Apple iPhone 3GS Comments

I think the biggest weakness of the iPhone is now the lack of multitasking, something that becomes painfully apparent if you try a Palm Pre.

Also can you Bluetooth pictures to your friends yet?

Apple fan boy! :)

An excellent review, although it is definitely from the viewpoint of an existing iPhone owner.

I think the choice really does depend on what you find important on a phone, for example if the camera or video is really important then maybe this isn't the phone for you. I could go on about OLED screens, battery life, WebOS etc. but we all know there are phones out there that do some things much better than the iPhone. That said it is undoubtedly an excellent all round package and covers most bases well. Even if it is a bit eye watering in the cost department.

Thankfully the competition is finally starting to show signs of catching up. For example as you mentioned there's the Pre and then the Samsung Galaxy, the upcoming Sony Android phone and especially the very interesting HTC hero (hardware aesthetics aside) which has an even better UI than the Apple in some respects and it'll be free on a £40 18 month contract.

We must still take a moment to thank Apple for stirring up the market and I for one can't wait to see the next gen iPhone and what the competition produce (the Palm Post, Samsung Universe, HTC Superhero etc).

Best consumer handset? now thats what you call a debate.
It is certainly one of the top mobile devices but I would not go as far as to crown it the best handset just yet. Iphone has finally caught up im many ways and in some other apsect(s) outdone what a modern handset offers in this technology era.There are so many feature-rich multimedia mobile devices coming later this year and alot of companies have taking note on the success of Apple's app store and are putting in place business models that cater to a similar service/experience you get when you buy an iphone.
I will wait till the end of the year before I give honour to whom honour is due. For now the throne has no bearer in my kingdom.

you just know there'll be 50+ comments for this within a few hours.

no doubt it's a great phone but i have to question the 8 for value. £185 on a £35 a month contract is a joke.

i agree with your comment about Android just waiting for it's time to shine. i'm holding out for the htc hero to release. after trying the magic i'm sure it's the phone for me.

@Gordon
Will have to see how it is but at least in Android's case it doesn't need a wallpaper (like a certain other mobile os does)! I'm not sure but hopefully it can simply be disabled just like touchflo.

From trying the magic I just love the flexibility of Android. there really is an app for everything, not just what Apple allows! They seem to have learned most of the right lessons from the iPhone too.

Regarding multitasking, while it's not a true solution until Apple implements it there is a little util named 'backgrounder' on Cydia for jailbroken apps running either OS 2 or 3. It works very well and has the advantage of allowing you to specifically dictate which app goes into the background by holding down the home button for just a second before going to home screen. You do the same to disable background running. I use it frequently for IM apps.

did anybody else try and click "play" on that quicktime screenshot?

I think this review accurately evaluates the position of the iphone lineup in today's mobile-phone market. No one really likes to say it out loud that the iphone is the best thing that happened to the industry since the exclusion of protruding antennas, because doing so will spark endless debates from all present day users who fail to realize that the iphone is that big a game changer!

Just imagine what todays flagship phones would have looked like if apple had not entered the industry. Three way sliding, 52-key Nokia N99 anyone???

Given the previous editorial commentary on iPhone pricing in combination with network pricing, I really do question the 8/10 for value.

I'd prefer the flexibility of the Hero, and indeed have pre-ordered one. Roll on Friday.

At the end of the day it's horses for courses. I really don't see the point of a touchscreen in a phone and can't live without some kind of physical keyboard. Also the FM transmitter in my Nokia N78 is used daily in my car. I'm happy that I have a phone that I think is perfect and I don't look the same as everyone else :-)

i cant believe the review did not mention battery life !??! or did i completely miss that part , i bought a 3gs on day 1 , the battery life is awful , i had 2g iphone before that , i've been using my iphone this morning , 10 min wifi surf , location turned off , no blue tooth , 2 min phone call , battery dropped 90 % after a full charge over night !!!! not happy !!! im booked in for friday to visit a apple store , i love this phone , but the battery life is giving me cause for concern , lots of other people complaining about this issue also....some people are saying it will be fixed in os3.2 , but lets see what the apple store has to say....

Good review. Seems balanced. However, what a lot of people seem to have forgotten is that this is first and foremost, a phone! I only know one person who has a 3GS, and he reports that its a great gadget, but the phone aspect is awful - not loud enough, cuts out all the time, and difficult to use without accidentally touching buttons on the screen. This fella's not a techie in the slightest and I imagine his experience may be typical for the kind of person who does not read this site!

I upgraded from the 3G to the 3GS. FWIW, anyone who uses their 3G heavily will find the speed increase of the 3GS more than worth the money.

Just like the 3G I have no problems with battery life, the phone element (which is excellent), or anything else for that matter. That said, dodgy units always exist for any device - fortunately Apple will readily replace anything not performing as expected, just like they did with the original iPhone and the 3G.

Excellent review and I agree with 'LaughingJohn ' - it's a case in point that Apple has single handedly kicked the phone market right in the knackers like nobody has done before and testament to this is the fact that nearly every single hardware manufacturer is doing a me2 product. They may well create phones with different specs and capabilities but you can't ignore that fact that before Apple decided to make a phone device interaction and usability was poorly implemented in many cases and features which may well have sold the device were simply unusable (synching my Sammy U600 was like flossing my ass with barbed wire).

As for the battery life - as with all devices like the iPhone the way we look at batteries has to change because they are no longer just phones. This shift in device DNA has happened but we still think of them as 'phones' that do more not tiny computers that have a phone onboard. Thinking about them like this allows you to see the battery life in a more accurate way.

I initially was less than impressed with the battery life but one thing that I noted was that I have NEVER fiddled, played, used, a mobile phone so much as I have the iPhone. Whether it was to just play games, surf the web, read emails, text friends, listen to music, control my iMac music library whilst I was in the garden, show friends photos or actually use it as a phone, I can say categorically that no other phone I have ever had has has so much use in such a short space of time. Take this into account and you realise that ok, perhaps that battery life isn't amazing but do you ever put it down and let it sit there like your old phone? I doubt it.

ravmania wrote : "i'm holding out for the htc hero"

Bonnie Tyler moment, arf arf!

As a 3G user, I've come to my own conclusion that its not worth breaking my remaining contract for an early 3GS, so in agreement with Riyan there.

Gareth is spot on, whether you are on a bus or waiting to pick up a friend in the car, or even spending ten minutes doing what comes naturally in the morning, its hard to resist not checking email, having a blast on Need For Speed, texting, or just a quick surf. Or is that just me.....

Jim, I 'd assume it's a common aspect of iphones and other user friendly smart phones in general. Slap on top of this this software upgrade cycle and the app store (or whatever other people call theirs) and you have a piece of personal technology that is allowing you to do some of the things you would normally only consider doing with a computer (netbook, laptop, or big box).

scrabble® app gets a tanning before bed most nights.

I'm willing to admit I used to be an apple hater
Having used my girlfriends iphone 3g numerous times over the past 6 months I can honestly say I want one and am considering paying off my 3 contract to get one of the 32gb 3gs
However all I would ask is that it would also need to replace my 16gb flash mp3 player for train journeys etc.
Sometimes I will listen to my mp3 player for 6 hours a day. Would I get a days life from the 3gs with wifi/bluetooth switched off and 3g on using google sync plus the 6 hours of mp3 listening?

I have tried and been very impressed by the iPhone 3Gs, however while I wouldn't use the F-word (f*nb*y) I do think the rating is a bit high. I appreciate that your emphasis is on user interface rather than features, but still the hardware could be better. Take the camera - even if we're only filming drunken antics, why would we not want the quality to be better? In any case, I would guess a lot more people want a good still and video camera than are interested in Nike+!

Most of all I agree with some of the previous posters - I don't see how it can realistically get high marks for value. No doubt the phone itself is impressive, but it's currently only available on O2 contracts which, as has been reported on this site, are very poor value. In contrast, I managd to get the Samsung I8910hd you mentioned (which in a number of ways is better than the iPhone, even if the interface is not as good), for free on a pretty generous contract from another large provider.

Yes, the iPhone is very good, but I wouldn't say it's undoubtedly the "best consumer handset available".

I wouldn't call myself an Apple fanatic, but it seems to me that the case for the iPhone got a whole lot stronger. I'm quite a heavy user of the picture taking ability on my current phone, LG Renoir, so I'm not quite sure if I could live without the flash. Still, my current contract runs out May 2010, hopefully the iPhone OS will have matured a little further and the decision over which device to get next will be much easier.

Something I found interesting in this article: copy & paste & MMS weren't there for a couple of years, but not a big deal cos the reviewer doesn't use them; video and camera aren't great, but that's not a problem cos the reviewer doesn't use them.
Nike+ is there, and although the reviewer doesn't use it, it's a shining example of the "breadth of functionality" the iPhone has.
A little contradictory, no?

I agree with an earlier comment that this reads like the review of someone who has been using an iPhone for years; someone who is used to arguing against all the people who have raised its shortcomings, and has become comfortable with (and defensive of) them.

It's not the review of an Apple "fanboy" by any means, but I think those who are "Apple haters" have created a new subsection of people - people who are partisan towards their choice of phone (it's a phone for crying out loud, get some perspective!), and are slightly blinkered and defensive as a result because they know that there are others out there who will criticise them for it (even though it's a phone!!)

And hence you get a review like this, which whilst being balanced and undoubtedly reflective of the reviewer's honest opinion, spends more time defending the device against the inevitable criticism, than actually performing unbiased criticism itself.

Can anybody help me with 2 queries?

1) On my Windows Mobile phone I often leave TomTom running in the background for speed cam alerts (no route set) and have Google Maps up front with the traffic display going so I can look out for jams ahead. Could I do this with an iPhone or will the fact it does not multi task in the same sense mean that the TomTom voice will disappear when Google Maps opened?

2) Anybody on here experienced the over-heatng issue?

@Mad Iguana Couldn't agree more, i saw a few contradictions in there too, such as saying who cares about feature lists, and then goes on to do a 'new features' list.

I rarely go into London but I did venture in this weekend and, wow, if an alien landed in the middle of London these days they'd think that there was only one mobile phone on Earth, and that's the iPhone! Maybe iPhone owners just like to show them off? Not that I can talk - I was glued to mine all day :D <3 compass.

@Retset: you could try using Backgrounder as suggested by Fod further up. It causes problems if you have too many things running but you should be ok with 2. Jailbreaking is quick and easy and gives some extra useful functionality. Although some popular jailbreak apps are more trouble than they're worth IMO, backgrounder is definitely one of those apps that extends the usefulness.

I third Fod & Norbury on that - backgrounder, if only used with a single app at a time - say skype/nimbuzz or BBC iPlayer, works really well and I don't notice any of the promised massive depletion in (the already crap) battery life, as Apple would like you to believe.

I have no idea why Apple don't allow a single user selectable app to be 'minimised', it works perfectly well.

Can anyone recommend a decent "smart phone" that isnt the iphone? I like the idea of the iphone, but 1) I can't afford the prices 2) I don't want to buy into the whole Apple thing. As Ben says, it's like the iphone is only communication device out there at the moment...

Thanks for the reply Riyad - sorry for the getting the MMS part wrong; I had obviously confused it with A2DP support. Blame work & my lack of time to re-read things...
I still think it's slightly contradictory to say that lack of some things doesn't matter because you don't use them, whereas the presence of something else shows a breadth of functionality, when surely the lack of a good quality camera, the lack of good quality video recording and the lack of multi-tasking (to me) shows that there isn't a uniform "breadth of functionality".
Still I agree that what's important to one person isn't important to another, which is why I'm happy with my E71 cos it has a lovely hardware keyboard, and I can deal with the idiosyncracies of Symbian and the lack of decent camera and video recording because there is a lot of functionality there that I do use.

My point wasn't intended to be a criticism of the review; I find it sad and a little disappointing that we're in a world where people's hatred of Apple means that someone who likes the phone has to spend time in an otherwise impartial review defending it against criticism because of an instinctive reaction to everyone's kneejerk "hatred" or "fanboy-ism".
Thought it was a good review, that could have been better if it was a little less defensive about those flaws, but then again it is an opinion, and that's yours and I'm glad I got to read it.

"O2 has released its pricing for the new Apple phone and it's ludicrous, barmy, batty, recession-timed-madness that makes me so cross I'm going to simply copy and paste in this table to try and cut down on more adjectives....... it has not so much dropped the ball here as collected the ball, its chain, a few pro wrestlers and body slammed them onto the toes of existing and potential customers slap bang in the middle of the worst recession in nearly a century. "

Yet you give it 8/10 for value.

I bought the iPhone 3GS as my contract with Orange was up and my trusty Nokia 6110 was getting a bit long in the tooth. This model of iPhone had all the features that I need and more. I think unless people have a go with the interface and just the way it works, they will never understand why people are crazy about it. This is the best phone I have ever used and owned, it's not perfect, lacking flash is a bit of a pain, but it is a great handset.

Only 9/10 for the iPhone 3GS! I believe the iPhone 3G scored 10/10 in your review, kinda dug yourself a hole there, although I appreciate that it was two different reviewers!

Anyway, when are we going to see a review of the different app stores? With the new era of smart phones surely it's time that the stores are put to the test?? That's going to be a key feature of handsets from now on, so it's all part of the decision making!

TheEvilGenius: There are certainly good alternatives. The HTC Magic for example, although the camera is poor and it has a proprietary headphone socket. Personally I went for the Samsung I8910HD. IMO this beats all the competition as a still and video camera and as a portable media player, but it runs on Symbian so it suffers in comparison with the iPhone or Android phones when it comes to user interface and choice of apps.

I'd hesitate to recommend any one handset though, since they're geared towards different users - do you primarily want an entertainment phone, a camera phone, a business phone? And though I feel that Apple products often tend to be vastly overrated, the iPhone itself is very good. Yes, it has flaws and limitations, but ultimately it is very easy and enjoyable to use. I certainly wouldn't discount it solely on the basis of not wanting to "buy into the whole Apple thing". Despite appearances Apple is a company not a religion; you can simply buy and enjoy individual products on their own merits.

Above all, if nothing stands out then I'd consider whether you really want a smartphone at all. If you just want something with a decent camera and music playback, and only occasionally want to use the internet, then I'd look at 'regular' phones from Sony Ericsson, Nokia etc., which can be had for free on more reasonably contracts than a smartphone.

The one really important thing (for me) is that this locks you down to using iTunes.

I hate iTunes - big, bloated, and frequently updated (massive download size).

iTunes is okay for music only (though it does mess up MP3 tags frequently), but for anthing else, it truly sucks.

I had the iPhone (1st generation), but had to give it away as I could not live with iTunes.

The iPhone itself, despite its limitation, is not too bad.

Currently using a Nokia E71 and loving it.

The only way to get the phone is via the contracts - which you clearly find unacceptable - or via PAYG - for £440/538

Which offers 8/10 value?

TheEvilGenius
Try out Android! It really is great and will only get better over time. The HTC Magic is really nice but there are a few others coming out soon which could be worth waiting for.

The Lord of All Phones

Good review. Some friends have one and it's an awesome device. That said the unholy trinity kills it for me - iTunes, size and O2.

I was quite stoked about the Hero but bearing Gordon's comments in mind I think I'll hold off for now.

Facking top class stuff as usual Mr. Emeran. Ridiculously enjoyable, reading your stuff!

I m both a iphone 3gs and HTC G1 owner, and i do use both phones. But i must say having used both i still think iphone is better then the G1 or any android handset. First of all, many people out there don't understand the real meaning of OPEN SOURCE. The reason i m mentioning this is because many people seem to believe that open source means FREE and to believe that android is better because you can get apps on the market for free and you are not locked down by something or some sort, but the fact is the Market is pretty poor to be honest. Any remotely useful app you will need to pay for and they are not cheap either, regarding for people saying the iphone is locked down. But i would like to ask the the common users even if you did get a android handset in which way of freedom will you obtain?? You will still use android OS (its not like you can install WM or any other on it as you wish), and probably you won't even root the phone.
The android OS is pretty good and sharp, but it is still in its infancy and it still needs alot of catching up to do compare to the iphone OS. Both HTC dream or magic's touch screen feels no where near as nice as the iphone. I do like the phyical keyboard on the G1 tho but battery life is just as bad as the iphone if not worst. The market is a total mess with so many people release useless apps or themes which you need to pay for......
although i do agree that the android os is very nice and easy to use but its no where near as fun to use as the iphone, over all end user experience just feels better on the iphone. I think there are many improvements needed for the Android OS but for the next year or so i don't think it can knock apple off yet.

Hi Guys

i have been a Nokia Fanboy for years, currently own an N95 8GB and E90 Communicator
all this Apple i-phone 3GS stuff has been doing my head in, so i went and tried one in the 02 store
i thought it was pretty damn good, nice screen, nice design, intuitive OS etc etc
only played with it for about 30 minutes, and i was tempted....."almost" lol
the next day i tried my fellow band members flashy white 3GS 16GB
i tried my own headphones in it (Ultimate Ears, cost me £120!)
i have to say i was disappointed with Audio Quality and also the maximum volume level from the 3GS
i have another phone, a Nokia N91 8GB Music Phone, even today, this baby is still unrivalled for sound quality and volume level
if any of you own one or have tried it, you WILL know what i mean...
then i find out that the 3GS only has Mono Speaker, even my N95 has stereo speakers!
so, i thought... how about "drag and drop" your MP3 collection, nope... you have to use i-tunes...
then my next important bit is "sound quality when making and recieving calls" - its a phone, so it`s important! lol
again, nothing to write home about, and in a noisy environment, the 3GS is just too quiet
i have read on the Apple site that people aren't happy with it as well, so i`m not alone
and before anyone shouts at me, these next points are what i need in a phone

Bluetooth File Transfer (a must, well... for me anyway)
loud volume through earpiece when recieving calls
Decent Camera (for catching those quality moments)
Stereo Speakers, not some distorted mono speaker, its Music!!!!
Flash in a web broswer, why doesn't it have it??? i mean come on
replaceable battery!
a phone that doesnt overheat, which i know the 3GS does
a decent output volume from a phone (using headphones when listening to Music)

anyway, after all this, i thought "shall i order one" - i just couldn't do it!! lol

02 want £175 for an 18 month contract and they have gotten rid of Unlimited texts option! why ????????

i am always the first person to upgrade my phone, i get bored easily! lol
but i have decided to wait until November/December time to see if anything comes out worthwhile
i want to try the Palm Pre, but have my reservations

for now, i will stick with me N95 8GB as it hasnt let me down ever, has the latest firmware, records better video than the 3GS, takes better pictures, better earpiece volume and call quality, and yes unfortunately its Symbian.....

was also tempted by Samsung Omnia HD, but i hate Orange and the way they put all their garbage on to all their phones tht slow it down and i have read so many complaints about the rubbish audio codec that they used on their HD Recording, i mean, whats all that about?
and yes i know they have released a firmware update but even still, the audio on video still doesn't cut it when compared to my current handset

feel free to shout at me now, lol

i still think the i phone is great and will suit some people, but not me as i need more from a handset than the "look at me, i got an i-phone"


Laters..........

Despite the explanatory comments, 8/10 is still too generous on the pricing. You cannot separate tariff cost and phone cost, as there is network exclusivity. They're one and the same.

By the way, if you had a Hero, where's the review for that? It is out next Friday.

Good review guys, excepting the value for money rating, although as the 9/10 overall scores seems well desrved its a moot point. Even better is the well considered comments made by the readers. Far cry from the "my dad is bigger than your dad" brigade found else where. I'll be parting with my hard earned cash to pay for the initial cost of the 3GS as a present for my wife (she'll pay the contract) but I'm still waiting for the i7500. I hope it lives up to expectations!!

@Wayne Harris; Making any purchase is a personal decision, so if the iPhone isn't right for you then that's your decision. You have however, listed things the iPhone cannot do as everything you wantin a handset!

Having used a Nokia N95, I could never go back to Symbian. Although I never really had any issues, it's nowhere near the iPhone OS in terms of ease of use and intuitiveness.

For me the iPhone is a perfect mix and is a pleasure to use. The camera is actually pretty good and it's great to get out when you need it, add to that the video recording and the editing features, which are cool to have in the handset and it works out great.

Also, the app store is full of applications to add filters, change settings and generally mess around with your photo's and is a great addition.

The iPhone apps are just a joy to use, from searching, installation and use, no other platform comes close.

Your comments about the iPhone being a 'look at me I have an iPhone' are a let down from someone who was having a rational discussion. The iPhone is way ahead of anything currently available in the interface department and now it has most of the features that were missing, it is a great handset. I am looking forward to the Palm pre to see what that is like.

I was always a Nokia fan until I got the iPhone, now I just couldn't go back to the old ways.

I have had no issues with wifi or overheating and my volume is fine, certainly the phone is loud enough for me.

Riyad: "Yes you can get more minutes and texts for £35 with a different handset, but it’s that fact that you have to go for a different handset that’s the key"... I'm not really sure how that helps your argument in favour of the 3Gs being good value. The 3GS is currently only available on a very un-generous contract from O2. You've just acknowledged that by choosing a different handset you can get more minutes and texts. Yes, the fact that you have to choose a different handset is key - key because some of those other handsets equal or better the iPhone in terms of features (even if not in terms of UI), and yet you still get more for your money. Apple and O2 could certainly have offered better value, but chose not to and knew they could get away with offering less because of the cachet attached to the iPhone. I still believe that should be reflected more strongly in the value rating.

@Zero
Definitely agreee that Open Source is not about being free. It's about being Open. By that I mean being able to customise and change things the way you want them. When I was trying out the Magic whenever I found something I didn't like about the phone there was usually an app that let me change it. There are simple examples like being able to place shortcuts and widgets to turn on bluetooth and wifi directly on the deskptop for one touch access instead of hunting through settings each time. But also other things like being able to install different keyboards to use instead of the qwerty. In my case I wanted a regular T9 phone pad as I find the qwerty very slow in comparison. Admittedly these are small and simple examples and perhaps are not relevant to a lot of people, in which case the iPhone will be perfect, but for me they are and I love the way that Android allows you to do them.

Like you mentioned, I'm not really into themes but I do like having a proper home screena nd not program launcher. I can actually have useful information which I need to look at at a glance. In terms of freedom there are also things like not just being limited to using Apps over WiFi. I can watch iPlayer and live tv wherever I am over 3G and my Skype can always be on so I can receive IMs and calls without being in the App. And I'm not stuck on O2 and can use local sims when I go on holiday. Admittedly you can solve some of the issues that I've mentioned by jailbreaking your phone but isn't it annyoing that you should have to do that in the first place? I'm not sure if this is still the case but I know there used to then be the issue of Apple bricking your phone when you tried to install new updates.

As Riyad said several times, if these aren't important to you then it's not an issue. Stick to your iPhone and be happy! I'm not disputing that the iPhone is great and it is perfect for a lot of people's needs. The thing I find annoying is that it's easily capable of doing everything I've mentioned and more if Apple allowed it. They are important to me and that's the reason why I prefer Android.

@Jacko
"The iPhone is way ahead of anything currently available in the interface department".
It's definitely led the way and probaly still is the best touch UI but it could still learn a few simple things from other phones. Simple things like call buttons make a huge difference and make common tasks much quicker and easier.

I think your attempt to prevent accusations of "Apple Fanboyism" was kind of destroyed by the length of the review. I love long, and indepth reviews but when most phones get 4 pages (the last often being test shots for the camera) the 9 pages for this seems excessive.

I suppose I can hope that all reviews will me this indepth soon, but thats unlikely to happen. Hehe.

It does look like a great phone. I'm on O2 with an unlocked T-mobile G1, which I love. I think I'd try the iPhone 3G S if it was £99 like the 3G was but its far too expensive. Think I need to wait for the Samsung Galaxy now.

I think the feature that was the most useful was the integration in Google maps of the digital compass which doesn't appear to be true of the google phone. Sometimes I wonder how anyone can be scared of Google taking over the world when they seem to develop the best features for there applications for the iPhone before their own OS.

58 comments in two days. Only iphone reviews can make such achievement on TR...

pass

brackets (mob reviews)...

its a good thing anyway. thumbs up..

Riyad: I'm not excluding the importance of the user interface at all, and am not simply excluding it to help my argument. I just don't it quite as highly as you. After all, the exclusive and frankly terrible O2 contract is not a major problem for you, but I'm not accusing you of ignoring it to help your argument. We just have different priorities. I certainly don't buy the Evo-vs-911 analogy though, as I can think of few ways in which an Evo is actually BETTER than a 911, but can think of a number of areas where other handsets better the iPhone.

Apologies, my second sentence above should read "I don't rate it quite as highly as you".

Evo?! Impreza all the way hahahaaa :P but that is an entirely different argument
as for the iPhone it's just a phone and it seems to have got all a bit same-ish over the years

Nice phone.Shame you have to turn all those great features off before you get through a day without the battery flunking out. Anyone buying the 3GS should take a look at apple's battery advice page before spending any money. Maybe the software update will help.

Khufus, you're right about battery life, and I doubt a software update will help here... But in fairness, poor battery life is not unique to the iPhone and is common to other smartphones with similar features. That's the cost of the features and power... if decent battery life is a priority then you'd need to consider a more modest type of handset.

Hi....chiming in here so late that I doubt I will get a reponse but I'm really tempted by one of these when my upgrade is due in a month...my major issues are: I'm not entirely happy with O2's customer service and speed of their data network and found Orange offered better service when I was with them.....

...and 2, just what is the music sound quality like? I currently have a Cowon S9 which can generate a pretty potent sound, driving a set of Shure SE530 IEMs...previously I had an 80GB iPod Classic, and prior to that an 8GB Sony walkman and a 20GB HDD Sony walkman...of the four, although the iPod by no means sounded *bad*, it definitely had the weakest and worst sound.

Most reviews don't seem to mention much about the quality of an iPhone's sound when using the iPod function. I've always felt (in my opinion, of course, which is no more or less valid than anyone else's) the one fly in the iPod ointment is the fact that the audio processing was never as good as the interface etc and doesn't stack up to the best mp3 players out there

And I'm not even going to mention the bundled white Apple earphones that I still see regularly on the Tube....