Concerned about iPhone performance as a "phone"

I can't seem to decide between the Blackberry 8900 and iPhone 3GS as my T-Mobile contract just expired. I was pretty sure I'd just get the iPhone 3GS, but now I am concerned about the reports over the battery life and the lack of improvement in the call quality. I mean the voice and reception quality and battery life are the most important things if you want to call a device a true "cell phone." Otherwise it's more of a handheld computer with a phone as an afterthought. It's obvious that Apple shrunk the size of the phone circuitry and compromised that part in order to squeeze more of the impressive computing features inside.

So my question is just how bad is the call quality and battery life?

What I like about my current Blackberry 8100 is that it is extremely durable. I dropped it numerous times while working on home remodeling projects. I dropped it to the bottom of a swimming pool while playing with our dog, and then I rinsed it with alcohol overnight, and it still works perfect after all that abuse! I am afraid I might break the iPhone soon after I get it; I'm not sure how tough it is.

I want the iPhone because I use the browser a lot, and I can't stand the Blackberry 8100 browser; the scripting is full of memory leaks or something that slows it to a crawl. HTML emails don't render. Edge would be much slower than 3GS.

So I'm still undecided.

nothing is going to compare to the battery life you got on your 8100, even a new 8900. i dont have the 3gs, but i havent really had any issues at all with my 3g. the more you play with it, the faster the battery will drain, but the newness of the phone will wear off and your battery time will start to even out. you'll still probably have to charge every night, but thats no big deal. call quality so far for me has been great. i havent had any issues at all. if i have dropped a call, its been in the exact same spots as i dropped calls with my bold. durability is perhaps another issue. but i just recently went to you tube and did a search for 3g torture tests and was pretty impressed by how much damage they could really take.

I hear call quality is practically the same as the 3G.

With that said, it's not that great.

I heard the new battery that comes with the 3Gs IS better-

But given the BEEFIER specs that come with the new iPhone 3Gs, it kinda doesn't make much of a difference.

Something along the lines of 6%-7% more battery life than the iPhone 3G.

I dropped my 3G on a tile floor, bounced like 4-5 times.. I picked it up and I have a hairline crack in the glass extending from the very bottom left corner to teh left part of the home button.

It's a very tiny crack but other than that, no physical damage.. the chrome bezel didn't dent or scratch.. It landed face down and I picked it up and the screen is absolutely perfect (minus that tiny scratch)..

the iPhone is really pretty durable.. I agree.

Call quality is great, speaker is great, and battery life, with 3 push accounts, occasional browsing, sms all day long, it will last me all day. from 7:30AM until I go to bed without the 20% warning.

Where do u live? ATT is great in the south. Most iphone/ATT bashers (i have a feeling) are not in southern states. With regards to battery, it doesnt drain any faster than my bold. Call quality, for me, is same as the bold. I flipped my bike on the highway going 60mph and my berry flew out of my pocket and worked normally when i called my wife feom the hospital. I cant say for sure my 3gs would do the same. I do, however, know that i am not interested in finding out :)

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Call quality is much improved over the first two versions of the iPhone. I've yet to have a dropped call or anything near bad reception. The new speaker is also much louder then the previous versions. Battery life is hit or miss depending on what you do during the day with your phone. If you just took video all day, yes your battery will die quickly. I use mine pretty heavily all day/night and usually only need to end up charging it before I goto sleep and then it's good for the next day.

That being said, there are a number of things you can do to preserve battery life:

Utilize Auto Brightness & set it around 65%.
--I can see my phone perfectly in direct sunlight like this.

Turn WiFi off when you know you'll only be using 3G and turn 3G off when you know you'll be in a WiFi area.

--This is a no brainer and if you happen to jailbreak your phone you can install SBSettings to make toggling system functions a snap.

Keep your Auto-Lock on 1 minute & remember to just lock your phone when not using it.
--Again, this is just a reflex action to me.

If I know that I won't be able to charge up for a long period of time I'll throw a battery backup in my bag or pocket and use that in a pinch. I recommend RichardSolo 1800 for iPhone - RS001. It's slim enough to pocket and can recharge your phone to full in 90 minutes; multiple times. Really though I've yet to have any problems concerning battery life. My 3G and my Storm had worse battery life compared to the 3GS.

As for protection there are a number of cases that have been known to keep an iPhone from injury due to drops. I personally use an Incase Slider that I picked up at BestBuy for $30. There's also the Innocase line and the Otterbox if you're really rough on your phones. If all that seems like too much trouble AT&T carries the iFrogz line, which I've heard good things about.

Do yourself a favor and get a 3GS. Seriously.

you really like that 3GS huh? lol

Originally Posted by Cobra302

you really like that 3GS huh? lol

Yeah I do =)

The 3G was a great device, the 3GS just continues the trend.

Originally Posted by Jeli

Call quality is much improved over the first two versions of the iPhone. I've yet to have a dropped call or anything near bad reception. The new speaker is also much louder then the previous versions. Battery life is hit or miss depending on what you do during the day with your phone. If you just took video all day, yes your battery will die quickly. I use mine pretty heavily all day/night and usually only need to end up charging it before I goto sleep and then it's good for the next day.

That being said, there are a number of things you can do to preserve battery life:

Utilize Auto Brightness & set it around 65%.
--I can see my phone perfectly in direct sunlight like this.

Turn WiFi off when you know you'll only be using 3G and turn 3G off when you know you'll be in a WiFi area.

--This is a no brainer and if you happen to jailbreak your phone you can install SBSettings to make toggling system functions a snap.

Keep your Auto-Lock on 1 minute & remember to just lock your phone when not using it.
--Again, this is just a reflex action to me.

If I know that I won't be able to charge up for a long period of time I'll throw a battery backup in my bag or pocket and use that in a pinch. I recommend RichardSolo 1800 for iPhone - RS001. It's slim enough to pocket and can recharge your phone to full in 90 minutes; multiple times. Really though I've yet to have any problems concerning battery life. My 3G and my Storm had worse battery life compared to the 3GS.

As for protection there are a number of cases that have been known to keep an iPhone from injury due to drops. I personally use an Incase Slider that I picked up at BestBuy for $30. There's also the Innocase line and the Otterbox if you're really rough on your phones. If all that seems like too much trouble AT&T carries the iFrogz line, which I've heard good things about.

Do yourself a favor and get a 3GS. Seriously.

Good one bro !!

Jeli, those are some good tips. If I follow your battery saving techniques with the 3GS, and if I use the web browser and email about 1 hour per day, and 1 hour of calling per day, how long do you guess phone will last without having to plug it into the charger? (I rarely use apps & all that)

The iFrogz cases look nice and streamlined, though I like silicon (to absorb impact better). The other cases you mention have cutouts for the Apple logo which I hate, because the logo should be protected from scratches too and it looks like cheesy bling bling to expose a logo like that.

I was curious why the logo cutout in the case so I emailed one of the major case vendors. The response is "There are contracts involved with Apple and we have to promote their device as well as our case."

No wonder we have this nice rugged case that protects everything, except that the logo can get all scratched up.

Originally Posted by scorpionleather

Jeli, those are some good tips. If I follow your battery saving techniques with the 3GS, and if I use the web browser and email about 1 hour per day, and 1 hour of calling per day, how long do you guess phone will last without having to plug it into the charger? (I rarely use apps & all that)

The iFrogz cases look nice and streamlined, though I like silicon (to absorb impact better). The other cases you mention have cutouts for the Apple logo which I hate, because the logo should be protected from scratches too and it looks like cheesy bling bling to expose a logo like that.

I would expect at least 2+ days without plugging it in. 2 Hours of web browsing and 2 hours of calling .. you should have zero issues with the battery. Like I said, I use mine ...all... day and I only charge it once.

I went with the iPhone 3GS and had it for 1 day so far. Here's my first impression. I'm using the Otterbox Defender case - this is a wonderful case. The iPhone 3GS is an amazing little computer. Browsing the web on Safari, wow it blows away the browser on my Blackberry Pearl.

But I have mixed feelings. The battery life IS awful. And the AT&T network IS unpredictable. Throughout the afternoon I charged up the phone to 100%. By 10pm the battery was completely dead and the phone shut off on me. I followed some of the battery preserving tips like shutting off WiFi, leaving bluetooth off, 1 min screen timeout, etc. But it still died on me before the end of the day.

I went to the Orange County Fair which is in a very metropolitan, well developed area and I'd expect to get cell phone reception there. My wife had perfect reception with T-Mobile and her blackberry. But I had no AT&T reception once I got near the fairgrounds. Perhaps AT&T network was overwhelmed by the crowd. The data network was spotty and worked a little bit. Then I was able to finally email a couple photos from the phone when I got home and plugged it in the charger.

Overall I'm impressed by the beautiful user interface and the email, browser, typing, and so on. It gets an A grade for that. But my first impression of the battery life and voice network is an F grade. I'm not sure if I made the right choice vs. Blackberry 8900, but I will stick with it because it does have some nice features that are amazing. Before the iPhone becomes any kind of serious phone its charge needs to last longer than just a few hours.

I've owned it over a month and if unless you're willing to jailbreak it wont function the same as your BlackBerry.
You can't background Apps you download which is the first reason i jailbroke, you can't customize your theme (not even your wallpaper), if you set a wallpaper it only shows on the lock/unlock screen (which you see all of what.. 2 seconds?) which is the second reason I jailbroke.
Battery life (at least on the 3G) isn't good. If what the person above said with the 6% difference is true then the 3GS must not be great either. For someone like myself who sends and receives 500+ text messages a day, doesn't use call, listens to music and watches videos, streams youtube, mlb.com (not video, simply score updates) the phone has to be charged twice.
On a normal morning shift day I charge the phone before I go to sleep. I wake up at 3 a.m. and it is fully charged. I listen to music from 4-7 (roughly) do not use the phone at all until around 12 at which time I am on break and the phones at around 30%-40% battery. This is when I usually start my texting, etrade, email, sometimes music videos while on lunch, and after break I must charge the phone as it is nearing the last 20%. After it's fully charged and I'm done with work (4 p.m.) I commence with the texting again, minimal web browsing, mlb.com app, and by 11 p.m. it needs another charging.
When I was at the att store the rep told me I'd 'need' a car charger or have to carry my phone charger around because based on my BlackBerry Bold use the phone wouldn't last all day and he was right.
Like I said, it's been over a month now, and I'm starting to get a bit bored with it. The games are really fun but I miss the functionality of a blackberry. Now that I'm all gamed out I basically just use it for texting and music which my BB accomplished without a problem as well.
Signal strength isn't as good as on a Bold. At my job (in my department) I often get little to no service, that's why I don't use it while working except for music, I have to wait till break to get good service in the break room. However my Bold had no trouble getting good and constant service, even in the backroom backstock cooler (grocery store).
I have a few websites I manage and multi tasking is effortless on a BB Bold.
The Bold, just like your 8100, is extremely durable. Leather back which serves wonderfully for absorbing impact. Also it wont slide off tables if it's on the back, etc.
If you're looking for games and 'fun' i guess you can say, in a phone then go with the iPhone. If you're looking for multi tasking, freedom (third party apps, easy to theme, phone customization) go with a Bold or another new blackberry.

Another thing you will miss is the physical keypad. I can type pretty fast on the iPhone but it will never come close to a physical keypad for me. If you have big fingers expect a lot of spelling mistakes like I have.

Other users: Do not flame me. This is my 'opinion' I am entitled to one and it is an opinion based on the use of the phone and my experiences with it (which is exactly what the OP wants). If you don't feel the same keep it to yourself as your opinion, in relation to mine, isn't important to me.

I believe a lot of my battery issues is due to having about 6+ push notification apps; one reason I like the 3GS not having 3rd party background processes. On my berry, if I dare attempt to stay logged into BeeJive for more than an hour or two, my battery is shot.

Call quality? Better than my Bold on the same network. 3GS gets about 5/5 bars. My bold is generally 5/5, but 10-15% of the time, it's at 3-4 (mostly 4). I get dropped calls on my Bold. Seems like a complete flip since last year where my curve was in the position my iPhone and iPhone in my Bold's.

The battery life is pretty poor on my 3GS compared to a traditional cell phone. So I bought some good-but-cheap chargers from Monoprice.com and charge my phone during the day at my office or in my car. I also bought a 2200mAh external backup battery from Monoprice that can charge my phone at least 1.5 times if I'm stuck somewhere that I can't plug it in (haven't tried the external battery yet).

The real killer is the crap AT&T network in Los Angeles. Going from Verizon, which has a fantastic network, to AT&T is a painful experience. Yesterday I missed an important call because my phone didn't ring (I admit this has happened a few times over the years on VZW as well). The phone is too slow to change cells resulting in static and having to reconnect. There are way too many dropped calls.

And it's either the phone or the network, but the voice quality on both ends is fair at best.

Even with all of the above, this 3GS ain't goin' anywhere. No phone on Verizon compares. I can get perfect access to my IMAP mail folders, including moving and deleting messages. I can retrieve information from the net quickly and easily. The map function can't be beat. And the apps make this phone truly fun and useful. I'll deal with the p***-poor network until it's available on Verizon and switch back then.

I also think it depends on your area. I had the 3gs and my service in missouri is horrible i drop calls standing still. Wait for it to come out cdma on verizon and unlock it for sprint. Your choice of what you want.

Get the 8900, I would rather have a PHONE with a good service and solid battery. When I had the iPhone any type of use outside texting and calling completely drained my battery. I never even bothered to put music on it after the first week because when I did listen to music it drained my battery so fast I couldn't even use it as a phone...

CDMA doesnt need an unlock. If an iPhone comes to Verizon on CDMA, Sprint will absolutely not allow you to use it with their service. You'd need a level 3 or higher technician to hack the Verizon ESN into the Sprint DB which they wont do.

And do you think that verizon can handle the iPhone any better? their network would cripple also. Check out theiphoneblog.com where there was a huge, overwhelming majority thought that Verizon's network would faulter just like AT&T's network has.

My 3GS battery is doing much better today (it's at around 90% full after 6 hours). This might be because I'm in a better AT&T reception area, or because I disabled push email. I read that when the cell reception is poor, the iPhone boosts the radio power to try to get in touch with the cell tower. Well yesterday I had no voice reception and limited data reception at the OC Fairgrounds. This lack of reception may have caused this infamous drain on the battery.

Otherwise I am really impressed by what I can do on the iPhone. I found apps for SSH so I can telnet into my web server.. I can use the DirecTV app to set TV apps to record remotely. I'm also planning to set up one of the VNC apps to do remote desktop to my Windows PC. That's just the tip of what I've discovered so far; the possibilities are endless.

IF Apple can fix this unpredictable battery drain problem and AT&T network unreliability, then they could really crush Blackberry in the competition. I mean the iPhone is just an AMAZING device otherwise. But as it stands right now there is still a big market for the Blackberry for people who want a solid reliable mobile device.. when reliability is the first priority.

I don't think the problem with AT&T's network is solely due to the iPhone. VZW built great networks in Los Angeles and NYC, for example. AT&T bought their network from L.A. Cellular here in Los Angeles. It's just not a good network. They need to rebuild from scratch and do it right.

disable push notifications and set your email to auto update every hour or so.. your battery life will increase TREMENDOUSLY!!!! i dont get push anyways because i jailbroke but no loss for me i really dont care.

Originally Posted by johnnylighton

AT&T bought their network from L.A. Cellular here in Los Angeles. It's just not a good network. They need to rebuild from scratch and do it right.

Completely incorrect.

AT&T and T-Mobile formerly operated a common network in California. AT&T was forced to divest themselves of their interest in that joint venture by the FCC. T-Mobile bought the entire network and then allowed AT&T to continue to ride on the network as a tenant. Since that time, AT&T has been building their own network in California.

There is nothing wrong with the old network, it running very smoothly for T-Mobile who now owns it and controls it. If you are having problems with AT&T, you need to investigate why the "network they have actually built from scratch" apparently isn't very good.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

^ Thanks for providing the accurate information. But are you saying that this network wasn't originally built and owned by L.A. Cellular?

However it got to be the way it is, though, it really sounds terrible compared to the VZW network here. L.A. is the most important market in the country for cell phone service because it's the second largest city and one has to practically live in one's car here because of commute times, distances, and traffic. Both my wife and I are very disappointed in the call quality of our 3GS's. I just ended a call because I could not understand what the other party was saying. His phone was already muffled, and my phone and/or the network made it that much worse. I called him back when I got to the office. But we are very, very happy about most of the phones' other features.

I'm not trying to dis the iPhone by relaying my experience of this, rather to let prospective buyers know what they're getting into, especially if they currently have a phone with good voice quality on Verizon. Like I said, we are keeping our iPhones.

Originally Posted by johnnylighton

^ Thanks for providing the accurate information. But are you saying that this network wasn't originally built and owned by L.A. Cellular?.

Not at all. But that was a million years ago. L.A. Cellular died in March of 1999. Ten years is 1000 in the dog years that technology grows.

AT&T and T-Mobile entered into two partnership agreements. T-Mobile had a stronger network in New York and AT&T had the L.A. Cellular network which you have referred to. For years and years, the two companies SHARED these New York and California networks (it always cracked me up when I read New Yorkers or Californians arguing that AT&T or T-Mobile was better when all the traffic all really rode on one network).

Anyway, in 2004 the FCC told AT&T they could no longer remain in a joint-venture partnership with T-Mobile. T-Mobile then paid $2.3 BILLION to buy AT&T out of the joint venture operation in California and Nevada.

While the original California network can trace its roots back to L.A. Cellular, that's really not an accurate picture of that operation. Obviously from March 1999 when AT&T bought the network from L.A. Cellular to May 2004, there was significant expansion and development of the joint-partnership network. You could hardly believe that the combined traffic of AT&T's and T-Mobile's California customer base could have been handled on the original infrastructure of the old L.A. Cellular network.

Originally Posted by johnnylighton

However it got to be the way it is, though, it really sounds terrible compared to the VZW network here.

From what I understand, AT&T has been reducing their reliance on being a tenant on T-Mobile's network and are now using their own "built-from-scratch" (your term) network. Sorry to hear it is such a bomb.

With all that said, I am a very long-term T-Mobile customer and I have nothing to say but positive things about them. HOWEVER, Verizon is a company to watch. Man, from what I am hearing, Verizon just might put the entire rest of the cell industry back into the dark ages with where they are going in the next couple of years with their 4G plans. Like I said, keep an eye on Verizon, they are the company to watch.

Originally Posted by johnnylighton

L.A. is the most important market in the country for cell phone service because it's the second largest city and one has to practically live in one's car here because of commute times, distances, and traffic.

I live in LA and you sound like a broken record of me. LOL.

Originally Posted by johnnylighton

I'm not trying to dis the iPhone by relaying my experience of this, rather to let prospective buyers know what they're getting into, especially if they currently have a phone with good voice quality on Verizon. Like I said, we are keeping our iPhones.

I'm not an iPhone fan. I think it was rushed to market and lacks the development a product from Apple of this nature should offer. Take away the 32 zillion apps (the majority of which are junk) and you are left with an extremely mediocre and questionably effective cell phone. This may all change as the iPhone goes through growth and future new releases but today I think the iPhone is pretty much a joke ... my opinion only.