Monday 8 June 2009

iPhone 3G S


The new generation of the gadget of all gadgets, the one and only iPhone, has been announced. The iPhone 3G S. It pretty much follows the rumours that have been bandied around on the blogosphere and maybe that is why I'm still slightly under-whelmed.

The trouble with technology is that it advances so quickly that it's hard to keep up. In trying to keep up, we expect the next big thing to leapfrog the last big thing, well I do anyway. Given that there are phones out there packing 8 mega pixel cameras and the 3G S offers just 3 is one disappointment; one key reason for me to have held back from spending lots of cash and changing phone provider. Even so, I'll have to remind myself one thing. Rather than judging the iPhone on the amount of features and how it'll fare against the competition, I'll appraise it's usefulness for my needs.
  1. A good quality phone. tick
  2. Speakerphone. tick. Great for being kept on hold by call centres
  3. Camera. Uh er. I'll just have to buy a cheap small digital camera
  4. Synchronise with my Mac. tick
  5. On the go internet. tick. So I can be more spontaneous with blogging
  6. Reliability. tick. If it runs as smoothly as my Mac then all's good
I'm not keen on the polished finish though. I like my current phone because I can throw it in my bag and not worry about it getting scuffed. For me, the thing is to be used, not a fashion statement.

4 comments:

bill mudge said...

Hi Doc,
Thought I'd share my thoughts on the iphone!
I'm on the verge of getting an iphone... have been considering it for a while. I'm a mac user (initially got into them for music) and have been for over 10 years now. My biggest concern in 'the decision' was that the iphone seems so big compared to my compact nokia 'candy bar' phone.... I looked at blackberry... compact, but it's not mac friendly... So the iphone does seem the way to go. I travel with work, and would find the ability to be able to monitor emails, blog, tweet, facebook, do website updates and the like to be a real benefit. I run ical/address book on the mac both which will sync with the iphone. it has google maps (tom tom app soon?), Even though the camera is 3 megapixels (my current nokia is 3 too), it does have video and embeds gps tags in the photos it takes! (have you seen the new 'places' feature in iphoto? / ilife09). Internet tethering... i can use the 3g connection to get my laptop connected to the internet. cool!
Like you i'm worried I'll break it, loose it or worse get it nicked :( ...I don't normally bother with cases for my phones, but I think it might be essential this time... perhaps some insurance too? It sounds like my mind is made up on the iphone, but I will wait to see what O2 decide to charge us for the privilage... coinciding with the iphone 3GS release, my contract with my current provider expires on the 16th June.... do you think Steve Jobs knew this? :)

Doctor Pangloss said...

D Day for you Mr Mudge. Or should that be 3GS Day?

I've read that O2 won't be discounting 3G phones to clear stock. Well, I'm really tempted by the new model but it'll be quite a hike from my current talk plan as I'll probably pay around 70% more for the privilege of added functionality and generally keeping up with the latest technology.

Anonymous said...

I just got an iphone and it's one of my favourite purchases ever. Commuting from P'shire to Charring cross is almost fun as I can surf the net for free (although not so great when going through the tunnels around Woolwich dockyard). I love mac stuff and it looks awesome. It's genius!!

Anonymous said...

I read the other day that the 3gs has been overheating a lot, so much so that it's been turning the phones with the White back pink , other than that I love my 3g and come november time I will upgrade to the 3gs , incidently I am typing this blog from my phone and it's only taken me 45 minutes
R.E. Above statement of 45 mins this in actual fact took 10 minutes