iPhone 3Gs

Has anybody bought the new iPhone 3Gs? I have a few friends who have the previous version, 3G, and are very happy with it. From the media and customer reviews I have read, 3Gs seems like a great upgrade. It has 3 megapixels for the camera, voice control for dialing the phone and calling up a song on the iPod, and a video camera. Sounds like a very usable and portable mini computer.


Review #1

Review #2

I got the first generation iPhone almost 2 years ago and plan to get the 3GS soon since this one seems to be flaking out a bit. I LOVE IT!!

I just wish they included the forward-facing camera this time (tho no big deal; I don't really need to video chat on my phone often, but how COOL would that be??)

hey geoff you want to buy me one as well?

Sure, BAM... can I borrow $200 first?

ill give you a bottle of whiskey...and a waldo book as well lol

Okay, get me a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label King George V Edition... it's on sale for $544.99

Geoff, since you have one, do you think that the 3Gs upgrades are valuable? It sounds like the primary complaints I had read about previous iPhones were (in no particular order): 1) short battery life before re-charge, 2) slow internet access, 3) no zoom on the camera. All of these are allegedly improved greatly with this phone.

I never really complained, but longer battery life would be much welcomed! It's not that bad unless you use it often all day long, or access the Net on the cellular network for a while. It DOES recharge pretty quickly, though. Mine doesn't even have 3G, which is supposed to be a bit faster (so I welcome that), but WiFi is still the fasted. But yeah, the 3GS has a faster processor that should speed most everything up on the phone itself.

This update is nice if you're upgrading from the 1st Gen like I will be. It's not a "major" update from last year's 3G model (although the new OS 3.0 IS fairly major, and available for all models)...

Thanks for the assessment, Geoff.

I think my wife & I will take the plunge with the new iPhone, provided that they credit us her Verizon cancellation charge. A buddy at work was able to do that, so I think they will for us as well. I plan on haggling for accessories, etc. I'm lucky, both of us have 15% discount eligiblity on our monthly bills based upon our jobs. I'm not sure if we can both use the discount or just one of us, but any savings is helpful.

I ordered mine from the store but waiting for it to come in now. I CAN'T wait

Just rec'd an email that my iPhone 3GS has arrived. Will probably pick up tomorrow and post feedback. I'm looking forward to trying out this fascinating new gadget.

It's AWESOME goombah. I've only had it 2 days but I love it thus far. Thanks again Geoff for the heads up!

Glad you're lovin' it, I12!

Goombah, how long was your wait?

I went to the AT&T store yesterday and they didn't have it in stock so I ordered it, and it should take about a week. What sucks about that is, although I ordered it through the AT&T store, and, altho I'm picking it up at the AT&T store, according to the receipt I'd have to exchange it directly to Apple if there's something wrong with it (and therefore not having a phone for a while -- unless I can use my old one temporarily)...

I ordered mine through the AT&T store as well Geoff. They said through the store it'd be in about 7-10 business days and ordering if offline it'd be 3-5 business days. It was ordered on Tuesday the 23rd and came in this past Tuesday, the 30th.

Anybody that does own an iPhone, have any good (preferably free) apps to recommend? Currently I have:

-The Weather Channel
-ESPN ScoreCenter (MLB scores)
-TIPPeR (calculates the tip amount on a bill)
-iSteam
-Facebook
-BeerPong (Game)
-BubbleWrap (Game)
-Flashlight
-Lightsaber
-MySpace
-Shotgun Free
-Speller
-Dictionary
-HoopsLite

There's so many apps and I've only just begun to look through the iTunes stores, I'm just curious what you guys have? About 7 of these above a friend of mine has.

Holy crap is this thing awesome. We got ours about 4 hours ago and I have been learning about it for the past 3 hours. I cannot believe the features of this new iPhone.

This is my first smart phone. I think it's well on the way of making laptops obselete, or at least significantly reducing their market share. The iPhone is worth it alone just for the GPS, web access, and camera capabilities.

ARGH!!!

Mine came in today (not bad, having ordered it on Wednesday) but now it's been restoring my last backup and is taking FOREVER!! 2 hours at this rate, and I can't even use it!

I hate you all.

I am on vacation using it right now. Mine arrived in six days and I have no major complaints. Anybody figure out 1) how to zoom for pics & 2) how to paste an attachment to a text message?

GPS rocks on this.

iPHONE OWNERS BEWARE!

Gina alerted me to this:

Major SMS iPhone hack to be set free tomorrow at Black Hat

Thanks for the heads-up Gina & Geoff!

Be careful updating your iPhones - I bricked my focking phone and have been trying for hours to restore it and have no idea WTF the problem is. According to the forums, I'm not alone!

What does "bricked my phone" mean?

Whatever it is, goombah, it sounds like it didn't work out well.

When your phone breaks, it's about as useful as a brick to make calls.

I got mine restored to factory settings at the Apple store here in Annapolis, but will have to wait until I get home tomorrow to get my contacts/apps/music/etc back onto it.

this is probably why i always wait to get something that is electronic since there is a big chance of bugs and just screwing up.

How long do you wait? It's been out over 2 years! Have you gotten your first CD player yet, or are you waiting?

i thought you were talking about the new one lol

Geoff, did they say what caused it to brick? A couple of times recently when I "wake" my phone up, the screen will be black but I can barely see the background. Then when I hit it again, it corrects itself. Is this the same problem you had?

No, mine was wiped clean for the install of the latest update, then when the update failed, it was left wiped and it wouldn't restore to even factory settings (where it is now). I just got home and started reloading my data: wish me luck!

Back in business.

When doing a firmware update, make sure you let it sit there undisturbed. Even if you think it's finished, wait a few extra minutes to make sure because it might just be rebooting to complete the installation. I don't think that was my issue cuz I've been doing updates for 2 years, but it's possible because I was in a rush at the time. So it could've been that.

What are some favorite apps people have downloaded? Most of mine were free apps, but I did try the "I Zoom" for $1.99 to zoom with the camera. I'm not impressed.

I love the ESPN app, Weather Channel, DirecTv, Barnes & Noble, etc. I also have some that are games like euchre, chess, slots, and some "words of the day" and learning foreign langugage.

Like I have said before, the iPhone 3 G S is one helluva product.

These are all the ones I have at the moment. I've indicated those I think cost me a buck or three:

APPS

All Things Digital - Tech news
Amazon Mobile
AOL Radio
Baseball
Card Shark Solitaire premium [$]
Chirp! Bird Songs USA [$]
Cowbell Plus
Drums Challenge [$]
Emergency Radio [$] - pretty neat
Epocrates [$?] - medical app for Rx drugs
F-MyLife - Pretty funny
Facebook
Flashlight
GigBabyFree! - 4-track recorder that didn't work when I tried it
Google Earth
Google Mobile App
Holy Rosary Deluxe
Homes.com real estate
i.TV - TV listings
iHandy Level Free
iTrans NYC Subway [$]
Live Poker by Zynga
Loopt
Mafia Wars 20 Reward Points - lame compared to Facebook version
Mark of Mafia! FREE - been playing since January
Mediafly: Video + Audio
Movies (Flixster)
MySpace Mobile
Paper Toss [$?]
PayPal
PhoneFlicks - Neflix
Pocket Universe [$] - ID the night sky, pointing to stars - Amazing!
PocketGuitar
Puluwai Free Real Estate
Pure Sleep | AmbiScience
Real Estate Search (Blue Atlas)
Shazam - Supposed to ID songs you hear, but doesn't work often enough
ShopShop - Shopping list
SIRIUS XM Premium - Stream satellite radio; free app, but monthly fee
Skype
SportsTap
TwitterFon
USA TODAY
Virtual Zippo Lighter
vSNAX Videos
The Weather Channel
1Password
300 Bowl

WEB APPS

ESPN
Live Scores
TV Guide
eBay
iRadio
Mobile Pod
Britanica
TippyTops (tip calculator)
Guitar Tuner
Ruler
FlightView - plane flight info

Geoff, you have some cool titles that I am going to check out.

Some others that I have:

All Recipes
Big Oven - recipes

Fast Food - this tells you any restaurant, food, coffee house, drink based upon your GPS location. Took this on vacation and it was very valuable.

Drum Kit Lite
True Drums
Touch Chords

Mixology - mix any drink
Drinks Free
NY Times
Wall Street Journal
Amazon Kindle

I have a song that I really like. I cut it down to a 30 second clip that I'd like to use as a ringtone. I dragged it into iTunes and it's under Music. I wanted to use it as a ringtone but when I right-click on it to select that option, it says I can't use it because I didn't purchase it. Is there a way around this?

Don't know, Irish... I haven't played around with Ringtones yet. Perhaps try browsing or asking on Apple's iPhone forums

Yeah, I was on Apple's website earlier and it looks like for any song you buy, can make that into a ringtone (which I think is a crock). I'll look at the forum though. Thought it was worth a shot to see if anyone knew on here.