Bucking The Trend: Upgrade? Not In My Future- Part 1
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Being the Apple "addict" I am, I had always thought I’d be getting the new iPhone as soon as it came out.
However the 3G iPhone is unlike any phone release I’ve ever seen before, because all of the software changes will be available to the older model.
This makes the upgrade only worthwhile for the hardware changes, which I will review below in my own order of increasing importance…
New Shape/Design:
Not worth it. I already have a Gelaskin on my iPhone, so the new color/material of the back is irrelevant, and the slimmer profile is actually taller, wider AND thicker, but not by any noticable measure.
Non-recessed headphone jack:
To even call this a feature is a joke – it should have been there from the start. However, since I already bought a Maximo iP-HS2 headset (which is amazing!), I am set. As an added bonus, their headphone extension cable will let me use any regular set of headphones (or headphone splitter) with the current recessed input.
GPS:
First, the GPS is an A(ssitive)-GPS, it won’t do turn-by-turn directions. Second, assuming that any app that would use your gps location will alternatively be able to use the approximate location already available from google maps, I will be more than content dealing with the minor inaccuracy (3-4 blocks in NYC) of not having a true gps location.
3G data speed:
This is the only truly compelling feature (to me at least) of the new iPhone, but given that 90% of the time I’m connected to wifi (work+home) and that 95% of my online usage is low-bandwidth (IM / twitter / wikipedia), I can’t justify the cost for the seconds (or even minutes) that 3G iPhone would save me each day.
Conclusion:
It’s just not worth the $200, the additional $10/month for the "new" plan, and a contract extension. At least not for me…
So if you think that I’m crazy for not wanting the 3G iPhone, check back this afternoon for part 2.
