples stock dropped like a rock when they announced the new one. Sounds like it was a disappointment" & "I saw an article talking about how Apple & AT&T are screwing everyone on pricing." etc...

There's a backlash and a negative perception with the 3G that wasn't there for the original.

---

Sophomore Slump: When your first release is so above and beyond, the expectations surrounding your second release tower unrealistically high, and are impossible to meet.
 
It's the App Store

The App Store is the key to this whole thing. People are going to be astonished at the apps coming out. They'll take advantage of the new hardware such as the pinpoint-superfast GPS and will more than fill in the gaps in the base software Apple offers. I think the store is going to offer much, much more than people are expecting.
 
The amount of devices [per store] will vary… on average a few dozen iPhones in each”

British Stores only have about 100 iphones each!
Better hurry up and get inline!!

O2 responds: “You thought the online launch was a mess, wait ’till you try to buy the iPhone in one of our stores!“

July 8th | Posted by Dr. Macenstein

Faithful UK Macenstein reader Steven Haskayne, frustrated over O2’s bungled online iPhone 3G pre-sale earlier this week, fired off a nasty letter to O2’s CEO, Matthew Key with a few choice words. O2’s response, posted in its entirety below, leaves us thinking those hoping to waltz into one of O2’s brick and mortar stores and pick up a 3G iPhone may want to start lining up now, just like their sweaty US counterparts (hey, at least it isn’t 90 degrees over there, right?).

Phrases such as “it is likely that stock will be in very short supply for some weeks to come. “ and “The amount of devices [per store] will vary… on average a few dozen iPhones in each” do not inspire confidence in a smooth launch.

Sprinkled among the fair amount of finger pointing towards Cupertino, there are some interesting facts about the failed online pre-sale. Apparently over 200,000 people tried to order the iPhone online, with orders coming in at a rate of 13,000 per second. Hmm… maybe this iPhone thing will catch on after all….
 
Pogue's GPS criticism makes no sense.

FTA: "Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do with the G.P.S. According to Apple, the iPhone’s G.P.S. antenna is much too small to emulate the turn-by-turn navigation of a G.P.S. unit for a vehicle, for example."

"Instead, all it can do at this point is track your position as you drive along, representing you as a blue dot sliding along the roads of the map. Even then, the metal of a car or the buildings of Manhattan are often enough to block the iPhone’s view of the sky, leaving it just as confused as you are."
--
In the second paragraph he points out that it can track your position. That is all that is needed as far as the antenna is concerned for turn by turn directions. Apple's site says it includes turn by turn.The other reviews said the GPS was accurate. Pogue really dropped the ball. If the problem is the sky scrapers in Manhattan, fine. But most of us aren't there.

He says in the first paragraph it works in a car. Duh. :rolleyes:
 
I'll be genuinely surprised if it outperforms the iPhone I. Though, since consumers do not have the luxury of choosing, who knows. If you want an iPhone from here on out, it will be a 3G.

Still, the only people I know who are excited about the 3G are all right here on this site. Everyone else, upon seeing mine, asks if I'm going to get the new one, followed by things like "Oh, I heard Apples stock dropped like a rock when they announced the new one. Sounds like it was a disappointment" & "I saw an article talking about how Apple & AT&T are screwing everyone on pricing." etc...

There's a backlash and a negative perception with the 3G that wasn't there for the original.

---

Sophomore Slump: When your first release is so above and beyond, the expectations surrounding your second release tower unrealistically high, and are impossible to meet.

Duly noted.. however, last I checked, the iPhone 3G is poised to become another blockbuster hit. Remember how for months, "analysts" and bloggers were seriously doubting how Apple could possibly reach its goal of selling 10 million iPhones in 2008? And remember how, once iPhone 3G was announced, the exact opposite started happening? The highest estimate I've seen, if I remember correctly, numbered in the tens of millions of iPhones sold by 2009..

Of course iPhone 3G's sales performance remains to be observed, but I don't see why it wouldn't be a huge success.

Another thing.. I think you over estimate the average consumer's awareness of all this stuff we take for granted. They're going to hear about the iPhone 3G, look at it, think it's shiny and awesome like everything else Apple makes, and go for it if they can afford it. Personally, I think it's going to be that simple.
 
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