July 20th 2008 Posted in
iphone Well, I’m happy to say that I managed to get my hands on a 16Gb iPhone 3G yesterday. But even though the sales were a steady stream instead of huge peaks, the current word on the street is that the bulk of the iPhones are gone – forget about trying to get a 16Gb model right now and even 8Gb models are getting hard to find. I’m hearing noise about two week lead times for restocking.
The 3G iPhone came to me as a fantastic deal since now I won’t really need to purchase a dedicated GPS.? In my cursory testing, the internal GPS combined with Google Maps is certainly sufficient for my current needs – I’ll have more to say about that as I start seriously playing with it.
Amusingly, there were 4 new iPhones in my office yesterday morning, and I know at least 3 others who are planning the purchase once they complete their current contracts.? This thing is huge!
Quick highlights
Little things jump out, like the fact that the screen is no longer integrated with the protective glass, so there’s a little outline around the actual display portion of the screen.? It’s a little less elegant than the original, but if your iPhone takes a serious dive and the glass cracks, it should be much less expensive to replace the glass alone and not the display as well.
Reception is way better on all radio frequencies.? At my office, most devices can’t pick up the internal wifi network while outside, including my iPhone v1.? The 3G model has no problems picking up the wifi signal at 2 bars when on the front step which is really quite nice as many impromptu mettings happen there.
We have some serious reception issues with Orange in the office and you were obliged to go outside to take cellular calls which was a royal pain.? The problem was noticeable on all of the cell phones we use with Orange.? With the 3G model, I can count on a minimum connection in the office and frequently get 2 or 3 bars.
I’m guessing that this is as much to do with software optimization as well as the new plastic back.? While the metal back on the original was classy, I’ll take the improved reception any day.
Battery Life
Ouch!? If you use the phone a lot (and I do), you’ll notice that the battery is no longer capable of getting through the day.? Especially since I have an hour in the train every morning that I use to follow my RSS feeds, play games, catch up on podcasts etc., so I’m usually already at half power when I arrive at the office.? It was already in the habit of plugging in the old iPhone while at the office and this is now an absolute necessity. It’s too bad that the dock is no longer included since that would certainly be more convenient than plugging in a cable.
While using the power hungry GPS on a 3G connection you’ll kill the autonomy pretty quickly.? I’m not going to do any formal tests, but using it in the car will oblige the use of a power adaptor if you’re going any distance.? However, there’s a well developed market in external battery packs for the iPods and the prices are reasonable.? I found a stopgap solution while waiting on my? order in the form of the Novodia battery back. It’s a 1000 mAh battery which is about the same as what’s in the iPhone so you can pretty much expect to double your autonomy.? It’s small, discreet, and takes practically no room in my computer bag, and can even slip into a suit jacket pocket.? Definitely a good investment.
I’m not sure what all the brouhaha is concerning the inability to swap the internal battery when there is such a plethora of external battery options, ranging from the 29? 1000 mAh Novodio, to the 2100 mAh Sonnet Volta. In a worst case scenario, I can always fall back on the MacBook Pro or a wall socket to recharge, but after playing with the Novodio I think that I’ll be fine in most situations.
It’s too bad that the form factor of the european plugs don’t allow us to get the ultra mini power adaptor that’s available in North America, since that takes practically no room and makes quick recharges possible anywhere there’s a wall socket available. Although given the number of iPhones at the office, it might start making sense to buy a few docks and set them up as charging stations in various offices and meeting rooms.? All I can say is that Apple better not change the form factor on the next model.? Replacing all of the docking accessories is annoying.
