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Should I get an iPhone 3G S?

wordoflife

wordoflife

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jul 6, 2009
7,564
37
Hi,
My contract ends in 12 days, and I am thinking if the iPhone is a good upgrade. I was wondering if you think the 3G S is a good phone. If you could please tell what you like and dislike about the phone.

Thanks in advanced.

:apple:
 
Yes you should. It's a sweet phone. It'll do everything the other iPhones will do, only faster.


Worth the money, and better than any other phone on any network. The only thing to dislike about the phone would be questionable battery life. Everything else is teh sex.

k,thanks,bye.
 
This should do :cool:

61d455e3b4ec1972c04672fdbca71fce.png
 
I have a 1st Gen iPod Touch, and I'm very happy with it and Apples quality.
Battery life doesn't seem to be a problem for me, because when I'm at school, I wont be using it.

Thanks for the fast response.

:apple:


_________________________________________________________

Has anyone have heat issues/warm screen?
 
wordoflife said:
Hi,
My contract ends in 12 days, and I am thinking if the iPhone is a good upgrade.
Click to expand...
First and foremost Q: do you need a smartphone? (I'm assuming that you don't already have an iPhone, as you didn't say so.)

Yes, seriously -- do you really need/want one? Would you use any apps/games? Would you watch videos? If not, the iPhone is probably not for you. Note that the iPhone is fairly expensive (not the phone, but the monthly service charges with the 2-year contract).

If the answer is, "yes". Then the iPhone may be a good phone for you, as you as you understand and accept the following:
  • The iPhone battery life sucks. The life is somewhat dependent upon your cell signal strength, and what features are enabled (I enable everything), but it's not unusual to get a day (or less!) of useful battery life. Also, note that the iPhone's battery may seem to be especially bad for the first few days; you should calibrate the battery meter (once) by charging to 100% and using it until it dies (in normal usage, you should only do this once a month or so, as doing this too often will hurt the battery's overall lifespan).

    (Yes, yes, for those people who feel that they must take exception to this, this topic has been shot, dug up, and shot again: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7961354#post7961354 )

  • Carrier coverage may be an issue. With AT&T, some people have great coverage/service; others, not so much. It all depends on where you live, work, and travel. Note that some major metropolitan areas may appear to have good signal, but suffer from congestion (dropped calls, slow 3G, etc.)
I love my iPhone, but I also realize that it has shortcomings.
 
The 3Gs is the first iPhone I have ever owned and it is by far the best cell phone I have ever used. If AT&T has good coverage in your area I say damn right, buy it!
 
TLewis said:
First and foremost Q: do you need a smartphone? (I'm assuming that you don't already have an iPhone, as you didn't say so.)

Yes, seriously -- do you really need/want one? Would you use any apps/games? Would you watch videos? If not, the iPhone is probably not for you. Note that the iPhone is fairly expensive (not the phone, but the monthly service charges with the 2-year contract).

If the answer is, "yes". Then the iPhone may be a good phone for you, as you as you understand and accept the following:
  • The iPhone battery life sucks. The life is somewhat dependent upon your cell signal strength, and what features are enabled (I enable everything), but it's not unusual to get a day (or less!) of useful battery life. Also, note that the iPhone's battery may seem to be especially bad for the first few days; you should calibrate the battery meter (once) by charging to 100% and using it until it dies (in normal usage, you should only do this once a month or so, as doing this too often will hurt the battery's overall lifespan).

    (Yes, yes, for those people who feel that they must take exception to this, this topic has been shot, dug up, and shot again: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7961354#post7961354 )

  • Carrier coverage may be an issue. With AT&T, some people have great coverage/service; others, not so much. It all depends on where you live, work, and travel. Note that some major metropolitan areas may appear to have good signal, but suffer from congestion (dropped calls, slow 3G, etc.)
I love my iPhone, but I also realize that it has shortcomings.
Click to expand...

Yes, I believe a smart phone, particularly, the iPhone is good for me. I have to admit, I probably wouldn't get a smart phone yet if the iPhone weren't here.
Battery life isn't an issue for me, as it will be turned off when I am in school.

AT&T gives excellent service where I am at, at least with my current AT&T phones.
Thanks for your response, great help to me.


I also have a question.
As you mention calibrating the battery often is harmful. The way I use my iPod Touch is by charging it fully, and using it till it drains.

Should I stop doing that?
 
bigchief said:
The 3Gs is the first iPhone I have ever owned and it is by far the best cell phone I have ever used. If AT&T has good coverage in your area I say damn right, buy it!
Click to expand...

The iPhone 3G S would be my first iPhone too. I love my iPod Touch, and I believe an upgrade to an iPhone is well worth it it.

Service is excellent here too :)

I'm so excited- 12 days
 
i don't see how anyone could settle using any other 'smart' phone on the market.

with games that compare and sometimes kill PSP games (real racing, star defense) and outshine DS by far - on a network that always has good coverage (at least for me on EDGE)..

mix that with social networking, i.m clients with push coverage - and some of the greatest programming available today.. i don't see why, or how people live without iPhones.
 
wordoflife said:
Yes, I believe a smart phone, particularly, the iPhone is good for me. I have to admit, I probably wouldn't get a smart phone yet if the iPhone weren't here.
Battery life isn't an issue for me, as it will be turned off when I am in school.

AT&T gives excellent service where I am at, at least with my current AT&T phones.
Thanks for your response, great help to me.


I also have a question.
As you mention calibrating the battery often is harmful. The way I use my iPod Touch is by charging it fully, and using it till it drains.

Should I stop doing that?
Click to expand...

okay well when you have it at school, you don't really need to turn it off (unless of course you have to). Your battery won't take a hit if it's on during school.

And luckily your not worried about battery cuz all everyone does here is complain about the battery when they don't realize they USE this phone so much more then any other phone..it's stupid to expect unbelievable battery.

Definitely get it though, best phone there is :)
 
wordoflife said:
Battery life doesn't seem to be a problem for me, because when I'm at school, I wont be using it.
Click to expand...
That may not help. If you get weak signal at school, you may see the battery drop depressingly fast (because the iPhone may constantly be trying to establish contact with the cell towers). Of course, you could go into airplane mode to save the battery, and manually turn on wifi, but I don't think push will work through wifi (anyone know?).

Edit: Nope, push doesn't seem to work through wifi (MobileMe push, at least -- I haven't tried anything else).
 
wordoflife said:
As you mention calibrating the battery often is harmful. The way I use my iPod Touch is by charging it fully, and using it till it drains.

Should I stop doing that?
Click to expand...
Well, it's probably not good for the battery, if you want to maximize the battery lifetime. However, it's unclear as to just how much of a difference this really makes. In all the time you've had your iTouch, have you noticed that the battery has started to not last as long? Keep in mind that these batteries are designed for hundreds of chargings, before you have significant loss of battery capacity.
 
ki2594 said:
okay well when you have it at school, you don't really need to turn it off (unless of course you have to). Your battery won't take a hit if it's on during school.

And luckily your not worried about battery cuz all everyone does here is complain about the battery when they don't realize they USE this phone so much more then any other phone..it's stupid to expect unbelievable battery.

Definitely get it though, best phone there is :)
Click to expand...

I don't know how much more I'll be using it, so there is only one way to find out :)
Yeah, I wont turn it off, and I'll just keep it on vibrate or something. Either way, I think I'll have enough battery to get from school to my house.
 
TLewis said:
That may not help. If you get weak signal at school, you may see the battery drop depressingly fast (because the iPhone may constantly be trying to establish contact with the cell towers). Of course, you could go into airplane mode to save the battery, and manually turn on wifi, but I don't think push will work through wifi (anyone know?).
Click to expand...

I think I'll be better of by just turning off my phone because
1) School blocks out most signal, so I'd put it in airplane mode
2) It will keep looking for wifi
3) Will have to switch to Vibrate

Im just better of turning it off rather than deactivating 3 things.
 
TLewis said:
Well, it's probably not good for the battery, if you want to maximize the battery lifetime. However, it's unclear as to just how much of a difference this really makes. In all the time you've had your iTouch, have you noticed that the battery has started to not last as long? Keep in mind that these batteries are designed for hundreds of chargings, before you have significant loss of battery capacity.
Click to expand...

I got my iPod Touch in the beginning of 2008, so battery life is a faded memory to me. Also there are a lot more variables. When I got my iPod, there was no app store or anything. Now I use apps often, so that may be a cause of decreased battery life if there is any (which I am sure there is) but its hard for me to say.
 
SFStateStudent said:
Yeah, get one and you'll see the difference in a matter of seconds. 3GS in hand is the best way to test the differences for yourself....:cool::cool::cool:
Click to expand...

I have a iPod Touch 1st Gen, so I can only imagine the speed difference. My friend's iPod Touch 2G is so snappy and quick. I can't wait to see what the 3G S has to offer to me.
 
wordoflife said:
I think I'll be better of by just turning off my phone because
1) School blocks out most signal, so I'd put it in airplane mode
2) It will keep looking for wifi
3) Will have to switch to Vibrate

Im just better of turning it off rather than deactivating 3 things.
Click to expand...

Airplane mode turns off wifi unless you specifically turn wifi back on after turning on airplane mode.

At that point, no data nor phone call nor text message will get through to it to cause the speakers to make noise. Only way it would make noise is if you accidentally left an alarm on.

So, just turn airplane mode on, and you're set for keeping it on in school. While in airplane mode and asleep, it hardly uses any juice; certainly not enough to drain before you get home.
 
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