Category — iPhone

Video, Voice Control & Digital Compass Features

June 10th, 2009

After a suspense building 1hr and 42 minutes, Phil Schiller announced the new iPhone 3G S during Monday’s WWDC Keynote address. The highlight of this new phone: S, for Speed. Overall the new phone is said to be 2x faster than the previous 3G model, with some activities clocking in with speeds more than 3x faster. Aside from the faster processor, the phone has a new 3 Megapixel camera with autofocus, digital compass, and voice recognition.

In addition to the aforementioned hardware changes, the available storage space now tops out at 32GB – not too shabby. The subsidized rates for the new 3G S are $199.99 for the 16GB and $299.99 for the 32GB.

So how did the actual phone stack up to my pre-keynote predictions? Here’s the breakdown:

• 32GB storage at the high end, YES
• Faster processor, YES
• Video capabilities, YES (though I speculated Apple would open this up to previous iPhone models through iPhone OS 3.0 – this is not so and is restricted to the new model)
• Higher resolution camera, YES
• Magnetometer (Digital compass), YES
• Redesigned case, NO
• Built-in FM transmitter/receiver, NO
• Stereo Bluetooth, NO *UPDATE* Well, apparently iPhone does have stereo bluetooth. Don’t know how I missed that one!

I thought for sure there would be some type of minor case redesign. The faux rubberized backing and the enlarged earpiece seemed like changes that could be made without any serious retooling of the manufacturing plants. But I was wrong. I also struck out at my predictions for the FM data transmitter/receiver and the stereo Bluetooth. Maybe next year!

June 7th, 2009

So who’s excited for the new iPhone tomorrow?! I know waiting in line isn’t going to be the same as that magical day back in June of ’07, but I am still excited. My original iPhone has made it nearly two years! During this time I have formed quite a bond with that glossy little slab of plastic metal and glass. It will be sad to see her replaced, but the time has come.

From all the predictions I have read concerning the new piece of hardware that will grace us with it’s presence tomorrow, I personally think Walt Mossberg’s blurb was the most accurate/realistic. Judging from all the rest of the rumors, screen shots, and blurry photos floating around I predict we will see the following announced tomorrow, June 8th, 2009:

• Slightly redesigned case, featuring the rumored larger earpiece speaker opening – pushed closer to the top of the phone’s body. The shiny black plastic back of the iPhone 3g will be replaced with a matte material, similar to the texture of leather (think, the back of a Logitech Harmony One)
• Top-of-the-line phone will max out at 32gigs of storage space, this one’s obvious
• Faster processor. While even the first gen iPhone is still quite usable it definitely needs an up in processing power. From a competition standpoint Apple needs to bring their specs up to or over what the Pre is offering as well
• Video capabilities, though this is likely just part of OS 3.0, so past generation iPhones will all be made into video taking devices
• Larger resolution camera with more advanced photo features, possibly the ability to autofocus, but I wouldn’t hold your breath
• Magnetometer. This will make the maps feature much more usable, especially street view and walking directions
• FM transmitter/receiver built in. However, I don’t think this will be used to tune FM radio stations, but rather pull traffic info for navigation and communicate with other devices such as the Nike +
• Finally, even though this has dropped out of the rumor mill as of late, I predict apple will be including stereo Bluetooth support. They discontinued their original wireless headset (no loss there) and are currently selling stereo Bluetooth headphones on their site. Even though Jobs has mentioned that he doesn’t particularly like this feature because of increased battery drain and less than perfect quality, I think it’s going to happen

As far as the rumored $99 unit, I don’t know what to think about that one. It would make sense for Apple to drop such a low priced unit to further their smartphone domination, but it is hard to imagine how they will pull it off. They don’t really make much from the App store, so using the handset as a loss leader is not something they can do. Unless AT&T throws Apple some serious kickbacks for new subscribers/service or something along those lines, I really don’t see a sub $100 dollar iPhone being introduced. But. Crazier things have happened.

If we do get a phone at the stores tomorrow, you will find me at the Apple store in the Burlington mall. Drop me a line and perhaps we can meet up! – twitter.com/lda1