Disappointed with iPhone 3Gs???

[Watcher]

3.0 itself for old phones isn't worth the time it takes to update, the hardware improvement to the new (but old looking phone) are marginal at best, pretty much everything they changed is available in 3rd party apps already, I'm shocked they didn't even change the design? This is gonna be tough holding up for another year against the competition. Look at the specs on the Samsung Omnia HD.

Forget the Samsung Omnia HD, just look at the regular Samsung Omnia! I was helping my buddy set up this phone this weekend and even that beats the new iPhone 3GS as far as features go! A 5MP Camera with AutoFocus and Flash not to mention video capture and editing functions along with FM Radio! ISO configuration and white balance, etc... most of the options on a regular camera and all the 3GS gets is 3MP autofocus... BOOOOOO!!!! But one thing it doesn't beat it on, like I've said a few times on this forum and others - SIMPLICITY! This is where the iPhone beats pretty much every phone on the market. On the Omnia, you have to go through so many hoops to get this and that configured... so many friggin steps and options! On the iPhone, Wham! Bam! Thank you, Maam! This is what I love about it.

And check this out... you can pretty much get the Samsung Omnia for free on Verizon! My buddy paid $50 for it, but still...

 

[Entertainment72]

WWDC = major dissaster WOW! No Jobs mean Apple is like every other non innovative company out.

 

[MoneyMFAC]

Here is another issue I see with the GPS. Ok great everyone wants an "All-In-One" device. I know already that in my new car I have an AUX plug. Its great so now I can control my music, hardwired (no faulty FM transit), and when someone calls, I won't miss it. I love this. Now I add a turn by turn to this process. Will I be able to play the music and watch turn by turn together? If I need to change the song/receive a phone call/send a text, will the gps continue to run in the background? What happens when I am talking to someone AND driving through a neighborhood with a lot of sudden turns, how will they integrate that together.

There is a lot there, but TomTom needs to find the best way to make this happen. I can see them saying if you want to use the phone while running TomTom, you must use a bluetooth headset. I am excited to see how it works. I have a great GPS system in my new car, so this is not a problem for me, but being an engineer/iphone app developer, I see the issues here.

 

[infenit101]

I'll be fine w/ 3.0 and my 16GB iPhone 3G.

I am so not spending the money they want for uhh, LAME hardware upgrades.

I told ppl a long time ago they wouldn't let iPhone 3G users upgrade at the same price like last year. What did I say? lol

I would of needed a BIG hardware change to want me to change. It didn't happen.

I'm still excited for 3.0, but AT&T just put a damper on that excitement considering they can't get their CRAP together and allow MMS to work out of the gate.

How long have they known about this update?

Makes me start to wish the iPhone when to a better carrier.

What really bugs me is that even though I am somewhat excited for 3.0 I still feel like its nothing new. These add on features are old with a new coat of paint. Voice Dial and the sort, Compass (Are they serious), etc and many of the apps are just pointless (6 Line Guitar App???) the (Car opening App for a car none of us have)?

 

[icebike]

I'm still excited for 3.0, but AT&T just put a damper on that excitement considering they can't get their CRAP together and allow MMS to work out of the gate.

How long have they known about this update?

I agree with most of your post, except the part quoted above.

First, ATT does allow and support MMS for all phones that have the feature. I sent voice, photo, and video MMS with my old Razr on ATT.

If you look at your ATT bill you see an item listed in the "Wireless Data" segment that is called "MMS Opt Out".

This feature it the bit that intercepts inbound MMS and sends you an link to a web page instead.

This is a feature ATT had to implement to cover for the fact that the iPhone was GSM-brain-dead compared to every other GSM phone on the market.

Now ATT has to make a compute run thru their network and remove that "feature", but they can't really do this till OS 3.0 is deployed.

But hold on! Not everyone updates like clock work. So they probably want to tie it in to the actual installation of OS 3.0.

So don't rush to blame ATT for this, when the real problem is that it took Apple two years to climb down off of their Throne and condescend to allow the "little people" to have MMS, of which Mr Jobs disapproves, but in a magnanimous gesture, he now grants, All Praise be to Him!.
(Bitter? Not me!!).

 

[infenit101]

WWDC = major dissaster WOW! No Jobs mean Apple is like every other non innovative company out.

Apple isn't innovative. It just steals ideas put the Apple seal, make it seem cool, and the jack the price up 1000%.

BtW way to go with Snow Leopard...really revolutionary stuff if you're into that early 2000s stuff.

 

[icebike]

Voice Dial and the sort, Compass (Are they serious), etc and many of the apps are just pointless (6 Line Guitar App???) the (Car opening App for a car none of us have)?

Well Said.

 

[SurfStoked]

Im glad its gonna be faster and I really like the new video features added but overall Im pretty disappointed too. I guess we were all really looking forward to a big improvement over the 3g. Too bad we didnt get it..

 

[jamesus]

Wouldn't it just be easier for AT&T to make Telenav available?

I purchased Garmin Mobile for the blackberry Storm. I eventually ended up junking that app in favor of the installed VZ Navigator. $10/month, or $240 for the life of a 2 year contract.

Maybe, although I prefer the Tom Tom interface over the TeleNav. I really liked Tom Tom for my WinMo phone...

 

[OptimisticMF]

The additional storage and battery life are compelling, but with the option to install a new battery (China OnTrade) and OS 3.0, I'll be waiting until next year.

 

[jstrickland]

I was mildly disappointed about the fact voice control will not be available for the 3G. I say mildly, because I have voice dialing with Say Who pro and have found that I use it very little. I am mostly calling people in my favorites and that is still so simple to work with. It's a little funny because I was absolutely dependant on voice dial with my Treo 650.

I am much more than "mildly" disappointed about the lack of video on the 3G. I have often found myself missing that feature that I had on my Treo. It is frustrating because there are several jailbreak video capture programs available, proving it can be done. Unfortunately, some of us get our iPhones thru our work and would find ourselves in major hot water if we tried to jailbreak our phones.

As for the 3Gs. Nice, but not worth the upgrade from a 3G.

 

[Jellotime91]

Disappointed

 

[JBaby_9783]

I didn't think any of the rumors were true to begin with. The only thing I'm disappointed about is the case. I'm tired of the shiny back and chrome bezel. I want to use my phone naked but feel like I can't since I don't want it to look like crap. I'm glad it's still the same form factor though. I've been holding out on buying a Podium and now I don't have to anymore. Now the only question is do I use the iPhone naked or not?

 

[Ivoryplum]

Does anyone else think the lines on launch day will be a LOT smaller this year...?

 

[infenit101]

Does anyone else think the lines on launch day will be a LOT smaller this year...?

By the looks of it if Apple doesn't do something big the Iphone could be the next RAZR.

 

[vanishingvision7]

Extremely disappointed.

 

[icebike]

I am much more than "mildly" disappointed about the lack of video on the 3G.

This is so true.
Especially when this is available in Jaibroken phones.
And where is the backgrounded apps?

Other than that, the software upgrade was about what I expected. MMS, Copy/Paste (finally) landscape keyboard, stereo bluetooth, and a fairly useless Spotlight search.

I's score Software at 75%,

Hardware upgrade at about 30%.
All the new phone really adds is Speed and battery which everyone needs, and Video which maybe 20% will ever use.

 

[cjvitek]

I am not really disappointed, but nothing knocked me off my feet. I like the compass, the speed, the storage, the camera. I really like the voice controls (although I don't know why that is a hardware and not a software feature).

Some nice features, and if I didn't already have an iPhone I would look into buying one, but nothing to make me feel like I have to upgrade to the new phone.

 

[sturamsden]

I am disappointed with the iPhone 3G S (what does the S stand for anyway?) because I like to see what new features the Apple engineers can cram into a tiny space and make us believe we've been missing in the previous models.

However I am happy that they haven't completely revamped the iPhone because my next upgrade is this time next year and if the new iPhone was really good and I decided I had to have it, I would have no cash to my name.

When is the iPhone 4G/ iPhone 3G ST or whatever they're going to call it due to be announced and launched?

 

[gruswitz]

Wow, some overly harsh criticism. Why do we judge Apple on every dream world gadget wishlist and not others? All companies' device updates are incremental since they have to balance the latest innovation vs. profitability. This is equivalent to whining that all apps should be free or $1.99 even if thousands of hours of labor went into making something.

I think faster data access, faster processor, voice control, video recording, improved autofocus camera, compass, fingerprint resistant casing, improved battery, double the memory, and Nike+ are a very significant upgrade. The inline remote control support will be awesome with the voice control as well. It would be even better if voice control integrates with bluetooth car kits. If spotlight (which already outperforms the universal search on the Pre) also integrates with voice control, this will be amazing.

I have not moved away from my 3 year old Treo, but I've been closely watching the smartphones evolve. I've been on the fence of Pre or iPhone and this announcement may have put me over the fence toward the iPhone GS. In an ideal world I'd like a few more things such as front facing camera with video chat, a 5MP camera w/flash, higher res OLED display, and 3rd party background apps (Slacker/Pandora/Simplify/Wunderradio would be sufficient). However, what we got was better than I expected and who has all of these features anyway. What's the standard here (besides an excuse to troll)? If you selectively compare the best features of every other phone out there to the iPhone, Apple will always come up short. There is no single phone that tops every other phone on features and there may never be.

The Pre has plenty of failings and in my opinion the Pre only best the iPhone with 3rd party background apps, consolidated notifications and cloud integration. Personally, I've not been impressed by what I've seen over the weekend of reports on the performance of the cloud integration because most of the cloud sites are flaky on contact management (hello google). Sure this will improve in time. As for the notifications, luckily I'm not a big on IM, text message, etc. If you get hundreds a day, this is a much bigger advantage. The lack of 3rd party background apps does suck, but that's my only remaining reservation.

The dream feature I still want from the iPhone or any other smartphone is a world class audio processor chip, so I can get better utility from higher end headphones and lossless audio files. Then I'll no longer need a separate media player. We don't know yet what chips have changed with the 3GS, but I doubt the audio processor is one of them. That said, no other smartphone has better audio processing than the iPhone.

The list of features that the iPhone bests others (including the Pre) on is enormous. Sure AT&T still sucks. With the 3GS improvements, OS 3.0, Tom Tom app and real document editing coming, I think my Treo 700p is finally being retired for an iPhone 3GS. The 3G was not enough to get me to pull the trigger, but the 3GS is.