Poll: iPhone 3G - 6 months on, are you still happy?

[b0rn2sk8]

So guys it’s been almost 6 months since its release. The novelty has gone. How do the early adopters feel about their phones now?

My thoughts:

It’s a good device in principle. It excels greatly over the competition in a few areas. But I just find it really restrictive in some areas and completely lacking in others which I knew about when I got it, but they are really getting to me now.

I’m finding allot of niggles with it and well its nowhere near as fast and fluid as the blogs make out on the net especially when comparing to other handsets. SMS app seems to take forever to open. Even simple apps like clock take over 3 seconds to open. Whereas the phone app is almost instant. It’s no fatty, but it’s not the lean mean UI machine it’s made out to be.


Things I love:
Clutter free clean UI
Facebook app, this is the most used app on my phone, thinking about it, it's the only 3rd party app i use.
Decent web browsing
16GB of iPod
The screen
Physical silent mode switch, this might seem simple but I love it.

Things that niggle me:
Lack of consistency with the speed of the UI, some are real slow, others lightning fast.
Lack of any kind of forwarding, be it email, text or contact.
Back plastic seems brittle compared to the front, mines got a few deep gouges and the speaker hole has a small chip

Things I hate:
Battery life, one word: Dire. I consider myself a light user, and I have to charge every day, this is a major problem.

O2's 3G network and signal strength in general, I know this is subjective and location based, but I rarely leave major cities and well it’s just dire compared to T-mobile & N95.

Camera - I didn’t think I'd miss it, I hardly used my N95 camera, but I really do, I hate to use the term but I really am a sad panda when a £80 PAYG trounces a top of the range £790 contract phone.

Bluetooth - there’s there, but really it’s not. Do I really need to go into any more detail?

Overall satisfaction: Neutral - I’m not unhappy with the phone, but then I’m not overly happy with it either and apple seem to be adding more useless features such as Google street view rather than concentrating on the core features which are subpar compared to even 3-5 year old handsets. The app store is such a mess as well and iTunes search is dire.


What do the other early adopters think about their iPhones, what are you still loving, what is niggling at you and what do you really hate. I’m looking for responses from people who have had the phone at least 4 months.

Luke


Mods - overall satisfaction poll?
Highly satisfied
Satisfied
Neutral
un-satisfied
regret?

 

[Spuds]

I'm still really enjoying mine. People keep going on about things like no MMS (Who the hell uses MMS, seriously, I've sent one maybe two in my entire life) and the crap camera which I couldn't care less about, I have a D300 or taking pictures with.

Being able to forward SMS would be a really nice feature and I am at a loss to explain why it wasn't on their from the beginning. Battery life really needs improving, but I pop mine on a dock to charge while I'm at work so I've never actually run out of charge, the weekends do cut it close though.

One thing I was very annoyed at initially was that normal headphones don't seem to work properly and music playback keeps pausing unless I use the headphones that came with it that have the 4 connectors on the jack rather than three. They work fine using the headphone socket on the dock though so it isn't really much of an issue.

 

[Strife212]

Only got mine last week, I'm very satisfied as my last phone was a first gen razr! o.O

3G coverage is excellent here luckily.

 

[PC-M Vip3r]

I think the iPhone is a very, very good device.

I originally had an iPod Touch and thought it was very good, but then upgrading to the iPhone meant I didn't need to carry 2 devices round with me.

Personally I don't think the app store is a mess, it has everything sorted into category's, you can search for a certain App you want and it's all very simple to use.

I do use my iPhone everyday mainly for music as that is what I bought it for, I browse the web on my dinner at work and play a few games, the battery life for me is fine. I can easily get 2 full days out of it and even with heavy usage, IE Browsing for hours, watching MP4's I get a full day.

 

[Mull3t]

Had mine for 2 months now and I still use it as much as I did the first day I got it.

J'adore iPhone

I’m finding allot of niggles with it and well its nowhere near as fast and fluid as the blogs make out on the net especially when comparing to other handsets. SMS app seems to take forever to open. Even simple apps like clock take over 3 seconds to open. Whereas the phone app is almost instant. It’s no fatty, but it’s not the lean mean UI machine it’s made out to be.

If your SMS and standard apps take a while to open.. I would recommened a restore as my apps original or downloaded, load up within the second.

Back plastic seems brittle compared to the front, mines got a few deep gouges and the speaker hole has a small chip

Thats what cases are for, such as Capsule Rebels. Protect the whole phone.

 

[lmfy2k]

had mine for a few months

8Gb 3G version, not touched the ipod side of it lol - am i mad?

i use it for calls, sms, gmail and internet browsing which i find superb and other apps from the app store

only thing i miss is to FW text messages.

 

[Kainz]

Bought mine upon launch, and I'm only just started to get sick of the bugger.

Email - I have mentioned my many issues with me losing business emails because the app just sits there trying to connect to the net to send out mails, even though there is a solid 3G signal. This issue still remains but is a lot less apparent now thanks to a firmware fix about 2 versions back.

App Store - It disappoints me. Mainly because Apple have closed off the key OS portions to themselves. I've mentioned this before, and I said it will stunt app development. So far most of the apps I have seen are nothing but crap. The utilities I have seen on the Jailbreak market were superb (e.g boss tools)

MMS - Where the hell is it? I know a lot of people will 'claim' that they don't need it, but the truth is they will use it at some point. On a device with such a big screen it virtually warrants use. I've never used it in the past because I had a pos Sony w880i phone with a midget screen. I still get a lot of MMS messages from friends and have to goto my desktop PC just to view them. Even though I've hardly used it in the past I can now see myself using it a lot.

3G Coverage - Over the past 3 months I have seen the blue GPRS dot more than the 3G graphic. No idea why. Coverage is meant to be very strong here in the Harrow, Middlesex area but in my experience with this phone it has always been poor and I very rarely use Safari as a result. At work though in the Northolt, Middlesex area it is strong and I can actually browse. I am quite positive something is changing because I have seen a lot of phone engineers fiddling with the 3 phone masts near my area.

The Mac OSX OS continues to be a pleasure to use. It could do with various tweaks though, such as the ability to remove icons for Apple software that we don't use.

Camera - I've rarely used them in the past due to them being either crap, or the phone screen being tiny. I would use the 3G camera a lot more if I didn't have to touch the screen for the shutter to trigger, therefore shaking the device in the process. What muppet came up with that one?! Tried to take a picture of an ice covered duck yesterday and ended up with a photo that resembled a tribble. Yes 2MP is poor but the quality in daylight conditions is a lot better than other 2MP cameras I've seen.

SMS - No issues with this. It would be nice to delete individual SMS's or have a landscape keyboard view but I am find with how that works.

I mostly use my phone as a phone, e-book reader, SMS and an email device as I use an iRiver Clix2 for audio as ipod audio is rubbish. The setup works quite well and I am rather pleased with the 3G. It still doesn't negate the fact that it is still lacking in features, regardless of whether you use them or not and the competition are catching up fast.

Edit: Voted Satisfied.

 

[Hutch]

Had mine a while now.. I love it, though that new nokia looks tasty, i cant imagine the interface being as good but i might be suprised

I would very much like a way to forward texts or copy paste but its the only thing I feel i lack really. As above couldnt care about the camera

My battery life is actually quite good, I charge it overnight every other night and I rarely have to top it up during the day..

As for O2.. 3G coverage around here is rubbish to be honest. Shame on them.

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

I'm satisfied with mine.

I miss a the ability to forward texts, but I wouldn't do it that often for it to be critical.

The battery life is disappointing, but having only had smartphones for my last four or five handsets I don't really think it's that bad even though I kane the wi-fi in an evening.

Construction seems fine on mine; I've dropped it a few times and not had a problem, no chips or scratches yet. (touch wood).

I do agree that O2s coverage is patchy at best.

 

[cracker]

Being able to forward email would be a really nice feature and I am at a loss to explain why it wasn't on their from the beginning.

But you can forward emails? I'm assuming you mean forward SMS txts? That's a feature I miss.

 

[LordSplodge]

I love my 2G and wouldn't want to be without it. I'll upgrade to the 3G version sometime next year.

 

[Spuds]

But you can forward emails? I'm assuming you mean forward SMS txts? That's a feature I miss.

Yep, my bad. Was enjoying a Jamesons and ginger ale when I wrote that and I believe the ratio may have slightly favoured the Jamesons

 

[Johnz0r]

If people are struggling with the battery life on their 3G iPhones I highly recommend having a look at the mophie juice pack. Not only does it charge your phone up, it doubles up as a case protector for your iPhone too, and after seeing a couple of reviews from users up on youtube it looks like an excellent piece of kit.

 

[TheMagic1an]

Well i've only had mines 2 months, but my iPhone just works. Can't say i've had much problems with it.

3G has been working fine for me and the UI is always fast and apps always load within seconds.

The battery life on my iPhone is very good and with the latest update it seems to last longer and can easily last a full day no problem.

As for MMS and the camera, i couldn't care less to be honest. I never text or use a phone to take pictures.

As long as i can make a call, access email and internet on the move then i'm happy.

 

[Talbs13]

The whole messaging functionality of the phone MUST be changed. Its DREADFUL. It lacks the most basic functions.

I would like to see some copy&paste functions also

 

[J1234]

I'm still enjoying mine, had it since release day.

I've voted satisfied as the battery life could be improved and I would like to be able to forward SMS messages.

Think that's about it.

 

[CGrieves]

Got mine the day after release. I loved it then, and I love it now. I have no affinity to Apple (wouldn't wee on a burning Mac) but I love the device, I love the interface, I love what it does. 3G is great on mine since 2.2, battery life is fine (I charge every day because I sync every day, although it will last two days if required), overall speed is fine. The camera is basic, but serves the purpose of recording visual events, I couldn't care less if the pictures are not DSLR-standard. Uploading photos directly to facebook is genius.

After the 18 months is up, I'll see what else is available, but I've seen nothing yet that comes even close to the usability of the interface of the iPhone. When the other manufacturers realise that it's not the list of features that's important, it's the way they are presented to the user, then there might be some competition. I can't see Microsoft getting anywhere close for a long time, until they stop putting facelifts on top of the old WM turd of a kernel. I'm looking forward to the alternatives though- love the iPhone or hate it, it has undeniably set many benchmarks, and the race to catch up means we'll all benefit in the end.

 

[Mr Spew]

Great little device but the battery life is a huge killer, a replaceable battery would have been so much better but alas, no.

 

[tsinc80697]

Always said it and always will. As an all in one device its great, big screen, video, audio, internet, emails etc

From a phone perspective its crap, useless battery, slow UI, texting can be slow(not me but the app), no mms, tied down to 1 computer, scratches like theres no tomorrow on the back.

Overall I like it(not satisfied as it has missing features/slow) but only because I can use it in my car for video/audio, but thats down to the headunit as well I suppose.

 

[Dup]

The only thing I miss from my SPV M700 is being able to use turn based GPS (Tom Tom etc).