Josh managed to get hold of one of the last 3G iPhones in Massachusetts last night … we compared the location seeking ability of my 2G (using a single hopeless AT&T cell tower with next-to-no signal), and his 3G which clearly used GPS – indoors – to get a very precise (and correct) fix!
iPhone location tracking
Also note the display differences – both iPhones are set to the same brightness …
M&I / GBMINI 
Woah! Big difference!
Now Ian, I’m a tad perplexed. Seems the point is what? 1. That one has a brighter display? 2. Did one work quicker? Did I miss something? Which one was which? Wrong cities? One seems to be somewhere in England? What?
Sorry, my brain is all beat up by my public flogging by Todd over at MF.
I’m surprised you didn’t use the screenshot tool built in. Hold home and tap the lock button and it’ll place a screenshot in the camera roll. Don’t hold home too long…
Robert,
What’s maybe hard to spot – although easier if you click to the full size pic – is the scale.
Bottom right of the pic on the left is three roads meeting. That corner is basically where Josh’ iPhone is focused.
My iPhone has a target ring maybe a couple miles across; Josh’ one has a ring about 400ft. And, it’s in the right place!
As you say, it’s also interesting to note the display color differences. If you look at either iPhone on their own, they look great – looking at both together, they look different, but hard to favour one over the other, especially after checking a few different displays.
Brian,
I know about the screen capture – but then we’d have needed iTunes to get the pics out, not something set up on our work PCs!
I saw some articles saying there is already an update for the iPhone which ‘fixes’ the yellow-ish screen colour of the new iPhone. Looks like Josh maybe needs it.
My phone is already running the updated cooler-yellow firmware in the picture. The difference is only apparent to the eye with large white backgrounds.
The point here is that because cell coverage is horrible, the phone can’t make an accurate fix; ian’s takes 30 seconds or so and is off by miles.
Mine with its GPS* zooms right in to the exact location in about 5 seconds. Impressive.
*It was able to do the same in the concrete-surrounded basement, with no cell or network signals. I suspect in reality it is zooming to the last known GPS position, probably as I walked into work from the parking lot first thing in the morning.
Ian: Its interesting to see the 2 different signal strengths. Tell me, does the 3G network provide better cell coverage too? You barely have 1 bar vs the 3 bars on Josh’s.
Murray,
We initially thought the new iPhone had better signal strength but it turns out that both units are very variable at the office – sometimes my phone had 4 bars to Josh’ 1!
The problem is, our office is in an AT&T black hole (even though the AT&T website lies and claims “good” coverage) 😦
SideBar: My iWeb, My wife’s iWeb and my daughter’s iWeb websites are having major problems with saving to .me. Slideshows not working, gallery pics not enlarging or having proper or any frames, my “search” on my blogs homepage has disappeared? Apple seems to be having some major glitches going on.
I’m wondering if I officially switch over to .me if that will help?
I have never had these problems before. The switch form OS9 to OS10 was very smooth. It’s infuriating to say the least!
It seems that Pandora and other streaming apps are also not as smooth sailing as they seemed to be when I first tried them last week … Josh has had to reset his new iPhone 😦
Went out at lunchtime today with a friend with his new 3G iPhone and we could not keep a GPS fix for more than 10secs during our 15 minute drive. And when we tried the 3G it kept breaking. All very disappointing, not that it will stop me getting one, but if this how it works in metropolis San Diego, how will it fare in bfe where I live? (Rhetorical, I know I won’t get 3G where I live).
Ian,
Other than the GPS and 3G – what else should move me to trade up my original iPhone to the new 3G? Or is this like the new, new MINI vs the first new MINI…:-)
Dave
Dave,
I’m debating the same … GPS was very cool today driving at lunchtime with Josh watching us pass static satellite views of cars on the road, houses, etc. But worth $10/month extra?
The 3G is supposed to give faster browsing when away from WiFi and clearer phone speech – but I have no 3G in my area.
The new iPhone has a bigger battery, but it’s not enough to keep it powered with it’s new power-hungry 3G and GPS; Josh’ iPhone isn’t making a full day currently.
It’s a different shape, and plastic instead of metal on the back. But is that good or bad?
For me, my current iPhone is doing well, and saves me $10/month. If I lived in the city, with lots of 3G, I might decide differently, but I’ll be sticking with my original … after all, next year they might bring one out with a better camera!
Better camera, voice recognition, and so on. I’m waiting.
After nearly a week of not being able to save my iWeb website, Twistybitz to .mac, today it seems Ok with all stuff working.
I recently purchased 2 of the new 3G iPhones. I sold the old phones for a total of $650 on good ol’ ebay netting me a nice $250 profit after buying the new phones. Add that together with the fact that you can now get corporate discounts on the 3G phones (mine is 16%) and it is actually cheaper for me this way!
Oh, and don’t forget that you will have to pay for text messages separately with the new plans, so it is actually $15 more per month to have comparable service.
Better camera? iChat? real GPS? Voice activated dialing? And so much more. Kind of sad to me that these things are missing.
I’ll wait until, at least, voice dialing is offered before I make the move. It’s not worth the extra cost until that happens.
My [iPhone] went crazy last Saturday nite here in Pasadena at the Colorado Bridge/Pasadena Heritage party. I tried doing a Google search to settle a trivia question and just kept loading Google, over and over and over add nauseam. I finally gave up and shut it down.
I love my Apple products but lately with the fiasco of “MobileMe” and the continued problems with that and my iPhone it’s got me worried. My Bluetooth ear piece died last weekend, also. I did get an appointment at the “Genius Bar” for tomorrow 7/23. I hope, unlike the last time, there is one [Genius] in residence.
RB