Anand Reviews the Apple iPhone 3G
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 16, 2008 8:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
AT&T: The iPhone’s Worst Feature?
When I originally reviewed the iPhone I felt that the voice quality was reasonable, it wasn’t great but it wasn’t terrible either. Since then I noticed that the voice quality not only tends to vary a lot more than any of my phones in the past, but at its worst, the original iPhone’s voice quality is pretty bad. It’s not an issue of volume, it’s an issue of clarity. At its worst, everyone comes through sounding like they are talking with a mouthful of food - their voices are just muffled/slurred. A friend of mine has huge lips and listening to him talk is already difficult, but on the first iPhone I can barely understand him. At its best, the original iPhone is merely average when it comes to voice quality.
That's not uncommon on AT&T
The iPhone 3G addresses this issue in a major way - both receiving and transmitting voice quality is significantly improved. I can’t certifiably say that the problems have been fixed completely, it’s noticeably better - to the point where people I talk to regularly on the phone have noticed the improved quality. I will say that there are still difficulties understanding some people but it’s unclear whether or not that’s an AT&T/iPhone 3G issue or an issue with the other end of the line.
Then we get to AT&T itself. When the iPhone was announced as an AT&T/Cingular exclusive, many groaned but admittedly I didn’t really understand the complaint. I hadn’t been on Cingular in a few years and whenever I roamed on their network it seemed fine. I assumed it was simply a case of things getting blown out of proportion, after all, how bad could it be? Ohgod it’s horrible.
AT&T’s network coverage is just not good; my friends on Verizon or Sprint always have better coverage than me, and my old T-Mobile phones fair a lot better than when I’m on AT&T. Whenever I’m in a place where I get zero coverage, anyone near me with a Verizon phone always has full strength. Granted there are areas where I've got no issues with coverage, quite a few at that, but for me and others I know - AT&T always seems to have worse coverage than Verizon. Your mileage may vary depending on your location, as many have pointed out, the best I can offer is my experience.
To make matters worse, AT&T’s coverage has gotten worse over time around my house. It’s like a Windows machine that has gone without a reinstall in a few years, performance just isn’t where it used to be.
The iPhone 3G definitely improves reception over the original phone, but doesn’t fix the underlying issues with AT&T’s network coverage. The iPhone is still good enough where I’d put up with sub-Verizon coverage on AT&T’s network and I do believe that GSM support is key, but perhaps if Apple can sell enough of these it can pressure AT&T to improve its coverage (I know, wishful thinking).
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Sunrise089 - Friday, July 18, 2008 - link
Wow I wish I had first comment here so I could get a response.In Anand's otherwise near-perfect review, he talked about Exchange support but didn't cover my #1 iPhone question: does Exchange support work without the $45 Enterprise Data plan? I can't for the life of my get a conclusive answer if the Enterprise plan is required for exchange, or just required if the iPhone is going to be purchased or paid for through a business.
araczynski - Friday, July 18, 2008 - link
i'm still holding out for the day the iphone comes with some real screen resolution.if the N810 can do much better than this, why can't the almighty apple?
sleepr0 - Friday, July 18, 2008 - link
Lets see:- The 3G doesn't fit the old cradle and the cradle is not included - $15.
- Old cover doesn't fit - $20.
- Unlimited data up $10/month.
- Text up $5/month.
- Cellular triangulation works nearly as well as GPS.
- 3G not significantly faster than Edge and all the new users will take a load off of the Edge network, freeing up bandwidth and making Edge a bit faster.
- Battery life worse.
I'll wait for Version 3, thanks.
wvh - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
Why do you buy a new phone when you are happy with your old one – it has pretty much the same functionality anyway? What is wrong with all those people who buy something just because Apple (or whoever) releases it? All these morons queueing up, did they all accidentally happen to break their phone the day before?It's a nice in-depth article, no remarks there, I've just heard enough already about this consumer hype. It's just talking people into fake needs.
Blast me for being negative, but you know I'm right.
michael2k - Friday, July 18, 2008 - link
The problem is that people aren't happy with their old one, and it doesn't have the same functionality, so that is why they queue for the iPhone. So essentially all your base assumptions are wrong.There is nothing wrong with these people; there is something wrong with the RZRS et al they already own, because they were broken the minute they bought them. No accident, they were just made that way.
Giacomo - Friday, July 18, 2008 - link
No, actually you aren't right. You could be, if we were here to make free-philosophy, but that's not the case, we're here to talk about hardware (and related).So then, you are accusing the mass of an excess of "hype" around the iPhone, and well, while it's definitely true that many of those people will buy it for "trendy" purposes, there are surely others (like me) who are about to buy it because they just like it and could benefit from it. In my particular case, I have lost my iPod Mini (...) and my cellphone is at its 4th year of life, with the keyboard almost died (intense 20.000+ sms usage in these years). The iPhone, by simply being, to me, an iPod which calls and writes sms, is great to have both the devices in the "main" pocket.
Full comfort over the whole year (no matter what clothes I'm wearing, the front/right pocket does ALWAYS have my cellphone inside, and thanks to the iPhone, the iPod as well), a brilliant keyboard for my heavy SMS usage, and I could be happy without anything else. Plus, there's something else actually, and I'll surely enjoy.
If we had to think like you in your post, we should all tell you: Why do you read Anandtech? You can live with a 5 years old PC without problems nor upgrades, if you just use some Office, browse the web and check your mail. If you game, well, that's energy consuming, money-wasting, time-wasting, and you should quit. But, of course, none in here would say that to you, neither would I.
Regards
Giacomo
scottwilkins - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
First, I've had AT&T for years. Never stepped in a store, and never talked with them about a purchase. They were very helpful and darn quick about replacing my wife's phone when it died. AT&T is the easiest to work with (and I work with most of them because I support a lot of folks on different networks) Plus, the AT&T signal in the places I go beats out all others hands down. So for you to say their signal is bad is very objective and quite stupid, since you did it only probably in one room and not overall.Also, your indications that other phones can't do what the iPhone can do are all false. One thing the iPhone CAN'T do that many many other phones can do is change. It can't change it's interface to suit other purposes, it can't change it's battery, and it can't change carriers. The 3G's only add over the old iPhone is 3G and GPS. All other features are software, and now available on the original iPhone. So an upgrade is useless until you contract is up.
Apple is a closed box. I prefer freedom.
michael2k - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
Uh, with a soft interface and touchscreen, the iPhone is just about the only device where it's interface can change as needed; you get two buttons when in Camera mode, 20+ in Calculator mode, 26+ in note-taking mode, etc.Ryl3x - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
I will buy at lunch. I read alot of reviews over the web including sites that dedicate themselves to phones. I found this to be one that i could relate to. Thanks.DeesTroy - Thursday, July 17, 2008 - link
My younger brother works for Garmin. You almost certainly won't get voice directions, at least not for free. The licensing agreements with the few companies that make the maps used in mapping software (e.g. Navteq) are very specific about what you can and can't do with the maps they provide. The mapping companies currently charge significantly more if you want to do voice directions. Nokia's purchase of Navteq makes a huge lot of sense given what one can do with maps, a GPS, and Internet all in one package. All of this is probably part of the reason that Garmin is getting into the phone business with the nuvifone.