Apple Announces Faster 'iPhone 3G S' Comments

all seems a bit samey

I see from the Apple store that the accessories included with the 3GS are 'Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic'. Does this mean you're stuck with Apple's lousy earphones if you want the full voice activation functionality? Just as with as with the new Shuffle in fact. Boo!

Apple really likes to take the piss out of its customers. I knew I shouldn't have trusted them (I just got an 8gb iPhone).
I have no idea how they get consumers to back them when they make their hardware obsolete or pitiful (by comparison) every 6 months.
Also I heard they didn't even release the iPhone in Korea or China because it would be a total insult to the technology that they have in phones already. Apple is Satan!

Thanks to the (intense) rumor mill of the past few months, no earth-shattering new features - all really what was promised from OS 3.0 (except camera, speed, and battery life). Slightly disappointed, as an ardent apple-phile.

Will wait and see what rip-off prices O2 is going to charge existing owners to upgrade... this time, it may not be worth the price as a digital compass, voice control and nike+ is not going to infuence me buying immediately.

I subjected myself to the engadget (and Ars Technica) liveblogs for WWDC - and boy there are some f***ing morons on their comment pages.

The obsession with camera megapixels (discussed here previously) rather than quality is what really annoyed me. They are spec-whores. I was hoping for a slight re-design and improved battery life and got one of those, so I might finally get one of these.

The TomTom support is very greatly received...as long as they don't over price it. In general though I feel a little deflated that something unexpected wasn't announced.

Welcome to 2005 iPhone 3GS...glad you could make it.

I _would_ be disappointed right now.... but I am too hurt after working out the conversion rates for the new macbook pros.

$1,699: 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR3 RAM, GeForce 9400M graphics, 250GB HDD, SD card slot, no ExpressCard

$1699 = £1057 (according to checking conversion rates 5 mins ago)
however the price for the exact same unit in UK is ...... wait for it......£1299
£1299 = $2087......

now, I know there is normally a hike we get screwed on when living in UK....... but thats nearly $400

......rip off britain indeed.

If it aint broke?
I agree with Kashif though, I own a 16GB iphone and already have a nano for my Nike+ running (read - slow jogging) regime, so I too wont see too much to make me pay through the nose for an upgrade, unless it's set at an attractive price O2? Though running low on battery by the time I get in my car coming home from work each day is starting to p*** me off somewhat!

will the iphone 3gs appear on other networks? and what's the PAYG price of the handset?

i have a few friends who'll be mighty steamed at apple that their shiny new macbooks are now redone, better (in some regards) and cheaper than what they forked out for.

I see they have lowered the price of the basic one a bit. Though the pricing scheme still confuses me when the phone is only £300-400 pay as you go but you still have to pay £100-150 upfront on contract. I've never had to pay for a phone on contract even when getting ones of comparable or greater value???

Have you guys see the prices?
http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/paymonth.html
16GB costs £185 on £35 contracts. What a rip off. The 32GB cost £275 on the £35 contract

Why piss off existing iPhone customers by not allowing them to upgrade?

O2 has just released the price for the new iphone, i see we are being ripped off again:

18 Months 24 Months
Tariff £29.38 £34.26 £44.05 £73.41 £34.26 £44.05 £73.41
iPhone 3G 8GB £96.89 £96.89 Free Free Free Free Free
iPhone 3G S 16GB £184.98 £184.98 £87.11 Free £87.11 Free Free
iPhone 3G S 32GB £274.23 £274.23 £175.19 £96.89 £175.19 £96.89 Free
UK Minutes 75 600 1200 3000 600 1200 3000
UK Messages 125 500 500 500 500 500 500
Unlimited UK Data and Wi-Fi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

smells like another Apple Victory

So are the Pay & Go prices wrong too?

# iPhone 3G S 16GB - £440.40
# iPhone 3G S 32GB - £538.30

I want to be able to put my simplicity sim card in it but £440? SH*****T!! excuse my french.

Deecee goto expansys and look at the cost of high end pay go blackberry's and Toshiba/ Samsung mobile phones

if you'd asked me a few weeks ago what my next phone would be it would have been iphone all the way but since then my enthusiasm has been withering, it's still a nice phone but i just dont think id be able to live with it day in day out

"Why piss off existing iPhone customers by not allowing them to upgrade?"

Hang on, when Nokia brings out a new phone I don't get some sort of loyalty deal, so why should the mugs who buy into this iPhone nonsense?

@Ironduke - Yes I am aware off the prices of phones however Pay & Go are still network phones and not SIM free unlocked and unbranded as they are on Expansys and play.com etc. If the iPhone 3G is staying on the market then the Pay & Go price of that should drop and therefore the 16GB 3GS should be £391.47 which errr isn't much cheaper to be fair lol.

wow. seriously wow. the one or two things that could have made it great were left out. flash apple flash! you have a camera phone to make pictures of stuff spontaniously, aka when out with your mates on a saturday night. so again thats a no go.

would have liked i design overhaul, but thats no biggie. but come on a bigger screen would have been very easy to put in...

gaddamnit these things are not so bad that i'm going to sit this one out as well but its just a real shame...

That has to be one of the dullest product launches I've ever seen... seriously they couldn't even differentiate it a little bit? I've seen differences between RAZR phones that put this to shame.

Because the iPhone is iconic compared to the other phones, who ever has exclusivity to it has a cash cow, now if O2 can real in new customers while keeping their current user base sweet, it will help their cause when its time to renew their exclusivity with apple in the uk

sucks if they dont allow early upgrade, as 18months from original release of iphone 3G, Palm Pre will be in the UK. Probably time to switch

@Steve - Ironduke has it in one. I don't have any stats, but I imagine iPhone user ARPU is substantially higher than other handsets - not to mention most iPhone 1/3G users may be so pissed them move to another network for a Blacberry or Pre etc.

Luke apple understand more then anyone,its not about the 1 shot kill, its about long term torture, with itunes songs,movies, apps

most company's say heres our product, take your money then hope to never hear from you again, when apple sell you a product their trying to infect you by opening you up to their products

I see Apple haven't been drawn into the spec wars. Judging by various (p)reviews the N97 hasn't lived up to the hype either despite outspeccing the Iphone 3GS hands down. The Pre is still a hope although, again, initial reviews from the US see it more as a work in progress with hopes that later versions will complete the job. As said before - if it ain't broke. What Apple has done makes commercial sense and will be, regardless of what many say, a great success. However, I must say as someone looking to upgrade, that I'm completely underwhelmed and am now pinning my hopes on the Samsung i7500 and the LG Crystal.

Well, you could say it was disappointing, or you could say as they've kept the model number it's just a minor spec bumb until iPhone 4 comes out. Like the Nokia N95 having 3 or 4 models. With OS3 & this new phone this is what we should've gotten last year. Kinda like what people say about about Windows7 & Vista. The one thing I wanted the most was a built in FM Radio, that doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere, so I guess I'll have to look elsewhere for my next phone although I'm still tempted as most everything else is still rather good in comparison to the competition.

Must admit, I pretty stumped now.

I'm on the simplicity tariff on O2 and itching to pull the trigger on a new handset...but, the Pre's reception and write-ups haven't exactly been euphoric and now this 3GS mess-up.

Is it just me or does this 3GS just feel like a stop-gap phone for Apple? Designed to extract more blood from the Apple fanboys base? Then in 12 months time we'll see yet another, completely redesigned, all singing all dancing iPhone 4 with all the bells and whistles. Just doesn't feel like the right time to be buying into the 'new' iPhone.

I'll keep an eye out for that Samsung I7500 with Android and see how that sits in this company.

Looking at the comments so far, you'd think Apple had to re-invent the wheel to impress some of these folks. I agree that the camera is still a disappointment, but COME ON! I'm still happy with my Canon EOS 40D thanks!

@Gnormie and @Tarik Bos - why change what's not broken? Screen size bigger? Yeah, if you have clown's pockets! I want a phone that has a good screen but will still fit in my pocket on a summer night on the sauce.

Interesting that most of the negative comments are about looks and "spec whore" points, rather than folks who have actually used one for any length of time. For most 3G owners anyway, its the cool way it just works that's the best thing about it.

If I sound like a fanboy, well up to a point. Is the new one enough to upgrade? Dunno, I can wait 6 months until my 3G contract is up, then decide what O2 (or anyone else) can offer me.

Its not perfect by any means, but are Gordon, Hugo and the TR boys so wrong??

I just want to get rid of this Sony Ericsson T650 I've been using for almost 20 months now. If I had the 3G, I wouldn't upgrade - but life is too short to wait for iPhone v4.

the iPhone camera punched above its MP weight, so hopefully this one will do the same. If is the same as the SE K800i, I will be happy.

I wanted an iphone ages ago but there was no TomTom, no A2DP etc. - a whole list of things that my Windows Mobile phone does. Firmware 3.0 plugs all the gaps neatly and the new hardware pops in a handy 'back up' camera and longer battery life to boot. To me it seems an almost perfect "all in one" device/toy. I'm itching for my upgrade time in August.

It does seem a bit pricey though :o

@ Jim
Just because somethings not broken doesn't mean that you can't improve upon it, or anticipate market changes to make your phone appeal to people over the entirety of the next 18 months. Because if it's just a spec upgrade (which is what it is) people will soon be attracted by everything else that will flooding the market in the next few months.

"Its not perfect by any means, but are Gordon, Hugo and the TR boys so wrong??"

I know it is wrong...but it feels SO right! :~)

Just watched the Apple 3GS video...I can feel myself already ignoring my own logic, I'll probably have Mac Book Pro by this time next week!

The force is strong!

A fair range of comments here. I think the problem or reason for the negativity is that when the iPhone first came out it was ahead of the game, it did so much people at that point couldn't imagine. Now we can all think what we'd like from our dream phone, we can see how to improve the iPhone and when that doesn't happen we're left disappointed. In all other respects it's a great phone with some useful upgrades. Like @lifethroughalens I think the Samsung I7500 seems like it could be the best alternative.

You have to love how the iPhone oweners truly believe it's their right to have an early upgrade. Because you really are special! O2 doesn't want to piss you off? Because you'll somehow cancel your 18 month contract? The fact that you want the upgrade early shows that you'll most likely stay anyway and upgrade when the time comes.

I'm seriously disappointed. Was looking forward to see what they'd come up with but this makes Snow Leopard sound like an exciting upgrade. Would still be tempted if the prices weren't so crazy. On an 18 month contract I'd expect at least the 8GB to be free. It is 2 year old hardware after all.

its not how new the tech is but what you do with it, this iswhy so many other companies Epic fail!

I see O2 are going to be charging a nice fee if you want to use tethering, no shock there :-(

Yay! Even the iPhone fan boys think this was a stupid incremental upgrade.... Now look back at the original iPhone and realise that is was about the equivalent of this relative to all the other devices on the market!

@Oliver, yes it's an incremental upgrade, but there is nothing wrong with that, Apple can't release a major change every 12 months.

The original iphone was a complete game-changer, not a small upgrade. Nokia & Microsoft are still playing catchup, although I'm pleased to see the Pre and Android providing real competition.

Please, please tell me those O2 prices are indeed wrong. They must be surely, $299 would convert to £214 including 15% VAT and the last gen iPhone was significantly cheaper than the US owing to the different mobile market here requiring a subsidy. I know Gordon said it was a cock-up but if so it's a significantly large one that O2 really should have poked a tech out of bed to take the page down or update it last night because right now all thoughts of getting an iPhone have well and trully gone for this potential customer.

Argh, additional O2 complaint - why the HELL does it cost £15 for 3Gb of data in tethering mode? You have just sold the phone with an unlimited data package, there should be no need to pay more for the tethering option and CERTAINLY not at that cost on top of the original data plan considering that plan already includes unlimited wi-fi connectivity. This has just wiped out a major part of the attraction of the new iPhone for me as I'm a fairly low user of minutes and texts so it's very hard to justify the contract price without tethering being included.

Is it just me who really liked the idea of the rubberised back? I'm terribly carless with my handsets, so I need all the help I can get keeping it in one piece!

@BOFH_UK: why the HELL does it cost £15 for 3Gb of data in tethering mode?

I think the problem from O2 POV is that once tethered the ability download massive amounts of data will increase. I would certainly be angry if MY normal internet experience suffered because a few were using there Iphone to download movies etc. If you was only using the tethering for WebBrowsing & Email then 3Gig should last a fair bit.

But on the other hand, £15 does seem rather high. To prevent leaching I would have expected a max price of £5 would have done it.

@Keith - yeah, I should have included that bit in my original post but the shock was still settling like a thick layer of bitter bitter dandruff upon my shoulders. IMO it would make more sense to give a certain amount of data free for tethering with costs after that and totally free access via hotspots. As it is that pushes the price of a basic iPhone contract to £50 including unlimited data on the phone, 3Gb of data for tethering, 600 minutes and 500 texts (I'm ignoring the £30 tariff for fairly obvious reasons) AND a heavy heavy price for the phone itself. That's too much IMO and a long way out of whack for the rest of the mobile market.

Once again it's apparent that everyone sits there moaning about not getting a 12MP camera, lazer-guided weapons as standard etc.

But yet again the iPhone will surpass all others, because Apple know how to utilise the hardware with stellar software, something they've been doing with OS for years. I think it also speaks a lot to see that lots of major companies and developers know what the iPhone will do, ergo getting involved with developing for the platform.

What I don't understand is that my contract with O2 gives me unlimited internet access on my iPhone. So why can they charge me another £15 month and limit me to 3G/month when its attached to my MacBook?

Well first of all its the middle of a recession, so clearly Apple has decided to keep its powder dry - theyve just throw a few scraps to those few who are willling to be milked for a new overpriced and under-speced phone.

Also interestingly enough Trusted reviews bends over backwards to excuse the lame 3.2MP camera. Had Nokia or Microsoft release a phone with such a lame standards, the review here would have described it as a "ho hum" spec. But Iphone does it and of course that is okay. What a shock. No fanboyism there, nah....

Kanu - your phone could have a flexible OLED screen that snaps around your wrist, a 33MP camera supplied by Hasselblad, an early introduction of 4G with a 256GB SSD to hold it together. But with Windows Mobile, what would be the point?

What a loads of boohocky!! (love that word). I am sympathetic to all those new buyers of iPhones, I myself can not see thepoint of forking out a bucket load of cash to upgrade a phone that does eveything I want it too. I used to be a phone addict, changing my handset every 6 months, running 2 contracts simultaniously and was never satisfied, as soon as I bought an iPhone (Pay as You Go!) I have stopped looking. So its a bit faster (apparently) and takes videos. Who cares, im going to get the OS 3.0 anyway and could never justify the price on an upgrade, even if I took a contract! Good luck O2! you might need it! - Fat Man

I honestly couldn't care less. I got an 8mb iPhone as my yearlyupgrade in February, been more than happy with it so far – but I'm not about to start complaining that Apple insist on updating their technology. I could understand if you're someone who just got one within the last month, but if you were always waiting for the latest version of something then you'd never be buying everything. When I used to work in a mobile phone shop (o2, incidentally) there were new phones coming out every week from each of the main manufacturers. by the time I come to upgrade again in just over a year I shall probably be in time for the version after this one. And all will be well for another year and a half!

O2 has really ass-ed it. I was gonna join the iphone fan base when my current contract finishes in Sep with 3. It seems never forever.
Isn't there a rumour saying o2 will be dropped from iphone exclusivity some time? I just hope that day comes earlier than the economy downturn ends... lol

Hot breh, I have the HTC Touch Diamond 2 right now - with Windows Mobile. Fact is, its a pretty damn good phone - as is confiremed by a review here on this website.

Moreover, this Windows Mobile phone even multitasks, can copy and past and has a better camera than what Apple peddles to you. Nor does it need a bloated itunes in order to load up music or videos. Nor am i restricted to playing only the video and music file formats that Apple wants to milk consumers from.

This is the reality. But you can tell yourself whatever you need to. Its okay with me. All i care about is having a good phone that isnt dumbed down or locked up - you can follow the black turtle neck agenda as much as you want. :-)