Throw a virtual stone and you'll hit a iPhone 3GS review on the Internet. Google is your friend, the new features of the 3GS are well documented. This review will be about how it performs in Malaysia, and should be relevant to those thinking of buying it and/or just curious.
Summary: the iPhone 3GS performs as advertised, with a few caveats to the Malaysian market.
The Good:
Summary: the iPhone 3GS performs as advertised, with a few caveats to the Malaysian market.
The Good:
- The phone is fast, really fast. Applications open the moment you access them. Not sure if older models are the same, but this is how a smartphone should perform.
- Stable -- not a single crash or hangup yet. I'm a pretty messy user, jumping from one app to another very quickly. Make a call, hang up, check email, while email is loading, jump out to Facebook, then jump back to email, then switch over to iTunes, then back to Facebook. All in a just a few minutes. The iPhone handles the transition without a hiccup.
- Maxis 3G is decent -- i'm going to put this as a Good thing, though it has a lot of flaws. Malaysian Internet users all know that "broadband" is subjective, so even a half-way decent service is welcome. Maxis 3G, is, on average, a "half-way decent service". In the heart of the city, speeds are usually blazing fast. Connectivity is strong and i can imagine this is exactly how the iPhone was meant to perform as an Internet-capable device. Safari loads overseas web pages in a flash, gmail downloads even large attachments faster than my fixed line Internet connections can, YouTube is a dream, and even getting large music files from iTunes takes just a few seconds. But... 3G coverage is limited, and even where it is available like at my home in Kota Damansara, if the signal is weak, then the zooming speeds become crawling turtles.
- Google maps on the iPhone is... uber. The addition of the compass to the iPhone really opens up its potential as a semi-GPS device. The phone probably determines your location through a process of triangulation based on Maxis coverage, so it isn't 100% accurate, but its pretty darned close. The ability to plot out directions on the phone from your current location to your selected destination is extremely useful. Even for a person that doesn't travel too much, i've found some very reasonable uses for this: surf over to http://www.foodpoi.com, find a restaurant i want, then type in the address in the phone, and voila, i get directions how to get there.
- I never thought that having mobile iTunes would be that handy, but it is. There is a very handy little iPhone app called Shazam. I hear a song on the radio i like (i listen to a lot of oldies at BFM89.9), i let Shazam have a listen, it then tells me the name of the song, i'm then able to download it directly from iTunes into my phone. Very, very nice.
- The price -- i got mine for RM1590, on a 2 year iValue 1 plan with a monthly commitment of just RM100 a month. This includes RM50 worth of data and another RM50 worth of calls. Thats a perfect fit for my regular usage, and makes the iPhone quite affordable for me. Maxis really hit the nail with the iValue plans. Very likely you'll be able to find one for you that puts the iPhone within financial reach. Check this for full independent review of the various Maxis plans, in comparison to other Malaysian telcos.
- As a phone, the iPhone does what phones do. Makes calls, receives calls, SMS/MMS sending -- it does it well without too much bluster or fuss. Exactly how a phone should be.
- The camera is pretty good. Even under lowlight conditions, it took a very decent photograph. Not bad for a camera-phone. See below for a sample taken with my phone. Other samples here.
The Bad:
- iTunes is not available in Malaysia. So, unless you have access to an overseas credit card where iTunes is available OR are able to buy the iTunes Prepaid cards from markets where iTunes is available... iTunes is a dead app for you. Completely useless. (you can still listen to music or watch video via the iPod app). Its still possible to create an account to access the App Store to buy and download apps from there. But still... an iPhone without iTunes... feels like having sex with 3 condoms on.
- The iPhone sucks battery like a starving newborn sucks his mother's tits. It gulps battery power, seriously. At best, the battery will last 6 hours under heavy usage conditions (i used mine for 6 hours non-stop -- watched a movie, listened to music, played games, on the phone). Surely, Apple could have done better in the battery life department. Their new MacBook Pros have got outstanding batteries.
- The availability of iPhone is limited -- due to the demand, you'll be hard pressed to find a Maxis Centre or Apple Retail Store with available stock to sell. If you didn't pre-order your phone, this means a reasonably long wait to get your hands on one. Initial estimates for a new batch of stock to arrive is at the end of August, early September.
I got the new iphone 3GS 32GB Black too .... a very good phone for me compared to my old HTC Touch HD.
My phone can last for 1 1/2 day under heavy talking, push email messaging and surfing. I didn't watch video and listen to music on it though.
1 and half days??? man... for me, morning leave the house 100%. By the time i get home after work, its ~30% at best.
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PACKAGE CONTENT:
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1 Battery
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1 Data Cable
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1 User's Guide
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