My iPhone 3G
August 12th, 2008 | Published in Hardware
I once joined the “iPhone non-buyers” group on Facebook. I swore up and down I wouldn’t get one. I said:
I will not be buying an iPhone until they sell an unlocked version that doesn’t need to be hacked to use third party applications.
Well, the iPhone 3G changed the equation, some. The iPhone 3G does have 3rd party apps, but they have to be vetted, etc. by Apple, which is a mixed bag. The iPhone 3G had some compelling features and 3rd party apps (like Pandora, which, I have to admit, is about 1/2 the reason I got the phone.)
So, I got one, about two weeks ago. And it’s been a combination of sheer joy, and sheer frustration. In general, the phone actually works quite well. The phone interface is great, visual voicemail rocks, reading email is really good, and surfing the web is decent - way better than on a blackberry.
But the apps, and the app store (where to get apps) have been the cause of crashes, iPhone lockup requiring multiple restorations (which, luckily, are relatively painless.) There are some great apps and games, some really good for really cheap (or free.) But getting them onto the iPhone, or getting them to work, is sometimes a pain.
Syncing is way slower than on a regular iPod, and backups can take 1/2 hour, which is absurd. There are multiple threads on multiple sites about problems with the iPhone 3G - clearly, some software fixes need to happen, and the faster they happen, the happier I’ll be.
But driving down the highway, listening to my favorite Pandora stations is the best thing since sliced bread.
My suggestion: if you like gadgets, are addicted to being connected at all times, and you feel like you need reading glasses to read email or the web on the Blackberry screen, the iPhone might be a good bet, but I’d wait until software version 2.1 comes out. And if you are eligible for an upgrade, it’s cheap (relatively speaking for smartphones.) I know some folks are holding out for an Android phone, which, from what I can tell, are going to be pretty similar.
