Full FeedWeighing in the on the 3G iPhone
Literally. Although speculation on the size and appearance of the new iPhone was all over the place, the end result was just what seasoned Apple followers expected: a bit sleeker, and a bit shinier.
The 3G iPhone weighs in at 4.7 ounces or 133 grams, which is a whopping 2 grams less than the 135 gram 1G and 2G iPhones. It’s 0.48 inches thick, 2.4 inches wide and 4.5 inches high. These specs are almost identical to the previous iPhone models. To really see any change in the iPhone’s appearance, one has to look at the back, which is now solid plastic in black or white. Although I welcome the addition of the white model (hey, it matches my DS!), I’ll miss the two color effect of the original iPhone, which looked great sitting next to my 24” iMac at work. The new black and white models are a better match for the MacBooks, I guess, but really, what am I? Some tweener fan of Hannah Montana-Cyrus and those Corey House twins? Who cares what the iPhone matches?
As with the MacBook (and iPod nano, for that matter), you really only get a color option when you buy the top-level model. The 8GB iPhone is available only in black, while buyers of the 16GB model get their choice of black or white. This is a practice Apple really has to drop, as I see no reason to punish buyers because they don’t want to lay down the extra cash. If the 8GB specs are good enough for me, there’s no way I’m spending an additional $100 just to get a white iPhone. Also, the new plastic back is just more of the iPhone that’ll need polishing. Quite honestly, I’d like to see them drop the plastic altogether and just go with the aluminum look of the original iPod back or the MacBook Pro. It’s easier to keep clean and scuff free, and, in my opinion, sharper looking.
The display is exactly the same as before: 3.5 inch widescreen Multi-Touch display with a 480 x 320-pixel resolution at 163 ppi. This is a good thing, since the iPhone screen is gorgeous. I saw one “leaked” image of the iPhone that showed a 4:3 screen, and although I never really believed it, the seed of fear had been planted.
The design change that drew the biggest reaction from the crowd at the WWDC Keynote is the flush headphone jack. This is another indication of just how passionate Apple users can be over what’s generally a trivial matter (and how forgiving they can be when Apple makes the fix), as well as how boneheaded the Apple design team can be sometimes. Why not have a flush headphone jack to begin with, after all?
So, from a design standpoint, the 3G iPhone offers little reason to upgrade, and may, in fact, turn current iPhone owners away from upgrading. This leaves features/system specs as the only reasons to buy a new iPhone, and we’ll cover those within the next couple of days. Until then, what do you think? Are you ready to pre-order, or are you going to sit this one out?
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The iphone looks crap (IMHO). Just like the old iphone. Also I thought Apple were embarking on a unified design concept with everything being given an aluminium case for brand identity and fashion purposes. i guess the memo got lost on the way to the iphone department.
Its a huge brick of a design, thats going to cost people thousands of dollars over a two year contract. What kind of person will think thats good value? The kind that thinks paying excessively for possessions will make other people think they are cool?
on June 10, 2008 at 09:45 AM - LINKThanks for the report!
on June 10, 2008 at 10:47 AM - LINKAfter seeing the keynote with speed comparison between the iPhone and Nokia N95, I’m really curious in finding out the max DL HSDPA speed on the iPhone 3G (I wish Jobs had show this instead of some time comparison), as it’s the hardware spec that decides the attractiveness of the 3G iPhone to me (s/w can always be upgraded, h/w can’t be changed). The Nokia N95 is a category 6 UMTS phone with max DL speed of 3.6Mbps. So what’s the spec for the 3G iPhone? Anybody at the conference can find this out?
“...thousands of dollars over a two year contract” Mony? Pretty much any comparable plan with built in text messaging and data is going to cost that much. The iPhone and it’s plan aren’t the cheapest on the market, sure, but they’re also not the most expensive. It’s not really a matter of looking cool, it’s a matter of making use of what Apple and AT&T;provide. Getting an iPhone just to have one is foolish, but if you actually need all the services and features the iPhone provides, it’s still a pretty good deal.
on June 12, 2008 at 08:14 AM - LINKIf you ever have a problem with your iPhone, they will not back their product, and you will have a $400 paper weight. Sent second (replacement) phone into factory because it did not work. Got a letter back saying it had been exposed to moisture, so tough luck, we are not fixing it, but we will keep your money. So the plan is to replace your broken phone with another broken phone and then tell you it is your fault, and you are sh!t out of luck. Nice customer service guys. Your product is crap.
on December 17, 2008 at 11:02 AM - LINK