iPhone 3G

[[AK]Squidly]

Front is the same - hardened glass. back was changed to all-plastic for reasons of improved reception for the 3G and GPS. Signals don't penetrate metal as well, etc.

The software store (many FREE apps!) and the user interface make the iPhone a clear win over anything Sprint is offering. 3G coverage is one thing, WIFI is another option in many places (including, for most people, their own home and place of work.)

That said, I've downloaded and installed new apps over Edge and it was fine.

I think PC world did a series of drop-tests/scratch tests on the 3G iPhone.

http://www.pcworld.com/video/id,852-...d,0/video.html

[[AK]Choozoo]

you could probably pick up an EDGE iPhone pretty cheap right now (eBay), then upgrade to the 3G when you're area is upgraded.

I might get one just for everything but calls, as my iPod is on the way out...
good development testbed too

[[AK]Clay]

I looked into doing just that Chooz. My thought was to pick up a Gen1 iPhone on the cheap and jailbreak it for use on my Sprint network. But the eBay prices on Gen 1 phones are obscenely high right now, so decided to pass.

[[AK]Clay]

Well I pulled the trigger and ordered a 16GB 3G this week. It should be here in 10 to 20 days (which means a month I assume).

It was an interesting shopping excersize - apparently I'm the only guy in the history of that store to have prepared a comparison chart showing the 2 year cost of the different options (and the different providers). I had 3 store employees ignoring their other duties for 20 minutes to study this. What? Do most people just buy stuff based on color? The 2 year cost is the only valid comparison, since the contract lasts 2 years on most of the plans.

Anyway, I'm pretty stoked! The more I think about it, the more amazing this little doo-dad seems to me. It's a GPS/HighRez Media Player/Wi-Fi/programable palmtop computer/Camera/bluetooth/4-band Phone all in the palm of your hand.

The Apps opens so many doors it's amazing. There's one where you can hold it up to a radio, and it'll listen to the song, cross check some on-line database, and tell you the song/author/etc.

For hunters, you can take a picture of your favorite spot, it'll date it and GPS log the coordinates you were standing on for finding it again (supposedly at least - for me this was a big deal, and why I didn't want one that just works on cell-tower triangluation but has an actual GPS chip in it).

There's a voice-to-text feature (called Jott) in there that syncs with your calander, so supposedly you can just say reminders into it, and you're done, it'll put them on your calander. (We'll see how well that actually works).

With the GPS you can download an App (called Box Office) that will tell you the local movie times wherever you are - along with directs on how to get to that theater.
Etc, etc, etc. The posibilities with this thing are amazing.

I'm an engineer, and so love RPN calculators. Those are hard to find, and usually cost $60 minimum (for a cheapy). Or, turn my iPhone into one w/ an app.

Through your wifi, there's an app (Called Apple Remote) that lets you access your PC's HDD in such a way that rather than being 16 GB MP3 player, it's a 250 GB MP3 player (if you have that much on your desktop that is).

From a hardware standpoint, I wonder if I can make it into a modem and so use my home computer or laptop access through the 3G network? (probably not on a non-jailbroken phone I bet, but would be interesting to explore).

I'd like to put a simple spreadsheet and workprocessor on it - maybe an OpenOffice Lite or something, and plug in an external keyboard. Wallah, who needs a laptop anymore? (Doubt you can do this yet though). I'd like to be able to sync w/ my home PC's Calander program (e.g. Outlook).


I can't wait to see what they replace this thing with in 2 years - it just doesn't seem you can get any more amazing. And then they surprise you yet again. Stay tuned for my upcomeing "duuuude, I just dropped my iPhone " thread!

[[AK]Squidly]

My favorite apps so far are:

Pandora - Fantastic free music application.

Shazam - Works flawlessly, every time. Then when you have a song, you can hit one button to buy it from iTunes, or another to play a related video from Youtube.

Texas Holdem - GREAT game. Fantastic production values. The best poker game on any platform, based solely on playability.

MLB At Bat. Get live results and video clips (new ones uploaded as they happen, and great performance even on Edge.)

Twitteriffic/Twinkle - Front ends for Twitter. They work great.

Jott - Works almost like magic. Your recording is sent to a team in India that transcribes it. Seriously.

ToDo - By http://www.appigo.com. Todo list that interfaces with a web component. Built your list online with a real keyboard, then sync it with your iPhone. Or add items on your iPhone and sync it back. Works with Toodledo, which made it an auto-buy for me.

[Slaughter]

White or Black 16gb?

Your "I just dropped my iPhone" thread will consist of "and the plastic got gouged something awful". <3 Metal casing on EDGE iPhone (of course they say that the plastic casing on the 3g is better for reception).

[[AK]Squidly]

Scratches, like wrinkles are inevitable. If it bothers you, buy one of they myriad cases available.

More good Apps:

"Crosswords" - By 'Standalone Inc.' Great crossword game.

"Units" - FANTASTIC, must have utility. Convert any measure. Time, volume, currency, area, length, speed, energy...wow...

"Wordpress" - For bloggers

"Evernote" - Save (and have transcribed) audio, text, or photos. Take a picture of a whiteboard and it'll be transcribed for you.