Originally posted by: derdrache
The 2.1 update is supposed to fix the lag, it will also fix the dropped calls when it swaps from the 3 3g antennas to the single edge antenna (apple screwed up the firmware for it initially). They are also going to be improving the 3g reception (again, their mistake, new antenna and I guess they didn't have long enough to get to know it) and with 2.0.2 it no longer hard reboots due to 3rd party app crashes.
Its getting better. Still some nuances and some missing flair or features that make other cell phones more phonelike (voice dialing / in call recording / copy paste or reusing old text for txt messages / mms) but I think some of this is coming in the future.
I find the 3g battery life is fine unless you are acessing data (ie browsing) and in that case I suggest finding a 3rd party app to help ie I love digg.com so Shovel is great since it doesnt need to get data as much (the graphics are in the app ie local so no need to download them each time ) and things like movies app or box office are great for finding movie times and watching trailers.
Some tips to improve battery life that I use with my phone.
-turn off fetch data (and push if you dont have mobile me/exchange/yahoo mail)
-turn off the ask to join networks with wifi (and turn off wifi if you arent near any)
-turn off bluetooth if you arent using it
-turn down the brightness (the new 3g phones have much brighter and more contrast screens then last gen. I compared them before I sold my 1st gen phone, the brightness slider all the way down on 3g was the same as about 20% on the 1st gen)
-if your playing games in the subway and dont get signal anyway, put it in airplane mode (kills all the antennas)
-dont play 3d games unless you are going to be near a charger soon heh (though Aurora Feint is pretty addictive)
-Set it to auto lock the screen after 1 minute (or whatever you think is necessary)
-dont let the battery run completely dry (some debate here, but the new batteries dont like that, they loose capacity when drained completely, you dont need to calibrate them. Charging it each night really helps)
-I find it helps to turn off some of the sounds (keyboard clicks and lock/unlock noise) so you arent powering the speaker constantly while typing. That or flip the silent switch (the typing clicks tend to annoy people around you heh).
-use edge for calls if you can stomach it, last twice as long as 3g (only as good as the weakest link imho so if they have shotty reception always, then edge should be fine.)
-last but not least, try not to show it to everyone who walks by, those demos of how great it is will really drain the power.
There's tons of cool little "tricks" when doing things with the phone that made me kind of go "nice..." when i figured them out.
They are:
-double tap areas to zoom in (instead of the pinch pull method)
-tap/double tap with two fingers to zoom out.
-hold down keys on the keyboard for more options like accents or in the case of the .com button it gives you .org and others
-double tap space bar to add a period (may need to be turned on in options.)
-double click the home button for favorites or ipod controls if you're in an app or the phone is locked. (will give you quick access to play/pause volume, next, and back.)
enjoy.
