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DaffyDuck
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Some Review of iPhone 2.0, iPhone 3G - and it's not all rosy...
So, I have had a couple of weeks to work with both an original 1st generation iPhone, upgraded via iPhone 2.0 software, and an iPhone 3G, as well as a recently jailbroken and unlocked 1st generation iPhone.
Here's my impressions, after two weeks - most of which is positive, though there are some rough edges, and those are partially infuriatingly rough.
The Good News is that iPhone 2.0 is available to 1st generation iPhones, and brings 95% of the same functionality of the iPhone 3G to older devices. This was the very promise of iPhone being all software based, and that Apple is able to provide early adopters updates (for at least 2 years), in line with new hardware releases - in other words, you aren't being left behind, unlike with the phones from Motorola, Nokia, Sony/Ericsson, etc...
In fact, since iPhone 3G is based on the same hardware, speed, and specs, 1st generation adopters have nearly no reason to need to upgrade - particularly in countries like Thailand, which are lacking a decent 3G network.
iPhone 2.0 installs easily enough on a 1st generation iPhone (iTunes takes care of all the heavy lifting - though read on about unlocking it and using it in Thailand). After the update, iTunes offers to restore your data (it backs everything up first, during the upgrade process), and before you know it, you are up and running.
iPhone 3G, of course, comes with iPhone 2.0 pre-installed - including support for hardware GPS, and the faster 3G radio. Beyond that, basic features of the software are the same - improved maps, with A-GPS support (1st gen iPhone just uses cell towers and wifi triangulation - but vastly improved compared to earlier implementation.
While the digital camera is still the same 2megapixel model, the software digital enhancement appears to have been overhauled - images maintain better colors (i.e. white balance has been tweaked), less noise in low light conditions (better digital cleanup), but without a flash built-in, there is only so far into low light the camera can go, before it loses the plot. Not a deal breaker, as to me, a phone camera is just a convenient Lomo-like snapshot feature. Uploading images to Apple's image galleries (provided via the new MobileMe service) is seamless, equally seamless is the ability to send any picture via email.
E-Mail now supports MobileMe, along with push calendar and contacts functionality (as well as bookmarks), but is also able to provide Microsoft ActiveSync support for those working in Enterprise environments, and tethered to MS Exchange. Configuration of either is a snap, and takes less than 5 minutes. With ActiveSync, network administrators can set certain policies to be forced, once the user connects (such as, for example, forcing a passcode lock on the device). E-Mail now also supports multiple delete, and move.as well as more control over various configuration criteria.
The Calendar supports MobileMe push calendars, and ActiveSync push calendars, and they can co-exist on the same device. This is handy to keep your private materials and your work data separate - though only one of each are supported via push. No additional ActiveSync accounts are supported, and any additional MobileMe accounts are not push enabled.
Contacts support, in the same manner, multiple address books (ActiveSync and MobileMe), as well as access to Global Address books via ActiveSync directories. All of this contact data, comprehensively, is being made accessible when addressing an email (it will look through all available address books). Likewise, you can configure a 'default' calendar and addressbook - use for iPhone entered schedules or contacts to go.
As you enter data into each of those, they are nearly instantaneously synched up via either MobileMe, or ActiveSync. One word of note - while changes on iPhone sync back near instantaneously to MobileMe, and attached Macs or PCs, changes on Macs/PCs are being synched back upstream every 15 minutes (unless you manually force a synch). This may render MobileMe into non-push, at least one way, but seems like an acceptable compromise. ActiveSync changes take place immediately, both directions.
MobileSafari, iPhone web browser has also been updated, rendering pages nearly twice as fast as under prior 1.1.4 software, including significant improvements in JavaScript execution times. That would be a worthwhile improvement if not for a couple of bugs in MobileSafari that result in frequent crashes (where MobileSafari quits unexpectedly, and sometimes wipes out all open tabs and cached pages (history remains available, though). This usually happens when loading larger pages, but ends up being frustrating as hell, when you are trying to read an article, or retrieve some piece of information, and the page just quits. Obviously, it's a memory leak somewhere, and Apple will likely fix it with the next software update, but nevertheless, it is terribly annoying, if not to say, infuriating. yes, a total restart and reset will temporarily fix the problem, but really, that's no way of using this.
Typing, in general, has been very improved. The wide-screen keyboard has been shrunk by 4 pixels, giving that much more main screen real estate, and the type guessing software has been improved, doing an even better job of properly guessing the intended words, and some of the visuals when correcting words have been improved as well (some words now, just auto-correct, versus always giving you an option). I've noticed my typing, in general, speed up under the new software.
Speed, up that is, if it doesn't end up getting slowed down by yet another software problem, notably in the SMS application, where typing is kinda essential - and it's equally infuriating to have your typing slow to a crawl, sometimes freezing on a single letter for 20-30 seconds, before the system 'catches up'. Again, undoubtedly to be fixed soon, but irritating as all get out, while having to deal with it.
App Store - this is really the big news and major bonus of iPhone 2.0. The ability to add third-party applications to iPhone, simply from your iPhone (or, via iTunes on your desktop) changes the game significantly -- it's not the fact that the development environment is blindingly easy, that Apple's developer site literally takes you by the hand, and that there ARE third-party apps to download. No, the advantage lies in the way Apple not just delivers them to the user, but how easy it makes it for developers to reach those users. As a developer, you sign up with Apple's developer program ($99/year), at which point you are able to make your applications available via the App Store. You set the price (including 'FREE') and Apple takes 30%, you keep 70% of the final sale. In turn, Apple handles all the commercial, distribution side, along with bandwidth costs - you, in turn, gain direct access to 10 million and growing customers, through a single distribution portal. Oddly, the only ones complaining about this arrangement, are those not actually developing anything 
The usability experience of purchasing and installing via the App Store is about as easy as it gets - you just launch the App Store on your iPhone, and you can either search, or browse via various criteria. Once you check out various apps, you can read reviews (some of which are scathing and separate the wheat from the chaff), and then decide to purchase them by clicking on the purchase price. A dialog pops up, confirming your iTunes Account password (you need an iTunes account, of course), and subsequently the application downloads and installs directly onto your iPhone. Consequently, should the publisher release updates, the App Store will alert you to such updates, and you can proceed to update your apps under the 'updates' section. Additionally, if you have already downloaded an application previously, and you do so again, the App Store will inform you of that, and allow you to download the applications again, at no charge.
All things considered, it's a very slick system.
Not unexpectedly, in the first weeks of the App Store, a lot of relatively useless apps litter the virtual store shelves, yet there are a variety of real gems there (including a Thai AudioBook from Lonely Planet for $9.99). Undoubtedly, as the store matures, the balance should shift in towards better quality software, as the review system takes care of protecting you from virtual crap.
iTunes 7.7 is needed to work with iPhone 2.0, and it offers additional contextual menus when control-clicking on the iPhone icon in the left sidebar -- you can now directly initiate a BACKUP and a RESTORE from within iTunes, which is convenient.
Overall, there are some rough edges, infuriating ones I might add, that iPhone 2.0 software brought along to the party - which I hope will soon be addressed by software 2.0.1. (while iPhone 2.1 is currently released into beta, I doubt very much that one is up next, as I assume Apple may fix those immediate bugs first, and sooner, than later).
MobileMe is a perfect companion service, if staying in synch is important for you, and finally worth the $69 it can be purchased for.
If you have a first generation iPhone, it's the perfect upgrade, and the price is right as well, though in a couple of weeks or months, it'll undoubtedly have those aforementioned rough edges ironed out. Worth the way, to me...
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 7:33 pm on July 27, 2008
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snpark
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good thorough review thankyou
nice of you to point out the foibles too (thats "bad things" to the rest of you who didnt go to teacher training college
i would like to ask you something but not sure I can handle the abuse, but will ask anyway
nice that u mentioned "phones" such as nokia and motorola etc but NOT rim, as we all know their phones are all software driven too, and the curve 8300 8310 8320 is pretty much identical apart from one has inbuilt gps and one has inbuilt wifi
they can all run the same updated software too
likewise free applications, I have several free / cheap and excellent applications installed on mine, inc facebook, operamini browser, video camera recording, youtube, googlemaps, some games, and world mate live which is global airline schedules, weather, times etc
also I not your comments about typing on the touch screen, this is my opinion the one thing that detracts from the iphone per-se, that is relying on a touch screen and software to type, rather than a physical push key
you undoubtedly can get problems mistyping or as u said waiting for the software "to catch up" if you are a fast typer like me, plus with no physical "feel" to where one key starts and finishes, you do have to check you are typing what you want to type
but overall interesting points raised, that really unless u absolutely have to have 3g instead of edge etc (and in a lot of places thats an obsolete question anyway) then is the 3g iphone really "worth" it
an "old" non 3g iphone is pretty much identical once you have installed the latest software
could this be why it was only priced at $199, because jobs realised that he couldnt charge a lot more for what was basically the same phone but just slightly tweaked
i think the killer thing was the simplest - making one in white means that everyone will now buy the white one just to prove that they have the latest 3g one
sad but true, it is a "must have" gadget and the simplest things are sometimes the cleverest
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Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 11:29 pm on July 27, 2008
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DaffyDuck
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As for all the armchair analysts and armchair CEOs loving to crucify Apple for supposedly mismanaging their supply chain, it seems like Apple knows exactly what it's doing, in the world of perception and make-believe (which analysts, and consumers, live in) :
http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/07/25/low.iphone.stocks.a.plus/
Analysts: Low iPhone stocks a good sign
The continuing low stocks of iPhones at Apple and AT&T stores are a good sign for the former company, argues a strategist from AMR Research. Kevin O'Marah claims that Apple in fact has one of the best physical supply chains in the world, and so if stores are in short supply, the problem is not endemic to Apple's strategy. "I don’t know whether it’s a specific component, but the root cause is tremendous demand," says O'Marah.
Apple's speed is normally said to be dependent on integrating the physical and digital supply chains, although the latter failed on July 11th, leaving many people unable to pick up a phone that day or even for the next several days.
O'Marah also notes that the situation sits in stark contrast to the original iPhone launch in 2007. While there were significant lineups at the time, Apple had plenty of stock available, to the extent that people could enter an Apple Store the day after launch and pick up a phone without waiting.
In 2008 the company may have difficulty shipping enough phones to reach its goal of 10 million in sales. "I’d think they need to ramp up their supply," O'Marah comments. On the topic of Apple's push into 70 countries, he adds that "if they can sell a lot in core markets, then going to Herculean lengths to sell in other countries is more a strategic or marketing move."
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 11:29 am on July 28, 2008
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ThaidUp
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What a loon, contradicts himself in the same article.
Kevin O'Marah claims that Apple in fact has one of the best physical supply chains in the world,
In 2008 the company may have difficulty shipping enough phones to reach its goal of 10 million in sales. "I’d think they need to ramp up their supply," O'Marah comments.
I think it is time for one of Apple's iPhone competitors to resurrect the Lemming commercial with everyone talking on the iPhones perhaps following their GPS by falling off of a cliff.
No commercial is more fitting than this to depict the cult following of Apple fanatics, Jobs was a genius to predict his own customer base and convert them to Apple.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KNrxwl59I0
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Sexy Bangkok Girls
Posted on: 10:01 pm on July 28, 2008
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Skip
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^ After umpteen years of nothing but immensely pleasurable computing on the OS X platform it is hysterical - to me at least -to listen to you naysayers berate those who've seen the light. Pardon our elation, but having been liberated from the mediocrity we call Windoze it is our due.
The truth of the matter is, no matter the flavor- 98, ME, 2000 XP, Vista they all exhibited the same malaise. Each and everyone is and was ill conceived shite which barely improved and was caused to do so more as reaction for the swiss cheese sins of security flaws found therein.
Yes, MobileMe's rollout was flawed; yes, iPhone is a victim of it's own success; yes, Apple has indeed stumbled but in the grander scheme of things it's still a superlative platform which continually and measureably improves itself.
That said, and in a nod to today's release of KDE 4.1, Windoze is now solidly in third place for satisfaction amidst the desktop user experience.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 11:51 am on July 29, 2008
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DaffyDuck
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Actually, what I find amusing is that, essentially the main criticism of the Hegemony Brigade is "Waaah, waaah, Apple is too successful, and they are doing too well..."
...a good 'problem' to have.
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Bangkok Women : Meet Beautiful Thai Girls
Posted on: 2:33 pm on July 29, 2008
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Barcrawler
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Great iPhone deal in the "premier shopping destination in the world"
One thing's for certain I will not be buying a iPhone in Dubai just yet. We are in the middle of "Dubai Summer Surprises”, promoted as a time of great bargains to draw in visitors in the horrible summer season, the 16MB iPhone is selling for 8750 AED (around $2400 US)
http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Technology/10233171.html
Meanwhile cheap Chinese imitations that look like an iPhone from a distance, but are just a basic phone (Why ?????) are on sale for less than $100 –
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Thai Girls : Meet Active Thai Girls
Posted on: 8:37 pm on July 30, 2008
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snpark
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as I said before, I will not have any problems selling mine for $1500 each which is almost 100% markup on what I paid
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 9:41 pm on July 30, 2008
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DaffyDuck
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Quote: from Barcrawler on 11:11 am on July 31, 2008
promoted as a time of great bargains to draw in visitors in the horrible summer season, the 16MB iPhone is selling for 8750 AED (around $2400 US)
Wow, we better let snpark know what a great price he's missing. By the way, notice that it's an officially unlocked iPhone 3G - i.e. probably bought in a country that honors official unlocks, and sells the phone appropriately overpriced (i.e. around $900-$1,600) - so, they are still making a killing on their $2,400 price. Good for them...
Oh, come to think of it, we never heard back from snpark about that 'unlocked iPhone 3G' he bought from his special source, which is waiting for him in Dubai... I wonder what happened to that...?
Thanks for the info on those crazy prices in Dubai, though
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 9:47 pm on July 30, 2008
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