Apple iPhone 3G S: No Serious Overhaul Here

Just had a quick glance at the new iPhone specs.

Interesting that it's just an incremental advance rather than a serious overhaul - I was expecting either a mini / nano version, or a souped-up one.

Things that are in it: MMS, cut & paste, 3MP camera, more battery life, compass, video, more memory, faster processor.

Things that aren't in it: HSUPA, flash, 5 or 8MP camera, WVGA screen (800x480), multitasking (I think), slide-out QWERTY pad.

My take is that it's probably enough for many existing owners of the 2G iPhone to upgrade (most of the 3G owners still have another 12 months contract to run anyway). Also looks like it's been priced to compete against some specific rivals (notably the Palm (PALM) Pre) and extend market reach, rather than be the ultimate heavyweight ultra-spec superphone.

Probably makes a lot of commercial sense, as I suspect Apple would rather have 50 million normal midrange users, rather than 20 million ubergeeks. Given the economy, they probably made some pragmatic decisions about designing it down to a price, rather than going the Nokia (NOK) route and putting in everything but the kitchen sink.

On the topic of which, I should be getting a shiny N97 to play with soon. I also need to change my "normal" voice/SMS phone (currently an S-E C902) as it seems to be getting progressively less reliable & crashing a lot. Assuming O2 keeps the Apple contract, I'm probably tempted by the iPhone S, assuming I'm not hammered too much for an early upgrade.

Disclosure: No position

Comments

[Kent:]

Mr. Bubbley,

Your comments betray an ignorance of Apple - the biggest influence in the smartphone category. A "slide-out qwerty keyboard". Are you nuts. That's exactly the kind of thing the iPhone was created to eliminate. Multitasking is part of the phone already. I listen to songs while I surf the internet. I believe the new phone has greater ability to multitask - but don't know for sure. The 3MP camera which now has autofocus is an excellent advance. Do you really need 8 MP in your cell phone? I don't think so. Do you expect your cell phone to have Bose speakers?

Incremental advances of the sort Apple announced are very powerful. Along with the incremental advance of a $99 price for the current 3G phone the industry is incrementally being left in the dust.

At least they will have a QWERTY keyboard to type up resumes for their next job.

Jun 09 07:44 AM

[pk de cville:]

Dean...

From a geek fetish POV, your analysis might be valid, but as an investor you're missing a lot of mojo in this baby.

Take another look and notice: video editing, point to an object and focus camera, 2x speed, 30%+ more battery, 2x memory, speech input, deep search, in app micro payments, 50,000 apps, Unix in your pocket.... (enough for now)

The next 2 years will include Apple's ascendancy to smartphone leadership. Apple has too much firepower for RIM, msft, Nokia, Palm. Sure, Android, BB and Pre (If it's bought by deep pockets.) will be alive, but Nokia (except for Android phones) will be weakened and msft has nothing now, that will survive.

JMHO

Jun 09 08:31 AM

[uncleralph:]

+1

Jun 09 08:38 AM

[Roger Knights:]

There are a substantial number of user-pleasing additions beyond the ones mentioned in the article:

Tethering, "find my iPhone," remote wipe, Exchange support, hardware encryption, parental controls of apps, HTML 5, voice control, voice over (screen reader), improved search, universal landscape keyboard, 3D graphics, support for 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, autofocus camera with editable photos, audio note-taking, turn-by-turn navigation with voice, push notification, a bookstore app, appliance support.

Jun 09 12:12 PM

[Roger Knights:]

PS: Wait until iPhone users start showing off those new features to their acquaintances!

Jun 09 12:22 PM

[Neurotic Nomad:]

Wait until the teardown in 11 days. The major overhaul is on the inside: Next-generation CPU running at a higher speed with double the RAM - that sounds like a major overhaul to me!

Jun 10 01:35 AM

[GSlusher:]

Re: the camera. It sounds like the author has fallen for the "megapixel myth." A bit of research might show him that more MP doesn't translate into better photos--in fact, it can make photos WORSE because of the higher noise. I've seen the results of high-MP phone cameras. They may look OK on the phone's screen or in an email or on Flickr, but, download them and check them at 100%: they are terrible. 3MP is fine--it gives an image that's larger than most laptop displays and prints nicely at 4"x6", the most popular size. Anything more is pretty much wasted. (The same holds true for most point-and-shoot cameras.)

Jun 10 06:42 AM