iPhone 3G Updates Roundup

July 9, 2008 in AT&T, Apple, Handsets, Retailers, Software & Apps, Wrap-Ups

With the iPhone 3G launch only a couple short long days away, the rumors, speculation, reviews and all other kinds of last minute tidbits are pouring in. We’ve got a few concise updates that should help you from sifting through the entire world wide sandbox.

The Lines, The Myths, The Legend
Friday at 8AM is the magical time that the *Apple of our Sky* opens up and shines iPhone goodness on fanboys across the world. You can expect to get a suntan while you’re waiting. There is no telling how many people will line up to buy buy Apple and AT&T are saying that, because activation must take place in-store, the process time for each customer will be about 15 minutes.

We’re not mathematical geniuses but we’re guessing those “100 customers an hour” estimations are being a bit generous. Who knows… time certainly will tell. [From Crave]

Canadian Wait Time at Apple Stores = Infinity
You’ll be waiting forever to get an iPhone 3G if you line up at an Apple Store in Canada. The reason? They aren’t being sold! Some have said Apple is protesting the ridiculous data usage fees for customers charged by Rogers, the Canadian carrier. Others are claiming its no different than the rest of the world and that the USA is the only country where Apple Stores are pushing significant volume.

Rogers then reportedly responded to this criticism by offering 6GB of data for $30/month and because we’re not sure of Apple’s position in the first place, we’re not really sure what can be said. It looks better for Canadian’s than before though - that’s for sure.

Either way, we don’t understand why any Canadian would weather the storm before playing a little game of wait-and-see. Oh… oh… unless you’re a fanboy. [From MocoNews, EngadgetMobile]

Early iPhone 3G Reviews
Only the elite have been offered early review devices of the iPhone 3G. While the MobileRoar invitation must have, er, got lost in the mail there were 3 other VIPs who received theirs on time and provided reviews for the rest of use to devour: Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, Ed Baig of USA Today and David Pogue of the New York Times.

Mossberg found the phone to be faster and louder (speakerphone) but claimed that the battery time was shorter and syncing your contacts was less than perfect. He didn’t review the GPS but overall, the device got strong scores - read it at All Things D.

Baig had a positive review of the phone but noted it was far from perfect, citing the following detractions: no video capture, no bluetooth stereo, no voice dialing and no turn-by-turn live directions for the GPS (will probably come as a paid 3rd party application). The 3G speeds weren’t working in his home which is an utter bummer since this is a main selling point. He also noted many of the accessories don’t work and an “adapter” will suppposedly be for sale to bridge the gap. Thanks, Apple… more money. You can read his review at USA Today.

Pogue had hope for 3rd party apps and felt audio quality was improved but was disappointed in some of the iPhone’s core functions, noting it was missing MMS, video recording, turn-by-turn GPS directions and cut and paste feature. Many of the features he DID like would be remedied by simply updating your old iPhone with the 2.0 software. Read the full review at the New York Times.

We summarized the excellent roundup found on Gizmodo… thanks Giz.

iPhone Apps is Where It’s At
The ability to download 3rd party applications is the true beauty of the iPhone 3G and in reality is just the iPhone 2.0 software that could run on your old iPhone as well. It’s the same reason we’re immensely excited for Android.

So we figured we’d help you find some info on upcoming applications you’ll probably want to check out once you’ve got your shiny new, iPhone 3G in hand - iPhone App Roundup.

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