Tag Archives: iPhone 3G

iOS 4 on iPhone 3G

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I didn’t upgrade my iPhone 3G last year because I didn’t want to extend my contract with 3 for an extra 24 months for an iPhone 3Gs. As expected, Apple is releasing the iPhone 4 this year. There’s a lot of enhancement with the new iPhone 4. And most importantly, is that there’s also an upgrade with the OS, iOS 4.

I wanted to try out some new features with my existing iPhone 3G so I upgraded it through iTunes. It was such a hassle getting it upgraded. The back up took forever! So I searched for it online, just to make sure I’m not alone. Turns out, a lot of iPhone 3G users are experiencing the same problem. The tip was to download the new OS via iTunes then instead of performing an upgrade, I should be doing a restore. It only took about 90 mins for the entire restoring process.

Immediately after the upgrade, I find that the new features are really good. For example the unified inbox in mail, folders for apps, spell check, so on. Soon, I come to realise that the phone is much slower in some aspects. Like texting for instance. It’s really slow! I’ve also come to notice that a lot of new apps just couldn’t run. Not that it would crash while using it, it won’t even launch.

I know that the iPhone 4 will be in stores in Hong Kong this month. So I guess I’ll just have to be patient for the time being. I should survive 30 days!

PK Lai

Apple’s App Store Hits 1 Billion Downloads in 9 Months

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Apple’s App Store has hit 1 billion downloads today! It has been a mere 9 months since the launch of App Store. It’s indeed an astonishing achievement!

First of all, are you an Apple iPhone user? If so, have you ever downloaded an app the App Store? Well, I believe you have…

Apple has also announced App Store’s All-Time Top Apps.

All-Time Top Paid Apps

  1. Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D
  2. Koi Pond
  3. Enigmo
  4. Bejeweled 2
  5. iBeer
  6. Moto Chaser
  7. Pocket Guitar
  8. Flick Fishing
  9. TETRIS®
  10. Texas Hold’em
  11. Super Monkey Ball
  12. Pocket God
  13. Cro-Mag Rally
  14. Ocarina
  15. Fieldrunners
  16. iFart Mobile – #1 Fart Machine for all ages
  17. Touchgrind
  18. iHunt
  19. iShoot
  20. MONOPOLY Here and Now Edition

All-Time Top Free Apps

  1. Facebook
  2. Google Earth
  3. Pandora Radio
  4. Tap Tap Revenge
  5. Shazam
  6. PAC-MAN Lite
  7. Backgrounds
  8. Touch Hockey: FS5
  9. Labyrinth Lite Edition
  10. Flashlite
  11. Urbanspoon
  12. Movies
  13. iBowl
  14. Lightsaber Unleashed
  15. Sol Free Solitaire
  16. MySpace Mobile
  17. Virtual Zippo® Lighter
  18. The Weather Channel®
  19. BubbleWrap
  20. Remote

Truly, the App Store has made history! And everyone in the Apple iPhone community has contributed to this achievement. Here’s a list of apps that I’ve been using on a daily basis (in alphabetical order).

  • Bloomberg
  • Labyrinth (yes, I’m still playing this game, too many levels… haha…)
  • TwitterFon (I’m now using TwitterFon more often)
  • Twitterrific
  • WordPress
  • Zynga Mafia Wars

And the following are apps that I use a lot but not on a daily basis.

  • AFII Lite
  • AroundMe
  • Cube Runner
  • DuckShoot
  • Enjoy
  • Facebook
  • Fring
  • Google
  • iFighterLite
  • iMafia
  • Palringo
  • S.deadbeef
  • Skype
  • Time Crisis
  • Zynga Live Poker
  • Zynga Scramble

There are heaps more apps that I use every now and then but the list would be too long. Well… what apps have you been using? Were they social networking apps? Games? or what apps do you use on a daily basis?

PK Lai

iPhone advice

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A friend of mine from China was asking me this question.

Is there anything I should be aware of when I buy an iPhone?

This question triggered a series of questions in my head immediately.

  • Where are you getting the iPhone 3G from?
  • Is the phone unlocked?
  • If not, do you know how to jailbreak it?
  • Is 3G available in China?
  • If not, does your current mobile service include any internet access?

Out of all these questions that popped out of my head, none of these questions were actually product related. I am a big Apple fan, that’s for sure. But I started questioning myself, is there really nothing wrong with the iPhone 3G itself?

I have been using the iPhone 3G since July 2008 and although the iPhone 3G did used to crash quite frequently in the early stages (especially when you’re using a 3rd party application). It seems that Apple has pretty much took care of the problem now. I rarely come upon apps crashing or misbehavior and I’m always using it. For calls, text, emails, iPod, Twitter, a few games, Google Reader and so on… I can say that I’m actually a very happy user!

The only downside that I can really think of is its battery life. On a normal day where I’d go to work in the morning, listen to music on the way, go on Twitter, check my emails, read any RSS, play a few short games or maybe a few phone calls. By 2-3 in the afternoon, I’ll have to somehow start charging my iPhone 3G. Charging via the USB cable or using the 3rd party external rechargeable battery.

Oh… another thing that I could think of, is dropping calls or time required to reconnect to its cellular network (say you walk into a lift, lost reception, got to whichever level you wanted to go to, walk out of the lift). It takes quite a bit of time to reconnect to its cellular network. I’m not sure if this is a common issue with iPhone 3G itself, or it’s a matter with my cellular provider, 3. Is anyone out there with 3 experiencing the same problem? What about other iPhone 3G users that aren’t using 3?

Well, that’s my ‘user experience’ for the past 9 months. Just wish that the iPhone OS 3.0 can be released sooner. What about you guys?

PK Lai

iPhone 3G Visual Voicemail – Never gonna happen in Hong Kong???

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I was asking my friends about an iPhone feature called ‘Visual Voicemail’ and no one seems to know what I was talking about.

So I guess it’s time to let all my friends know what I’m talking about. Click here to see the iPhone Feature page and click the ‘Watch the demo’ right in the middle of the page. Here’s a description of what Visual Voicemail is.

iPhone 3G Visual Voicemail

iPhone 3G Visual Voicemail

See your voicemail.

Listen to your fourth voicemail message without listening to the three before it. Visual Voicemail shows you a list of all your messages — and who they’re from — so you can play them in any order you please.

The iPhone 3G started shipping on 11 July 2008 together with 21 other countries around the world. That’s 236 days since launched and yet, 3 Hong Kong (A Hutchison Telecom company) has still no signs of introducing or developing this basic feature of the iPhone 3G.

When the iPhone 3G was first introduced in Hong Kong, 3 Hong Kong was the only supplier of it (it still is). The sign up process has been frustrating! You have to first sign up on the Internet expressing your interest of purchasing one, then there’s a draw to pick the first 500 ‘lucky’ customers. They had to be available to go to a certain venue during a certain period of time on the very first day, where all the media would be to sign up for the phone on the spot, otherwise their right to purchase the iPhone had to be forfeited. Here’s more info on the iPhone 3G First Day Gala Sale. In fact, I was even there on the day! Even though I’m not 1 of the 500 ‘lucky’ customers, I just wanted to feel the hype on the first day.

PK Lai at 3G iPhone First Day Gala Sale

PK Lai at iPhone 3G First Day Gala Sale

I finally got ‘selected’ to sign the HKD$498/month contract for my iPhone 3G on 21 July 2008. I’ve always been a 3 Hong Kong customers ever since I came back to Hong Kong late February 2008. Because back then, I already knew that this telecom company has closed the exclusive deal for the iPhone 3G distribution in Hong Kong. So I thought it would be wise to go with this carrier. I WAS WRONG! Not only that existing customers get not benefit for signing up the new ‘iPhone 3G™ PLAN’, my rebates had to be postponed, because my contract was still in place. So, my rebate of HKD$5,184 (paid over 24 months, HKD$216/month), as of today, has never yet hit my account!

A lot of my friends (19 to be exact) and myself have signed up for the iPhone 3G, from 3 Hong Kong of course. While we were at the point of sales, none of us were told that we were eligible, free of charge, for the first 12 months of a mobile phone protection plan (provided by AMTD insurance) and none of us were told that we were eligible for a free unlimited wi-fi service (which you have to contact customer service to activate). What do you think were happening at all these 20 occasions? The sales reps all forgot mentioning these offers?

There’s a funny thing about Hong Kong’s IT industry too, most Hong Kong companies’ websites are only compatible with IE. Maybe there’s a condition for 3 Hong Kong to get the iPhone 3G exclusive distribution rights where they have to make their website compatible with Safari as well as their long loved IE. Try logging in with Firefox, Camino, Opera or anything other browsers apart from the 2 mentioned above. I’m sure you’re out of luck!

One more thing worth mentioning is 3 Hong Kong’s invoices. I can’t come up with any words to describe how I feel about their invoices, so here’s a comparison between 3 Hong Kong and Hutchison 3G Australia Pty Ltd, they’re of the same corporate, Hutchison.

3 Hong Kong - Phone Bill

3 Hong Kong - Invoice

Hutchison 3G Australia Pty Ltd - Phone Bill

Hutchison 3G Australia Pty Ltd - Invoice

These 2 images are just the first page of each invoice. I didn’t want to show you the following pages because it will just frustrate you more. I’ve always thought that since they belong to the same corporate, the way they do business can’t be too much of a different. Well, I guess I’m wrong…

Come on 3 Hong Kong! Do something! Impress your already disappointed customers!

PK Lai