Upgrade to an iPhone 3GS

As expected, Apple announced the latest edition of the very popular iPhone this week at their World Wide Developers Conference. (They also talked about the upcoming next version of OS X - Snow Leopard.)

Lots of 3G users are grumbling about the price for current iPhone users. Here's the rundown:

If you are a new customer, or a current ATT customer that hasn't upgraded a phone in a while, you are eligible for the advertised low price of $199 for the 16GB version and $299 for the 32GB version.

If you are an existing ATT customer that upgraded recently, then you are not eligible for the subsidized pricing, bringing the total to $599 for the 8GB version and $699 for the 32GB version.

So, how does ATT define "recent"? 18 months. I was quick to upgrade from the 1st generation iPhone to iPhone 3G in June 2008. ATT neatly informs me (either by visiting my ATT account page or buyaniphone.apple.com) that I will become eligible for the subsidized pricing in January 2010.

Should all of us that aren't eligible immediately be disappointed? Maybe a little. There are some features of the new hardware that would be great to have, but it is not as big a difference as the 1st gen to 3G upgrade was. And don't forget, all iPhone users get the iPhone 3.0 OS upgrade for free.

Roundup:

Apple is touting the 3GS as up to twice as fast. How do they achieve this? The first way is an upgrade in the phone's CPU and RAM. Another way they achieve this is improvements in operating system - which we all are going to get for free.

One big way they are claiming this is support for the HSDPA 7.2Mbit/s standard. The iPhone 3G only supports the 3.6Mbit/s standard. But here's the rub: MOST of the ATT network isn't geared for this upgrade yet. ATT has been working on upgrades, but the vast majority of their network isn't likely to support 7.2Mbit/s until early 2010. (Hey, that's when I'm eligible for an upgrade!)

The new camera is kind of neat - and it supports video. I could stop carrying my Flip around. Or my digital camera (since it also takes video). But honestly, this isn't a must have feature. The autofocus, and improved megapixels is nice, but I wouldn't ditch my other device for special occasions.

Voice Control is another kind of neat feature. It is an homage to people that complained about not having voice dialing. But truthfully, the built in dialer is fine, and there are apps you can get that let you do face dialing and voice dialing. I personally like the face dialer. Voice control of iTunes might be good in the car. But until there are apps that take advantage of the new feature, or more Apple apps use voice control (say in 6 months or so) - this is not a must have feature.

Digital Compass? This also doesn't seem to be a big deal - at least not to me. I'm not even sure how well it will work in the car. After all, it measures which way the phone is pointing, not which way the car is pointing. So, if I'm hiking and I get lost, maybe I'd use this feature. Or when a clever developer finds a good use for it.

Spotlight Search and MMS are shown as features New in iPhone 3GS. But this simply isn't the case. There are actually features that will come in the 3.0 OS upgrade to all iPhone users. And MMS isn't supported by ATT until sometime later this year.

For me, and I suspect many, the biggest improvement is in performance. But I'm not complaining about performance of my current 3G. And that is not worth paying $600 or $700 for, especially since the ATT network isn't ready yet. Also, I use my phone on WiFi a lot, and it didn't get an 802.11n update, so WiFi performance will only improve based on CPU updates.

The other features - camera, voice control and digital compass - don't add up to enough benefit to upgrade now with unsubsidized pricing, and probably not even at the lower price point.

When will I upgrade? Not until at least January 2010 when I'm eligible for subsidized pricing. But I might not even do it then. After all, Apple has set a precedent on releasing new iPhone models every June. I might wait until June 2010 to see what Apple has in store for the next generation iPhone.