11th
iPhone 3G 2.0.2 Sucks
Sure its the best phone ever. The browser, email and native apps make it more like a mini computer rather than a typical phone. But the one thing that absolutely kills the entire purpose of its existence is that the battery is just piss poor.
My usage (i.e. using the phone when the screen is turned on) totals about 3 hours. When I’m out the house for a full day (leaving in the morning, returning home in the evening) I’m almost guaranteed a red battery meter.
The thing starts whining that its battery is at a critical 20%. It doesn’t take more than 20 minutes of additional usage to get the 10% whine dialog to show up. If I exceed my typical daily usage by just a little, the thing is dead before the end of the day.
What’s the point of a phone that can’t last through a typical day of use, not to mention that most smartphones typically last around 2 days, even the first iPhone?
Now I’m gonna whine about something that has been beaten to death: Apple, please put a bloody removable battery in the thing, especially if you can’t make it last a decent amount of time. At least customers would still find the thing practical to carry outdoors if the superior phone experience is able to override the icky experience of carrying extra batteries around.
Some phones, notably the Nokia E71, exemplify the possibilities:
- A battery cover that doesn’t creak
- The phone maintains a solid metallic feel (something that the iPhone is renowned for)
- The battery cover melds into the overall design of the phone
- Battery life is stellar
If it is aesthetics or plastic creak that’s worrying Apple, I’m sure their ingenuity and talent would be able to fix that. No?
The reason I included “2.0.2” in the title is because Jobs just promised at the 2008 “Let’s Rock” music event that firmware 2.1 will improve battery life. I hope it will, and along with it, fix the other retarded things the version 2 firmware does.
- Apps randomly crashing
- I’ve even had the OS reboot itself on 3 occasions
- Random pauses in the UI, causing jittery UI animation
- Google Maps stops working until the phone is reset
- 3G and overall signal drops off more than it should
- Apps suddenly can’t use the 3G data network but works once Wi-Fi is turned on
- Text/SMS app takes 5+ seconds to open
- Contacts app freezes for about 10+ seconds at a time
- Safari crashing all the time, especially when there are many pages open
- Can’t be turned on from locked mode without pressing the power/home button more than once
- Dropped calls with a “call failed” screen
The version 1 firmware is stellar. Though lacking in features, the UI is silky smooth, doesn’t freeze or hang, and is incredibly stable at 1.1.4. Expectations are high as a result.
Here’s hoping that 2.1 brings the iPhone one step closer to its former glory.
