What Apple will not be delivering on Friday with its iPhone 3G S
If you're an Apple fan, you could also be a ritualistic line-waiter. Cupertino metes out the information, and the rumor mills churn like crazy, causing people to queue up, sometimes completely spontaneously, in hopes of receiving something new and brilliant from the Infinite Loop.
Tomorrow morning, all 211 US Apple Stores and more than 2,200 AT&T corporate stores will begin slinging the new iPhone 3G S to customers eagerly waiting to sink their teeth into a juicy new Apple phone. But if you aren't one of the thousands of pre-order customers, you might want heed the pundits' chants of "evolutionary, not revolutionary," and sleep in your own bed tonight instead of on the sidewalk. Here's why:
The iPhone 3G S will deliver none of its most compelling features tomorrow.
It is promised to be "The Fastest iPhone Ever." Yes, this is true, it has the most powerful processor yet on any of Apple's devices (600 MHz processor and 256 MB of RAM versus 412 MHz and 128 MB RAM), but Apple's claims of sprightliness take into account the 7.2 Mbps HSPA upgrade, which relies on the readiness of AT&T's network to deliver increased speed.
AT&T only announced the HSPA network upgrade last month, which involved adding more than 2,100 new cell sites. It did not specify where these speed boosts would take place, but the company has two known test deployments so far, and said it would be expanding into 20 markets this year. Faster network coverage will only affect a small number of users right away.
And AT&T's impact on the device does not stop there, as two more banner features will not be available tomorrow: MMS and tethering. Even though AT&T bumped up many of its customers' eligibility for a reduced-price upgrade, it has crippled one fifth of the device's new features. Furthermore, they're not even exclusive features to the 3G S. Like many of the remaining features which Apple advertises for the 3G S, they were made available to 3G owners with yesterday's iPhone 3.0 update.
Voice Control, Cut/Copy/Paste, Landscape Keyboard, Spotlight Search, Voice Memo, YouTube, and Stocks: all of these are available for free right now. Only the one megapixel camera upgrade, addition of a magnetic compass, the ability to shoot 30 fps VGA video, and Nike iPod integration have been added.
Thus far, reviewers have found no perceptible difference in call quality or signal reception. The ability to use the iPhone as a USB storage device is still not present, nor is multitasking. If the remaining features -- plus a promised extension to battery life -- are worth between $199-$499 (smallest subsidized price to largest unsubsidized price) to you, then we'll see you in line tomorrow morning.