iPhone 3G and firmware 2.0: the day after
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Jul 12th 2008 3:52PM
posted Jul 12th 2008 3:52PM
- The masses of humanity continue to collect. Massive stock shortages don't seem to be an issue (yet), but patience is not a virtue we hold dear to our hearts, so we really can't blame these people.
- Some buyers are reporting a yellow tint to their screens -- probably not enough to notice without another unit side-by-side for comparison, but real nonetheless. Of course, the first iPhone suffered from the occasional crappy backlight, bum touchscreen, or negative black, so we wouldn't be surprised if a few lame displays made it out of the factory floor for this model as well; we're following up with Apple on this and we should have more for you later today.
- We took the iPhone 3G on a decent drive around New York, and found its tracking to be impeccable. In a situation where we might have veered off the path following Google Maps directions, the blue blip kept us right on track. Despite what you've read (we're looking at you, Mr. Pogue), we see no technical reason that the aGPS can't provide turn-by-turn directions, provided there's software to take advantage of it.
- There are some complaints floating around about 3G reception, but it's been just fine on our review units around the world so far. How's it treating you out in [your location here]?
- iphone-dev has a video up of BootNeuter going about its business on a first-gen iPhone that's been upgraded to firmware 2.0, and the process is looking as slick and painless as ever. Unlockers who haven't shelled out for the 3G, commence your salivating.
- MobileMe seems like it's up for the moment, but don't breathe too hard lest you bring the whole thing down again.
Update: We just spoke with Bob Borchers, senior director of product marketing for the iPhone, and he had some very interesting info regarding the "yellow screen" phenomenon we've been hearing about. According to Bob (and Apple), the screen's color temperature has been purposely altered on the new iPhone to produce warmer, more natural tones, sharper images, and deeper blacks. The company says that 1st gen iPhone screens appeared colder and less defined, and they made some adjustments for the new models. In our opinion, what he says is right on -- the screens do look better on the iPhone 3G versus the older variety. What do you guys think?
mmmmm its niiiiice
Has anyone else noticed that the games from the app store eat your batteries like ice cream?
Cro mag rally takes me down quick..
david
I've never had any problems with the apps eating my ice cream...
If you are on the v1 iPhone with the wrong firmware 1,2_2.0 instead of 1,1_2.0 you will have battery issues...
I played monkey ball for a while this morning and my battery still indicates full.
that's what she said
Does anyone have the link for the iPhone-less version of engadget?
no but I have the link for a website that has less apple news than engadget:
http://www.tuaw.com
I see what you did there...
It still bothers me that Weblogs, Inc. killed BBHub but lets TUAW live on even despite the fact that Engadget usually has Apple news hours or even DAYS before TUAW.
Engadget has no issue sending people to Mobile for cellphone and handheld news, HD for coverage of all things high-definition, or sister blogs for relevant and more in-depth news (Autoblog, Luxist), so why the exception for Apple and TUAW? In-fact, TUAW does the OPPOSITE, sending people BACK to Engadget for up-to-the-minute Apple coverage.
Either Engadget is WAY to into Apple, or TUAW seriously needs to step it up. My guess is both.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/30/iphone-news-making-you-queasy/
Thanks!
Also: Engadget! Put this link on your front page. I am sure I am not the only one just a teeny bit over the iPhone.
Welcome to iNgadget...
More like iNwidget.
Don't hate the Apple just embrace it because it's coming for you too!
The GPS is pretty amazing-Pogue's negative review of it made me worried, but it tracked our drive home pretty accurately, and kept up with my crappy driving skills.
You dont need turn by turn... that little blue dot is amazing! follow the dot..... you dont need to pay extra money for a woman to tell you to turn here!!.....lol
Who pays extra for voice turn by turn? I know with Sprint FULL GPS is included with DATA, yes... You get the womans voice with turn by turn.
the last thing i want is another women telling me what they think i should do...
i have a sense of direction and it works just fine... if i need help, a silent blue dot is perfect.
Except when driving.
It'll fade eventually. It's the day after a big launch. Give it some time.
Not soon enough...... Not soon enough.
By the time the excitement dies down for iPhone 3G, be ready for the iPhone 4G hype. I'm glad you're enjoying all the excitement. But if you aren't, so what. Nobody cares. Too caught up in the spur of the moment.
good point, steffen. what WILL the next-gen iPhone be like?
o better camera.
o truly replaceable battery.
o audio/video iChat: not turning this phone into the telecommunicator it can be is like having Olympic-level athletic abilities and settling for playing video games.
o and at least one model with a physical keypad.
what else?
I've got the phone but now what?? Am I still cool?? (baahhhh) Is there something new from Apple? (baaahhh bahhh) ZOMG I'm so iPwned!!!! Where did the rest of the herd go!?! (BBAAHHH!!!!!!)
Ben, nobody is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to read the stories. Please stop whining and simply skip them, it solves the whole thing.
LOL keep up the good work updating my favorite gadget of all time!
Dear god...
Get the HELL over there being iPhone posts! are you really that lazy where you can't just SCROLL? I can guarantee you right now engadget is getting tons of traffic because it is keeping everybody updated, more so than other tech sites. Are you going to complain about that? Stop complaining over great service and timely writers!
It's not a big deal. I applaud all of the staff of engadget for working hard and updating posts. It really helps!
SO agreed. Me, I love the iPhone posts. I cannot, on the other hand, figure out why some days every other post is about ASUS. I do not even understand the concept of a microportable. I tried to play with one the other day and could not get it to do anything. Why do people want those things--they are clunky, unusable, and basically do not solve any problem. The iPhone does more, costs less, and is WAY the hell cooler. And yet some of you want less iPhone coverage when it's the very epitome of what Engadget exists to cover?!? Go get your heads examined.
I guess its because for Asus one post = one product. For Apple one product = three weeks of posts.
The reception in my apartment fluctuates between 1 and 4 bars, but so far I haven't had any dropped calls, regardless. The one thing I AM having trouble with is finding a decent case. The Belkin Flip Folio seems like what I'm looking for, but apparently it's not shipping yet.
Don't get one.
I just ordered this one from marware
http://www.marware.com/PRODUCTS/iPhone-3g-cases/Phone-3G-C-E-O-Flip-Vue
If you can, I'd wait a few weeks for case manufacturers to refine their product. Only quickly produced cases were made for launch since anyone looking for an iPhone 3G would immediately try to grab one. Nice way to play into the hysteria.
I had typed up a cool post about my experiences with iPhone reception, but looks like it didn't go through. -_-
I work as a civilian on a military post and this is where I need internet browsing and game playing the most. The reception there is pretty degraded (1 to 2 or 2 to 3 bars at the most), but I'm still able to do what I need to do, so I'm impressed with that.
I'll have full bars, but my phone will drop calls like a used whore any time i'm on 3G. But if i turn off 3G and just use EDGE, my calls are just fine.
Also, anyone notice how slow txting is now? Its takin forever to pull up my contact list, and then to select someone. And now the add button disappears everytime you add a name, so you have to re-open the To: field to get the button back so that you can add another person. VERY huge drag when you're trying to send a mass txt
I'm confused, what are you complaining about...
Are you upset because "Oh no! More iPhones!" thus gone form the post,
Or are you upset because "Oh! No more iPhones!" thus gone from waiting in line...
sigh. Enough with this iPhone @!#$ already... please
Isnt't that what you said when reading Playboy?
Enough of these B**bs already, where's the M@n Meat !?
It's like you going over to cnn.com and complaining about the extended coverage of the Presidential election.
Don't hate the Apple just embrace it because it's coming for you too!
Whatcu gonna do... Whatcu gonna do when it comes for you... iPhone iPhone..
"Massive stock shortages don't seem to be an issue (yet)"
Say that to us UK readers ¬__________¬
Can't get one anywhere =(
Try an Apple store. I know for a fact that the Manchester store has plenty, and a queue of about 15 as of lunchtime today. It'll probably be the same or less tomorrow.
Doesn't help if you want to upgrade. Apple fucked their customers over who bought the original and wanted to upgrade. Loads in Apple where you can't upgrade and only 8GB's for original iPhone owners.
Fuck you Apple... fuck you.
Are we going to have an article about "First impression about the phone after the first day?" =). We would like to know how the phone feels on the second day....hehe.
MOAR MOAR MOAR! We need to know MOAR about the iPhone.
I deleted my CNET feed yesterday because of this, it looks like I'll be deleting my Engadget feed soon, too.
aren't those the words to that Britney Spears song?
All you people care about is MOAR MOAR MOAR MOAR MOAR!!! LEAVE THE iPHONE ALONE! I MEAN IT!
NEED MO@R iPHONE NEWS
OM NOM NOM NOM NOM!!!
Yet you were the first one to visit and post?
I'll bet you were so disappointed that after waiting a week in line at the Apple Store, you got in first, looked around and... "OH NO, MORE IPHONES"
my 3G reception is pretty poor, if i get it im on 1 bar, even though the o2 site says im covered. Located in barnsley, United Kingdom
I picked up a 16 GB black iPhone last night. I have indeed noticed reduced bars in areas where I used to have 4 or 5. I can be sitting at work and watch the bars dance from 2 to 4 without moving at all. The odd thing is that even with two bars, when I make a call it still sounds fine. Strange. Does sucky 3G reception work even better than exceptional 2G reception?
3G does not just mean high speed data. It means better call quality as there is more capacity therefore less compression even at 2 bars.
I picked up a 16 GB black iPhone last night. I have indeed noticed reduced bars in areas where I used to have 4 or 5. I can be sitting at work and watch the bars dance from 2 to 4 without moving at all. The odd thing is that even with two bars, when I make a call it still sounds fine. Strange. Does sucky 3G reception work even better than exceptional 2G reception?
Can you post the same comment 2 to 4 times without moving at all also?
I submit myself for capital punishment for double posting.
LOL @ Judd, well played!
Please pay here.
OMG! OMG! OMG! the best phone I have ever had has gotten even better. I am totally stoked at the new features in 2.0 and the 3g makes this the phone to have. some haters out there are still bashing it but it definetly rocks... GREAT JOB APPLE!!!!!!!
My 3g is indeed a bit yellow compaired to my 1st gen. But I agree it does look better like this, 1st gen is too "cold" by comparison.
It really simple: with some people Apple can do no wrong. You are probably one of them :-)
It's not too yellow. The rest of the world isn't yellow enough.
LOL, decoy.
it's not that engadget has too much iPhone news, it's that the rest of the blogosphere has...
Does PUSH work on EDGE still with the new 3G iPhone? I live in a rural community where I don't get 3G till I go to "the city"
Will I still have all the functionality of the new phone with just the slower speeds in my home town, and faster speeds in the city?
Thanks!
Yes, Push e-mail will work on either Wi-Fi, 3G, or EDGE
Woot thanks. iPhone 3G Here I come.
yep, it does.
but the implementation was REAL slow saturday, took up to an hour to get some address book/ical changes pushed to the phone. speculation is that'll improve as the server situation improves. THAT is something i hope apple addresses. If mobileMe has no more reliability than .mac had, it's gonna disappoint a lot of people.
until push is faster than an every-15-minute sync with .mac, it represents no improvement in service.
My wife is about to buy an iPhone in the Galleria Apple Store in Houston, Texas. She has been waiting for 2 hours and 10 minutes. They told her they still have the white 16G model but she is about to find out for sure when she gets to the counter.
No mention of stock shortages yet.
That picture pretty much describes the pandemonium at the Towson, MD Apple store when people couldn't activate their phones. Thankfully, they finally let people take them home to be activated.
More Iphone news, more iphone news PLZ ENGADGET DONT FORGET TO DO SEVEN DAYS OF IPHONE USAGE. Win mo, RIM, Symbian users can all roll on d floor & die if they dont submit to their new overlords(Apple UI speaking) hehe
This GPS is really the slickest new feature in my opinion. It's very accurate and the satellite overlay is nice. You can actually see things on the screen as you drive past them.
We just got 3G service near my home and I noticed that reception on my original iPhone seemed to drop somewhat around the same time 3G went live. (My wife has a Nokia 6550 and asked what this new 3G indicator was) The 3G iPhone also shows fewer bars and seems really sensitive to how you hold it and where you are in the room. I'm hoping AT&T is still tweaking the service and it will improve.
Finally, I was somewhat upset that I have the AT&T Family Plan with the $25 unlimited SMS for all phones on the plan. Guess what, this doesn't apply to the new iPhone so you have to pay higher data and extra SMS fees.
3G service in Denver has been sub par at best I'm waiting for them to fix it.
I still can't make up my mind about if I should go and get one! Its really annoying and every post only makes things worse! I almost wish the first batch of 3G's was defective so I could wait a little while longer without feeling crappy.
If you had a first gen iphone and upgraded please tell me IS IT REALLY THAT MUCH BETTER?
The screen is not defected:
"Update: We just spoke with Bob Borchers, senior director of product marketing for the iPhone, and he had some very interesting info regarding the "yellow screen" phenomenon we've been hearing about. According to Bob (and Apple), the screen's color temperature has been purposely altered on the new iPhone to produce warmer, more natural tones, sharper images, and deeper blacks. The company says that 1st gen iPhone screens appeared colder and less defined, and they made some adjustments for the new models. In our opinion, what he says is right on -- the screens do look better on the iPhone 3G versus the older variety. What do you guys think?"
Sounds like a PR lie. Warmer color would make most videos look better but it would make gui look worse. If you're looking at a screen that has a lot of white and light grey, cold colors would make it look clean and crisp, yellowing it would make it look old and hazy.
@wormbolt
yeah it sounds like PR crap...
except in this case... it is better over my old iPhone. it's not as bad as it sounds... drive-by media hype got us all again.
As much as I really dislike the massive amount of redundant iPhone posts, lets be realistic now. Engadget is a website.. websites for the most part want traffic. Engadget at the moment is one of the bigger gadget websites and a new popular gadget just came out with a new revision..
They are posting updates for it that are likely gathering them a very large amount of traffic. Why would they stop just to please the people who are too lazy to scroll or download a Greasemonkey Firefox script? Get real. If any of you guys (or girls) had nearly as much traffic as I bet Engadget has right now, you would be orgasmic.
You got to admit though, the hype they are adding to is a bit superficial.
How does it work when you buy the iphone at an Apple store and you are getting a family plan, with the other phone not being an iphone? So you get your iphone and plan at Apple and then head on over to AT&T to get another phone?
(ATT Vallejo, ca) got in line at 7 yesterday morning with about 150 people in line a head of me. At 10:15 i got in the store to find out they were out of 16G. Bought the 8G with plans to return/upgrade to 16G. Switch from a nextel\sprint phone.... So far this is a great device, but a crappy phone. I must have a bad iphone. My boss has Gen 1 iPhone and his signal is twice as good i mine. He has 5 bars and i have 2 bars, same room So far i have taken 7 calls (phone finally got incoming calls today) and dropped 5 of them.... Not very good numbers.... I have been waiting for this phone for 6 months, kinda disappointed. I was also very excited for moblie me, but that was a joke too.
I guess steve jobs and att were not iready.... Great marketing, but bad idea to launch 32 countries in one day. Come on apple your better than that...
iPhone 3G have problems with CAR BLUETOOTH that were alredy solved in the 1.1.4... so big step back...
Also it's widther and deeper and doesnt fit in major CAR dock kits like Volkswagen...
Also, it just charge with USB, it does not charge with FIREWIRE so, many speakers, adapters, car kits, WILL NOT CHARGE the 3G.
Apple, we were waiting so long for this crap?
Can someone provide a translation? haha.
You really can't read that chris?
I got the iPhone 3G yesterday and plugged it into my ipod connector on my Scion factory Headunit and i can confirm that although I can play music, I cannot charge the phone, and I am pretty disappointed with this.
one of my friends was waiting in line lastnight after work at the apple store in Columbia in the washington dc area and she was in line till 11:30 and they said they sold out. they did not even tell the people in line that they did not have anymore they just let them wait for like 3 hours. LOL she was pissed but i was laughing my ass off.
I like the blue tint personally, but I guess I could learn to live with it. That is if I actually had a 3G iPhone...
Question for you 3G iPhone users:
- does BT GPS work (i.e. external BT GPS)
- is there a HID BT profile (so that you can use an external BT keyboard and use the iPhone as a UMPC)
I don't have one, but I know for a fact that these two BT profiles are not supported. It's headsets and such only currently.
stereo (a2dp) headsets?
no and no. apple is NOT a device designed for bringing along other devices...
*head explodes* anyone else have a ridiculously irrational question?
Really? then why do you go into EVERY iPhone post to type the same message?
STFU loser.
I agree about what the marketing director says about the screen, I have an ipod touch for comparison, which is pretty neutral in it's grays, not warm or cold. The 3g iphone's icons seem to pop more off the screen with richer black and warner colors, the touch seems a bit washed out in comparison in terms of contrast and vibrance.
can someone answer a simple question for me ... do the AT&T Corporate discounts (FAN) apply to the iPhone? I've been looking everywhere and I can't seem to find an answer. THANKS!
No, they do not. Corporate discounts were phased out when the original iPhone came out last year. If you were receiving a discount at that time (like me) the discount was removed from your contract when you activated the iPhone. However, if you're buying the 3G iPhone, contact AT&T and make sure the FAN is no longer listed on your account. When they went to activate mine in the store, it said I was not eligible for the new phone. I had to call AT&T and they were able to remove the setting on the spot. It was still there even though I was receiving no discount from it. Can you imagine if I waited two hours and then had to walk away? Hope that answers your question.
I can confirm that FAN will work with 3G. When I upgraded I got a new FAN plan to go with it.
@stuart, thanks for finally providing some confirmation.
one other question: does the FAN apply to:
1) the plan ONLY
2) BOTH the plan AND the phone
it should be #2 given the new structure
Okay, so I'm not complaining about the iPhone coverage (really, it doesn't bother me), and I don't particularly care about Engadget's supposed Apple bias (I'm a Linux person, but I can understand why people would want to use Windows/Mac boxes, and it's a personal choice, so why be fanatic about it?), but really... This article seems pretty slanted. Don't get me wrong, I think iPhones are cool (and if I could afford one I'd probably buy) but come on... They could at least act like it's not the greatest thing in the history of mankind a little less.
It's a phone, guys. Breath...
All this fuss for what? A Phone with a Touch Screen? Likes its not been done before the iphone.
So what you will all get bored with the stupid thing in a years time like you do with every new gadget you get.
I think that what Bob Borchers says is just to cover up the actual things happening. Like most of the guys out there who are good at talking ;)
-
I just found out my Iphones right speaker is dead... fudge crackers...