Apple's new iPhone 3GS is a great phone. I have been fortunate enough to be able to get my hands on one, and have owned it for about a week. I also have an original iPhone and used to own an iPod touch (1st generation). Though the 3GS has many documented advantages, I'd like to focus on the disadvantages for now. So here's the top reasons why you should not buy the 3GS.
5) AT&T: This is obviously a moot point if you already use AT&T, but to everyone else: watch out. AT&T has a plethora of problems. Their coverage where I live is abysmal. It works fine outside of buildings, but indoors you'll get no service. The EDGE network is often unbearably slow, and the only chance I ever had to try out AT&T's 3G was in Ann Arbor during a football game. At that point, AT&T's service refused to work. (My buddies with Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon all laughed.)
4) Apple: Apple likes to be in control. If you buy the 3GS, despite it's great OS and third party apps, there are going to be a multitude of small things that you might want to do but Apple won't permit. For instance, customizing the phone with a theme, multitasking, etc.
3) Unique-ness: Everyone owns an iPod, and everyone else has an iPhone. Walk down a city street and you'll see tons of iPhones pressed against people's ears. But a Palm Pre or myTouch 3G is a lot more unique. So that doesn't really detract anything from the iPhone, but it's somethings you might want to think about.
2) App Store: How is this a bad thing? Thousands of developers have created applications for the iPhone. Those apps rely on the screen size and other physical aspects of the phone, and the inner coding that connects everything together. Apple is forced to keep a lot of things of the iPhone the same (both software and hardware) so there likely won't be a huge overhaul of the iPhone OS anytime soon.
1) Battery: This has been my absolute biggest gripe with my 3GS so far. The battery life is abysmal-- worse than my two year old original iPhone's. Sure, the speed boosts are impressive, but the battery life has taken a huge hit. It's pathetic. Hundreds of users have reported that their 3GS won't last a full day even in standby mode. And Apple claims 300 hours!? And the percentage of the battery remaining (which can be displayed next to the battery icon) drops 2-3% every 10 minutes of internet browsing over EDGE.
So there you have it. 5 reasons NOT to buy the 3GS. Right now, I'd recommend it if (and only if) the battery issues are fixed. Until then, I can't honestly recommend the 3GS to anyone. The $99 3G? Yes. But the 3GS? I can't.
If you would like to check out my iPhone applications, you can do so at: http://itunes.com/wearmaize
5) AT&T: This is obviously a moot point if you already use AT&T, but to everyone else: watch out. AT&T has a plethora of problems. Their coverage where I live is abysmal. It works fine outside of buildings, but indoors you'll get no service. The EDGE network is often unbearably slow, and the only chance I ever had to try out AT&T's 3G was in Ann Arbor during a football game. At that point, AT&T's service refused to work. (My buddies with Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon all laughed.)
4) Apple: Apple likes to be in control. If you buy the 3GS, despite it's great OS and third party apps, there are going to be a multitude of small things that you might want to do but Apple won't permit. For instance, customizing the phone with a theme, multitasking, etc.
3) Unique-ness: Everyone owns an iPod, and everyone else has an iPhone. Walk down a city street and you'll see tons of iPhones pressed against people's ears. But a Palm Pre or myTouch 3G is a lot more unique. So that doesn't really detract anything from the iPhone, but it's somethings you might want to think about.
2) App Store: How is this a bad thing? Thousands of developers have created applications for the iPhone. Those apps rely on the screen size and other physical aspects of the phone, and the inner coding that connects everything together. Apple is forced to keep a lot of things of the iPhone the same (both software and hardware) so there likely won't be a huge overhaul of the iPhone OS anytime soon.
1) Battery: This has been my absolute biggest gripe with my 3GS so far. The battery life is abysmal-- worse than my two year old original iPhone's. Sure, the speed boosts are impressive, but the battery life has taken a huge hit. It's pathetic. Hundreds of users have reported that their 3GS won't last a full day even in standby mode. And Apple claims 300 hours!? And the percentage of the battery remaining (which can be displayed next to the battery icon) drops 2-3% every 10 minutes of internet browsing over EDGE.
So there you have it. 5 reasons NOT to buy the 3GS. Right now, I'd recommend it if (and only if) the battery issues are fixed. Until then, I can't honestly recommend the 3GS to anyone. The $99 3G? Yes. But the 3GS? I can't.
If you would like to check out my iPhone applications, you can do so at: http://itunes.com/wearmaize
RSS Feed