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iPhone 3G Review

By David Young 8 August 08

The touch display of my iPhone EDGE stopped working a couple of weeks before the launch of the iPhone 3G, and, who am I kidding, I was going to get one anyway, so I stood in line three times July 11. By 8PM I had the iPhone 3G 16GB (black) and was on my way.

I composed a list of things I was hoping to see remedied in the iPhone 3G back in May. The touch interface continues to annoy, but I’ve jumped into learning how to type on the virtual keyboard and I’m getting the hang of it. But it does take time.

The iPhone 3G still does not serve as a modem either wired or via bluetooth (yes, I’m aware of NetShare). But who cares, one discovers, with the iPhone 3G, that 3G isn’t a feature. The 3G reception is awful. I’m sitting here with one to two bars on the iPhone 3G is 3G mode. My Nokia N95 has 5 3G bars. And the iPhone 3G consistenly drops calls when flitting between 3G mode and EDGE mode. The 3G is not reliable. So I don’t use it.

Let’s talk battery. Maybe the awful 3G reception on the iPhone 3G is why the battery life sucks. This is the worst device I’ve every owned when it comes to battery life. With normal use, the battery of the iPhone 3G needs to be charged twice a day. What’s normal use? Just talking, playing a bit of Dizzy Bee. Nothing dramatic. I’m not using the 3G network, for goodness sakes. My iPhone EDGE needed a charge every day and a half. If I turn off the 3G and only use EDGE (therefore rendering the phone the iPhone ersatz 3G), the battery life still sucks. I’m using the word “suck” on purpose. You can almost watch the battery drain in real time.

I have seen people claim that 3G phones have awful battery life in general. Anecdotally, I can’t see how this makes any sense. I’ve turned off the 3G and it doesn’t seem to improve battery life. Besides, my Nokia N95 is in 3G mode all the time and lasts for two days on a single charge. Yes, your mileage may vary.

Synching the iPhone 3G with my Macintosh can sometimes take 45+ minutes. Most of the time seems to be in “backing up”.

The App Store is great. I don’t know why I bought the “Slots” game, but there are a number of very nice applications. I recommend:

Apple has done a great job helping to keep applications up-to-date on the phone. However, whenever I update applications, the arrangement and order of the icons on the iPhone 3G is changed.

The iPhone is a great platform. The iPhone 3G remains the phone in my pocket because of the browser and now the applications. SMS is excellent. But the phone functionality, well, to misquote Mr. Jobs out of context “[should] not have been delayed without consequence”. Can the modem functionality, the bad 3G, the battery life be fixed in software. I hope so.


  1. I still have the first iphone but updated to the latest firmware. Like you, I was having to fully charge the battery twice per day.

    @Fitzage suggested that I turn the push email setting off and rely on fetching mail instead. Battery issue solved for me, but then again, I don’t have 3G.

    — Jamie    105 days ago    #

  2. I’ve read two other people complain about the awful 3G reception. Both of them were also in the Bay area.

    In other areas, the main complaint about 3G seems to be the battery sucking nature of it.

    — Reid    103 days ago    #

  3. I have reed, that iPhone get hard problems, if it rain and a bit water drops to the display….

    — Ali    95 days ago    #

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