News Apple unveils iPhone 3GS 16GB, 32GB

True, but that's not what we are talking about here, is it? People are complaining they can't get the new model for nowt without being near the end of their contract. And that just doesn't work.

 

Technology journalists tend to have a penchant for technology and will tend to buy it no matter the cost, especially if it means they can answer email on the go easily and if it looks pretty like anything made by Apple. That's why they picked them up at launch in America for the most part and why it doesn't reflect at all on the cost-per-worth ratio. The only reason I got one was because I had a lot of GameStation vouchers and could cover the costs.

Think of everything else you could do with 540 pounds - which is more than half a grand. You could buy a lot of PC kit, mountain biking gear, car equipment, furiniture, games or beer for that money.

 

Ah right I thought we were talking about it like that because I didn't think for a second anyone would be daft enough to expect Apple/o2 to give them a free phone while still in an existing contract!

There aren't people out there that stupid are there?



lol

 

I don't really think, though, that you're hitting the most damning point with the PAYG price. Other phones, like the Touch HD, go for comparable money on PAYG.

The real raw deal here is the high purchase price when bought on contract. £280 or thereabouts for the 32GB 3GS when bought with a £35 18-month contract. A question that O2 needs to answer here is: how can they charge £280 for a phone that costs just $299 in the US, when previously they charged £99 for the 3G, which cost $199 in the US at launch? Why the sudden decision to double their prices, relative to the US?

 

iPhone 3G S
16GB (currently got 8gb and about 3/4 full with mp3's and developer videos, tonnes of apps ... not sure what I'll do with an extra 8gb)

600 mins/month
500 texts/month

£87.11 one off fee
£34.26 per month

Wow, extortionate!

Actually, give it a few more months to the end of my contract and I'll likely get that one off fee wiped off. BARGAIN!

 

I'll stick with my iPhone 3G for now, especially as the new firmware should bring lots of improvements. I may then upgrade to a 3GS later in the year if there's the option to do that and it's not much more than £100 on contract.

 

I have used my friend's 3g iphone enough to know that besides a touchscreen, the thing absolutely ticks me off. Taking 10 minutes to load one website is nothing revolutionary, in fact I remember doing that with my 14.4. Admittedly this is mostly down to the infrastucture that they are running on over here, but why buy something that doesn't have the backing that it needs to work properly. And if it can't actually deliver decent speeds for cruising the internet, what's the point?

 

well, the new iphone is on 7.2mbps. my friends' iphone 3g however, is still pretty quick at loading web pages, so i dunno, maybe something was wrong?

 

Ah, right, I'll just go bend over the nearest table, then.

Or.. Just stick with the 3G >.>

 

Either you are using a slow internet connection, or you are connected using plain band or 3G band.

Plain band is painfully slow on any phone.

3G is still painful on any phone but less so.

Wireless broadband connection is fast as I need for surfing and posting on forums, using Ebay, Facebook, streaming realtime stock prices to the phone, news updates, playing massively (albeit text based) multi player games ... I could go on and on but my point is that it sounds like you are not using it on broadband or if you are then blame the broadband connection not the phone.

 

Shame that O2 require us to buy out the existing contract unlike the upgrade from the 2G > 3G models otherwise I would be all over it. Guess not then

Means I can stick with jail breaking and getting extra stuffs then. Also the £15/3GB is a rip when you consider that you already have unlimited data on the device itself. £7/3GB would be far more reasonable but phone companies are getting greedier and greedier all the fooking time!

 

perplekks45,

from this one:

and this:

I take it you want to enlarge your iPenis too?

 

I got my G1 for £0 on a cheap 18 month contract. I win.

 

I was connected to the 3g. Wireless broadband is hard to come by over here, so basically if I can connect to it I am at home and that means my netbook makes more sense for internet use.
Ill stick with my HTC touch for texting and making phone calls.

 

I have an iPhone 3G and even relatively large pages load very quickly. I guess it depends on the quality of the 3G network in your area though.

 

depending on the amount of CPU speed bump and whether the rumoured RAM upgrade a true, i may get one to replace my iPhone original.

although i will ONLY get one after it's been jailbroken. being in Apple's controlled space is like buying the best Alienware laptop and never play games on it.

so anyone know the actual spec changes? (i highly doubt the "longer battery life" claims are due to the new hardware, probably due to new OS, which will be avaliable across all phones)

 

Well, I want one but I don't bitch about not being able to upgrade for free. And I don't want it right now, or at least not enough to pay way too much.

 

So this upgrades the specs a bit, thats cool I guess but does that mean developers will have to make 2 versions of a game? One for the old iphone/touch and one for the new iphone?

 

Like that?

In all fairness, I don't see why anyone would bother with a PAYG phone anymore. Even my mum has moved on. If you use a phone enough to validate paying that kind of money, you are unlikely to be spending any less than £30, or at least £20, a month on credit anyway.

I honestly think the price is just for;

A) Apple to make as much money as possible by slowly updating the iPhone

B) Discourage people from buying one, jailbreaking it and using their own contract SIM from another company (or even from O2 themselves, but one more suited to the user that they wouldn't normally be able to get with the iPhone).