Having a great iPhone 3G experience? You're not alone.

Question

Given that this is a support forum, it's to be expected that it's primarily composed of people with issues with their iPhones. However, since several people in other posts have mentioned they are dropping by here to do some research before purchasing an iPhone, I thought I'd discuss my experience with a new Black 16 GB iPhone 3G.
Reception
Reading many of the posts in a few threads, I get the impression that people base their entire opinion of the iPhones reception on the number of bars the screen displays. This is a very flawed method. This [review|http://www.mobiletechreview.com/phones/iPhone-3G.htm] does a great job of describing why and is a must read for anyone considering a purchase. It's also a must read for those who think their iPhone is defective because it gets 1 or 2 bars while their buddy's Nokia gets 3 or 4. Basically it's up to the phone manufacturer to decide how many bars to display based on signal strength. Some phone makers, like Nokia, are much more generous with the bars than Apple is on the iPhone. The article I linked to uses actual signal strength measurement to compare and shows with identical signals the iPhone will show fewer bars than the Nokia. Bars do not tell the whole story when it comes to reception, and I'll describe my experience with the iPhone which backs up that claim.
I live in Pasadena, CA. With my original iPhone I got very average reception. In my office, the iPhone was all but unusable, and this was true of most people's phones. Around town reception was all over the place, but generally acceptable.
With the the iPhone 3G, things have improved. Around town I generally get 3 to 5 bars of 3G reception. In the Old Town area I've got 5 bars. Making calls is no problem, and the voice quality is far superior to my original iPhone. I've had no dropped calls and no service issue. In terms of data, the iPhone screams. Using this [speed test site|http://i.dslr.net/tinyspeedtest.html], I'm getting results between 920 and 980 kbps (1275 highest, 580 lowest). In the exact same spots, using my wife's original iPhone, we're getting 70-95 kbps, with several failed tests. That's a huge improvement!
Moving indoors, the 3G reception drops considerably. In my office, the iPhone switches automatically to Edge. However, unlike my original iPhone, I'm now getting good Edge reception in my office, usually 4 bars. Far more importantly, I can actually make and receive calls! At my home, 3G drops to 1 bar. However, I can still make calls without a problem. Data drops in half, with results between 390 & 550 kbps. This is still much faster than Edge however, but not as fast as areas with better reception.
Keep in mind that 3G reception indoors is expected to drop. AT&T keeps 3G on the 1900 MHz band, which isn't nearly as good as the 850 MHz band for penetrating buildings. For now, as there are far more Edge phones, AT&T is keeping Edge on the 850 MHz band. As this changes, indoor 3G reception will improve. I read in one of the other forum topics that one poster was furious with Apple and returning his iPhone 3G because he only got 1 bar of 3G service in his basement and he got 5 bars of Edge. He can be furious at Apple all he wants, but AT&T's 3G service, as currently implemented, isn't going to give you good reception in basements.
In my home and my office I have WiFi, so the 3G reception isn't nearly as critical as when I'm out and about. On the WiFi front, I'm happy to report that the iPhone 3G has improved range. I can actually walk out to my driveway, get in my vehicle, and drive away before losing signal. With my old iPhone, as soon as I closed the front door, the connection to my network was lost. This is a very nice, and unexpected, improvement!
GPS
GPS works great, and the "assisted" part really makes a difference. Using the GPS on the new iPhone is much, much more accurate that the old iPhone's methods of locating you. That's not a surprise, but what is surprising is how fast it locates me. Doing a side by side test with a Hertz Neverlost system, the iPhone pinpointed my initial location about 40 seconds faster than the Neverlost. That may not seem like much, but it feels like a long time when you're sitting in the car waiting to move.
+Creepy side note: I was playing around with the GSP in my house the other day. I zoomed in real close in Google maps and got right on top of my house. Walking from the back of my house to the front, the blue dot actually followed me. Yikes! I can't say why exactly, but it kind of bothered me. I guess I watch too much "24" and the like. :)+
_Speaker Volume_
The speaker volume is much improved with the iPhone 3G. If my old iPhone was in another room, there was a better than even chance I wouldn't hear it ring, even with the volume turned all the way up. With the new iPhone, I actually have to turn some of my ring tones down. Calls on the speaker phone are much louder with better clarity. I suppose it'll never be loud enough for some, but it's a big step up from the original iPhone and is just right for me.
_New Software_
As this is something available to all iPhone owners, I won't talk much about it, other than to say the app store is simply amazing. I've got 4 screens of apps already (some complete time wasters, some really useful) and the store just launched. With everything 1.0 atm, there are some bugs to be sure, but not as many as I feared. Most apps run great and are very addictive. My favorites include Loopt, Shazam, Pandora, Mobile News, Remote (best app if you have an AppleTV), Tap Tap, and iPint. I can't wait to see what the future holds!!
Battery
Battery life has been better than I had expected. I thought I'd have to charge my iPhone at least once, maybe twice, during the day. That's not been the case. If I leave the house in the morning with a fully charged iPhone, it's good for the entire day. This includes a ton of texting, music/audio book listening on my drive, dozens of calls, email, and web browsing. In fact, because it's so new and cool, I play with it much more than I typically would.
I've got a MobileMe account set up with Push. I get around 20 messages an hour pushed to my MobileMe account. When I wake up in the morning, there will often be 100 messages waiting in my inbox. I mention that to say that even with a lot of pushed email, my battery is still lasting a full day. I should also note that I'm on WiFi most of the day, and keep all services (3G, WiFi, Push, etc.) turned on at all times.
Issues
There are a couple of issues, which is to be expected with a new product and new software. I've run into the typing lag issue a few times. It's inconsistent however and not always present. I can usually text and type email without any lag, but if I'm on a web page and typing something into a search field, for example, it can get very laggy. This is something I expect to be fixed in a future software update.
The iPhone doesn't fit in my dual dock for my Apple bluetooth headset & iPhone and they aren't making a new one!!
Summary
I'm very happy with the new iPhone. It's everything I hoped it would be and then some. The 3G service is more than twice as fast for me than Edge, and has worked very well when I've needed to use it. WiFi range is improved. The ringer and volume is better. GPS works well and I will no longer be using a Neverlost system on my business trips. I recommend one highly!

Answer 1

KBeat wrote:
It's great to see that narcissism is alive and well (Raul, I'm thinking of you buddy). Apparently if Raul's iPhone isn't working, then no one has an iPhone that is working. If you think your iPhone is working, then it's because you're an idiot who doesn't know how to make or receive a phone call properly.
Unfortunately many posts of people who claim to have no issues with their 3G iPhones sound pretty much the same.
"If my iPhone 3G is working, then nobody can have one that is not."
"If you think your iPhone is NOT working, then it's because you're an idiot who doesn't know how to make or receive a phone call properly."
"If you think your iPhone is NOT working, then it's because you're an idiot who doesn't know squat about cell networks and 3G.
Please note, this is not aimed at you, but a general observation.
If their Iphone 3Gs work great then all of them have to work great and those of us who have a really bad iPhone 3G experience are just too dense to use them, are one the wrong network, clueless about 3G or generally just technologically challenged dimwits who don't understand neither the wonderful world of 3G nor how beautifully the iPhone 3G works, even when it doesn't.
Again, I had more dropped and failed calls with the iPhone 3G in four hours than I had with My Nokia 6280 on the same 3G network in almost two years. The network is also very clearly not overloaded, since I never had another another dropped or failed call after yanking SIM card out of the IDoorStop 3G and putting it back into the Nokia.