iPhone 3.0 Update: Bit of a letdown, hmm?

[CRQuarto]

Well, let's just say that I was not as impressed with the 3.0 update as I had hoped. AT&T's failure to support the addition of the MMS feature out of the starting gate is just sad, and with not even a guess of a date for tethering, things get even worse. Apple's two biggest upgrades to your flagship phone have just been added on via software, and you don't even allow for the usage of them yet? AT&T, consider yourself lucky that you are the only carrier offering the iPhone. Of course, that is also the very reason why they can do these things, and get away with them unscathed save for the yammering of upset customers. They know full well, chances are if you own an iPhone already, you aren't going anywhere, and will wait, even if not patiently and cursing them the entire time, for those updates. Damn you AT&T, damn you. :angry:


*Edit - Spelling.

 

[Brickhouse]

No tethering? Apparently you haven't jailbroken yours yet

 

[Wolfie]

AT&T's failure to support the addition of the MMS feature out of the starting gate is just sad.... Damn you AT&T, damn you. :angry:

It sounds like you're already well versed in the whole MMS debacle...that it isn't supported now is due to AT&T's own hasty mass 'opt out' coding throughout it's database it now has to try to figure out how to mass undo without screwing up the legit opt outs... Smoooooth move. Somebody was really on the ball with that one. *shakes head*

 

[ironmike5]

No tethering? Apparently you haven't jailbroken yours yet

:thumbs: to the jailbroken iPhone... It's a shame that AT&T always finds a way to screw up the iPhone momentum every summer. The lines to get the 3G last year were terrible when AT&T wouldn't let people just activate their phones at home like the first iPhone and now we have to wait for MMS & Tethering when have of the smartphone market comes ready out of the box with those features. Have to keep my phone jailbroken for a while longer.

 

[CRQuarto]

Curiously, when you guys jailbroke your phones, how well does the tethering work? Obviously there are no additional charges on your bill, correct? When I saw that the tethering plan could be almost $60 a month (judging by the plans available for other phones), I almost spit out my drink. That is absolutely ridiculous.

No tethering? Apparently you haven't jailbroken yours yet

No tethering? Apparently you haven't jailbroken yours yet

:thumbs: to the jailbroken iPhone... It's a shame that AT&T always finds a way to screw up the iPhone momentum every summer. The lines to get the 3G last year were terrible when AT&T wouldn't let people just activate their phones at home like the first iPhone and now we have to wait for MMS & Tethering when have of the smartphone market comes ready out of the box with those features. Have to keep my phone jailbroken for a while longer.

 

[Rod]

One reason why I won't give up my Blackberry, which is on TMobile. I can tether it to my laptop free of charge, and have unlimited internet access wherever I am. Apple should treat the iPhone like a Blackberry, and not lock it down to just the ATT network. Open it up to all networks.

 

[NASTY]

One reason why I won't give up my Blackberry, which is on TMobile. I can tether it to my laptop free of charge, and have unlimited internet access wherever I am. Apple should treat the iPhone like a Blackberry, and not lock it down to just the ATT network. Open it up to all networks.

It's not Apple locking it down to AT&T, it's AT&T that's doing the locking. The iPhone is under contract to be manufactured and used solely with AT&T. When AT&T feels that is has extracted the last drop of milk from the iPhone, then they will release Apple from that contract.

The same thing happened with Motorola and the Razr V3 phone. It was about 2 years before any other carriers offered the phone.

 

[ironmike5]

Curiously, when you guys jailbroke your phones, how well does the tethering work? Obviously there are no additional charges on your bill, correct? When I saw that the tethering plan could be almost $60 a month (judging by the plans available for other phones), I almost spit out my drink. That is absolutely ridiculous.

I've tethered my phone on and off for months now and with iPhone having unlimited internet access I pay no additional charges on my bill. I'm sure if someone was using it a lot AT&T would probably fire up a red flag on their account. I just watch how often I use it.

 

[Strayvector]

Updated to 3.0. Not impressed...downgraded it, jail broke it...all is well again.

 

[Breedy]

It's not Apple locking it down to AT&T, it's AT&T that's doing the locking. The iPhone is under contract to be manufactured and used solely with AT&T. When AT&T feels that is has extracted the last drop of milk from the iPhone, then they will release Apple from that contract.

The same thing happened with Motorola and the Razr V3 phone. It was about 2 years before any other carriers offered the phone.

I heard something about a congressional hearing on this. It is supposed to be in the next few days IIRC. Well anything come of it, prolly not. Between BCS and Baseball, Congress has been busy.

Apparently not a full blown hearing, but some are trying to get FCC involved in this

Clickmeformoreinformationifyouwant

 

[Wurm]

Due to the fact that iPhone in Germany is a T-Mobile thing... I had no problems with updating to 3.0 at all.

 

[moki]

Phone tethering is overrated, IMHO. Reason being I care more about not running my phone battery life down to zero whilst on the go than I care about using it to tether.

I just have a USB dongle I plug into my computer for 3G wireless access. No draining of your phone, and better connection speeds to boot. I doubt I will use iPhone tethering except in emergency/strange situations.

As for the OP's complaints, they seem directed at AT&T and not Apple. I fully expect that most of the improvements to the iPhone will be in software. After all, once you have the basics in place, how much more can you really add in hardware to make it a better phone?

 

[CRQuarto]

Correct, sir! I guess my thread title is a bit misleading. I do wish they had given in and put in support for flash, but it is doubtful we will see that on these phones unless it is via 3rd party app. The update in itself was good, at least in theory. Once MMS and tethering goes live, then I will be able to give my full assessment of it. :thumbs:

Phone tethering is overrated, IMHO. Reason being I care more about not running my phone battery life down to zero whilst on the go than I care about using it to tether.

I just have a USB dongle I plug into my computer for 3G wireless access. No draining of your phone, and better connection speeds to boot. I doubt I will use iPhone tethering except in emergency/strange situations.

As for the OP's complaints, they seem directed at AT&T and not Apple. I fully expect that most of the improvements to the iPhone will be in software. After all, once you have the basics in place, how much more can you really add in hardware to make it a better phone?

 

[Josh]

As for the OP's complaints, they seem directed at AT&T and not Apple. I fully expect that most of the improvements to the iPhone will be in software. After all, once you have the basics in place, how much more can you really add in hardware to make it a better phone?

I've seen a lot of complaints about the 3GS just being more of the same. With the new firmware and the upgraded software, I think the new iPhone is an exceptional device, and the first iPhone I like well enough to own. I hope to snag mine soon.

 

[Wolfie]

Phone tethering is overrated, IMHO. Reason being I care more about not running my phone battery life down to zero whilst on the go than I care about using it to tether.

Sure, there's some logic to what you're saying but I think different people have different needs. The way I see it...for the way my days normally go...I'm going to be charging pretty frequently anyway, tethering or not and anything I can do to make my life more convenient and efficient, I want to do.

I really appreciate anything I can do wirelessly, it generally makes my life easier. If I can make a phone call, download email (not just view, but download) into the resident email client on my tabletPC, use my client server database apps, grab the photos I took with my phone last week at the company barbecue and do it all without taking the phone out of my pocket, that's a big win in my book. The last thing I want in my life is more cables, I have to carry around enough as it is.

 

[Brickhouse]

Jailbroke mine and have been using a tethering program for about a month. I use it a ton because I travel a lot to government places where you can't plug in your personal laptop.

I love it, and it costs me nothing.

 

[siriusstoogie]

Jailbroke mine and have been using a tethering program for about a month. I use it a ton because I travel a lot to government places where you can't plug in your personal laptop.

I love it, and it costs me nothing.

is it relatively easy to do? I am pissed I got this iphone last april and it will cost a bundle to upgrade to the new one.

Best,

Joe

 

[NASTY]

AT&T Alters iPhone Upgradability

Wednesday, 11:59 AM by Eric M. Zeman

Today AT&T announced a change in its policy regarding iPhone 3GS upgrades. Those iPhone owners who were eligible for upgrades in July, August or September of this year, their eligibility will be bumped up to Friday, June 19. These customers will receive the new-contract pricing of $200 and $300 for the 16GB and 32GB iPhone 3GS, respectively. AT&T also confirmed -- again -- that MMS will be available late this summer, and that tethering will also be available at some point in the future. AT&T also answers a lot of other iPhone-related questions in a video it posted to YouTube today....

---I copied this caption from one of the news sites. Hilarious.
Don't worry guys, tethering without jailbreaking your iPhone will become available....some time in the future :laugh:

 

[jgohlke]

We upgraded all 5 of our phones to the new OS on Wednesday and are pretty happy with it. I don't need tethering and don't care much about MMS, although I agree AT&T dropped the ball on this one. That was pretty obvious by watching the Apple keynote speech and the way they talked about them.

I was looking forward to cut, copy & paste and sideways texting. They work just as It's nice that my phone works at Starbucks now without a lot of button pressing. Otherwise, it's the same.

Some days I still miss my Treo though and the Pre looks pretty sweet. We live near Orlando, FL so have 3G service, but recently traveled by car up and down the east coast. Never thought I would say "I miss Sprint", but ATT just doesn't have the coverage that Sprint has and only the big cities have 3G service. I understand the cell technologies and appreciate the ability to sell the same phone worldwide, but a CDMA iPhone would totally stomp the competition. ATT looks less and less like the best choice to provide iPhone service, particularly as the ONLY US carrier. That's an odd choice.

 

[moki]

You can enable MMS and Tethering using the Mobile Configs here, apparently:

http://help.benm.at/help.php