iPhone 3.0 and iPhone 3GS

[DanGarion]

So the 8GB 3G is now $99
16GB 3GS is $199
32GB 3GS is $299

Looking forward to the 3.0 software, but now I'm wishing I also had a 3GS.

3GS specs so far - June 17th (that's two weeks right?)
More battery life in the 3GS and 32GB would be nice.
Video
Voice Control
3.0 Megapixel camera with touch focus
10 cm close macro focus
about twice as fast with launching Apps.
5 hours 3G talk time, 9 hours of WiFI internet.
No new colors, still just black and white.

The software specs aren't really anything new since they announced most of that more then a month ago. Disappointed that AT&T isn't going to have MMS ready till the summer. Available June 17th.

[RainMaker]

Seems like a cool phone but AT&T is just so horrible in Chicago that it's pointless to upgrade.

[Cringer]

My bad, I overlooked the fact the iPhone is so uber-special it needs its own thread.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Cringer

My bad, I overlooked the fact the iPhone is so uber-special it needs its own thread.

Well it had one in the past (2.0), so I figured I'd make the new 3.0 one now.

[stevew]

forgot "BREAKING NEWS!!!!" in the title.

Anyways, which version lets you switch out your battery or upgrade the sd memory in the phone?

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by stevew

forgot "BREAKING NEWS!!!!" in the title.

Anyways, which version lets you switch out your battery or upgrade the sd memory in the phone?

My battery seems fine after a year in my 3G, and I haven't had a need for more memory since I have 16GB. But I understand your point.

I love my iPhone but I ain't no Apple fanboy, I hate Apple.

[Cringer]

Actually, I will threadjack this for a minute to make it my WWDC thread. I have never owned a Mac but for some reason I love how Apple announced Snow Leopard OS would be out in September (Win 7 out in Oct.) and would only cost $29 to upgrade from Leopard (Win 7 is $49 to upgrade from Vista).

The new Macbooks sound nice as well, too bad it will be 10 years before I look past their cost and think of actually buying one, although I find it a joke that having an SD card slot is considered a big addition.

I did love their graph they threw up to show how much the use of Mac OS X (basically people buying Macs for the larger part) has gone up a ton since the iPhone came out. That was pretty interesting.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Actually, I will threadjack this for a minute to make it my WWDC thread. I have never owned a Mac but for some reason I love how Apple announced Snow Leopard OS would be out in September (Win 7 out in Oct.) and would only cost $29 to upgrade from Leopard (Win 7 is $49 to upgrade from Vista).

The new Macbooks sound nice as well, too bad it will be 10 years before I look past their cost and think of actually buying one, although I find it a joke that having an SD card slot is considered a big addition.

I did love their graph they threw up to show how much the use of Mac OS X (basically people buying Macs for the larger part) has gone up a ton since the iPhone came out. That was pretty interesting.

Yeah, there are some things Apple does well, out of everything I saw from today, the one thing they do well is allow you to upgrade your family of computers to the new OS for only $49 bucks or $29 for just a single.

[INDalltheway]

Have a 3G and couldn't live with out it. Pretty cheap upgrade to the new one if you're asking me. I don't own a Mac, so no fanboy here.

[MacroGuru]

I caved in and upgraded a month ago and I haven't looked back...best decision ever. It has simplified my life more than ever with what I do on the road and on the web.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

I caved in and upgraded a month ago and I haven't looked back...best decision ever. It has simplified my life more than ever with what I do on the road and on the web.

How do you find AT&T on the road though? I have had Sprint all through my driving career, and had few problem spots. My co-driver tried every thing, Verizon, AT&T, and always came back to Sprint. I guess if you are in major areas/good size towns, it might not be as big of a problem though.

I had to laugh about the woman on TWiT while I was listening to the coverage. Loved the new 3G S, loved all the upgrades, but said several times now all she needs it to do is be able to make phone calls with it/not get disconnected all the time.

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by Cringer

How do you find AT&T on the road though? I have had Sprint all through my driving career, and had few problem spots. My co-driver tried every thing, Verizon, AT&T, and always came back to Sprint. I guess if you are in major areas/good size towns, it might not be as big of a problem though.

I had to laugh about the woman on TWiT while I was listening to the coverage. Loved the new 3G S, loved all the upgrades, but said several times now all she needs it to do is be able to make phone calls with it/not get disconnected all the time.

I have never had a problem with service with ATT even with R3, and we were in the Boonies a lot...I do have to say it's not North Dakota friendly, probably about the only area it has sucked in.

[Peregrine]

I believe I'll be picking up this new phone - I currently have the original model iPhone and love it, so I've been waiting to upgrade until the newer model came out. Good stuff, I love the expanded battery life and new camera.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by INDalltheway

Have a 3G and couldn't live with out it. Pretty cheap upgrade to the new one if you're asking me. I don't own a Mac, so no fanboy here.

Remains to be seen for sure how much the upgrade will cost if you're a current 3G owner, but it looks like unless you are done with your contract, it'll be $400 for the 16GB and $500 for the 32GB.

Fortunately my fiance isn't on AT&T, doesn't have one yet and is interested, so that may be our route to getting a 3GS for the "new customer" price.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Cringer

How do you find AT&T on the road though? I have had Sprint all through my driving career, and had few problem spots. My co-driver tried every thing, Verizon, AT&T, and always came back to Sprint. I guess if you are in major areas/good size towns, it might not be as big of a problem though.

I had to laugh about the woman on TWiT while I was listening to the coverage. Loved the new 3G S, loved all the upgrades, but said several times now all she needs it to do is be able to make phone calls with it/not get disconnected all the time.

Sprints network is the best I've ever used. I lived in Minnesota amongst the bluffs and it was one of the few companies that could get good reception there. Through my travels, I've only hit one spot where I lost reception completely (this was essentially in between two huge bluffs on a rural road).

AT&T seems spotty depending on where you live. Smaller towns and such actually seem to get better reception. The issues I've seen online are in the major cities where it just doesn't seem like they have enough towers to handle all the people. I know Chicago has tons of complaints online and in major parts of Manhattan it's unusable. There are massive threads on AT&T's site (and other IPOD forums) about signal issues in these cities. When I head out to the suburbs though, I get great reception.

I actually turned off 3G on my phone and haven't had many problems. The Edge isn't as fast for data, but I can barely make calls with it set to 3G.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

Remains to be seen for sure how much the upgrade will cost if you're a current 3G owner, but it looks like unless you are done with your contract, it'll be $400 for the 16GB and $500 for the 32GB.

It makes me angry that Apple and AT&T are basically penalizing current customers by charging them more to upgrade to the iPhone 3GS. I get that they want to add new iPhone customers by enticing them with a low cost iPhone but to charge $200 to $300 more to current customers to "upgrade" is absolutely ridiculous. Can you imagine Verizon charging me to upgrade to a new phone? I'd say "look I'm still a customer, I'll sign a new contract if I have to but the phone costs $X and that's what I should have to pay." This decision infuriates me.

[KWhit]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought all cellphone companies charged a premium to upgrade your phone before your current contract period was over.

I think that's pretty standard.

[GreenMonster]

I was expecting more.. The hardware still has nothing on my HTC Diamond and ATT's network blows along with them being slow to get new tech out like MMS.

I am waiting for the 1st phones in the US with the Snapdragon processors. Those will change the game again.

[Voo]

Originally Posted by GreenMonster

I was expecting more.. The hardware still has nothing on my HTC Diamond and ATT's network blows along with them being slow to get new tech out like MMS.

I am waiting for the 1st phones in the US with the Snapdragon processors. Those will change the game again.

The Toshiba TG01 should be out soon in europe, I haven't seen any word about a us carrier, let alone a release date. Though honestly I wouldn't recommend anyone to the TG01 with HTC snapdragon devices rumored to be coming out late fall/early winter.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by samifan24

It makes me angry that Apple and AT&T are basically penalizing current customers by charging them more to upgrade to the iPhone 3GS. I get that they want to add new iPhone customers by enticing them with a low cost iPhone but to charge $200 to $300 more to current customers to "upgrade" is absolutely ridiculous. Can you imagine Verizon charging me to upgrade to a new phone? I'd say "look I'm still a customer, I'll sign a new contract if I have to but the phone costs $X and that's what I should have to pay." This decision infuriates me.

Originally Posted by KWhit

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought all cellphone companies charged a premium to upgrade your phone before your current contract period was over.

I think that's pretty standard.

What KWhit said.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Actually, I will threadjack this for a minute to make it my WWDC thread. I have never owned a Mac but for some reason I love how Apple announced Snow Leopard OS would be out in September (Win 7 out in Oct.) and would only cost $29 to upgrade from Leopard (Win 7 is $49 to upgrade from Vista).

We got a refurbished iMac (from Apple) about a month ago and we're enjoying it greatly. It works like a charm, is easy for the wife to use, stuff (movies, games) look great on it, and it's quiet and actually wakes up from sleep correctly!

Not a big fan of the Mighty Mouse, however.

[JediKooter]

I work at Apple and I do not own an iPhone. Why? Because at&t can suck my sweaty balls until their throat dries up and collapses on itself and forms a tiny singularity that consumes all of their crappiness that will finally bring an end to their horrible, absolutely horrible, customer service.

The day I can use an iPhone with Verizon, is the day I will get an iPhone.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

I work at Apple and I do not own an iPhone. Why? Because at&t can suck my sweaty balls until their throat dries up and collapses on itself and forms a tiny singularity that consumes all of their crappiness that will finally bring an end to their horrible, absolutely horrible, customer service.

The day I can use an iPhone with Verizon, is the day I will get an iPhone.

Who actually uses customer service? I've yet to have to call AT&T customer service since I got my iPhone last year, the only time I called was to get my corporate discount and that was it.

[lordscarlet]

I have been under the same "company" for about 8 years. Through merges/etc I ended at AT&T (Cellular One -> Cingular -> Eating up AT&T and remaining Cingular -> AT&T) and customer service has been fine. In addition, my coverage has always been stellar, and I live in a (major but not NYC sized) city.

[TheOhioStateUniversity]

Here's to hoping the 3GS is unlocked quickly so that I can use it on T-Mobile and upgrade from the 1st gen

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Who actually uses customer service? I've yet to have to call AT&T customer service since I got my iPhone last year, the only time I called was to get my corporate discount and that was it.

Oh trust me, had the issues been able to be resolved without involving customer service, we would have utilized them.

When the iPhone first came out (actually a month or so after), my wife used the free iPhone that Apple gave me. Dropped calls galore and crappy internet connection. Called customer service to see if there was an issue with service in our area, etc, etc...just complete apathy from at&t and no help at all. They just did not care, plain and simple. Cancelled it after having it for about 2 weeks.

Because of at&t's lack of help, we also cancelled everything else we had with them (DSL and land line). We now have Verizon for our mobile lines and Time Warner for 'land' line, cable and internet.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Because of at&t's lack of help, we also cancelled everything else we had with them (DSL and land line). We now have Verizon for our mobile lines and Time Warner for 'land' line, cable and internet.

Yay for Time Warner Cable... sorry I had to get that in.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Yay for Time Warner Cable... sorry I had to get that in.

Right on!

I'll throw out a yay for Apple too.

[Yellow5]

Not enough to make me want to upgrade from my 3G.

I can already record video on my iphone and don't care much about the other improvements. The only thing that would make me want buy a new one is the larger capacity, but even 32gb is small. Would love to see them push that into the 64/128gb range.

Love the phone though.. and no Apple fanboy here either.

[Cringer]

32GB is too small? Hell, I probably won't have any problems with the 8GB when I get a Pre. Crazy....but I am sure you will see it in a couple years.

[dervack]

Originally Posted by KWhit

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought all cellphone companies charged a premium to upgrade your phone before your current contract period was over.

I think that's pretty standard.

From what I read, that's including people who's contract is already up, too.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by dervack

From what I read, that's including people who's contract is already up, too.

My contract from buying the original iPhone is up next week, and the AT&T site is quoting me the lower prices to upgrade to the 3G S.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

I work at Apple and I do not own an iPhone. Why? Because at&t can suck my sweaty balls until their throat dries up and collapses on itself and forms a tiny singularity that consumes all of their crappiness that will finally bring an end to their horrible, absolutely horrible, customer service.

The day I can use an iPhone with Verizon, is the day I will get an iPhone.

u work at Apple? I didn't know that. Nifty. I presume you mean corporate, not in an Apple store.

I bet if we six-degrees-of-seperationed it we'd be like 2 or max 3 degrees away.

*shrug*

[dervack]

Originally Posted by cartman

My contract from buying the original iPhone is up next week, and the AT&T site is quoting me the lower prices to upgrade to the 3G S.

I'll have to find the article that I read.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by dervack

From what I read, that's including people who's contract is already up, too.

I haven't seen anything from AT&T or Apple, but I did see it posted somewhere yesterday that the lower prices won't apply to anyone that bought an iPhone or upgraded to the 3G within the past year.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Atocep

I haven't seen anything from AT&T or Apple, but I did see it posted somewhere yesterday that the lower prices won't apply to anyone that bought an iPhone or upgraded to the 3G within the past year.

This sounds correct. The original iPhone was unsubsidized, so there wasn't any kind of "credit" in place to move to a different phone. The 3G was subsidized, so like any of their other subsidized phones, there is a "lockout" period where you can't change phones without a penalty.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by cartman

This sounds correct. The original iPhone was unsubsidized, so there wasn't any kind of "credit" in place to move to a different phone. The 3G was subsidized, so like any of their other subsidized phones, there is a "lockout" period where you can't change phones without a penalty.

Which is no different than any other provider.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by wade moore

Which is no different than any other provider.

Exactly. I am not sure why there is any confusion about this. You buy a phone and get it for a cheap price because you are agreeing to a 2 year contract usually. I know with Sprint that you basically earn credit towards another phone over those two years. If it has been a year since your contract started, then you get X amount of dollars off a new phone, if it has been 24 months you hit your maximum credit, which just so happens to usually put the price at the same as for a new customer. And you are signing a new 2 year contract for that price.

I have been doing this for 8 years with Sprint now. New phone, every two years just about. Except that first phone lasted more like 4 years. It just so happens my contract is up and I have my full credit which is why I am looking at the Pre now. If my contract wasn't up I wouldn't even pay attention to what phones are coming out.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by cartman

This sounds correct. The original iPhone was unsubsidized, so there wasn't any kind of "credit" in place to move to a different phone. The 3G was subsidized, so like any of their other subsidized phones, there is a "lockout" period where you can't change phones without a penalty.

Yep. My iPhone 3G contract will be 18 months in mid-December - I know it says I'll have a lower upgrade cost at that point, but I'm not sure if it will be as low as it will be when my contract is up.

FWIW, I have a couple of co-workers that are jailbreaking their phones and fetching $550+ on eBay for their 3G iPhones - money they will use to offset the cost of upgrading to the 3GS before their contracts are up. For me, the difference isn't big enough that I want to deal with all of that, but if the fiance decides she wants an iPhone when her Verizon contract is up in August, it'll be interesting to see the differences in person.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

u work at Apple? I didn't know that. Nifty. I presume you mean corporate, not in an Apple store.

I bet if we six-degrees-of-seperationed it we'd be like 2 or max 3 degrees away.

*shrug*

Yup, in corporate. ProApps division to be exact.

I would not be surprised, haha. I never realized how many people worked there until I started working there and THEN all of the, "You worked at X company too!?"

[Yellow5]

Originally Posted by Cringer

32GB is too small?

I have at least 30gb of music, and I like to carry a movie or two around as well. All of that, plus any apps purchased from the app store and I run out of room.

[Cringer]

I take it the iPhone doesn't have a microSD slot? That is probably my big disappointment with the Pre, since Palm's have had an SD slot for a long time. Sure they didn't have 8GB of built in memory, still I think 8GB and an SD slot would have been huge. Oh well, maybe next time.

[dawgfan]

So I was in an AT&T store today, and they said that after 18 months are up on my current contract, I'll be able to upgrade to the 3GS at the same price as new customers would. I guess I'll check out the 3GS versions my co-workers get, and if it's really a big upgrade in speed, I'll consider upgrading in December when my 18 months are up...

[hukarez]

I think my contract is up either at the end of this month, or mid-July - not quite so sure.

I'm still on the original 2.5G iPhone 8 gig, which has seen it's shares of accidental drops and scuffed backing, but it's still been pretty rock solid. I'm still not sure about upgrading to 3GS and have been considering an HTC phone...

[lordscarlet]

I don't understand the need for an SD slot.

[Klinglerware]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

I don't understand the need for an SD slot.

It's definitely a "great to have" for me. Having memory card capability is useful if you outgrow the storage limits of your device (i.e., if you had an SD slot, you can just buy a bigger card). And additionally, you can use it almost like a flash drive for transferring files between phone, camera, computer, etc...

[stevew]

Well, not to mention the fact that a 16 gig Micro SD card is around 50 bucks(and quickly dropping in price). Apple charges you 100 dollars for that much more phone internal memory.

[Travis]

Hey, sorry for the bump, but figured I'd ask this here.

Anybody have any suggestions for an in car bluetooth kit? We're starting to get new laws around here for needing hands free in the car and I just picked up an iPhone 3GS late last week so have started looking.

Ideally I'd like one that plays music/calls over the car speakers (common enough) and that'll also charge the phone (harder to find from my searches so far).

Any help greatly appreciated.

[cartman]

It might be overkill for what you are looking for, but I have the Kenwood DNX-5120 with the iPod cable and the Bluetooth kit. The iPod cable allows the head unit to control the music part of the iPhone, and also keeps it charged. I had some issues with the Bluetooth kit when I first got it, but the latest firmware that was released has solved all of the sound quality issues I was having.

[Travis]

Oye, that is a pretty sweet setup, but yeah, a lot of features on there I won't need/use and a price tag I'm hoping to come in a bit under.

Thanks for the suggestion though, I might have to re-evaluate and see if I can justify the extras