iPhone / iPod / Mac

The iPhone 3GS is much much faster than my original iPhone (“2G”); Apps seem to load about twice as quick; on WiFi websites load significantly faster – again it feels like at least twice as quick; and away from WiFi, of course the combination of 3GS phone and 3G instead of EDGE makes everything amazingly improved! I’m sure built-in GPS will be useful some time, but so far the compass is only a gimmick (and one that isn’t happy with nearby computers, etc either).

The upgraded camera is quite impressive too – I snapped this pic of my PC monitor, while reading an Engadget review of the iPhone 3GS:

The only annoyance so far is that the WordPress App is seriously damaged on V3 iPhone software (but it was also after I upgraded my original iPhone – it’s not the fault of the 3GS); WordPress categories are no longer visible (though the App does know about them), and the App regularly squishes the edit box down to a tiny 2-3 lines 😦
They say an update is almost available – I hope so!

Of course the biggest annoyance remains AT&T; but at least upgrading now locks me in for two years from now instead of two years from when my initial contract expires, next year.

It’s out … amazing what two enormous companies can do, isn’t it?!
The Google search app for iPhone has just been updated, so now you can speak your searches – I tried it with “GPMINI” and it worked perfectly first time (see below) – and it’s really neat not to have to press any “speak now” button first … Of course when I tried it a second time to get the screenshot, it took about 10 attempts before it heard me correctly again!

Right now, ignore that the App Store thinks there’s no update, and ignore that iTunes says the current version is v0.1; just click “get app” inside iTunes and you’ll get it!

So last year when I went to MINI United, I took my Blackberry with me; before leaving I went to the T-Mobile website, enabled international roaming and signed up for international unlimited data service. Easy! When I got back, I logged back in and cancelled the data service.

So now, flying to England for a week, I wanted to do the same for my iPhone. But … AT&T really doesn’t understand foreign countries apparently!
You can’t activate international roaming online – you have to call or visit a store. But you can’t call at the weekend because they don’t bother staffing that department.
You also can’t sign up for international data online … and anyway, it’s not unlimited. The lowest 20MB/month package costs more than the T-Mobile package, and limits data 😦

OK. I just called AT&T and struggled through their many phone interrogation systems, finally reaching a person who then had to transfer me elsewhere, more waiting and more “it’s me” verifying!
I then learn that I should maintain the data plan for a minimum TWO months – because it might take a while for the international data usage to get billed, and if the plan is closed when the billing occurs, I’ll get hit at their default price (which is $20/MB!); logic might guess it’s related to the USAGE time, but no, it’s according to the BILLING time which is “whenever”.

So now, I want international data for one week and instead of costing me $7, it might cost me as much as $50 😦

Come on Apple, let T-Mobile sell the iPhone!