My 3.0 experience…

I spent a good portion of yesterday downloading/restoring my iPhone to the latest 3.0 firmware (and a larger portion just waiting for it). So what do I think of it?

DAAAAAMN! Let me just address the features that I have been using and really enjoyed. Firstly, MMS. Despite the fact my carrier has a ridiculous (and not in a good way) multimedia messaging package, the service worked relatively well… when I was doing the sending. I send a picture and it was received almost instantaneously. However, it took nearly eight hours for me to receive the first MMS. This should be fixed soon enough though… at least I hope.

Second, copy and paste. It works flawlessly for the applications that support it (which is almost anything). Copying and pasting between apps with such ease is just amazing. And if it took Apple this long to perfect it, then I’m glad it took this long.

Third, spotlight search. The FIRST time you awaken your iPhone and go to spotlight, there seems to be a slight delay. Thereafter, the feature works very smoothly and for those of you that don’t own a Mac, spotlight is the BEST means of searching your hardware. Period! Items are ordered by which app they fall under. Also, just like on the Mac, you can use spotlight as an application launcher. But that is NO excuse to not organize your apps. Organize your apps people!

Fourth, landscape keyboard. Need I say more? Notes, email, and messaging apps now support the landscape keyboard input. It tilts fast enough and feels even better. This may be more of a feature designed for those awkwardly large thumbs and elephants, but I’m sure many will welcome the extra space.

Lastly, TETHERING! A quick story. I called Fido to get the low-down on MMS and tethering. The man had had the BALLS to tell me my iPhone 3G does NOT support tethering, and only the new one will. So after a few words of wisdom to the individual, I embarked on a path to figure it out myself. Luckily, Apple made the procedure DEAD EASY! You just pair your iPhone via Bluetooth to your computer, and enable tethering on your iPhone and voila! That’s it! Speed tests are yet to be experimented with, but in my make-shift office, the speeds have been sweet. Check out Episode 109 on my YouTube channel for a demo.

All in all, 3.0 has a lot more to deliver. There are TON of other features, and several that are not as obvious (now you can see if calls were incoming or outgoing from your phone). I have to admit, there was SOME slow down when exiting applications in 3.0, that weren’t apparent before. This may be due to 3.0 or the app’s improper compatibility with the new firmware. But that was minimal. Now, the waiting game begins. Let’s see how fast the 3G S runs 3.0.

Enough of the whining…

At the time of writing this, Rogers and Fido have yet to announce their pricing for purchasing an iPhone 3G S outright, however, AT&T are out in the clear. In simple terms, if you got an iPhone 3G with AT&T than your going to be forking over somewhere in the neighbourhood of $600-700 for the iPhone 3G S (unless you are special).

What really grinds my gears (Peter Griffin style) is the fact that people are outright WHINING about the price. Did you really think that the MAN was going to subsidize your next phone a mere 12 months (or less) later? Now I’ll be honest, I am not an expert on the US cellular market, but just about anyone can understand that contracts subsidize phones. You don’t get a free phone, you get free* phone (emphasis on the asterisk). When you see those delicious $199 and $299 prices, it’s taking into account that you will be a loyal companion to AT&T for two years whilst maintaining a certain billing amount every month.

All in all, stop bitching. It wouldn’t be capitalism if you promotional pricing whenever you wanted. Of course, this can lead into other arguments about monthly spewing, manufacturing costs, etc. That’s all great, but at the end of the day… Your the one that signed the contract. If you want some of that S, pay up… Or shut up. I don’t mean to be so crude about it, but I just have a low threahhold for whiners. What are your thoughts? Post below!