Yes, the major media figure on the Internet has an iPhone 3G S. On initial examination, I’d safely say that this if you’re planning on getting an iPhone with a new contract, go ahead. The price is right and the features are great.
Everything on this phone is snappier – Maps especially – and the auto-focus and video uploads passed the wife test who said that this is what she’s been looking for from the iPhone from the beginning. Looks like someone is going to have to upgrade someone.
Overall, this is a good, evolutionary upgrade. As we said at WWDC, this is about getting the iPhone up to speed and making it the de facto way to share video. The Pre is dead in the water compared to this release. I’m sorry. Video will be the next killer app and look for YouTube to groan under the weight of new videos and users.
One other great feature is the compass. This doesn’t make sense at first but if you’ve ever tried to follow iPhone walking directions in a strange city it makes perfect sense. In Maps, the iPhone shows where you’re headed instead of just a little dot. This added bit of information ensures you don’t walk the wrong way before you even start your trip. I can just imagine tourists – and me – popping up from the subway in New York and consulting their iPhone compass programs like Lewis and Clark in Tevas and cargo shorts.
Interestingly, the trade dress is completely the same. I mean to the point of confusion. Do you have an S? A regular one? I’m going to be digging around and pulling some Kremlinology on this because quiet clearly this means something – they didn’t make it look EXACTLY like the 3G for reasons of economy. Something is up.
Otherwise, we’re going to put this through its paces this weekend and we’ll have a full review after that.
Interesting note: We’re in the car right now and I’m tethered via the iPhone using our magical tethering tricks. They work and this is probably the fastest I’ve seen the MacBook Air load web pages in all the time I’ve had it.
UPDATE – This is hilarious. I have had this Air for months now and the Wi-Fi has sucked consistently. Tethered to 3G it’s as fast as any other laptop when it comes to browsing.
If I didn’t have a Iphone already, I’d definitely upgrade. I’ve heard nothing but positive.
The reality is that I do have an IPhone. Although the speed is sexy, is it really worth the upgrade?
Did you tether it to the iPhone 3G yesterday? What was speed compared to tethering to 3GS?
Tethered on 3G or 3G S ? Did any one test tethering on 3G S ??
I was thinking the exact same thing last night — how will several million new iPhones with automatic video upload capabilities affect YouTube? Think you’re right that we’re going to see a massive spike in videos uploaded — curious if you’ve heard what Google is doing to prepare for this increase in throughput?
I have the original iphone, and I just went to check out the new 3G S – I have to say that I am a little disappointed, especially considering some of the rumors I read early on (built in FM transmitter, 5 or 8 mega pixel camera, etc).
It did seem a lot faster, maps were very cool and the tethering feature would definitely come in handy.. but I just don’t think there is a big enough difference to justify buying a new one. I will wait it out until next year when they hopefully upgrade that camera to something in the 5 to 8 range
lol 5-8megapixels isn’t going to make a difference unless there is a better lens. Quality is generally based off of lens quality and image sensor and not megapixels. On a DSLR the difference between 3 and 8 megapixels will obviously be noticeable but not so much on the iPhone…
Not really the lens quality but sensor size. I’m sure they’re not scrimping on the miniscule amount of glass needed to cover the tiniest of tiny image sensors… as you see with DSLRs, any move up with the SIZE of the sensor brings great increases in quality.
Ya, I think next spring they’ll come out with a totally redesigned phone. (Before June) I believe this was just a “refresh” to keep sales and interest up. (However, the software won’t be much of an upgrade…more hardware.)
Sure, the video, improved camera and compass are nice. But they’re not completely revolutionary. I mean the basic design is already 2+ years old.
I also think we’ll continue to see iPhones at $99 or even FREE (perhaps after Christmas).
I will be keeping my 3G for at least another year. (Had to replace it back in February).
I’m very interested to see what happens with Android over the next year too.
I think they kept the redesign factor down simply because that would make buying (and manufacturing) cases and other accessories a pain! There’s already the difference between the 1st gen and G3 iphone, so adding redesigned shape would only force Apple to make room for more cases in their stores. I think it was a brillant move by Apple.
Re: Drew – I have the 1st iPhone as well and just upgraded to the 3Gs. Right out of the box I could tell the differences. And yes the speed is noticeable. Safari is noticeably faster as are loading apps. And just returned from some errands where I got to test out Voice Control. Actually worked (most of the time). Played a bit with the camera and video & friend uploaded to YouTube w no problem. Overall very satisfied.
I upgraded from the original iPhone to the 3gs. AMAZING. What a difference for me. The difference in speed is most noticeable, and compared to my friend’s 3G it’s significantly faster as well. Well worth the $199. Just wish it came with the charging/audio stand like the 1st gen.
Has anyone noticed anything different about the call or bluetooth voice quality? I’ve seen no reports of any upgrades to the modem, antennae or otherwise. For all the faults the iPhone 3G has (there are *so* many) the biggest insult has been as a cell phone is pretty much sucks.
Anyone?
Kip – where do you live?
I’m toying with the idea of ditching Verizon to get an iPhone, but I’m nervous about the quality of voice service.
I live just north of DC (Montgomery County) and everyone I talk to says that they don’t have problems with dropped calls or getting a signal for their iPhone.
AT&T has a bad rep but it looks like it’s hugely dependent on where you live.
I have had the dropped call issue here in Portland, OR mostly- but it has also occurred in San Jose, Folsom, Anaheim, Las Vegas, Tempe and Delray Beach FL. Apple replaced my phone twice- I am on #3 and I will admit phone #3 isn’t as bad, but then again I am relying on land liens as much as possible for work.
I rarely had dropped calls when a conversation was under 5 minutes. 5 minutes or more and poof about 50% of the time. I am of the opinion is that the antennae may be to blame as it doesn’t seem to get a consistent signal even when motionless. Apple blames ATT’s network. ATT says it’s probably the phone, take it to Apple.
I also get inconsistent quality when using bluetooth headsets- and I have tried Motorola, plantronics and jawbone.
Most of my freinds/co-wokrers love their iphones too. I think I just have higher standards/heavier use case models than them.
Plus “fart Machine” does not amuse me or make me think the phone is a good investment :)
I Should mention that I have been very happy with ATT compared to Sprint (especially customer service) and that I had a Sony Ericsson slider for a year and a half with barely a dropped call or problem.
I got mine bright and early this morning (upgraded from an Edge iPhone) and this thing is WICKED. Speed really was an issue for me in the past – I was reluctant to use things like the Map, my to do apps, and especially the camera, when opening them entailed a 10 second wait. Now that the lag is gone and the Internet is zippier, I find myself utilizing it for all it’s worth. Voice dialing is also great and near instantaneous – I think it’ll be my preferred dialing method.
>This is hilarious. I have had this Air for months now and the Wi-Fi has sucked consistently. Tethered to 3G it’s as fast as any other laptop when it comes to browsing.
well… /yeah/. think about that one a little bit and you’ll figure out why.
And he says that he used to be a telcom consultant. I’m guessing with AT&T. Seems like just about anyone can be a consultant, no expertise required. (or a TC writer)
Will the tethering work with WiFi? Can I use the free iPhone WiFi in starbucks and use it on my Macbook Pro?
I did exactly that with my old 3G at Starbucks before I headed over to the Apple store this morning. Worked perfectly. Haven’t tried it with the 3G S yet.
Perfect, thanks. I’ll give it a try. I have a 2G though, but I’m getting a 3GS soon anyway.
So what’s the trcik to getting tether to work on iPhone 3G S? I had it on the regular 3G and it worked awesome but when I install it on the new 3G S it doesn’t work plus iTunes keeps deleting it from the preference pane. What’s the trick? Details and all.
@kid Richmond You need to hit option click “Check for Update” rather than “Restore.” The same thing happened to me, I used my iphone tethering feature and then it disappeared. I then chose” Check for Update” and have been tethering from my iphone for the last couple of days to my mac pro. Cox Communications is messing up my connection, that’s why.
“Will the tethering work with WiFi? Can I use the free iPhone WiFi in starbucks and use it on my Macbook Pro?”
LOL, am I being mean or is the above comment a perfect illustration of the average Mac user?
Am loving OS 3.0 btw. Tethering rocks. Now if only Apple can approve Beejive’s damn update…
@kid Richmond You need to hit option click “Check for Update” rather than “Restore.” The same thing happened to me, I used my iphone tethering feature and then it disappeared. I then chose” Check for Update” and have been tethering from my iphone for the last couple of days to my mac pro. Cox Communications is messing up my connection, that’s why.
Tethering for the past couple days, how so? The 3G S has only been out for 24 hours now. Are you talking about the 2nd gen or 3rd gen?
Does anyone know about the FM transmitter on the 3GS, and how we can listen to iTunes on the car speakers? Do we need to purchase hardware, or and App?
Phone has no built in FM transmitter, but there are several existing solutions for this. Check out Griffin for example, or just search apple.com/store/ …
This new iphone is easily the slickest tech device i’ve ever owned – but does anyone out there know if there’s an App I can use that will allow me to get rid of all the crap and just use it as a mobile phone ?
Does anyone know if you can use the earjack as a mic input foe the video? That would be awesome.