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Friday, July 18

iPhone 3G review

Okay, so I have had my iPhone 3G with iPhone 2.0 software for a solid week now.  

BLUF:  I like it.

Now, I live in a 3G area.  Which means I get the full capabilities of the speed, and it's nice.  Browsing the internet is faster, Mail is faster, everything is nice and quick.  Even the apps I use.  The truth is, I was considering not getting one, but the touchscreen stopped working on my old iPhone about a month ago, and therefore, I had to upgrade (oh darn).

iPhone 2.0 software
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This is the greatest feature about the new iPhone (and the old iPhone too) is the apps.  Now that you can have apps, it's awesome.  I hacked my phone in the past but there were no apps that I was excited about and I really didn't care to do it again.  There were really three apps I wanted on my old iPhones software.  
1) something to manage my to-do's
2) some kind of music buying app
3) Instant messenger.

Well, now I have Omnifocus for the iPhone (and the mac, and it's great, everything syncs up..  awesome.  Although I do have to call Omnigroup out on something.  They say that their databases sync via "MobileMe".  Now, if I said that to you, that would imply you have to-do syncing through the cloud right?  Well, not really.  All that happens is your Omnifocus DB is stored on your iDisk, and your devices have to sync to iDisk, so while technically true, it's ill worded...anyway..  Omnifocus is great, I recommend it, little high in price, but... yeah)  So that takes care of my to-do's.

2)  Some kind of music buying app.  Well iPhone has had the iTunes store for a while, and it has been great.  But there are occasions that you didn't know what the song was that you heard on the radio and you wanted to know.  Well now my iPhone has an app called Shazam, that will listen to the song I am listening to and tell me what the song is.  Awesome.

3)  Instant Messenger, well I got my AOL IM, but it's just not as polished as I think it should be.  It should be iChat'ish.  Come on Apple, do your thing.

Of course I have some other apps on there as well, games, facebook, pownce, twitter..etc..  and I use them, but they are just add ons.  Not must haves.

The GPS is awesome, quick too.  While it doesn't TELL you where to make turns, it WILL follow where you are at on Google Maps, and you can just get your directions through there.  So it works just fine for a GPS phone.  I'd like to replace my Car GPS with the iPhone, which requires two things.  A touch bit better GPS turn-by-turn software, say from Tom-Tom or Garmin, and a Car Charger.  No car charger yet.  Let's go!

All in all..  Excellent phone, I highly recommend it for people who live in a 3G area.  If you don't live in a 3G area, then don't worry about it, because the speed won't help you.  Get your software update.  

However if you live in a 3G area, or you like the 'flush headset jack' idea, or the fact that it fits better in your hand (with the rounded back), then get it.  The iPhone 3G FEELS thinner.  But in fact it's a 0.2 mm thicker in the middle.  But you probably won't notice.



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2 comments:

Mark said...

Hi Joel, Mark H from the 53L here. I'm curious why a car charger is a big thing? With the tiny accessory plug (no cig lighters anymore right?) inverters that are available cheap, why worry about a car charger? Just head to your nearest Love's and pick up a little 100W inverter and then you can use the regular one :)

Joel Esler said...

Well, this was back when car chargers for the 3G weren't available.
Obviously, they are now.