iPhone 3G

Saying the iPhone wont get a 3G update is like saying that the sun will come up tomorrow and then set.... inevitable unless the world ends!
 
It is useful if you are planning to get one and would rather have the newer version. Would be even more useful if we had an accurate timeframe...
 
I cant wait for them to launch the SDK so the guys can start making some uber apps. Not that they are not at the moment.
 
koffiejunkie said:
It is useful if you are planning to get one and would rather have the newer version. Would be even more useful if we had an accurate timeframe...
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Apple rarely pre-announces product bumps.
gunslinger said:
I cant wait for them to launch the SDK so the guys can start making some uber apps. Not that they are not at the moment.
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Thats supposed to be this month isnt it?
 
Thats supposed to be this month isnt it?[/QUOTE]
Yes, I hope the developers can get there hands on it.

It would be nice to see a 3rd party app that gives us Exchange support. But what I have read they are already looking at Lotus notes and they are selling the device with a business packages in the US and UK.
 
These will either come with 1.1.3 or maybe even 1.1.4 firmware so they will probably be unlockable.
 
vodacom3g said:
Was listening to CNBC with one ear last night and overheard the new iPhone was announced by Apple.
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koffiejunkie said:
It is useful if you are planning to get one and would rather have the newer version. Would be even more useful if we had an accurate timeframe...
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While the iPhone is a cool thing to have, it should have had HSDPA from the start - IMO an EDGE iPhone is telling of how far behind the USA is in terms of 'data on the move' conceptual thinking, especially with HTC handsets etc having been available for quite a while with HSDPA and now starting to include HSUPA.

If the article kj linked to, is anything to go by, it sounds like the 3G iPhone will simply be a vanilla-3G phone - IMO nothing to get excited about - sadly:
And earlier this year wireless chip analyst Will Strauss told EETimes he had confirmed Infineon was producing UMTS (one of the many flavors of third-generation mobile phone technologies) baseband chips for at least two cellphone companies.
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If Infineon is the 3.xG chip supplier for the 3.xG iPhone, and it's a "baseband" chip that's being developed, then I think it's safe to expect that means the next iPhone will be a 3.0G phone when it should at least be a 3.5G phone.

IMO best not to factor the 3G iPhone into any handset decisions until Steve has done his Jobs and provided some concrete info.
 
ic said:
While the iPhone is a cool thing to have, it should have had HSDPA from the start - IMO an EDGE iPhone is telling of how far behind the USA is in terms of 'data on the move' conceptual thinking, especially with HTC handsets etc having been available for quite a while with HSDPA and now starting to include HSUPA.

If the article kj linked to, is anything to go by, it sounds like the 3G iPhone will simply be a vanilla-3G phone - IMO nothing to get excited about - sadly:If Infineon is the 3.xG chip supplier for the 3.xG iPhone, and it's a "baseband" chip that's being developed, then I think it's safe to expect that means the next iPhone will be a 3.0G phone when it should at least be a 3.5G phone.

IMO best not to factor the 3G iPhone into any handset decisions until Steve has done his Jobs and provided some concrete info.
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You're missing the point, although well constructed your post is damn near irrelevant in the US where wifi is widespread and free for the most part (SF for instance).
Apple is not trying to sell this device to South Africans who would get a lot of mileage out of 3g / HSDPA and where that infrastructure is widespread.
As far as I know AT&T have shoddy 3g coverage if any ...its basically a totally different market.
 
ic said:
IMO an EDGE iPhone is telling of how far behind the USA is in terms of 'data on the move' conceptual thinking
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I tend to see it in a different perspective. Just about everywhere I've been in the US has either official free public wifi, or some idiot's unprotected wifi within range, so the need to connect to GRPS/EDGE/3G is less than we have come to expect in backwards S.A.

Here in the UK free wifi is not available much but hotspots are everywhere, and most of them support each other in that you can log in with whatever account you happen to have. For example, if I'm a BT subscriber I can log into a T-Mobile hotspot.

GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA is a much bigger issue in South Africa than anywhere else I've been, thanks to Telkom. If bandwith was the cheap comoddity is should be in S.A. there would be far more free or cheap public wireless availabe.
 
koffiejunkie said:
I tend to see it in a different perspective. Just about everywhere I've been in the US has either official free public wifi, or some idiot's unprotected wifi within range, so the need to connect to GRPS/EDGE/3G is less than we have come to expect in backwards S.A.

Here in the UK free wifi is not available much but hotspots are everywhere, and most of them support each other in that you can log in with whatever account you happen to have. For example, if I'm a BT subscriber I can log into a T-Mobile hotspot.

GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA is a much bigger issue in South Africa than anywhere else I've been, thanks to Telkom. If bandwith was the cheap comoddity is should be in S.A. there would be far more free or cheap public wireless availabe.
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SlinkyMike said:
You're missing the point, although well constructed your post is damn near irrelevant in the US where wifi is widespread and free for the most part (SF for instance).
Apple is not trying to sell this device to South Africans who would get a lot of mileage out of 3g / HSDPA and where that infrastructure is widespread.
As far as I know AT&T have shoddy 3g coverage if any ...its basically a totally different market.
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Sure I agree on the wifi points, however I was referring to mobile data - I would not consider wifi to be a good example of mobile data - nomadic yes but not mobile.

Also, the iPhone is not just being marketed and sold to North Americans, and while South Africans are not able to directly buy an iPhone through the Core Group [reseller] in SA, the iPhone is being sold in other parts of the world where HSDPA and even HSUPA is available and growing at an astonishing pace - ergo my comment about how backwards the USA is as far as cellular data transfer & technology uptake goes.

Why create a 'high-end' phone that does not follow the 3.5G trend amongst cellphone manufacturers, and then expect the iPhone to have global appeal beyond the cool outer packaging etc, it gives me the impression that Apple thought of what would work nicely in the North American market but didn't think [or care] too much about what the rest of the world might want in a phone...
 
ic said:
Sure I agree on the wifi points, however I was referring to mobile data - I would not consider wifi to be a good example of mobile data - nomadic yes but not mobile.
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If you have extensive wifi coverage then why not? :confused:
Why create a 'high-end' phone that does not follow the 3.5G trend amongst cellphone manufacturers, and then expect the iPhone to have global appeal beyond the cool outer packaging etc, it gives me the impression that Apple thought of what would work nicely in the North American market but didn't think [or care] too much about what the rest of the world might want in a phone...
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Global appeal? They havent marketed it outside the US and a handful of other countries (UK, France and Germany iirc). I dont think Apple is particularly interested in global domination with their first generation.
 
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I don't think the iPhone is the real product here. It's just another means of delivering the real product which is iTunes. So the iPhone design would not have any reason to take into account broadband situations of countries where Apple doesn't operate iTunes.

But yeah, I agree they should have put it in, simply because it's a standard feature for phones in that class.

@SlinkyMike, GPRS/EDGE/3G is actually not that expensive, comparatively, in S.A. On my prepaid phone here I pay roughly £5 per MB (R45). If I get some sort of data package, it is of course cheaper - I'm not up to date on S.A. prices so I can't comment on packages.
 
bwana said:
ic said:
Sure I agree on the wifi points, however I was referring to mobile data - I would not consider wifi to be a good example of mobile data - nomadic yes but not mobile.
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If you have extensive wifi coverage then why not? :confused:
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Wifi coverage provided by numerous disparate wifi hotspots does not one seamless wifi network make - unless as kj pointed out, one can use the same login credentials on different wifi networks...

The real issue, and I could be wrong, I doubt that the iPhone's Wifi capabilities allow for transparent switching between wifi networks when travelling from A to B, and managing to automatically figure out what login credentials will work with each different wifi network between points A and B.

There is a difference between the terms Mobile and Nomadic.
bwana said:
Global appeal? They havent marketed it outside the US and a handful of other countries (UK, France and Germany iirc). I dont think Apple is particularly interested in global domination with their first generation.
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I would have to find out exactly what countries the iPhone is being marketed and sold in, but even those 3 represent a large enough market where HSPA is available.
koffiejunkie said:
I don't think the iPhone is the real product here. It's just another means of delivering the real product which is iTunes. So the iPhone design would not have any reason to take into account broadband situations of countries where Apple doesn't operate iTunes.

But yeah, I agree they should have put it in, simply because it's a standard feature for phones in that class.

@SlinkyMike, GPRS/EDGE/3G is actually not that expensive, comparatively, in S.A. On my prepaid phone here I pay roughly £5 per MB (R45). If I get some sort of data package, it is of course cheaper - I'm not up to date on S.A. prices so I can't comment on packages.
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Makes a lot of sense & explains a lot :).

<off_topic>I've asked this at least once before in a thread somewhere, don't remember anyone providing a definitive answer, what is the coverage like [e.g. HS[D|U]PA] on the LU tubes these days? - was a sore point for me back in 2002 before 3G when even 2G coverage was sparse & I was bored to death without being able to use my phone to communicate.</off_topic>
 
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