[nileshk]

I just recently acquired a 3GS, after previously having used a 3G and a 2G. The 3GS is much faster, such that I don't feel like I experience lag in most operations. I had no idea that improving the speed could make such a difference in the entire usability of the device.

I am now using my iPhone more than I had ever used previous versions. I think because the time to accomplish a task is so much shorter, I find more opportunities to use it. I'm using the browser more, because the speed is close to a regular computer (or at least feels like it is). Sure, the screen is small for browsing, but I'm finding myself using double-tap to quickly zoom in and out of parts of the page (whereas before I used a lot of pinch zooming), and panning around the page is quick and painless now (I think it holds more of the rendered page in memory and has to re-render less).

I don't know if my next phone will be an iPhone or Android, but I do know one thing: it will be fast.

Warning on the 3G and iOS4: Iif you upgrade to iOS 4 on your 3G, you may fall into the large subset of people who are experiencing extreme slowdowns. I was one of those people. I had never seen such terrible slowdowns on an iPhone. With a bit of hacking, you can downgrade back to 3.1.2 or 3.1.3, but it's not supported by Apple and requires some 3rd-party tools. There are supposed fixes for this (such as turning off spotlight), but I'd suggest waiting for this to get ironed out before moving to iOS 4. Maybe 4.1 will fix things. iOS 4 doesn't give the 3G much of value anyway.

[StavrosK]

I agree with you entirely. I might paraphrase and say that every second I have to wait for my phone to perform an operation cuts my usage of it in half...

I guess I was only half on topic on the previous comment, since I was talking more about slow phones than the iPhone in particular (even though it is an iPhone and the slowness is a part of it).

I have struggled to find a fast phone for ages now. The fastest phone I've had is a Nokia 6500, which just does most of what I want, and instantly. Unfortunately, as I find myself connected to my business more and more, I need a phone that can help me.

I don't think you can hope that 4.1 will fix anything. Slowness on old devices is part of Apple's planned obsolescence. How else would they get you to buy a new iPhone?

[nileshk]

"I don't think you can hope that 4.1 will fix anything. Slowness on old devices is part of Apple's planned obsolescence. How else would they get you to buy a new iPhone?"

This was my feeling, too, especially with the lack of an official way to downgrade. But there are people who are reporting no slowdown, so I'm attributing this one more to incompetence than malice.

The lack of bluetooth keyboard support in the 3G on the other hand... I guess not that different than MMS or A2DP missing from the original iPhone. These things were excluded purely for marketing reasons.