Ask me how happy I am with my new iPhone 3g…go ahead and ask! I couldn’t be happier and that is the truth. The phone continues to delight me in many ways. The way the phone handles email is so much better than my T-Mobile Dash running Windows Mobile 6.1 that it is almost like working with email on my main computer. The phone itself is very good and I haven’t found any areas in my travels that don’t have coverage.
So, what’s not to like? Well, I am glad that I asked that! Steve Jobs what were you thinking when you let this device get out of engineering with such a wimpy battery??? I am a power user, so I want to have WiFi, Bluetooth and every other feature enabled ALL the time. I don’t want to have to turn off a feature when I am not using it. I want instant on and constant readiness. The iPhone can deliver on that promise but only for about 4 hours and then it starts the slow nag of death…"You have 20% Battery life remaining, you have 10% Battery life remaining" and so on.
I figured that I should get another charging cube at the Apple store so I could have one at home and one at my office. Lucky for me I was meeting an Apple Store employee for lunch because 5 days after the phone’s release there was still a line of people waiting to get into the store to buy a phone!!! There was another line going in the other direction away from the door of people who wanted to buy some other Apple product! My friend was able to dive into the store and make the purchase and bring it back to me. Here are a few snaps made with my new iPhone while I was waiting for her to complete the purchase:
Look at all those people in the store!
You can’t see it, but the line goes around the corner for another 30 yards or so. Not as bad as it was on Friday, July 11th, but this is Wednesday, July 16th!
So, now I can charge my phone at home and at the office, but I am on the road a lot, often leaving my house at the crack of dawn and not getting home until early evening. On those days I don’t even get to the office. Obviously some other solution is needed. Since I also own a Fifth Generation iPod, and since Apple uses the same connector on the iPod and the iPhone, my car charger that I bought for the iPod (are you seeing a trend here? Steve! Pay attention, get better batteries!!) works just fine to keep the phone topped up while I am on the road.
But wait, there’s more! What about those times when I am teaching a class all day long. Do I need yet another power cube? No, not this time. Here is where my iGo Power Adapter comes in. I have one of the nifty little units that uses two AA batteries. Those batteries are available everywhere, so I don’t worry about not being able to charge the phone. I bought the Adapter and the iPhone tip from Radio Shack (Imagine, they are still around) although you can get them online directly from iGo. Here is what it looks like.
Click here to go to the iGo page featuring the adapter. Once you have the adapter, you need to buy a "tip" to connect it to the iPhone. Here is what the tip looks like:
Great post. I will read your posts frequently. Added you to the RSS reader.
Cool piece. might have to get this charger. i was leaning more towards just having the battery replaced http://www.ipodjuice.com/iphone-battery-replacement-products.htm but might not have to do that now! Thanks again.
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!
Excellent suggestion. Went out yesterday and picked up the iGo charger and iGo tip for the 3G. Already I’ve benefited greatly from the “emergency charge” capacity … and for $30, the investment will pay enormous dividends. Thanks!