The iPhone returns … iPhone 3G S

>edfa been a really long time since I used an iphone for anything. My original iPhone essentially became a paperweight after about 3 months and the SIM card has rotated through a dozen or more devices since. Even so I felt compelled to check it out once again and once I realized that the (subsized) price for the 32GB model was $100 less than the equivalent iPod Touch, I was sold.

It’s hard to not be impressed with what’s changed since the original. The hardware is sleek, lighter and includes some serious power boosts making what was a previously slow unit intensely fast! The iPhone 3G S might be the fastest device I’ve used. The basic navigation is effortless and switching between open apps and the finder and back to re-open an app is very smooth. I’m still in the process of re-familiarizing myself with the flow and while there are some new additions with 3.0, but it’s not exactly hard to figure anything out here. First take, the iPhone has truly advanced in 2.5 generations.

My main issue currently is one that will probably improve with time though never quite be what I’ve grown accustomed to via S60 which is multitasking. The same core apps get that treatment while 3rd party developers have try to work through the (barely live) push notices. I’ve got a few apps installed that allegedly use this (AP News, Umbrella, Tapulous) and have gotten a few from AP… The process is simple enough but the limits of the implementation mean that the information yo get carries no context. You still have to find and launch the AP App, wait for it to refresh and then find the headline if you want to read the full piece. That’s less than ideal … Why we can’t simply get some sort of link that deep links to the app is beyond me. Oh right without multitasking, your app can’t update until it’s open. Similar currently running app limits apply across the board. You can’t stream music from last.fm or pandora and do anything else – background notices have nothing to offer streaming media.

The first generation battery was quite weak by my standards. Today I found I had burned over 50% of the battery in a few hours of use. Looks like moderate usage will yield a full day, but I’d be nervous having a really heavy day of usage without access to some extra juice. Standard smartphone …

I’ll have some more thoughts soon enough … for now though I am very pleased with this upgrade regardless of the background process limits. The iPhone is clearly a well polished, easy to use and very powerful device. Strong subsidized pricing make it an easy choice …

6 Replies to “The iPhone returns … iPhone 3G S”

  1. yay! welcome back man! <happy tear>

    I did notice a performance improvement from 3G to 3G S, but I must say that I *love* the ability to take vids and upload them right to YouTube on the fly. That def changes the way I share video forever…. well, for a year at least šŸ˜‰

  2. emm…S60 IS looking tired. you remmber that i jumped with the launch of the 3G when Nokia killed Bluetooth on my device with a system update and apart from buying a 'Bridge' camera, i have never looked back.

    whilst many hate to say it (including a guy i know who works for Samsung and was one place behind me in the queue a year ago), the iPhone 3G and the 3G S are both a leap ahead of the rest. sure multi-tasking is missing – as is a decent camera (good lens, flash, zoom etc.) but the 3G S or 3GS (whatever) is definitely a step in the right direction.

    the v 3.0 software is a serious welcome addition even to my 3G. cut and paste, landscape typing are fab but for me the biggest gain was the ability to sync Notes. since abandoning Windows PC and Windows Mobile three years ago I have had to contend with living without certain things on the move and a proprietary 3rd party app to manage notes and then remember to sync them between my desktop and laptop….not any more!

    I am sticking with my 3G until the end of my 18 month contract but there appears to be little if anything close to being serious competition.

    so welcome back J. i just hope those nice Nordic folk sort themselves out and come up with something that you, me and Stephen Fry consider good enough to demand our time and attention sometime down the line….

  3. I've been doing high caliber photo and video for years now … that's something the iPhone has improved on, but has waaaaays to go. I've had multi-megapixel and flash (dual LED / Xenon) on various Nokia handsets … Video too. The upload via Youtube compresses way too far. I'd recommend going with Pixelpipe for the full capacity instead and you can then also choose from many more sites.

  4. Good to be back, though I'm still a two-piece (or more) mobile user. I also have an Eseries for work and will continue to rotate through various S60 products. I hope there are still plenty of tricks coming from Espoo …

  5. I've been doing high caliber photo and video for years now … that's something the iPhone has improved on, but has waaaaays to go. I've had multi-megapixel and flash (dual LED / Xenon) on various Nokia handsets … Video too. The upload via Youtube compresses way too far. I'd recommend going with Pixelpipe for the full capacity instead and you can then also choose from many more sites.

  6. Good to be back, though I'm still a two-piece (or more) mobile user. I also have an Eseries for work and will continue to rotate through various S60 products. I hope there are still plenty of tricks coming from Espoo …

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