Last week I wrote on the top 10 things I liked about the new Apple iPhone 3G. Now that I’ve had time to incorporate the iPhone 3G into my daily regime, I’ve ratified my most annoying things about it into the following 10. This list is also the result of speaking to fellow iPhone 3Gers like Twitter buddies @mpesce and @allisonr.
I see this list giving those who are still pondering on whether to make the iPhone 3G leap, a realistic view of the iPhone 3G – like all things on this earth, nothing is perfect.
1. Terrible Battery Life
The trade-off for all the wonderful functionality on the iPhone 3G is poor battery life. Running WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, iPod, and mobile phone capabilities at the same time will suck the living daylight out of any gadget. I’m sure Apple knew this, so one has to ask why didn’t they bump up the milli-amps to cater for this? Could this also be a reason why Apple didn’t include more bluetooth functionality such as A2DP or Bluetooth data file sharing abilities?
According to an experiment conducted by AnandTech, you can only browse for around 3 hours on the iPhone 3G before it completely dies! Here’s the comparison with iPhone Version 1 and the Samsung Blackjack.
As a power-user (I use all the aforementioned power draining functions with gusto daily), I’m finding that I have to charge my battery every night.
Here are some tips to help you conserve your iPhone 3G battery life:
a. Condition battery in first week: even though battery technology has improved immensely over the last 10 years, I still habitually fully discharge and charge my batteries of new devices in the first week. In the ol’ days of nickel cadmium and nickel metal hydride (still around), this both lengthened the life of your battery and ensure it knew where full and empty were.
b. Turn-off WiFi and Bluetooth when not required: this will save you considerable battery juice as your iPhone 3G won’t be actively scouring the air waves for nearby access points or bluetooth gizmos. Both of these can be switched off via the Settings option.
c. Get an extra charge cable or adapter: keep one at home via your bedside table and one for your work / study desk. This way you can re-juice while you sleep and work. I got an extra charge dock given to me at the Telstra Shop in Melbourne, since I was one of first so I’m all set in this area.
d. Get a iPhone 3G car charger: similarly if you drive to-and-fro everyday, make use of auto-power and top up your iPhone 3G.
e. Be conservative in your usage in general: I know I sound like a killjoy, but prioritise the tasks you perform on your iPhone 3G, e.g. do you really need to be using GPS when walking to your local convenient store? Save your battery for important situations like showing off at birthday parties with party tricks like the photo pinch ‘n’ zoom functionality.
2. No Bluetooth Data Transfer
Yup, you heard right, the Apple iPhone cannot transmit data files over Bluetooth. Kinda sad if you want to transfer your photos to friend’s phone or PC. For those in the U.S. blessed with lavish data plans this isn’t an issue as you can send via Internet/email. However, for the Australian Telstra iPhoners who are without all-you-can-eat or even remotely generous data plans this can be an expensive data transfer alternative. Guess we’ll just have to carry our USB cables on us wherever we go and hope that there will always be a free PC handy…not.
3. No full Outlook Sync Support
Contrary to what iPhone 3G non-business users will tell you, the iPhone does not fully sync with Outlook. More accurately, the iPhone 3G only syncs contacts and calendar events and does not sync notes or to-do list. This is annoying as I have a lot of notes created and stored from my Windows Mobiles days, not to mention my daily to-do list which keeps me on track. Now I have to install separate apps to store this info and squirm at the idea of re-inputting these items into those.
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