Apple iPhone 3GS user reviews (32GB - white, AT&T)

3.0 stars

"iPhone 3GS... A better phone, but does it deliver?" on November 20, 2010 by wizbang_fl

Pros: Multifunctional Phone, Can use apps and talk at the same time, App Store Integration, WiFi, Camera

Cons: Incomplete integration with Apple programs (most notable is iCal), The Apple corporate "attitude"., limited browser (no adobe flash)

Summary: I have had the first generation iPhone and upgraded to the 3GS 32Gig white model. I enjoy using the phone, but find some glaring shortcomings to the device. First let me say I have a Mac household, iMac, macbook, etc, that being said there are expectations that Apple has set. In particular, the integration of these devices. Unfortunately, when the shine of the new toy wears off these become apparent. Apple has a web service/email called "mobile me" it is designed to sync the iphone and information to your mac device. For example: You bookmark a site for a hotel with reservation on your mac. Within a minute your iphone will reflect the same bookmark. This is supposed to happen with Mail, bookmarks, ical, contacts. Unfortunately, the iphone tends to "trash" certain data on a whim. A contact I have entered in my mac which shows up on the phone disappears the next day. Calling apple they say it's a problem with the mac. So I turn off the syncing, but even when I add the contact manually, still it disappears like "I dream of Jeannie" when "poof be gone". When you go through the app store you must acknowledge the Apple Terms of Service. Which it seems they update monthly. This is a "legal" mumbo jumbo thing that you must agree with in order to use the app store so once you have acquired the phone you are forced to accept the terms or not use the app store. The app store has a huge number of applications, unfortunately a large number of them are just pointless. (a farting app?) But apple held up the google voice app up for over a year. Also the phone can't be considered a secure device. Storing any sensitive information in the phone is not a good idea. Get sent a meeting invitation in mail you can't accept it via mail and you can't move it into ical. You must create a manual entry in ical for the event. If you create tasks on your mac these tasks don't show in ical. You must use itunes to sync music, movies, etc. When you sync the device it seems that the phone must go through each file to confirm it. Rather then look at files that have changed since the last sync. Now for the good, sending a text message without a physical keyboard I thought would be a pain, but the interface takes into account if you press a close by key and can quite accurately correct spelling errors on the fly. For example If I type wdre the phone will ask if I meant were since the d and e are beside each other. I really enjoy watching movies while traveling on the phone. It is just big enough to watch, but not as obtrusive as a laptop. The camera (no flash) works surprisingly well, since I many times forget to have a camera with me my phone has served as my camera multiple times. I do like my iphone, but I don't feel the $150 per month from AT&T for 2 lines 700 minutes unlimited web/text is really a value. In particular with AT&T's network which can be very nice in some areas and wood splinters under your fingernails in others. Also with antenna issues, etc, apple seems to be losing their edge on producing a quality product and owning up if the device has problems.