iPhone 3GS announced

**jaobrien6** · 06-19-2009, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by bmg97

I read an article yesterday syaing that people should hold off on buying the new phone. They said something to the affect that there will be a major change in the next two years and the new phone just really isn't that much better then the current 3G. I have to say it made me think twice. Think ill hold out on upgrading my 3G.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...060803490.html

That article is mainly talking about the ability to get away from AT&T in the future, not a major change to the capabilities of the phone. When the 4G networks roll out, and AT&T and Verizon both use the same LTE technology, I'm sure we'll see an iPhone available on Verizon. However, the companies are going to just barely be rolling out their 4G networks next year. The networks are going to be tiny... Apple might hold off on the 4G iPhone until 2011 because of that, same reason they waited on the 3G iPhone. If so, that'd coincide nicely with AT&T's exclusive contract ending even if they do get the 1 year extension they're negotiating now.

Cliffs Notes: Next year probably won't see huge changes, just another one like the 3Gs update, but 2011 will probably open the door to a 4G iPhone on multiple carriers.

**Tye 1on** · 06-19-2009, 04:25 PM

I'd hold out, and would have if i hadn't gotten lucky.

The new OS is wayyyy more impressive than the hardware on the new phone. After only an hour of goofing around, i'm thinking the apps/stuff load slightly faster, but not noticeably. Not sure yet about battery life. Yeah, there's video and voice dialing, but that's not that big a deal in my book. I read somewhere that this is 4G capable if they roll that out, not sure if that's true or not. Some mac sites are guessing the next model might be dual core, which would really amp up the speed.

Pech, i'm a tethering jong, but wouldn't a tethered laptop pull many times the data as a phone???

advres · 06-19-2009, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by Tye 1on

I'd hold out, and would have if i hadn't gotten lucky.

The new OS is wayyyy more impressive than the hardware on the new phone. After only an hour of goofing around, i'm thinking the apps/stuff load slightly faster, but not noticeably. Not sure yet about battery life. Yeah, there's video and voice dialing, but that's not that big a deal in my book. I read somewhere that this is 4G capable if they roll that out, not sure if that's true or not. Some mac sites are guessing the next model might be dual core, which would really amp up the speed.

Pech, i'm a tethering jong, but wouldn't a tethered laptop pull many times the data as a phone???

So what you are saying is that I need to get the 3Gs, right?

And for any exchange, your connection is only as fast as it's slowest connection so your lappy can only pull as much info as your phone can handle. It should, in theory as I understand it, cause no more problems than everyone using their phone at the same time.

**kalisto** · 06-19-2009, 06:17 PM

The phone can pull in data relatively quick... Rendering pages/optimizing for mobile is a big part of it.

I'm sure most will notice their data usage will go up when they start tethering their laptops...

**skier666** · 06-20-2009, 12:36 PM

heh....

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/20/i...3g-in-chicago/

**jaobrien6** · 06-23-2009, 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by Tye 1on

I read somewhere that this is 4G capable if they roll that out, not sure if that's true or not.

The new phone is capable of 7.2Mbps HSPDA (that's theoretical performance, not real world). AT&T is in the process of upgrading their 3G network to that, from their existing 3.6Mbps network. So, the 3Gs is capable of faster data transfer than the 3G, but not 4G speeds.

LTE, which AT&T and Verizon are both using for 4G, is capable of far faster speeds, over 100Mbps. The iPhone 3Gs will not be able to work with that network, but that network is still a ways away from being functional and useful. The rumors (hopes? dreams?) that I've read are shooting for a 4G iPhone on both AT&T & Verizon in 2011, but we'll see if the networks exist in time to make it worthwhile.

**grskier** · 06-28-2009, 10:26 PM

Well, for what it's worth, I love the iPhone right now. Does what I need.

**jaygu** · 06-29-2009, 05:26 AM

There is a huge amount of uproar in the UK because of this release, owners of the old handset are going mental at O2 because they won´t upgrade.

**h2d** · 06-29-2009, 11:25 AM

Even more about the unlocked price...
http://www.play.com/Mobiles/Mobile/4...e/Product.html

Thats $1,482 for an iphone which works on any carrier.

**Tye 1on** · 06-29-2009, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by jaobrien6

The new phone is capable of 7.2Mbps HSPDA (that's theoretical performance, not real world). AT&T is in the process of upgrading their 3G network to that, from their existing 3.6Mbps network. So, the 3Gs is capable of faster data transfer than the 3G, but not 4G speeds.

LTE, which AT&T and Verizon are both using for 4G, is capable of far faster speeds, over 100Mbps. The iPhone 3Gs will not be able to work with that network, but that network is still a ways away from being functional and useful. The rumors (hopes? dreams?) that I've read are shooting for a 4G iPhone on both AT&T & Verizon in 2011, but we'll see if the networks exist in time to make it worthwhile.

Wow, 7.2Mbps to over 100??? That's a shitton faster!! What's the downside, is it even a higher freq which, iirc, don't broadcast near the distance?

**jaobrien6** · 06-29-2009, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by Tye 1on

Wow, 7.2Mbps to over 100??? That's a shitton faster!! What's the downside, is it even a higher freq which, iirc, don't broadcast near the distance?

Yup, LTE is gonna be *way* faster. Real world testing I had read from Verizon's test markets right now are showing peak real world numbers of 60Mbps, it really looks like LTE's gonna be a huge improvement over the 3G networks. And actually, they're using a lower frequency for it, both AT&T and Verizon are going to be using the 700 MHz spectrum, which is lower than either of the GSM frequencies AT&T uses now. I don't if there are any downsides, perhaps battery life if the LTE chips require a lot of power? I don't know.

Now we just wait until they get the networks in place and devices hit the market. It's still gonna be a while.

Edit: I guess the downside to LTE is that it's still a long way from being ready and available.