As noted previously I have not purchased the iPhone 3G and as of this moment see no compelling reason to do so … I did update my iPhone to the 2.0 software though after the update re-harvested the SIM for my other devices.
I like what I see in the app store, meaning I like how it works, but I am not finding any applications that are must have, OMG this is something that will drive me to the 3G device cool. The App Store is regardless, the best on-device implementation I’ve seen for application discovery and distribution. Works quite well in iTunes as also I should note, though 99% of my browsing has been on the iPhone itself.
I’ve loaded up mainly streaming music apps – Pandora, AOL Radio and Last.fm. All work well and as you’d expect delivering tunes based on your requests. I’ve only used them on Wifi, but as Angel can confirm, music streaming on EDGE seems to work fine too.
I’ve also checked out Facebook, NYTimes, Truphone, Remote, eReader and Bank of America. Facebook worked as expected though the iPhone web app was strong to begin with. The NYT was actually disappointingly slow. The m.site is much quicker on the iPhone or any other device for that matter. Truphone refused to connect I think because I was doing it without a SIM and that’s how it identifies you … eReader is cool and actually connected to pretty old Palm database. I actually updated my payment info with eReader and installed the app on my E71 … think I’ll be checking out some new eBooks soon. I don’t have an account with Bank of America, but I was curious how they were handling mobile banking … not much to see beyond locations until I login. Remote is the best app I’ve tried and that’s thanks to the Apple-centric home in which I live. I love how I can use my wife’s or my iPhone to connect to our shared iTunes library and stream tunes on the AppleTV. If I did not have an iPhone, it would be worth having an iPod Touch just for this functionality.
In general, I’m pleased with the update given I get essentially all the functions minus the 3G radio and onboard GPS with the 2.0 software. I stopped in the Apple Store in White Plains on Sunday for a Genius Bar appointment with my MacBookPro and spent some time with the new iPhone 3G just to see if I’d missed anything and should just buy it, but I left without a new device and am not regretting anything. The new hardware certainly feels nicer in your hand and I found the keyboard more responsive than the one on my device, which is odd given they run the same OS … If I was going to spring for one, I’d get the White which definitely looks elegant and seems to stay cleaner compared to the finger print magnet Black. Plus, I’d need to have 16GB just because …
I was completely unsuccessful at getting my work Exchange account to sync and am not sure what the issue is as the Mail for Exchange application syncs without issue on the Nokia handsets on which I’ve tried it. MobileMe has been a complete fail … Contacts and Calendar refuse to load and mail is just my .Mac which is already forwarding to Gmail. I’d probably stick with Gmail IMAP which supports IDLE and does “push.”
I’ve been reading reports on battery life and am not surprised. GPS and 3G eat batteries. It’s been my experience for a long time and that nice big screen on the iPhone can’t be helping in the power department either. People will just need to learn how to manage their activities a bit. Speaking of which I’m very curious to see what happens with all the apps people load and how that impacts the usability and navigation on the device. There are no sub-menus which is potentially easier to deal with, but you can only deal with so many pages of things.
We’ll have to see what happens when apps get access to background processes in the fall. For now, there’s still no multitasking, cut and paste, and bluetooth does not support DUN, A2DP or keyboards. My iPhone is likely to remain largely unused …