I figured I might chronicle my experience with the 3G iPhone while I'm in the thirty day trial period to help other possible converts know what to expect. I'll try to provide a day-by-day report (if events warrant).

First, a bit of pertinent background to provide some perspective: As most of you know, I am transitioning from a Samsung SCH-i760 on Verizon Wireless' network. The i760, which I've had since last September/October, was running WM 6 until I upgraded it to WM 6.1 a few weeks ago. Since the upgrade, I've been experiencing some seemingly random lock-ups on the i760. Prior to the i760, I had a Samsung SCH-i730, which I used for roughly 2 years prior to my purchase of the i760. Originally, the i730 came with WM2003. When the WM5 upgrade was leaked, I was on the of ones who jumped to upgrade the i730. The i730 was my first PDA phone.

I have no formal computer training, but I have been using computers since the days of the TRS80 (approximately 1979 or 1980) and tend to pick up computer stuff pretty easily. I'm conversant with both the Mac OS (all versions) and Windows (all versions other than Vista); however, my preferred platform is definitely the Mac OS. For handheld devices, I've used a Palm III, a Palm IIIc, and an iPaq 3855.

As most of you also know, my "real" job is a lawyer, which means I really do depend on my PDAPhone for its ability to serve as a phone and PIM (particularly calendar and contacts). I also have come to rely on my PDAPhone to keep track of my passwords and software registration numbers (using eWallet or Spb Wallet) and e-mail. Beyond those items, everything else (e.g., games, media, newsreaders, etc.) is just "fun stuff" for me to play with on a PDAPhone.

Last, but not least, (and this is important when we're talking about cellular coverage), I live and work in the Phoenix metro area. I don't travel much outside of Phoenix. A few times a year, I travel to Tucson, Flagstaff, and Prescott (all in Arizona). Once a year or so I go to Chicago and southern California.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

Yesterday, I lucked out. About 2:00 p.m., I called the Biltmore Apple Store and was told there was no wait for the iPhone but that they only had the 16GB models (white and black). I got to the Apple store around 2:30. Sure enough, I walked into the store and found someone to help me right away. I was probably at the store for close to two hours, but that was more because it took me awhile to find some cases that I liked and because I was in a chatty mood. I'd say the total purchase time (not including browsing the store and chatty with the salesperson) would have been about 30 minutes (time for him to get the iPhones from the stock room, establish an AT&T acocunt for me, and ring up the phones--btw, he had to put each phone on its own receipt so there were 2 transactions). I ended up getting the white 16GB iPhone for my wife and the black 16GB iPhone for me. The salesperson activated both phones it the store, which took only seconds per phone.

Oh yeah, before I left the store, I paired my Blueant Z9 headset with the iPhone. I had some problems at first, but I'm 99.9% sure that was due to the Z9 rather than the iPhone (I had some problems pairing the Z9 with my i760 before and had to reset the Z9 to get it paired with both phones). I anticipate getting the new Jawbone in the near future.

When I walked out of the store, I immediately went to call my wife. This was the first time I missed my i760. Out of habit, I pressed the multi-function button on my Z9 and waited for the Voice Command beep so I could simply say, "Call Home." However, the beep never happened, and that's when I realized I had to pull the iPhone from the leather holster I bought and manually dial home. The good news is that my wife had no complaints about the sound quality, and I could hear her well. I talked to her as I drove the 10 minutes or so to my office.

When I got to my office building, I noticed that signal quality had dropped from 5 bars to 2 bars. When I actually entered the building and went to my office, signal quality fluctuated between 1 and 2 bars, and the phone fluctuated between Edge and 3G. (I work in a 3 store brick building with lots of windows.)

After I showed off my new toy, I got back in my car to head home. From the parking lot, I called my wife. I drove about 100 yards to the end of the driveway (up to the main street in front of our building), and the call dropped. I immediately called my wife back and didn't have any further problems talking to her.

When I finished talking to my wife, I called my mom. While I was talking to her, I reached my neighborhood. About 1/2 mile (maybe less) from my house, the call dropped. I immediately called her back and was able to talk to her for a block or two when the call dropped again and I looked down to see "no service". This was at a corner on a residential street, 1 block from my house. As soon as I turned the corner, it was back up to 5 bars and 3G. I was able to finish discussion without interruption and the call held even while I was in my garage.

When I got inside my house, I noticed the iPhone would fluctuate between 3G and Edge, and it continued to do that the rest of the evening.

After a few minutes of getting settled, I took my wife's white iPhone out of the box and showed it to her. Mistakenly thinking a 2.0.1 firmware had been released, I connected her iPhone to her iMac so I could upgrade the firmware. iTunes fired up but told me an update to iTunes was available so installed the update. Then, I put down the toys for awhile to go swimming with my family.

After getting the kids to bed, it was time to explore the iPhone. I tried setting up the iPhone to sync contacts, calendar, and e-mail with my firm's Exchange server. Initially, it was stuck on the validating Exchange settings. I ended up returning to the home screen and then restarting the process. That seemed to work and in no time I had synced more than 400 contacts and roughly 25-30 e-mails, plus my calendar. After a bit of experimenting, I also managed to get my wife's Entourage to sync to iCal and Address Book and then to her iPhone. Ultimately, I'm going to set her up with a Mobile Me account but haven't had the time.

After syncing with Exchange was completed, I spent some time exploring the various settings. It took me probably 10 minutes or so to get used to the soft keyboard. I'll need a bit more practice, but the learning curve isn't as bad as i expected. Last task for the evening was to download a few free apps, including a magic eight ball program, a couple of light saber programs, NY Times reader, an RSS reader, and 1Password.

So, to sum up Day 1: It's definitely a neat toy. The clarity of the screen is amazing, and it's easy to use. Setting up Exchange is very simple. However, I am concerned about AT&T's coverage at my home and office, and I miss Voice Command.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

My first task today was to test the coverage in my neighborhood again to see whether the iPhone dropped a call in the same places it dropped them last night. What better way to test the coverage than to call AT&T Customer Support on my way to my office. I placed the call as I pulled out of my driveway. The CS rep was very nice and answered several questions for me. When I told her about the dropped calls, she took down the locations and said they would have a technician check it out within 72 hours. I mentioned that another lawyer in my office has an iPhone (original one) and has reception issues at our office. The CS rep suggested I have the other lawyer call and report the problem too.

The good news is that during the entire 20 minute drive to work (15 miles or so), the call held firm. However, I did occasionally hear an echo (my own voice). I used my Blueant Z9 for the entire conversation.

When I spoke with the other lawyer in my office who uses an iPhone, she told me about some of her free apps, which I prompted downloaded and installed over the data network (no Wi-Fi at our office). I then went about my usual business at the office.

Throughout the day, I noticed that push e-mail with my firm's Exchange server worked extremely well. While sitting at my desk, I would often hear the iPhone beep for new e-mail just in time to look up at Outlook on my PC and see the e-mail arrive in my Outlook inbox.

Around 6:25, I had a major disappointment when my iPhone told me the battery had only 20% charge left. My iPhone was fully charged around midnight last night so I unplugged it and left it sitting on the kitchen counter. Both wi-fi and bluetooth were on, and it was set for 3G, which is how I've left it all day today. I left my house around 7:30 this morning. I've used the phone portion of the iPhone for a total of --wait, I just realized that, unlike WM, the iPhone does not show me the time of each individual call. That means I can't tell you how long I used the phone today. I'll have to guess. Let's see, it was about 20 minutes with AT&T and then a couple of calls with my wife. I'd say total talk time today has been less than an hour (maybe 40-45 minutes total). About 20 minutes ago (6:25 p.m.), the iPhone popped up with a warning message stating I had only 20% of the battery remaining--not a good sign. I don't think I had heavy internet usage today. I did download a couple of apps today. I didn't do any surfing using Safari. I did, though, use a couple of news readers and a weather program. I also have the phone set to vibrate and ring so every time I received a call or e-mail today, the iPhone rang and vibrated.

I think what I'll do is not change anything for tomorrow and see how battery life is. Then, I'll start playing with things like turning off Wi-Fi and then turning off vibrate (except when in a meeting), and then turning off 3G.

Even though I knew the battery was running low, I made a call to my Dad when I got to my neighborhood to once again test AT&T's coverage. When I got to the same place where it first dropped the call to my mom last night, I could hear my dad saying he couldn't hear me (even though I heard him fine). However, he did not hang up, and the call did not drop. Instead, after I drove 100 yards or so, he could hear me again. When I got to the second problem spot, he once again briefly could not hear me; however, the call did not drop. During both times, I could hear a slight echo of my own voice.

Once I got to my house, I hung up with my dad and called AT&T to report the coverage issue. At 7:30--while I was on the phone with the AT&T CS rep, the battery died on me. The whole iPhone shut down. So, today, I managed to get only 12 1/2 hours of usage without a charge and with very low call volume and internet usage. That's quite disappointing.

After I called AT&T back from my landline, one of the suggestions was that I power the iPhone completely off and then completely on again. This is the same advice I was given by the AT&T rep with whom I spoke this morning. Apparently, unlike with VZW, which allows the customer to manually update the preferred roaming list, with AT&T the PRL (or equivalent) is updated automatically each time the phone is powered on. Originally, I thought there might be something to this as I was getting 3 bars and solid 3G coverage in my house after I powered the iPhone back on after connecting to my MacBook to charge. However, since then, it's dropped to 2 bars most of the time.

Another thing the AT&T rep helped me with was clarifying the return policy. When I was at the Apple Store, the salesman told me I could return the iPhones and cancel AT&T service within 30 days from the date of purchase (but that the cases could only be returned within 14 days). However, when I got home and looked at the receipts, they both clearly said that any returns (including the iPhones) had to be done within 14 days. The 14 day return policy was also stated on the receipt that was e-mailed to me. The AT&T rep, though, reassured me that the return policy for the 3G iPhone is 30 days (she said the 14 days was only for the original iPhone).

After dinner, I downloaded some more apps and set up the iPhone to work with my Mobile Me account (e-mail only). In addition, I configured the Remote app to work with my AppleTV. Man, that Remote app is cool. I love the fact that I can be anywhere in my house and control the AppleTV. It gives me a lot more control over the AppleTV than the basic remote that came with the EyeTv. The only problem is that when I tried to play a couple of videos (but not all the videos I tried), the videos froze. This could be a problem with the AppleTV (not Remote), though.

Oh yeah, I also realized this evening (when I called my wife and found out she had not set up her voice mail) that I had not set up my voice mail. So, I took some time to do that. I liked the fact that I could set it up without actually dialing voicemail.

So, here's where things stand at the end of Day 2: I still miss Voice Command. My battery life experience today was not positive at all. I'm hoping it was an anomoly. I also am still concerned about AT&T's coverage. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how helpful AT&T support staff were (I talked to 3 different people, all of who seemed to genuinely care about helping me with the coverage issue). In addition, I continue to be enamored with the App store. Last but not least, no device lock-ups are a huge plus, especially considering the i760 lock-ups I have been having.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

Under Settings, General, Usage, you should have Battery usage, Call usage (current and total), and data (sent and received). If you want a semi scientific test, you could check this data daily and keep a log it somewhere.

Thanks, JMT.

Ironically, I was on the phone with AT&T about 1/2 hour ago (talking about the coverage problem by my house) when the iPhone just completely died. I guess I used up the battery.

It's plugged in and charging now. It shows total usage since last full charge is 9 hours, 38 Minutes and Standby of 20 Hours, 22 Minutes. Current Period Call Time is 1 hour 31 Minutes, and it also shows Lifetime Call Time of 1 hour 31 Minutes.

The lack of tracking the length of individual calls is a real minus for me. Because I am compensated for my time, I need to be able to track the length of individual phone calls so I can bill the appropriate cases. I wonder whether anyone has developed an app that does this.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

Register your complaints here this may nudge AT$T along.

http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm

The coverage on the shore of CT (South Eastern CT) is real bad.

__________________
VZW, It's 2009! Time to embrace technology, not suppress it. - oops too late I've moved on over to the iPhone w/ AT$T!

Done. Thanks, Mark.

BTW, amazing how the government seems to have a form for just about everything, huh?

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

I forgot to post this yesterday for a comparison.

After a full day's use of her iPhone, my wife's battery was still going strong so she ended up not even charging it last night. Her usages stats are:

• Usage 1 hour 49 minutes
• Standby 1 Day, 6 hours
• Call Time, Current Period 24 minutes
• Call Time, Lifetime 24 minutes
• Cellular Network Data Sent 428 KB
• Cellular Network Data Received 18.5 MB

A few differences between how she uses her iPhone from how I use it. First, Her Bluetooth is off (she does not have any BT devices, not even a headset). Second, right now, the only e-mail account she is connected to is my Mobile Me account, which does not get a lot of e-mail (received a total of 1 e-mail on that account yesterday). Third, she does not have an Apps installed (yet), which means she didn't use any battery life yesterday browsing for and downloading apps. Like me, her Wi Fi is on but she didn't actually connect to any networks. Also like me, her phone was set to vibrate and ring. Looks like she received, made, and missed a total of 17 calls.

As of this morning, she still has more than 50% of her battery.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

Jay, thanks for this thread. I'm looking forward to your feedback and your "blogging" as you make this transition.

__________________
John

PDAPhoneHome Forum Moderator

Funny, I guess this is my first blog. I've never done one before. I do hope this helps others in making a decision about the iPhone and with troubleshooting. Having 2 iPhones in the house should help with some comparisons too.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

I am hoping to make the time this weekend to be able to sit down and work on my review. I have a bit of a different slant, having been through the whole original iPhone craze, and now the "extra crispy" 3G hype. I still have my 2.5G iPhone (until my son claims it) and my daughter has her 2.5G iPhone, and my girlfriend has a 3G iPhone so we can compare notes.

__________________
John

PDAPhoneHome Forum Moderator

8:00 a.m.--I am unplugging the iPhone and heading to work. We'll see how long the battery lasts today.

12:45 p.m.--My wife just called me. She's at the Arizona Science Center. Call quality was horrible. She said she could hear me fine; however, I had difficulty understanding her. Combination of tunnel effect and dropped syllables (sound cutting in and out). It was so bad that I just told her to call me back later. I don't know whether the problem was caused by bad cell coverage where she was or whether it was the result of the iPhone's microphone picking up background noise from the Science Center.

6:10 p.m. to about 8:30 p.m.--I am at some friends' house for dinner. They live on 10th Street, just south of Paradise Lane in Phoenix (Paradise is a couple of blocks south of Greenway). Reception in their house is not good at all. Sitting on their couch, I get no service or only 1 bar and definitely am not getting 3G coverage. If I get up from the couch, and walk just a couple feet behind it, I am able to get 1 bar and 3G coverage (sometimes). This is a populated area in North Central Phoenix. There's no reason why coverage here shouldn't be solid. I continue to be disappointed with AT&T's coverage. It's not like I'm in the outskirts of the city. And, btw, Phoenix is the U.S.'s fifth most populated cities so there's little excuse for having poor service here. In any event, this is a gathering of several families we know. One of the dad/husbands has the original iPhone. I show him my 3G, and he's jealous. He tells me he doesn't get service at his house (in northwest Phoenix) so he just forwards calls to his landline when he is at home). During the conversations, a YouTube video comes up in discussion. I take out the 3G iPhone, get off the couch and move a few feet to get service, and then load the video. I'm not a big YouTube person, but this was quite cool (as was the video).

8:57 p.m.--I'm driving home from dinner, talking to my wife, and my iPhone tells me I only have 20% battery left. Although I'm still disappointed that I can barely make it through the day on one charge, I'm doing better than yesterday. As of 9:56 p.m., here are my usage stats:

• Usage Time Since Last Full Charge 7 hours, 55 minutes
• Standby Since Last Full Charge 13 hours 54 minutes
• Call Time, Current Period 2 hours, 5 minutes
• Call Time, Lifetime 2 hours, 5 minutes
• Cellular Data Sent 1.7 MB
• Cellular Network Data Received 30.2MB

The phone has not yet gone to 10% battery left. BTW, anyone know the difference between Current Period Call Time and Lifetime Call Time? Why do they keep reading the same for me?

A bit more good news--no dropped calls today, not even on my way home in my neighborhood. Moreover, sound quality in the bad spots was fine. I wonder if the late hour had something to do with it. (Today, my wife met someone from Delaware who has an iPhone and who told my wife coverage in Delaware is pretty good except for certain times of the day.)

Speaking of my better half, by way of comparison, we have not charged her iPhone since Wednesday night (it is Friday night as I write this). I can't tell precisely how much of a battery charge she still has, but it looks to be between 1/4 and 1/3. Here are her stats:

• Usage time since last full charge 3 hours, 28 minutes
• Standby since last full charge 1 Day, 22 hours
• Current Period Call Time 52 minutes
• Lifetime Call Time 52 minutes
• Cellular Network Data Sent 530KB
• Cellular Network Data Received 18.8 MB

So, she's doing a lot better for battery life than I am. However, her Bluetooth is turned off, she is not getting nearly the amount of push e-mail I am, she's not making as many calls on her phone as I am, and she's not playing with the iPhone as much as I am.

I still plan on turning off my Wi Fi to see whether that improves battery usage, but I won't try that until a weekday because my phone usage on weekends tends to be a lot less than on weekdays (although I'll probably spend some time just playing with the iPhone this particular weekend). Thus, to have a fair comparison of wi-fi to no wi-fi, I need to run the test on a weekday. Plus, I might want to keep wi-fi on for one or two more weekdays so I have a larger number of sample days.

Stay tuned for more....

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

Yes, it should be interesting to compare our notes. I look forward to reading your review, John.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

Good write up and interesting for me. I actually read it! I'd love to be able to join Jay and Mark as converts from i760, just need better coverage in my area. Surprised to hear issues w/coverage in Phoenix metropolis.

Thanks. When I thought of the idea of keeping a log of my trial period, I was a bit concerned that: (a) it would be too long to keep people's interest, and (b) no one would care. I'm glad it's helping out.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

Good report so far... I am thinking of making a jump to the iPhone so this is helpful.

__________________
Mike - Been Converged?

There's not going to be a moderator left in any forum after they all switch to the iPhone!

__________________
Pastor Tim Satryan
Communicating the Good News!
Visit my website - WILMINGTON first assembly of God

I came from the same jump (i760 to the iPhone 3g) and have pretty similar experiences. Since this is Iprob8's blog thread I wont steal any thunder .

Just a quick comparison. I start my day around 9am and end around 12am. By the time i go to bed im at about 20%-10% battery some days just vary on how many calls get made or text messages sent. I always have blue tooth on, Vibrate/ring, wireless is off.

Reception for me tend to be pretty good (I live in Folsom which is east of Sacramento, California). I get 1-3 bars at my house no 3g no matter where I stand. Out side of my house I get 3g pretty much everywhere and at work I get full bars and 3g.

If anyone is interested I could go into full detail but I just didn't want to start a new thread.

I assume you mean your day is from 9 am until 12 am, since 9 am until noon is a pretty short day! Especially if you go to bed then!

__________________
Pastor Tim Satryan
Communicating the Good News!
Visit my website - WILMINGTON first assembly of God

I've stayed home all day and did not need to use (or have time to use) the iPhone. As a result, it's been connected to my MacBook, charging all day.

I'm about to head out to a friend's house so I unplugged the iPhone at 5:03 p.m. His house is in North Central Phoenix so I'll have to see how coverage is there.

Right, now my Usage stats are as follows:

• Usage Time Since Last Full Charge 1 Minute
• Standby Time Since Last Full Charge 1 Minute
• Current Period Call Time 2 Hours, 5 Minutes
• Lifetime Call Time 2 Hours, 5 Minutes
• Cellular Network Data Sent 1.8MB
• Cellular Network Data Received 30.3MB

I'm now going to Reset the Usage statistics so we won't have to do the math anymore. Done. Now, we should be able to compare daily usage statistics more easily. What I'll do is reset the stats after each full charge.

More later tonight....

It's about 11:15 p.m., and I'm back home. I continue to be disappointed at AT&T's coverage (or, more appropriately, lack thereof). My friend's house is located on 5th Avenue, a couple of blocks south of Northern. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Phoenix area, this is North Central Phoenix, about 9 miles north of the center of the city. I had no 3G coverage at his house and only 1-2 bars were showing much of the night.

On the drive home, I dropped a call. The drop occurred not too far from my office (maybe 1/2 mile due north). This is at least the 4th dropped call I've had since I got the iPhone 3 days ago. I don't think I had 4 dropped calls in the past 3 years with Verizon (I'm not sure I've had any dropped calls on Verizon in Phoenix in the past 3 years). Thus, I'm still concerned that I won't be happy with AT&T's coverage. AT&T's coverage reminds me of the service problems I had with Verizon about 4-5 years ago, the difference being that Verizon has done an excellent job building out its service.

After the dropped call, I tried calling AT&T customer support by dialing 611 from the iPhone. I was shocked and disappointed to receive a prerecorded message stating that AT&T's customer service department was closed. Apparently, AT&T does not offer 24/7 support via 611. In fact, it's not available at all on Sundays (I don't remember the other hours). The pre-recorded message did provide me with a 1-866-801-3600 number to call after hours, which I did--but why in the world couldn't I just be transferred/forwarded when I called 611?

I had to wait on hold for a little longer than 10 minutes before a CS rep answered my call. To her credit, the CS rep was polite and took down the information about the dropped call and thanked me for calling. I just don't understand why I couldn't get through by dialing 611.

Since I reset my usage stats about 6 1/2 hours ago, I have used the iPhone for 2 hours, 7 minutes, and have used 58 minutes of call time, 222KB of Data sent, and 709KB of data received. I still have more than 1/2 charge on the battery, perhaps as much as 75% (I wish the iPhone had a more precise battery life indicator other than the icon on the home screen).

I'm not going to charge the iPhone tonight. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)