Vercingetorix
Fluidmaster
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2006
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I'm the Mac guy among my group of friends, so I've already had a half-dozen people ask me about yesterday's big announcement. I typed up a few paragraphs about it for them, and I thought that while it was sitting on the clipboard, it might be useful to somebody here too.
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1. The new iPhone 3G offers three new features: much faster internet speeds when you are NOT connected through wi-fi (at home, at the pub, etc.). It's the same over wi-fi. Built-in GPS, which means that it can pinpoint your location more accurately than the first iPhone, which can only get within a few blocks. Better battery life, supposedly. That's all the big stuff as far as the physical phone goes.
2. "iPhone 2.0" is SOFTWARE, which will be available on all iPhones -- new and old -- next month. Includes access to the app store for third party applications, Exchange/Outlook support for mail, some other features. A few things are still missing -- for example, no cut and paste, apparently, and no MMS have been mentioned -- but these gaps may be filled in by third party applications. This software upgrade is free to iPhone 1.0 users and $10 for iPod Touch users.
3. The big news about the new IPhone is the pricing. The first generation was ridiculously expensive because it was not subsidized by the usual "sign a two-year contract" stuff that's usual with most high-end cell phones. The new one IS subsidized, which is why the shiny new model is going to be cheaper than the refurbished model I bought three months ago. A two-year contract with AT&T will be required for that price. It does NOT look as though there's going to be an option to just buy one at full price and unlock it for use for another carrier. They clearly aren't going to be able to keep people from unlocking it and actually USING it on another carrier, so they've decided to clamp down at the point of sale and actually force people to sign a contract first.
The new price structure is due to two things: 1) Apple (and probably even more AT&T) are trying to cut way back on the number of people who have been unlocking the iPhones and using them with a different carrier; both companies have been losing money because of this. 2) This is a deliberate strategy on Apple's part to carpet-bomb any would-be "iPhone killers" before the competition really even starts. They're going to sell a ton of these things at $200, contract or no. Apple clearly wanted this price; AT&T said fine, you can have the subsidy, but we're going to have to do more to ensure that everybody who buys one is going to have a contract with us. Oh, and the 3G data plan is $10/month more than the original iPhone's data plan.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
If you've been wanting an iPhone and are already with or don't care about switching to AT&T, then wait a month, buy the new model, sign the contract. You will not be disappointed, and at $200 it's a great deal.
If you've been wanting an iPhone and don't want to switch to user AT&T as your carrier, then your best bet may be to pick up a used iPhone 1.0 off of Ebay or Craigslist or something. People will be selling them off to pay for the upgrade to the latest model, and these should continue to be easy to unlock for other carriers for sometime. You can still get the 2.0 software, third party apps, etc.
If you already have an iPhone and are unsure whether to upgrade, it comes down to how much the slow EDGE network annoys you. If you're like me and use your phone over wi-fi most of the time, then it won't matter that much anyway. GPS would be nice, but I can't think of it as a must-have until some third party writes an application that relies on it which I can't live without. I'll probably sit this one out and wait for next year's model.
_____________
1. The new iPhone 3G offers three new features: much faster internet speeds when you are NOT connected through wi-fi (at home, at the pub, etc.). It's the same over wi-fi. Built-in GPS, which means that it can pinpoint your location more accurately than the first iPhone, which can only get within a few blocks. Better battery life, supposedly. That's all the big stuff as far as the physical phone goes.
2. "iPhone 2.0" is SOFTWARE, which will be available on all iPhones -- new and old -- next month. Includes access to the app store for third party applications, Exchange/Outlook support for mail, some other features. A few things are still missing -- for example, no cut and paste, apparently, and no MMS have been mentioned -- but these gaps may be filled in by third party applications. This software upgrade is free to iPhone 1.0 users and $10 for iPod Touch users.
3. The big news about the new IPhone is the pricing. The first generation was ridiculously expensive because it was not subsidized by the usual "sign a two-year contract" stuff that's usual with most high-end cell phones. The new one IS subsidized, which is why the shiny new model is going to be cheaper than the refurbished model I bought three months ago. A two-year contract with AT&T will be required for that price. It does NOT look as though there's going to be an option to just buy one at full price and unlock it for use for another carrier. They clearly aren't going to be able to keep people from unlocking it and actually USING it on another carrier, so they've decided to clamp down at the point of sale and actually force people to sign a contract first.
The new price structure is due to two things: 1) Apple (and probably even more AT&T) are trying to cut way back on the number of people who have been unlocking the iPhones and using them with a different carrier; both companies have been losing money because of this. 2) This is a deliberate strategy on Apple's part to carpet-bomb any would-be "iPhone killers" before the competition really even starts. They're going to sell a ton of these things at $200, contract or no. Apple clearly wanted this price; AT&T said fine, you can have the subsidy, but we're going to have to do more to ensure that everybody who buys one is going to have a contract with us. Oh, and the 3G data plan is $10/month more than the original iPhone's data plan.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
If you've been wanting an iPhone and are already with or don't care about switching to AT&T, then wait a month, buy the new model, sign the contract. You will not be disappointed, and at $200 it's a great deal.
If you've been wanting an iPhone and don't want to switch to user AT&T as your carrier, then your best bet may be to pick up a used iPhone 1.0 off of Ebay or Craigslist or something. People will be selling them off to pay for the upgrade to the latest model, and these should continue to be easy to unlock for other carriers for sometime. You can still get the 2.0 software, third party apps, etc.
If you already have an iPhone and are unsure whether to upgrade, it comes down to how much the slow EDGE network annoys you. If you're like me and use your phone over wi-fi most of the time, then it won't matter that much anyway. GPS would be nice, but I can't think of it as a must-have until some third party writes an application that relies on it which I can't live without. I'll probably sit this one out and wait for next year's model.
