Bear in mind that "bars" are a very arbitrary indicator. Unlike zero-bar 2G when you'd be lucky to get a single byte of data to/from the network, I still get very passable 3G data speeds with zero-bar 3G. Also, camping on 3G networks is pretty much the same power as camping on 2G - it's just when you actively use the network that 3G starts sucking power.

Hugo

I second this; the product should not have cosmetic imperfections. Take it to an Apple store and ensure you examine the replacement before you accept it - I've had preproduction units with sharp bezel edges on one side and they're not nice to use.

I know it's not very english to complain about small cosmetic details, but do it. I'm getting better at it now I've been here a couple of years

Hugo

If you set it up manually, instead of selecting GMail, you can. The GMail setting ends up using your address as the login name as well, but manually will let you set them independently. Google offers help on this here.

Also, if you sync mail settings to the phone from OS X Mail, the multiple addresses trick Bruno was speaking of will work. While the phone won't let you insert a comma in the address field, it does get synced over. You then can click on "From" when composing, and select any one of the valid From addresses you have on the phone.

This is possible, but not exposed as a setting on the iPhone directly. Instead, you need to create a configuration profile with the iPhone Configuration Utility, and deploy it to the phone. It allows PIN requirements to be set, along with when to wipe the device if the wrong PIN is put in too many times.

*edit* Nevermind, it looks like it will allow the device to be locked out, but it doesn't wipe the phone. I couldn't find any specifics on how this works, so no idea what has to happen to unlock the phone if the wrong PIN is given too many times.

Excellent! That's what I was missing.

Unless I missed it somehow that still gives but one email address (and potentially one more for each other account, in the from/cc/bcc thing); the , separated syntax even when sync'd over from a mac seems to have no effect.

This is how it shows up on mine. First picture is the e-mail settings, showing a comma separating two addresses. Then when composing an e-mail, I can tap From, and up comes a selector showing 4 addresses (2 from my miniinfo account, and 2 others from 2 more accounts). This is with iPhone firmware 2.0.1, syncing from an OS X 10.5.4 machine.

Thanks Hugo. I don't think advice gets better than that

I am on the road at the moment, and I am loving the iPhone, email seem to be better now I have turned fetch to manual me.com seems to be doing it's job and push it working again. Again the maps function proved useful in finding a good place to eat.

Still pretty happy, battery life seems good but I am not so sure it is going to be good enough to last a day in a year or so time.

Cheers

Cris.

My co-worker got his last week, and the battery drains from full to dead in just under two hours, with NO use. He went to ATT to get it changed out, and they refused. He got the manager, who apologized, and said they'd take care of it. Two days later a box from Apple arrived. An empty box. They want him to ship it back to them so they can repair it. He went back to ATT today and the only way they would let him out of the store with an Iphone in his hand is if he BOUGHT ANOTHER ONE. Once Apple received the original, they'd refund the Original price.

That, my friends, is shitty customer service.

Yeah, I had the exact opposite experience when I needed to get my iTouch exchanged at the Apple store. It was a completely painless procedure and was some of the best customer service I've ever received.

Hope that AT&T's terrible service doesn't reflect badly on Apple.

Apple won't let you leave with an unactivated iPhone. The old iPhone 2G they'd let you leave with it and activate it at home but a significant portion were hacked instead. They didn't want that to happen this time.

Went to a At&T store today, will get an iPhone in 7 to 10 days. I went to an Apple store last week and could have walked out that day with a phone. My AT&T account is tied into my company's account so I get a 5% discount on my monthly bill, therefore for some reason I must by the phone from a AT&T store.

The AT&T manager there wasn't happy with the arrangement. I wonder how many sales he's lost because he doesn't get any phones.

I bought my 3G at the Apple store. It had an odd problem where the home button would be very difficult to press when the dock connector was attached. After 3 weeks of ownership, I decided it bothered me enough to make an appointment at the Genius Bar. The tatted-up pierced dude behind the counter verified my complaint and swapped my phone for a new one on the spot without my asking.

That, my friends, is excellent customer service.

Sadly, thats about what I'd expect out of AT&T. While I don't get along with the people at the Genius bars much, they at least do their job and replace hardware when needed. Apple corporate seems to keep a very tight leash on the stores and their policies, unlike AT&T and their stores.

I walked out the door with my iPhone still in the shrinkwrap, though I did go through the AT&T upgrade procedure at the store on their little PDA checkout devices. Came home, plugged in the phone, and was presented with the same iTunes activation system as my iPhone last year.

Ditto.

I ordered my 3G the day they were available to order online from O2, it (should have) arrived on launch day (but the delivery bloke couldn't be bothered to, so he took it back to the depot without even attempting to deliver - so I collected the next day). After a couple of days the accelerometer failed, I phone O2, spoke to the monkeys who told me to try everything that I'd already tried before speaking to them, they then transferred me to Apple.

Apple told me to make an appointment with the genius bar at my local store (luckily Cambridge has just got an Apple store due to the posh new shopping arcade), took it in, they verified that the phone was faulty and replaced it there and then, the phone hadn't even come from them!

Adrian

Is that a prerequisite for the job? It's the same over here.

I can't get it to do it for Gmail, but you're right otherwise. Hm.

The bluetooth tethering is disappointing. I am working on getting the kernel so I can look at loadable modules. After poking at ffmpeg I discovered that vlc4iphone does windows media audio streams, so I don't need to worry about that: I can have CD101 on the iPhone.

The device must have got pretty hot for that to happen - 1150mAh battery = 4.255Wh = about 2 watts per hour or maybe a 30C rise above ambient. Did he complain of it getting hot? Did it operate normally in those 2 hours?

Still, the ATT customer service sounds very sucky... I don't think the same would have happened if he'd got it from an Apple store, but I realize this isn't exactly convenient for a lot of people.

Hugo

Is anyone getting connection issues?

It seems to come and go, I think on local signal strength. Sometimes the phone just isn't useable and several times this weekend I was unable to hold a conversation as the phone would just drop the call over and over again. My other o2 phone seemed to be ok.

I have seen a couple of reports in other places of this, but it's really hard to get it to repeat. Sometimes it's fine ???

I am assuming this could also be the source of my email problems. Would I be right in thinking a break in the 3G network could cause the email app to hang, or at least take a while to pick the connection back up?

Battery life also truly sucks, even with WiFi, bluetooth and 3G turned off I only got half a weekend of standby time out of it this last weekend (no access to a charger) and this is with very little use. I am beginning to think I have got the runt of the litter here, there just seems to be too many things not quite right with this unit. I must get myself down to that Apple Store!

Still love it though, when it works the email is great, and having Safari in my pocket is just great I find myself using it for all sorts.

New niggle - The person who decided to put that switch at the top left of the phone needs a smack It's just too easy to knock the phone into silent mode in your pocket. Can I disable it's use anywhere ???

Another niggle - When you update your apps (when it prompts you) it rearranges your icons on your home screen. Annoying!

Also, who decided an iPhone case has to cost £30 ??? (I know there are cheaper options, but the ones you can buy in the shops all seem to be about that).

Cheers

Cris.

I've also heard reports of people complaining about connection problems. Interestingly, have a look at this.

Battery life: I also think it's reasonable to expect that with all those features turned off, you should get a weekend's worth of standby time out of the thing. Assuming you weren't using it to surf and talk the whole time, of course. I don't know what its specs actually are, though.

Agreed that repositioning the software icons after an update is a pain. I'm sure that's something that everyone complains about and that they're going to fix eventually.

Switch: I happen to really like that switch. I like being able to check it for its silent-mode without having to pull it out of my pocket and punch buttons, like I would have needed to do with my old phone. If you get one of those rubberized sleeves for the thing, the switch will be recessed more and will be less likely to accidentally get moved. But like you said, that's another £30.

I think DealExtreme has the rubber covers for a just couple of bucks.

http://www.dealextreme.com/products.dx/category.500

I like the switch as well, as it's been the easiest phone I have owned to quickly throw into silent mode. The one downside that I can see to it is the inability to have a location/time aware ringer though. A friend of mine had this on his old Symbian phone, where he could have it go to silent automatically at specific times, or in specific locations. His phone didn't have GPS, but it could keep track of the cell towers and signal strength to estimate where he was. If he went to the movies, his phone switched to silent automatically.

I suppose this might be possible still on the iPhone where the software overrides what the switch says, but it would also require running an app in the background. Thats still a nono in iPhone land sadly. It would be nice if they could open it up a little bit, like offering crontab like functions when the phone is not actively being used.

Hmmmmm, yes I think I may be one of the 2% then. At least I hope so

It is a very strange problem as it doesn't do it all the time in the same locations. Our building at work is a good example, generally 3G is very bad in the building and it's about 50/50 that I can take a call without being cut off and that's right in the centre of Leeds! I am not big user of the phone part of the iPhone but I still notice issues, where as with other phones I have it's never been an issue and I never gave it a second thought.

I wonder if there is a link between my case issues and the cutting out problem? ie something inside not quite right by a tiny fraction?

I can see the advantage of a switch for that function, just not so keen on it's positioning. I really like the idea of GPS position or time sensitive ringer settings!

Cheers

Cris.

The switch is brilliant.

I would love the ability to automatically switch alerts to silent during specific time periods, like monday to friday 10pm till 8pm I want emails to be silent so I don't get woken at 3am by the latest viagra offer and maybe 10pm till 11 am on the weekends.

Adrian

Try turning push off - wifi doesn't suck power unless the phone is awake (ie, it doesn't affect standby time), but push can, depending on network conditions etc.

With a minimal config you should get weeks of standby...

Minimum meaning 3G off ?

Yes, the device DID get quite hot. I also agree about the apple store, but the closest one is an hour drive away. At any rate, it's now sorted. We have a friend who is a rep at another store, and she told him the names to ask for when dealing with the PITA rep. The guys eyes got a little wider when he asked for the rep's supervisor by name. After he said his supervisor wasn't available his eyes got yet wider when my friend asked for his supervisor's supervisor by name.

After that, the whole attitude changed.

So does the 2.0.2 update from yesterday fix your connection issues?