iPhone 3G S First Impressions

Swain Valasek | Jun 22, 2009 News & Editorials

User rating: (4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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Fedex delivered a nice little box of awesome today in the form of a 16GB iPhone 3G S (yes the S really does officially stand for speed).  There’s gobs of articles and videos out there comparing the speed of the 3G S to the Pre and original 3G and unfortunately I just don’t have the lab & time to repeat stuff like that so what I’m doing here is just rambling a bit about the OBE or ‘out of box experience’ which is a sort of intangible quality associated with any and every piece of high tech gear a man ever buys (women may not understand what I just said but all the guys are like ‘dude man, word’).  At the risk of alienating the fairer gender, I trudge onward.

So I get the SBB (simple brown box) inside and by the way AT&T using an SBB is a good thing as Fedex and UPS both have a tendency to leave very valuable stuff just laying at people’s front doors in plain view.  Anyway I sliced open the box and the first thing that came to mind is damn, this Apple box is small, is this really my new phone?  I neatly sliced around the shrinkwrap, toying with the idea of keeping it on there for posterity but soon after tore it off when I realized how hard it would be to take a decent picture of the box with it on there.  Inside the box right on top is the 3G S itself; no digging through leaflets or adapters to get to the prize, Apple lays it right on top baby.  Wrapped in a customary light adhesive plastic sheath it is a thing of beauty to behold but after a moment of ogling it was off with the sheath and immediately on with my spiffy new Griffin Nuform case.  I had the Griffin Clarifi on my 3G and really grew attached to it so the Nuform is basically the exact same case but without the macro lens (which is no longer needed on the 3G S…can I get a WHAT WHAT).  I had already decided I wasn’t going to put a screen protector on right away to give this whole ‘oleophobic’ screen coating a whirl so I was all set.  That done I plugged it in for a bit’o'charging and took a look at the rest of the box contents to see if any surprises awaited.  Negative; it’s the same packin’s as the 3G: basic product info and ‘finger tip’ leaflets, silly white Apple stickers, earbuds, AC adapter and USB docking cable.  Time to head back to the PC and get this sucker activated.

Lessee here, if this is an upgrade says to call some 866 number to complete the activation.  Very well, called the number and after no more than 2-3 mins of following voice prompts I had my new SIM activated.  Since I’d already done a backup of my 3G in preparation, I connected the 3G S and brought up iTunes.  When it detected a new phone I chose the option to restore from backup.  Since I had about 5 GB full on my old phone, this whole process took about 40 min but it was painless and trouble-free and when done, my new Springboard was exactly like it was before, sweet!  Wait though, what’s this???  None of my save games what the, who….noOOOOOOOoooooOOOOO!  Yes, unfortunately anywhere from most to freaking all of your app/game save data does not make the trip over so that game you been workin’ on for the last 5 months and were just about to finish?  Too bad, so sad.  Had i.TV setup just perfectly?  Not anymore you don’t.  Apparently the only app/game data that survives the upgrade is that which is stored externally such as MMO’s that you physically log into; anything stored locally (probably oh, 99% of what’s on your phone) is a wet sock.  From what I’m reading out on the nets I’m not alone in this experience but it seems others have had their local save data restored so if someone knows the real scoop with that let everyone know in the comments section (it’s already too late for me so just say a little prayer for me tonight).

So in the few hours I’ve had the 3G S I can sum it up thusly…worth every freaking dime.  This just feels like the iPhone is supposed to feel.  Everything is peppy and snappy, no more virtual keyboard lag, apps load wickedly fast, games play faster, Safari doesn’t make you want to throw your phone against the wall (as much) and the video recording is (and I must quote Peter Griffin) freakin’ sweet!  There’s a whole lot more to the 3G S obviously but this article only focused on my personal OBE and it was memorable in that ear-to-ear grin kinda way.

EDIT!  Feeling glum about all my local data in the bit bucket and having nothing to lose, I tried to restore a 2nd time from the same backup.  Whaddyaknow, it worked as all my local data is now back!  If I had to make a guess it would appear that the first restore tried to put all my settings and such onto an empty phone and on the next sync afterward iTunes just transferred all my apps to the 3G S as if I had just bought and was installing them for the first time.  On the 2nd restore, now that my new phone contained all the already-installed apps, the settings restored properly.  Whatever the case, I’m stoked and quite relieved.  Side note, this also makes the case to be sure you always transfer apps purchased OTA on the iPhone back up to iTunes for safekeeping.

The mysterious case of the ever-shrinking iPhone box
The mysterious case of the ever-shrinking iPhone box
The Apple standard, sterile white interface adapters
The Apple standard, sterile white interface adapters
I've grown fond of the Griffin 2-piece hard cases
I've grown fond of the Griffin 2-piece hard cases

There she is, pretty enough to bring a tear to the eye
There she is, pretty enough to bring a tear to the eye


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  • Adam S Apple

    fREAKIN’ sWEET dUDE!

  • Michael (Admin)

    WORD! WHAT WHAT! I’m very glad to hear that the (S) lives up to the hype! I should be getting mine in December, assuming demand doesn’t exceed supply which I’m not very optimistic about since it’ll be Christmastime and a lot of 3G users will be hitting their 18-month threshold around then.

    Funny thing about the keyboard lag, though… I upgraded my old antique 3G to firmware 3.0 last week and the keyboard lag has increased to the point that it’s a pretty constant annoyance. I’m REALLY hoping there’s a fix coming soon for not just that but also the bug in photos where you want to email a photo but you can’t because the icons at the bottom of the screen have disappeared (gotta go back to viewing the whole camera roll then tap the photo again).

    Also… for anyone who’s wondering why there haven’t been any app reviews since Friday… they’re coming! I personally haven’t reviewed anything in a few days which feels weird! I’m in the middle of trying to move which is cutting into my app time. :/

  • Chrisa

    Hey, Swain, wanna sell your 3G? I know an unemployed, semi-sane Chicagoan who is still on a 2G….

  • Swain Valasek

    Hi Chrisa welcome back, looking forward to more of your reviews. Believe it or not I’ve already dropped off my 3G at the Post Office for the winner of my eBay auction (yes someone bought it that quick!).

  • http://www.etechnstuff.com Ronald Headley

    My iPhone 3G S came in the SBB Friday- opened the box and went to the web site the activate it. No go- so I had to use the phone number – surprise – AT&T answered with a real person in just a few minutes. The YL that answered was very helpful and friendly. Got the phone up and running. I asked here how busy it had been – my phone came in at 10AM so I am guessing this was around 11AM. She said they were busy and that they had extra staff in and more staff were on call. The thing to know about me is I am coming from an old Sprint phone – just button and a screen that shows names and numbers. So besides being a total newbie to smart phones I am also over 60 years old.
    I knew there was no way to get my phone numbers out of my old phone onto a computer so I started to enter them manually on the iPhone -after two I figured there MUST be a better way. Hmmm I have mostly PCs here at the store and I also have a MAC Pro – OK opened the contacts program on the MAC – never used it before. Typed in all the names and numbers from my old phone – sent that up to mobile me and turned on mobile me on the iPhone – WOW all my phone numbers are now in my iPhone that is way cool – and way easier than attempting that on the iPhone (250 or so numbers were in my old phone). Next my old original iPod (that runs about 1 minute unless it is plugged in to power – the battery gave out a few years ago – pulled the music off into iTunes on a PC – plugged in the iPhone and got my music on the phone. Got the Facebook app and there was my Facebook page – this is all far too easy!!! Got a couple of games – all of this is WiFi – no 3G available here yet. Went home and woke in the morning to find the iPhone was totally dead. Hooked it to the charger and learned power management is really something to learn. Turned off 3G – and turned off WiFi. First lesson with the iPhone is turn off anything you are not using. When you do that the batteries last a lot longer. So Saturday I tried edge and got a message about how I had no data service – called AT&T another very short wait and another very pleasant YL and minutes later the data service was up and running.
    Sunday my only day off so off to Cincinnati and the Apple store – got off the Interstate and attempted to take a short cut-that failed and I had no clue where I was. Opened MAPS and typed in Apple Store and directions and the phone not only knew where I was it knew how to go from where I was to the Apple store-that is really easy and useful – I tried a Garmin GPS a few years ago, never did figure out how to make it work- sold it on eBay. The Cincy Apple store had no more 3GS phones – glad it got mine from AT&T online. Got a case and a mobile charger and another power charger. It is obvious that I need to be able to recharge this thing at home, in the car and at my store. I also learned that while my old iPod connectors fit the iPhone – I get a message saying they cannot be used to charge the phone. OK I can live with that. Cincy has 3G so tried it and while not as fast as WiFi it is certainly usable. So this “older” newbie has put in my iPod music, sent emails and text messages, used the Maps to navigate (and find a place to eat), figured out how to get my contacts in, taken some photos and a short movie, sent and received stuff on Facebook, downloaded some apps, checked my eBay seller site – so far I have been too busy to look at the online manual. Main thing is everything has gone really well. This phone does things in a simple easy to understand way. The funny part was when I called Sprint to cancel my old phones. They actually tried to sell me something that runs on Palm OS – Please I tried Palm years ago and hated it. Then the Sprint people went on about how the iPhone is hard on batteries, the batteries are not replaceable and so on, and offered a way reduced package, got to give them credit they did try. (I have been with Sprint for more 15 years) So my new 3GS experience is really going well. Plus I am actually getting so I can type on this screen — Not fast like my 20 something employees so but enough to get by. (I once tried “texting” from my old phone – it just had number keys – and quickly learned that just does not work for me. I can actually “text” with the iPhone – my 20 something employees are pretty much blown away that this old guy can do all this stuff so soon on this new phone. They do no have iPhones – they seem to all have phones with a slide out keyboard. Any been reading you reviews they are a great help. thought I would share a baby boomers iPhone first experiences with you.

  • http://www.etechnstuff.com Ronald Headley

    Quick note – the above was not done from the phone – I am using my computer and keyboard. Sorry about some of the typos – hit the submit by accident before I was able to “proof read” it.

  • Swain Valasek

    Ronald way to go man, you’re never too old for a kickass piece of electronics! Never mind the typo’s, I enjoyed reading through your experience. It’s great to get a real life perspective on this hobby to balance out all the charts and graphs comparing how fast the 3G S loads CNN versus the Palm Pre.

  • http://www.zimbio.com/Meditation/articles/MpoxrnL_9r0/Brainwave+Research+uses+brainwave+induction brain waves

    This is a meticulously interesting matter, but you know, in the end I can’t help believing there are a lot of unanswered questions. What do you feel? Do you have a opinion there is a good deal more to it?

  • Nancy Johnson

    iPhone 3GS is really very nice and latest version of iPhone from Apple Inc. But as it is designed to cater many funtionalities, it is quite obvious that it will also store many important documents and files, whose loss can cause many problems for the user.

    So, in order to get rid of this loss and data hampering, iPhone need to backed up in regular basis and for that an efficient and effective software is needed. iTunes is there buut it backs up only limited data. So, just use any third party iPhone Backup software and solve the issue.

    All the Best!
    http://www.iphonebackupsoftware.org