…That is the question. If you visit Giz with any frequency, you’ve no doubt read the 3G iPhone will be announced at WWDC. Now I’m stuck deciding whether or not I’m going to buy it when it hits stores. The lack of 3G is what stopped me from buying the first iteration, and with rumours of video conferencing, GPS, and mobile TV, it seems like a no brainer, right?
Well, not so fast. I started using the Blackberry Curve this year and I really fell in love with it. It’s not as flashy, but it gets the job done. When the Blackberry Bold was announced and began drawing tangential iPhone comparisons, I entertained the idea of buying that instead. I honestly don’t know if I could live without a tactile QWERTY keyboard.
But enough of that. A couple of concerns I have about the iPhone are signal reception and battery life. From what I’ve seen and heard from friends, iPhone reception in San Francisco is spotty to say the least (Blackberry…never a problem). It makes me feel a little better to see Apple scouting for design engineers (even if that hire isn’t for the 2nd gen iPhone), because hopefully it means they’ve been working to improve it. And the supposed thicker size of the phone has me hoping they threw a bigger battery in to compensate for the rumoured 3G and GPS. I’m really bad about remembering to charge my gadgets, making me gravitate towards phones I only need to plug in once or twice a week. That may not be realistic for the iPhone, but so long as it’s not on its last legs at the end of every day, I’ll be satisfied.
So will the new tech specs and open apps be enough to sway me to the Steve side of the mobile phone universe? I’ll know after June 9th. [iPhone on Giz]
htfiles
May 27, 2008 at 11:52 AM
I’m using a 2.5G iPhone in Sydney and in my opinion it must be charged daily. If, everyday you spend 1 hr listening to music, 1 hr talking, 1 hr web browsing/email checking/sms’ing and a final half hour using other applications such as Maps or the calender then in my experience it will be close to dead.
I doubt the more power hungry 3G iPhone will have substantially better battery life life unless its dimensions change considerably.
Report PermalinkShef
May 27, 2008 at 9:36 PM
I love my iPod touch (using it to type this) but i would only get the iphone if telstra or whoever sold it did so with an unlimted data plan. That includes free mms. mms is 1 cent per MSG in japan. Oz is way too dear for text messages. I would never use any of the features if I have to pay $2 a mb like most plans here in oz. Oh and if the screen is turned on the itouch chews through the battery. 3 hours of video tops before it dies
Report PermalinkPerfect Lou
May 27, 2008 at 11:26 PM
I’ll buy a 3G iPhone regardless of battery life! June 9 isn’t coming soon enough!
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