iPhone 3Gs - impressions so far

So I picked up my iPhone 3Gs yesterday morning.  Hurrah hurrah!

This is my first iPhone, so while I have used the other two and know a lot of technical info about them, I'm posting this for anyone who is considering upgrading or possibly taking the plunge themselves.

To me, the three "big" things about this version were the faster processor, the better battery and the higher-res camera.

OK, first off, the "s" appears to be no lie.  Applications load really quickly, and even the WiFi connection seems snappier than I remember when using others' 3G phones.  So, definitely a faster processor.

As for the better battery, this is where having owned one of the previous models would be handy for making direct comparisons.  But, for sure, this thing eats the battery like it hasn't eaten in weeks.  I read about some ways to conserve, such as turning off push for e-mail, but, to me, that kind of takes away one of the cool aspects of the device.  I turned my push down to once an hour to see if that makes a difference.  We'll see.  In the meantime, I spent time on ebay this morning buying a collection of extra chargers and a car charger because it is clear I'll need one at work and one in the car for longer trips if I plan to use the iPod.

As for the better camera, yep, it is.  My sister-in-law has a 3G and we took identical pictures of several things yesterday afternoon, and my photos were consistently better when, here's the catch, we zoomed in on them.  In other words, it's exactly the difference between any other lower and higher MP camera with the same lens.  She thought my low-light photos looked better. but I think that is just "i want the new one lust" talking.  I work with photos a lot, and, while I will admit to some slightly better clarity on my versions of the photos, it wasn't enough to make me say I'm glad I have the new one for THIS reason.  Now, the one exception was on close-ups.  Mine was clearly better for close-in "macro" - style shots.  That will probably come in handy for using Evernote, but I'm not sure I see much other advantage for me.

Next is the compass.  It's kind of cool, and it is great to have Google Maps turn as you go.  However, in a death match with my Garmin, Garmin won handily.  I haven't downloaded any of the iPhone GPS apps yet, so, with one of those running, maybe it would be a closer match.  Dunno.  I will say this though, I never used to use Google maps much on my last phone, but I see me using it a lot now.  I don't always have the Garmin with me and GM was kind of clunky on my old phone.  But, with the new one, I used it twice yesterday.  Granted, that was probably because I was trying everything out, but, what is interesting is that a tool I have had access to for years, suddenly seems worth using now.

After much case-research, I went with a Griffin case:  clicky   I will admit that part of my decision was for looks - I think this case looks bad-ass.  It won't fit on a dock with the full case on, but the data cable fits fine and to dock, the bottom half pulls off.  I will be interested to see how well it holds up after being pulled 100 or 1000 times.  I also picked up a couple of silicone skins, and I can see myself switching between the two types as the ones I bought  are pretty cool and have a hard plastic backing that snaps onto them.  Incipio Silicrylic is the name, but it is the older version, which is why I got two of them for less than 15 bucks.

As for the overall iPhone experience, I'm hooked.  Facebook, this site, everything is much, much easier than on my old phone, and I REALLY liked my old phone.  The lightsabre app is cool.  :)