Say what you like about Steve Jobs, he knows how to put on a good show. It was hard to keep track of the deafening applause during the WWDC 2008 keynote – in fact it seemed like every few minutes the iPhone 3G got a mini-ovation – and there’s no doubting that it’s an impressive device. However, peering over the spec sheet at Apple’s official site does half suggest that the cellphone hasn’t come on quite as far as we might initially have believed: yes, 3G and GPS are big, headline-grabbing additions, but what about more minor, incremental tweaks, like MMS?
The casing may be new, but a lot of the functionality isn’t. A 2-megapixel camera seemed lacklustre when the iPhone first launched a year ago; to be making do with the same thing now is madness. Similarly, things which could’ve been tweaked into satisfaction a long time ago – copy & paste, MMS, Bluetooth A2DP or video recording - still languish unchecked. The rumored front-mounted camera for video calls isn’t present either, and with the top spec model topping out at 16GB there’s no extra room from the first-gen model.
Is it a disappointment? Hell no, the two big reasons holding many people back from an iPhone purchase were price and the lack of 3G; with one fell swoop Apple has undermined both those arguments, taking membership of the iPhone 3G club down to as little as $199. They’ve thrown in GPS (albeit without voice guidance) too, to sweeten the deal. Many of the missing features could be fixed with a firmware update, and let’s hope that’s next on Cupertino’s list. Still, it’s unlike the company to stop one stage short of a knock-out blow to the competition.
What do you think, have Apple if not dropped the ball, then at least fumbled it slightly? Let me know in the comments.
copy & paste and mms are odd omissions. my wife’s crappy treo does that. i think copy & paste needs to be included in order for the iphone to be a serious corporate device.
that price drop, though, still has me contemplating an upgrade…
I was expecting much more, probably due to all the building hype. Apple really could have blown competitors out of the water by offering the video conferencing. Other phones already do all of these things, apple is not leading here they are catching up. Although their price is amazing and seems to be the way they will be making up for their shortcomings.
What happened to a new macbook or tablet?
Mobileme is a embarrassing name, and in my opinion much worse that .mac. I don’t know what they were thinking, but the service it provides may prove interesting for iphone users only.
I think the price reduction negates a lot of the minor things like copy&paste, mms and even the camera. Needing a new phone I’ll go with Apple this time instead of Nokia
I was a bit disappointed by the lack of a better camera, video conferencing and a better keyboard. But it makes sense. Why would Apple play all their cards in one shot when the demand for the first gen. iPhone is still high? They’ll just keep introducing a couple of new major features every year to entice people into upgrading.
So 2008 was GPS and 3G, maybe 2009 will be Video Conferencing and [insert your dream feature here]
So, im loving the look of the new iphone, and all of the new stuff, will deffinately be buying when it is released! BUT, I heard AT&T is going to up the price on the unlimited data plan for 3G to 30 bucks a month, which means i cant afford 80 bucks a month, so back to 200 texts for me if this is true. have you guys heard this or know if its true or not?
Unfortunately Josh I think the pricing you heard is correct: $30 for unlimited 3G data from AT&T, on top of a minimum $39.95 voice package.
Top model is only 16 gigs? What a joke! Camera is lame. GPS is over rated.
I was hoping for MMS and a 32GB version. Although there are many third parties that offer MMS but it is a little shaky. Not bad though Steve
Do you know by anychance how much bandwidth do you really use with your smartphone? I don’t know which package I should subscribe to… I think I’ll mainly use the skype (or any other VOIP) and maybe some browsing from time to time….
do u think Ill go over the 2 gb per month??( in this case I should do unlimited)
about the iphone – im pretty disappointed too… but for this price…
I wonder how much the HTC Diamond will cost now, cause it was going to compete with it…
What a disappointment! 2MP camera, no video recording/conference, no 32GB version, no copy and paste function. How do they expect to sell 10m of those by the end of 2008? Perhaps in the US it will be successful, but in the rest of the world mobile technology is much more advanced! Will Apple pull it off?
I think the 3G iPhone is more about expanding the market globally…it’ll be Macworld 2009 before we see major changes/improvements to the iPhone itself.
iPhone 3G
The Good
3G
GPS
The headphone jack is now flush
Black and white colors
The Bad
No external memory
No replaceable battery
No a2dp
No front facing camera
No video capabilities
No copy+paste
No MMS
No flash on the “2MP camera”
No longer includes unlimited data
No Bluetooth Syncing
2 year contract only available from certain carriers
Will have to be activated in store (at AT&T or Apple Store)
Thicker than original iPhone
From Metal to Plastic
Can’t be a 3G Modem
Sending Files Over Bluetooth is not Possible
yeah, little dissapointed in in the few differences, I won’t be getting rid of my original iPhone as quickly as I first thought.
not that impressive, but the different is it will start invading every part of the world instead of just the US
I was disappointed until I realized that the iPhone is now $199! Come on, $199! NOW it’s affordable. I don’t use my camera on my current phone, I don’t do video on it, I have a real camera for that. Now cut and paste WOULD be nice, though. But, its $199!
what happened to everyone po about iPhone not having a flash player. I would pay another $200 just for that feature. Considering what they have improved on I will probably not upgrade.
The camera disappoints me. I’m reluctantly looking into the competition.
I agree, its not that impressive especially since my friends crappy nokia $99 phone can send pictures. The thing that really bothers me, as Im assuming other apple advocates is the price tag. I mean $199 is awesome and all, but Im asking for another rebate after spening $500 on the first gen 8gig model. Watching his keynote, I wanted to slap Jobs in the face. How bout those who have been faithful and waited outside for the first crappy (compared to the 3G) iphone and payed your salary and that of your corporations by charging $500 for the first gen 8gig model. I know I was stupid enough/faithful to buy it when it first came out and do love it, but come on guy! Cutting the price by more than half is an offensive gesture to me and all others who have the “crappy”/obsolute phone that they paid more than twice for, and whose resale is now close to nothing. Luckily because of Apples monopoly with AT&T I can and WILL unlock my current iphone and send it over to some country where it can be used on their networks even though the iphone isnt availible over there yet. I do that and will easily break even and get a new 3G 16 GB model. If apple was truly as great as I once thought they were, they’d offer some kind of a trade in program for those who bought the lame first gen.
Yeah! They should provide retribution for those of us who paid too much for the first iphone!
And then let’s talk to the car manufacturers, those ungrateful pigs who keep adding features each year without giving anything to the loyal customers who bought last years model! The new ones get twice the mpg!!!!
And then, let’s force the government to give us a good life guaranteed, or our taxes back! No questions asked!!
I think we’re on to something!
The best thing is that we who live in Japan will finally have access to a decent phone. The world is under the horrible misconception that Japan cell phones are any good at all (The networks are great and the phones have a TV, but they are NOT any good!–they have a pathetic UI, cannot access regular web sites and cannot access corportae email). The smart phone market here is small because people dont care about access to corporate email in Japan. The biggest concern to Japanese people is the outside color of their cell phones— there is a huge variety available. But features are meaningless, and most phones are frighteningly alike. Having the iPhone with web access, schedule, email, phone, videos and music is fantastic and it will revolutionize the Japanese market. I would be willing to pay $1000 for an iPhone here.
who said anything about no more unlimited data?
“The Good
3G
GPS
The headphone jack is now flush
Black and white colors
The Bad
No external memory
No replaceable battery
No a2dp
No front facing camera
No video capabilities
No copy+paste
No MMS
No flash on the “2MP camera”
No longer includes unlimited data
No Bluetooth Syncing
2 year contract only available from certain carriers
Will have to be activated in store (at AT&T or Apple Store)
Thicker than original iPhone
From Metal to Plastic
Can’t be a 3G Modem
Sending Files Over Bluetooth is not Possible”
Does anyone know if I will be able to buy one with signing a contract?
Without signing*
I’m confused. Your live feed mentioned a 32Gb model and even gave a price for it. Now you post an article saying it caps out at 16Gb.
Which is correct?
Unfortunately the 32GB mentioned was just wishful thinking, Mark. Though I wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple unveil it 3-6 months down the line!
James, as far as I’m aware you won’t be able to get it without an AT&T contract (in the US). Sorry!
DOH! I just bought a new Windows Mobile phone a few days ago, and now I’m kind of regretting it.. a lot of the stuff on the iPhone look awesome. I already have an iPod Touch, so I can get most of the stuff from that anyways, but there are somethings missing, like sound out of the thing without plugging in headphones. It makes many of the more musical games or what have you much less interesting… that or more annoying.
>_< didn’t spend much less than $199 for my new phone either… it’s a hard call for me… do I return this windows mobile phone and wait for the iPhone G3 to come out? or do I just hold on to it, and enjoy my iPod touch… GOD!!! I can’t make up my mind.
To me I wasn’t that disappointed, my daily corporate tasks needs only 2 things
1- Faster connection
2- Better e-mail applications
Personal use needs:
1- Lots & lots of MP3s
2- Good web browsing and IMs
3- Bluetooth headset clear voice
I’ve used an O2 PDA for more than 4 years, never changed the ring tone, hardly use it as a camera.
Now with this new features (and at this price) i don’t care about Video conference and MMS, I’ve never actually use them anyway.
so if you are my type of cell phone user, you will definitely be very happy with the new 3G iPhone
Again seeing things from APPLE point of view, if they can enhance more minor features (which I’m sure they can) they will never do it all at one shot, especially when lowering the price or else they will lose big portion of the market within 2-3 years.
What happens if you buy this but you do not have 3G in your area? There is no 3G in my area so why to I have to pay the 30 dollars a month when I can not use the speed of the AT&T network? Do I get to spend less because AT&T has not done there job very well of rolling out 3G in my area. For crying out loud I live in the Capital of a State within out Country and no 3G!!! Shame on you AT&T and your monopoly with the IPhone. You can go screw yourself!
No A2DP?! What a POS! I can’t believe I’m not going to upgrade to this one. I don’t get a 3G signal where I live and the Maps.app works just fine for me as it is.
This sucks.
I also don’t like the higher monthly fee, I’d rather just pay it up front.
Can/will it be upraded to add mms?
Let me get this straight. Your prognosticators got it wrong, therefore, Apple messed up. Their good new product is improved, but not sufficiently improved. I personally will take G3, GPS, and a price cut and not complain about what I didn’t get. You’re all a bunch of Dudley Dursley’s if you ask me.
@ Bob. Come on, get real. You sound a little ridiculous – everyone realizes that’s how technology rolls. Future upgrades are usually better and cheaper, that’s just how it is. I held off, knowing there would be a better, cheaper iPhone down the road. I also know that when I purchase my 3G, it will be replaced by something better and probably cheaper someday. That’s okay – with 3G and the 199 price tag, the time to go on and “bite” is here and yes, all the while knowing I’ll have to make future re-purchases for upgrades.
Here’s something to think about: you don’t get the phone for $199 if you already have an AT&T subsidized contract (i.e. one of their other smartphones — but not the iPhone, since AT&T didn’t subsidize it). On the same vein, what happens in June 2009 when the next iPhone comes out — and you’re still on your two year subsidized contract?
That’s right — you’ll get to pay full price (probably around $499, based on the discounting they do with other subsidized phones) for the new one, and still be stuck with a new two year contract.
But that’s just how it works. :-\
They would be smart to get rid of the contracts!!!! More customers would come over to use their service. It’s the price you pay and the customer service that matters to people. If they would stop nickel and diming us they could make even more millions than they already do and we would be happy too. Win Win.