And so the eagerly-anticipated Apple iPhone 3GS launches amidst much fanfare. Still, I was glad to see Phil Schiller introduce the new toy and rendering my iPhone 3G (which I had queued up for) obsolete. For someone who has been making do with a jailbroken iPhone 3G thanks to its natural lack of MMS, Spotlight-like search, voice control and video capture, the new features and technical specifications certainly blew the socks off my feet before and after I caught the guided tour.
It’s not hard for us to imagine RIM, Nokia and Google Android folks caught up in a range of conflicting emotions; awe-struck with the iPhone 3GS’ elegance while trying hard not to piss in their pants over the next 10% of smartphone market share they’re going to lose.
It’s not hard to imagine telco operators in a conundrum; happy to rake in the long-term high ARPU mobile data plans while subsidizing the iPhones to the tee, yet losing sleep over an increasing loss of control over the mobile web and App Store layer.
It’s not hard to imagine us iPhone-totting consumers drooling at their lips as they clutch at their now-obsolete iPhone 3G, wondering if our mobile operators will be as nasty as AT&T to slap us with punitive upgrade and cancellation fees, just so that we can lay our grubby fingers on the hottest, coolest toy on the mobile phone block (at least for the next few months, until RIM and the others play the perennial game of catch-up).
I won’t try to compare the features – Apple itself has done a pretty good job themselves. Even though the iPhone 3.0 software upgrade will bring many of the new features to my iPhone, here’s why I’ll upgrade the moment SingTel announces their plans.
- Faster processor speed – “on average up to twice as fast”
- Better photography + videography + interactivity - as a photography buff, I’ve long had to resort to downsizing jpgs and a ton of post-processing in Photoshop to produce web-ready/decent photos. I don’t have to be a genius to know that the in-phone video editing and voice control is probably only possible because of the new iPhone processor. Bring it on baby! I can’t wait to talk to my iPhone – am I nuts or what?
- Slightly improved battery life – this baby has too little juice right now; running bluetooth, 3G and wifi and a healthy dose of quick gaming, news and calls/SMSes runs it down real quick before the end of the day. I suspect a more power-efficient wifi and video chipset is deployed in the new iPhone 3GS, resulting in its marginal increase in battery life. Still, beggars can’t be choosers.
SingTel – be a man, do the right thing!
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
erm. i’m more frustrated than anything else. i mean, i paid for my iphone 3g and was prepared to spend more on an upgrade but f* man, its disappointing! Processor speed upgrade from 412 to 600. 50%? Try 30% perhaps.
And the look? Man! i wan something that’s as sleek as the iphone touch! Not another clone! N the camera? 3MP. an upgrade of only 1MP! drool? yeah right. more like cry!
Erm you are missing somthing, you don’t judge speed of the processo by how many mHZ/gHZ it got (it is like comparing how many cylinders a car engine have), there is a huge difference between the new processor & the old processor. The new processor was inside because the dual-core processor is still not out yet (will soon be out) so you do expect more speed bump next year. (I sense a dual-core iphone coming soon). The graphics card and RAM has also been upgraded to a much more powerful one.
For the camera, yeah it was kind of disappointing that it is still missing flash & I expect 5mbps camera at least but well it does have some new features. Overall the 3GS is more under the hood changes that most people fail to understand, believe it or not. You will sooner or later find an app only be able to run on 3GS because the graphics is too intensive and RAM-intensive for the older iPhone.