TUAW presents: iPhone 3GS 'death grip' video, 3GS / 4 reception comparison
Filed under: iPhone TUAW fans who watched Erica Sadun's proprietary "Strength" app in action yesterday saw proof that there is a degradation in signal quality on the iPhone 4 when it is handheld. The so-called iPhone 4 "death grip," which consists of cradling the phone in your left hand to manipulate the screen with the right hand, appears to be another example of regular cell phone signal loss caused by the proximity of a human hand to the antenna of a working cell phone. In the video above, we tested an iPhone 3GS with Erica's app, and found pretty much the same results -- the signal strength is lower when the 3GS is held in the hand, and recovers when it is not being held. The big difference between the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 3GS is that the 3GS doesn't tend to drop calls as often as the iPhone 4 does. Erica also provided the photo shown below, which shows an iPhone 4 (left) and an iPhone 3GS (right) both running the app. They're both on the AT&T network (the 3GS has an O2-rebranded SIM purchased at Circuit City) and they're both the same distance away from the cell towers. The iPhone 3GS is running on iPhone OS 3.1.2 rather than iOS 4.0, which should not affect signal strength readings in any way. It displays a different font than the iPhone 4 as the older OS does not support custom fonts. What the photo shows is that although both of the iPhones show 5 bars of signal strength, the actual signal strength is lower on the iPhone 4 (-95 dB vs. -85 dB on the 3GS), and the Apple Graded Signal Strength is also lower (29 vs. 45 on the 3GS). This is in line with Apple's PR statement of July 2nd that says "the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength." The iPhone 4 should be showing fewer bars than it is, since it's apparent that the reception of the vaunted stainless steel antenna is worse than advertised.TUAWTUAW presents: iPhone 3GS 'death grip' video, 3GS / 4 reception comparison originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments IPhone - AT&T - iPhone 4 - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Apple
Found Footage: Browsing speed compared on the iPhone 4 and 3GS
Filed under: Found Footage, iPhone Thanks to Obama Pacman, here's a neat (audio muted) video comparison of web browsing speed over 3G on an iPhone 4 (shown on the left) and an iPhone 3GS (shown on the right). The test was done using only mobile 3G with Wi-Fi turned off, and it shows a variety of sites using Safari in a head to head comparison. In almost all the tests, the iPhone 4 was much faster in Web browsing. When you look under the hood at the iPhone 4's 3G performance, the improved browsing speed is not much of a surprise; CNET benchmarked the 4 against the 3G (not the 3GS) and found dramatic improvement across the board. Even against the more recent 3GS, the iPhone 4 delivered stronger download performance in Andy Ihnatko and John Gruber's tests. The processor is obviously kicked up a notch as well. MacRumors, running benchmark tests, found the iPhone 4 processor to be 31% faster than the 3GS using Geekbench 2.1. The iPhone 4 came in with a 2.514 score across routine tests like memory allocation and view drawing, easily besting the 3GS at 2.298. Both were tested under iOS 4. Benchmark tests are not really analogous to real life usage, of course, but they do give a basic indication for comparison purposes. So although it probably takes more muscle to paint the screen using the iPhone 4's high-resolution Retina Display, the faster A4 chip combined with the improved network throughput (when you've got all your bars, that is) seems more than up to the task.TUAWFound Footage: Browsing speed compared on the iPhone 4 and 3GS originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments IPhone - Apple - Unofficial Apple Weblog - iPhone 4 - Safari
Study: iPhone 3GS more reliable than 3G
Filed under: iPhonePoor little iPhone 3G. You are my first iPhone, my first smartphone, my first "I got it the day Apple released it" device. I love you so, and yes, I will miss you when you are gone, replaced by the shiny iPhone 4. Apparently, I was one of the lucky ones. First off, the iPhone 3G is forsaken by several of iOS 4's new features (wallpaper, multitasking, etc.). As an added bonus, warranty provider SquareTrade has released a report showing their repair rates on the iPhone 3G and how it compares to the 3GS. In short: the iPhone 3GS is more reliable than the 3G across the board. I'm guessing this is because the 3GS was an evolution of hardware, so they had a second "model year" to make refinements and changes. However, the 3GS had more power and battery related issues in the first year than the 3G did, so it wasn't flat-out superior hardware. But the 3GS did have less overall trouble in year one the the same period in the 3G's history. [via Macsimum News] TUAWStudy: iPhone 3GS more reliable than 3G originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments IPhone - Apple - iPhone 3G - Smartphone - IPhone OS
WWDC 2010: iPhone 3GS drops to $99 on June 24
Filed under: iPhoneStarting June 24, the price of the iPhone 3GS, which began life at $199 (for 16GB) and $299 (for 32GB) will drop to $99 for the 16GB model. Even a hardened Apple follower like myself can't help but marvel at the fact that what was once an amazing device is now sitting on my desk looking at me dejectedly. Yes, the iPhone 3GS introduced enough power to record video, a compass, voice control and a 3-megapixel camera. But with the iPhone 4 coming soon, the price of the 3GS will drop to $99 for the 16GB model just as previous models of iPhone dropped in price when a new model came along. This appears to be the only model of 3GS that will soon be available, with the iPhone 4 available in 16GB and 32GB configurations. If you're a bargain hunter and you don't need all of the new features announced today, mark your calendar accordingly. The iPhone 3G will no longer be sold via Apple or AT&T once the iPhone 4 launches. TUAWWWDC 2010: iPhone 3GS drops to $99 on June 24 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Apple - iPhone 3GS - Unofficial Apple Weblog - WWDC
Data usage sticker shock: How I learned to freak out when my daughter used my iPhone 3GS
Filed under: Apple I tend to be a pretty light data user. As the chart here shows, my monthly data consumption rarely exceeds the 200 MB mark. After all the events of this week, with AT&T announcing its new, and quite limited, data plans I decided to hop over to my iPhone account page and see how I was doing in terms of overall consumption. What I discovered over there shocked me. After month after month of limited data use, my June numbers (actually starting May 23rd) were through the roof; about 3GB to date. It didn't take me long to figure out why: it's because for the last few weeks my teenage daughter and I have been stopping by Starbucks in the evening. I play my Mother's Day gift of Field Runners on the iPad while my daughter has been surfing the 'net on the iPhone. We chat, we zone, we compute. Add to that, I've also been letting her surf while we run errands in the car.TUAWData usage sticker shock: How I learned to freak out when my daughter used my iPhone 3GS originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Apple - Unofficial Apple Weblog - IPad - AT&T