30 days later... how's it all working out for ya? (iPhone 2.0, Apps, etc)

Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
It's been 30 days since the launch of the Apps store and the release of the 2.0 software for the iPhone, not to mention the release of the 3G iPhone itself. Curious to know what everyone's experiences/opinions have been.

Speaking for myself... I'm especially aggravated at the moment. I've experienced intermittent problems with apps crashing since day 1 or even randomly failing to start, but at the moment not a single one of my 3rd-party apps will work. I was playing Trism just fine a few hours ago, but for some reason since then, nothing will work. Tried powering the iPhone off and on... no luck. I'm guessing re-syncing it when I get home will fix it. Hopefully. I haven't even jailbroke this thing since installing 2.0 (now 2.01), so I can only blame Apple at this point.
 
Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
10,345
Reaction score
597
Points
113
Location
Margaritaville
Your Mac's Specs
3.4 Ghz i7 MacBook Pro (2015), iPad Pro (2014), iPhone Xs Max. Apple TV 4K
Going into week 3 and all is well so far.
 
Joined
Oct 17, 2006
Messages
2,572
Reaction score
173
Points
63
Location
Southern California
Your Mac's Specs
Macky the 21.5'' iMac 2.7ghz i5 8GB, Mr. Pink 64GB iPhone 6, iPad Jr. 16GB Air 2, 13'' MBAir 1.6Ghz
Let's see...

I have had apps crash maybe twice and my text messaging has a lag when I type sometimes. That's about it. Overall, I'm happy. I love the apps, I play games on my phone all the time now. :)
 
Joined
May 27, 2008
Messages
275
Reaction score
2
Points
18
Location
Maine
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 2.5ghz, 4gb/r, 200g7.2krpm
Theres still some lag, but I like it. Pretty mad I have to jailbreak just to tether because of apple and at&t's stranglehold on the appstore. Its not like I'm going to be downloading files and playing games over AT&T's network, just when I travel or cant access WiFi the tethering solution is extremely convenient. Overall I'm happy.
 
Joined
Mar 30, 2007
Messages
208
Reaction score
3
Points
18
Location
Maryland
Your Mac's Specs
MBP, 13.3" || iMac 20" 2.16 GHz C2D, 250 GB HD, 2 GB RAM, || 32GB i-Phone 4 || 32GB AT&T 3G iPad
So far I am pretty much satisfied with my iPhone. The only small thing that agrravates me at this time is the constant 1 App that iTunes and the App Store keeps telling me that it need to update. I try updating the App (AOL Radio) and I get told that there is no update available. So the (1) over my App Store icon remains on my i-Phone. Any suggestions? Other than that I'm happy with the performance of my i-Phone.
 
Joined
Apr 22, 2008
Messages
70
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Your Mac's Specs
24" iMac 2.4 Intel C2D, 4GB RAM
lag ok SMS and contacts which is annoying
 
Joined
Sep 4, 2006
Messages
1,063
Reaction score
69
Points
48
Location
London, UK
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Air | iPad | iPhone | iPod Classic | iPod Shuffle | no more money
I have first gen iPhone with v2 upgrade. I like some of the new things in v.2 like the multi-coloured calendars (small things..) and the contacts list rather than having to go through the phone app.

I like some of the apps I've got from app store (trism, monkey ball, google app, etc, etc).

What I don't like:

Speed issues in typing and contacts (still not completely resolved in 2.0.1).
Some of the poorest quality apps I could imagine.

On that last point I think there are some real quality purchases AND freebies in the app store but there are also a lot of really rubbish applications. Further to my own experiences with some of the poorer applications, I see a few newspaper/blog selling headlines for really bad applications such as 'I am rich' which sounds like a waste of time AND money and the 'slasher' app which sounds like a stupid idea (a personal opinion of course).

Who checks these applications? Who decides if the application is safe for my iphone let alone morally acceptable?
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Messages
300
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Location
Richmond, VA
Your Mac's Specs
17" MBP unibody
No complaints here, no apps crashing - only issue was voicemail setup but it's been smooth sailing and touch-screeny goodness since then!
 
Joined
Jul 15, 2007
Messages
989
Reaction score
19
Points
18
Location
Miami, Fl
Your Mac's Specs
15" 2.2GHz Santa Rosa Macbook Pro - 4GB Ram - 120GB HD OS X Leopard - Windows XP
I had a lot of lag (especially on the keyboard in SMS) and my apps were crashing even after 2.0.1...

I eventually did a full restore and chose not to load the backup... I set it up to my liking and all problems were solved. :)
 
OP
L
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
I had a lot of lag (especially on the keyboard in SMS) and my apps were crashing even after 2.0.1...

I eventually did a full restore and chose not to load the backup... I set it up to my liking and all problems were solved. :)

I'm considering doing the same thing if I continue to have troubles. Syncing the iPhone last night got my apps to start working again, though quite frankly I don't really understand why that should even be. *shrug*

One thing did occur to me... I recently picked up a Sony clock radio with an iPhone-compatible dock to use at work to keep my iPhone charged and to play some tunes through the radio. I'm wondering if that unit is doing something to make these apps stop working. I'll have to experiment with this.
 
OP
L
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
On that last point I think there are some real quality purchases AND freebies in the app store but there are also a lot of really rubbish applications. Further to my own experiences with some of the poorer applications, I see a few newspaper/blog selling headlines for really bad applications such as 'I am rich' which sounds like a waste of time AND money and the 'slasher' app which sounds like a stupid idea (a personal opinion of course).

Who checks these applications? Who decides if the application is safe for my iphone let alone morally acceptable?

This is one thing that really aggravates me. There's no way to "preview" an app, and even worse, all sales are final. I'm not very happy with the notion that I can't try out an app or seek a refund if it doesn't work as expected. I was reading about how Apple yanked a tethering app from Nullriver twice without notice nor explanation to Nullriver. Some people who had already paid for the app felt they should get a refund, but each party says it's the other's problem. It seems Apple hasn't really put enough thought into how to address issues like these.
 
Joined
Mar 28, 2006
Messages
390
Reaction score
10
Points
18
so far most of the apps at the app store seem a waste of time/money -- a lot of fairly silly things. I guess it's like when Palm first came out and everyone went nuts over a "pong" application. I mean, seriously, "bubble wrap?"
 
Joined
May 27, 2008
Messages
275
Reaction score
2
Points
18
Location
Maine
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 2.5ghz, 4gb/r, 200g7.2krpm
I have the contacts lag as well, when I first open contacts its frozen for 1-3 seconds (longer than it sounds) before you can start scrolling. Its frustrating sometimes but i wouldn't call it a big deal.
 
Joined
Dec 3, 2006
Messages
9,383
Reaction score
417
Points
83
Location
Irvine, CA
Your Mac's Specs
Black Macbook C2D 2GHz 3GB RAM 250GB HD iPhone 4 iPad 3G
I'm also a bit miffed at the occasional lag that I get. Granted, 2.0.1 solved some of this, but it's still nowhere near as stable as it was back when I was using 1.1.3.

I too wish there were a way to preview apps. I saw a couple of them which offered this option, so I don't know why it isn't available across the board. Eh, I'm just looking forward to the GPS apps :D
 
Joined
May 27, 2008
Messages
275
Reaction score
2
Points
18
Location
Maine
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 2.5ghz, 4gb/r, 200g7.2krpm
Yes paid apps definitely need a demo period. I think 2.0 was less laggy than 2.0.1 for me.
 
Joined
Sep 4, 2006
Messages
1,063
Reaction score
69
Points
48
Location
London, UK
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Air | iPad | iPhone | iPod Classic | iPod Shuffle | no more money
...There's no way to "preview" an app, and even worse, all sales are final. I'm not very happy with the notion that I can't try out an app or seek a refund if it doesn't work as expected. ...

...I too wish there were a way to preview apps. ...

Yes paid apps definitely need a demo period. I think 2.0 was less laggy than 2.0.1 for me.

If apple and the movie companies can come up with time periods for movie rentals - why not apps?

You get a 1 time 24 hour trial of any application and are not allowed to 'trial' it again until it increases in version number (as perhaps version 1.0 is not quite worth the cash but maybe the 1.1 addresses those failings).

I think I'll drop that one in as a suggestion to apple using the following page: iPhone Feedback - if enough people make a suggestion perhaps they will follow it up??
 
Joined
Jun 6, 2007
Messages
220
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Location
Whittier, CA
Your Mac's Specs
uMBP 2.66/4GB/320GB; iMac 2.66Ghz/4GB/320GB; Apple TV; Black iPhone 3G 16GB
I signed up at launch w/ my fiance--we both switched from T-Mobile to AT&T at our local Apple store. Looking back, we've had zero issues w/ AT&T except w/ getting my FAN discount put back in after several iPhone exchanges.

I purchased a black one that has been exchanged a total of six times; my fiance is still in her first and it has had no issues.

Across all six iPhones, I can say that they all shared pretty good reception (3G, especially here in LA), battery life, and call quality. The speakerphone has been particularly good and I've been told a few times by people I've talked to that they can't tell the difference between the speakerphone and handset, but they can tell when I'm on a Bluetooth headset. That's pretty crazy.

Quality-wise, I think they've had a few "bugs" to iron out, mostly software and Quality Control. However, you can't look at the hardware issues as one mistake, but a one mistake that has been duplicated hundreds or thousands of times (depending on the production) until the issue is discovered.

Phone #1 - Pitted/peeling chrome bezel (bottom/left)
Phone #2 - Backlight is slightly dim, leaking between glass and bezel on the left side (next to volume switch)
Phone #3 - Pitted chrome, otherwise OK. Was fried by a defective USB dock cable.
Phone #4 - No cosmetic issues. Phone would "skip" when playing music through the iPod application if I had it hooked up to my car's AUX jack w/ double-ended audio cable, or w/ third-party headphones.
Phone #5 - I had it for two weeks until it "fried" the SIM card all of a sudden. I took the phone out of my pocket and noticed that it said, "NO SIM INSTALLED" and despite power cycling and removing/re-inserting the SIM card, it was just dead.
Phone #6 - Current phone. No issues (knock on wood), cosmetic or otherwise.

All of the above phones were in mint condition when I brought them back, no scratches, scuffs, or otherwise; none were dropped or otherwise abused either.

To Apple's credit (at least the store), they were very forthcoming in trying to resolve my iPhone issues. However, I had dealt almost exclusively with the store management (NOT the Genius Bar), and they were very accommodating. In fact, I called the Store Mgr about the fried SIM card early in the afternoon and he had another phone waiting for me when I come in after work. I absolutely refuse to deal w/ the Genius Bar unless it's something I can afford to wait a day or two for, and so far Apple has been understanding of that (esp. w/ the fried SIM card).

I love the iPhone and especially love the "freedom" it gives me from my desktop and/or laptop. The reception is absolutely stellar in comparison to my last phone (Nokia 6133) and the only reason I have a "smart" phone. I didn't like the look of Blackberry or Windows Mobile devices (esp. the QWERTY keys on the front). The Blackberry looks like something either a businessman or a gadget "nerd" (not Geek) would carry; the iPhone is much more inviting and easy to use, so if I didn't have it I'd probably have just gotten a freebie camera phone from AT&T or Verizon.

Battery life is no different than my trusty old Nokia 6600 (circa 2006), which was the love of my life for a good two years and had stellar reception, but at the expense of battery life. The battery lasts me a good day or two, depending on how much 3G or GPS I use. I charge mine every night, and the battery is usually at 40% or less (depending on how much talking). For instance, I had to call AT&T @ 611 to resolve an issue w/ my FAN discount, and I was on the phone for 45min--to AT&T's credit, I was on hold for maybe 5min total and the rest was Q-and-A about reception in my area. Anyway, my battery life hadn't moved at all, and about 4 hours later (of non-usage) that the indicator hadn't moved but 1-2% down. In other words, the talk and standby time are really good, but the GPS and 3G are really what will "eat" your battery quick.

Integration with the App Store has been excellent, but at times it is hit-and-miss (esp. w/ updates). I update almost exclusively from the handset (not from iTunes) b/c I've noticed conflicts when doing it the other way around. iTunes works fine but you need to be on WiFi if you want to purchase any tunes straight from the handset. So far the best "app" I've found is Pandora, and it functions wonderfully when you are driving and have it hooked up to your stereo--streaming over 3G is excellent.

On the whole, and 6 iPhones later, I can say that I've been very happy w/ my iPhone 3G. I would recommend it purely as a "smart" phone for the rest of us--those who don't use Blackberries or Windows Mobile devices, or prefer not to have a waffle of keys on the front of our phones either. So far it's done everything it says it will do, and I've had a good (but not great) experience with the iPhone.

If anyone was looking to get one now, i think you'd be fine...most of the issues I had were cosmetic, but rarely anything to do with the function of the phone.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top