WWDC '08 Sees Slimmer, Improved, 3G iPhone

Many of us have been watching Apple's WWDC 2008 keynote unfold live. There are many exciting tidbits, but most of all is the announcement of the 3G iPhone. Featuring an even thinner profile, black plastic back, metal buttons, flush headphone jack, improved audio, GPS support, and improved battery life, this is bound to make quite a few people stand up and take notice. Update 18:54 GMT by SM: Best of all it looks like they really took the price point to heart, 8GB iPhones are now $199 and a 16GB model will be available for $299, coming to an Apple store riot near you on July 11,2008.

Biggest news is...

[Glock27]

3G 8 GB iPhone at $199!!!

Price...

[msauve]

$199/8GB, $299/16GB. Available 7/11 in 22 countries.

Re:EBay is happy!

[jmauro]

All of the featrure you mentioned will be available in "early July" to the original iPhone users when the 2.0 version of the firmware is released. Only hardware upgrades like GPS and 3G won't be.

Can hardly beat the prices

[AchiIIe]

The rock bottom price for a GPS device nowadays is $150. You can switch to the iPhone for merely $199. Can't beat it. Oh and for our european friends: It's merely â126, Four our british friends: it's merely £100

Re:Verizon

[oahazmatt]

But can I get it on the Verizon network? Where I live, Verizon is the best provider so I'm unwilling to switch to ATT just for the iPhone.

No. It's GSM. You'd have to use CDMA on Verizon.

Oddly enough, one program, "Loopt" is available on both providers, but I cannot find it in any of the App listings on Vz's website.

Re:Buttons?

[BarryJacobsen]

Metal Buttons? I thought the iPhone didn't have any buttons.

There are several, actually: Power, Home, Volume up and down, and a slider for silent mode.

Re:Price...

[ttul]

Yes, it will be released 7/11 in the USA.

Re:2 hours

[RemovableBait]

To be fair, he did say right at the beginning that there'd be a presentation offering a glimpse of OS 10.6 'Snow Leopard' after lunch and that this morning's keynote was just about the iPhone.

And now the small print...

[Dzimas]

From the apple site: "# Requires new 2-year AT&T rate plan, sold separately." In other words, there's no such thing as a $199 iPhone. Plans start at $59.99, so you're looking at a minimum outlay of $1638.76 plus tax over two years.

Re:YEEEEAH!

[EastCoastSurfer]

Not if you don't ignore the several thousand dollar 2-year contract.

Several? Lets say you get a normalish plan and with taxes ends up costing you $100/month. So over the course of 2 years you spend $2400. This plan would include something like 900 minutes, unlimited nights/weekends, unlimited data, and 1500 texts. The Sprint everything plan is $99/month and that's before taxes (although it does include unlimited minutes). Can you show me any other cell phone with unlimited data that's cheaper than I've listed here?

Re:And now the small print...

[Dzimas]

Oops. I forgot AT&T's $36 new line activation fee and their monthly Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge of up to $1.25. The grand total now stands at $1704.76.

Re:Biggest news is...

[teh kurisu]

Looks like the lower price comes from carrier subsidy. They're no longer available to buy direct from the online Apple Store. You have to do it in a brick and mortar store, or on the O2 or Carphone Warehouse websites (which haven't been updated yet, Boo-urns), which I suspect means signing up for a contract before you get your hands on one.

Still no word on UK pricing either.

Re:Biggest news is...

[_Hiro_]

In the Apple Store, it lists "2-Year AT&T Wireless Contract" as one of the system requirements, right next to iTunes.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone?mco=MTE2NTQ [apple.com]

Re:Biggest news is...

[larry bagina]

iPhone + jailbreak = iPod touch with GPS at $100 discount.

Re:Quick!

[lordholm]

Yes, there is no front facing video-camera. One of the key points of 3G is that there is native video conferencing support in the networks.

Further, can you ge an unlocked version (even if subsidised with a contract would be great), I refuse to pay anything for a phone if I cannot switch SIM card in it. I live in the UK, have my parents in Sweden and my girlfriends family is in Belgium and I am going to the Netherlands a lot for work.

So, tell me, even though the EU have done a lot of work in capping the roaming fees, they are still way to high, and especially for data transfers, why would I get an iPhone. I would really want one, but without front facing camera and reasonable options to ge an unlocked phone (I dont mind signing a contract in my country of residence), why the heck would I get one.

Frankly, I will not get the iPhone until those items are fixed on the todo list.

Re:EBay is happy!

[Man On Pink Corner]

I own an early iPhone, and I'm a pretty damn happy camper. Don't know about you.

When buying gadgets, you have to evaluate the value proposition as of the moment when you hand over the money. Holy shit, has this been a nice phone. When the 3G model is released, I will be lining up like a stereotypical fanboy, because the 1.0 hardware's ownership experience has been an exceptionally good one.

NOT slimmer

[partycrasher]

The iPhone 3G is NOT slimmer - not if you look at the depth. In fact it is a couple of mm's thicker than the predecessor The 3G tech spec page says Height: 4.5 inches (115.5 mm) Width: 2.4 inches (62.1 mm) Depth: 0.48 inch (12.3 mm) Weight: 4.7 ounces (133 grams Old tech spec: Height: 4.5 inches (115 mm) Width: 2.4 inches (61 mm) Depth: 0.46 inch (11.6 mm) Weight: 4.8 ounces (135 grams)

Re:Where's the meat?

[necro81]

Jeeze, which side of the bed did you get up on today?

The keynote did have a discussion of a standalone IM client, not based on SMS. It won't run as a background process, but rather rely on a new push service that Apple (and carriers I guess) are adding with the 2.0 firmware rollout. The push service is intended to be used for lots of things, not just IM-ing, and will be available through an API to all 3rd-party devs.

First-gen iPhones can already do some locating-aware stuff off of the location of cell towers. It ain't great - accuracy is to within a hundred feet at best in my experience, but it is good enough for some location-aware applications. It can already be used to tell you the nearest restaurants, etc., just not give you realtime directions, geotagging, etc. Why do you suddenly expect that the rollout of a next-gen iPhone would suddenly mean an upgrade in the hardware of your current iPhone? New hardware with new capabilities is the march of technology.

Improvements to the software will come out on a continuing basis. In addition to getting 3rd party apps (which as you say can fill in a lot of missing capabilities), firmware 2.0 on first-gen iPhones will give support for a lot of enterprise stuff (I don't know if that applies to you), support for iWork and MS Office file formats, push-everything, and access to MobileMe (all your stuff is in the cloud, and accessible from anywhere, and pushed to all your devices).

Re:Can existing users upgrade?

[mr_matticus]

Apple doesn't have anything to do with that. AT&T has always allowed customers to upgrade their phones at any time, usually restarting the 2-year contract. However, if you are buying or bringing in unsubsidized hardware, it has been my experience that the contract does not get restarted (and obviously, if you just move your SIM card into a different handset that you've acquired through a third party, there's no change in your contract).

The only way Apple might be involved is in verifying your existing iPhone account at purchase before handing you the box. This seems likely, given the price and the fact that they're obligated to honor their exclusivity agreement (and AT&T, for all its other missteps and poor decisions, has been doing a decent job with providing iPhone customers with service and value-added perks [including rapid expansion of their previously pathetic 3G network]).

Re:Verizon

[neocrono]

I'm pretty sure EV-DO is distinctly CDMA. It's the only 3G option here in Corvallis, OR right now, and it's provided by Sprint, who deals exclusively in CDMA.

Re:Verizon

[peragrin]

Verizon uses CDMA technology instead of the world-wide GSM. hence a verizon phone will only ever work on a verizon network.

The data service will still be limited to verizon only phones. Sorry but if your stuck on Verizon your screwed. AT&T suks but at least they use GSM. So you can switch to t-mobile in the USA.

Re:Verizon

[limaxray]

No, EV-DO is a flavor of Qualcomm's CDMA2000, not GSM. That article is simple talking about Verizon upgrading their EV-DO network to the newer and faster Rev A version.

What is happening though is Verizon will be switching to a GSM technology called LTE for their 4G network. So maybe with the next iteration of the iPhone will be available on Verizon. But until then, I'll stick with my HTC 6800 and a network that actually has 3G coverage.

Re:YEEEEAH!

[EastCoastSurfer]

And your plan has unlimited data for $20/month? Where do I sign up!? I'll switch over my home internet while I'm at it.

Re:Where's the meat?

[GarfBond]

Everything you're asking for was at MacWorld. Official AIM client through app store. Someone somewhere is probably working on an Adium client through the app store.

No one ever said this was the desktop mail client. That was the MobileMe web app. I'll give you that spam filtering is good to have, but server-side has always been the "better" solution.

1st gen iphones will handle location just as they always have - a little location button in Maps with cell tower and wifi triangulation. You'll need the latest released iPhone firmware.

Re:Where's the meat?

[Moebius Loop]

The OS has had a full point release and there doesn't seem to be much for it.

Where's iChat or am I supposed to keep spending like $0.15 a text for SMS. Speaking of SMS, where's the damn MMS?

Seriously.

How about spam filtering on the mail client. This is supposed to be "just like the desktop OS X" so how hard can it be to upgrade the mail client to more completely resemble the functionality of mail.app on the desktop?

I think it may be related to CPU usage. I'm not sure about the OS X mail filtering, but I know spamassassin uses a huge amount of CPU on even a lightly loaded mail server. I'm guessing some of that's due to more than just the Bayesian filtering Mail.app does, but considering how 'frugal' Apple has been about the iPhone (e.g., officially no background apps), it wouldn't surprise me if there was some correlation.

No discussion of how the 1st gen phones will handle location.

I think this is a non-issue for most location-based apps. Unless they need a high-level of precision, the existing methods of using cell tower triangulation will be enough in most cases, although obviously not as precise as GPS. The key element here is that there's a well-exposed and documented API for this now.

Of course, GPS Maps will be a no-go.

Nice one month slip on the OS and app store.

Eh, yeah, that's lame, but.... I'm not really losing sleep over this.

So as a 1st generation owner, the only major upgrade in my day to day is the ability to get 3rd party apps. Hopefully 3rd party apps will fill in the gaping holes.

I dunno, me.com is kind of a big deal. I already use .mac to keep my iphone/ipod/machines in sync, so for me, it's a bonus.

It's hard to tell whether Apple intended iPhone 2.0 to be much more than this before the wailing and gnashing of teeth "forced" them to make a developer API. I get the impression that somehow, some way, they didn't see that coming, and may have had to change plans really fast. Creating an SDK/API for a completely new device is a **huge** undertaking, and it has major implications if they get it wrong.

Still, I think we're going to see 3rd party apps as a very big deal in the coming months, as long as Apple stays reasonable about access to the developer program. If so, they will have created a pretty huge infrastructure that will allow independent developers to seriously compete with the major software houses.

There are some things I don't like about the SDK rules, but the fact that free (speech and/or beer) apps will be distributed at no cost could also be a boon for public awareness of free software.

Re:Will over seas iphone be unlocked by law and wi

[TubeSteak]

Will over seas iphone be unlocked by law and will it work in the us.

AFAIK, you can't prevent a GSM phone from working in [Country] unless the carriers in [Country] blacklist the IMEI #.

GSM is much better than CDMA because of its interoperability.
Insert SIM card & talk.

Some overseas iPhones will be sold unlocked (France I know for sure), but unlocking the phone is so easy, I don't see why it should be a problem if it's sold unlocked or not.

Re:Can hardly beat the prices

[Anonymous Coward]

For our british friends: it's merely £100

Hahahahahaha like that will ever be the conversion rate a US company would use.

Re:Will over seas iphone be unlocked by law and wi

[lmpeters]

Last I heard, unlocked iPhones were being sold in France, but they're significantly more expensive than the locked iPhones. When I crunched the numbers a few months ago, I think the cost came to over $1,000 USD (probably even more now, since the dollar is still getting weaker compared to the euro).

In addition, Apple won't provide support for iPhones outside their country of purchase, so if anything goes wrong with it, you'd have to make an international trip just to get it serviced.

Re:Can existing users upgrade?

[StarWreck]

You didn't have to get a 2 year contract with your first iPhone. You only have to get a 2 year contract when they give you a discount in exchange for signing up for a 2 year contract. They don't do that with the iPhone.

So all you have to do is buy the new iPhone and put your old sim card into it!

Re:YEEEEAH!

[JosefWells]

My SERO plan is 500 min, unlimited night/weekend@7, unlimited data, unlimited text.

$30/month.

totally rad.

AT&T definition of worldwide coverage

[Gary W. Longsine]

Well, it's true that AT&T will have nationwide 3G coverage, for certain definitions of "nationwide" which exclude several entire states, and major portions of the country. Although their map shows presence in every state, this is a mirage. There are quite a few states where AT&T doesn't offer service at all. If you happen to be an AT&T customer from somewhere else, you get 3G coverage from a parter, but you can't get a local phone number on an iPhone (or any other AT&T phone) in those locations.

Re:Biggest news is...

[MojoStan]

The question is, can you walk into the store and get an iPhone for this price, without having to sign a 2 year contract.

Now that they've lowered the price, can I still walk into the Apple store and buy a new iPhone and walk out without signing a contract.

I'm not sure if you're thinking about buying the iPhone without a contract and "just using the iPod" functions, but you cannot do this. You may be able to hack it, but Apple will probably make it a hassle. From Ars Technica's review [arstechnica.com] of the original iPhone:

• "The first thing you have to do once you take the iPhone out of its box is turn it on and activate it. No part of the iPhone's functionality--including that of the iPod--is accessible until the phone is activated through an AT&T plan (without hacking)."

Re:Verizon

[cheesybagel]

W-CDMA is basically 3G UMTS [wikipedia.org]. It is a 3rd generation GSM replacement. Nearly all UMTS phones support GSM as well.

W-CDMA, despite name similarities, has nothing to do with CDMA-2000 which is a standard developed by Qualcomm mainly used in the US market.

Re:Quick!

[DittoBox]

According to the Apple iPhone 3G Tech Specs Page [apple.com], the box includes a "SIM Ejector Tool" and the diagram at the top of the page shows a SIM Card Tray at the top of the unit.

There is hope yet.

Re:Verizon

[LarsG]

3G network that is based on W-CDMA

In other words, what the rest of the world calls UMTS?

What's Missing

[SpryGuy]

From my perspective, these are the things I didn't hear that I had wanted to hear...

* No expanded capacity. I had hoped for 24Gb or 32Gb models

* No improved camera. I had hoped for more megapixels, maybe a flash, or at least better controls and options and editing

* No mention of copy/paste. Come on! Copy/Paste!

* No mention of rotatable keyboard, across all aps

* No MMS. Come on! Multi-media messaging is standard on most phones sold now!

* No mention of email search. Contact search is great, but let us search through everything. Pervasive search!

That said, I'm still buying one :-)

kernel panics

[Gary W. Longsine]

If you're really experiencing lots of kernel panics on Leopard, you should check to see if you have a hardware problem. Bad RAM or a flakey disk drive can both cause that problem.

Re:Biggest news is...

[Homer1946]

Jailbreaking didn't (for most involved users) "brick" the phone. Some unlocked phones were bricked (a step beyond jailbreaking) but phones that were just jailbroken were not harmed (and almost all or almost all bricked phones were later recovered). The biggest problem is that updates undo the jailbreak. However the solution is just to disable automatic updates in iTunes and wait to install an update until each new update can be jailbroken. It is not a big deal. Also, it looks like Apple Stores will restore "bricked" phones by restoring them to the normal firmware (they have signs to that effect in the stores ).

Re:Verizon

[LarsG]

EV-DO is a 3G flavor of CDMA, so no luck there.

As for Verizon "opening up" their network, that's a funny variety of newspeak. It is still more closed than any GSM carrier. Verizon's variety of "open" means that they are publishing specs and setting up a certification lab so that 3rd party manufacturers can make devices compatible with their network. You can't use any old CDMA phone and use it on Verizon, it has to be Verizon certified.

Compare to GSM, where you can take any unlocked phone, put in a sim-card from any GSM carrier you like and off you go. There is no need for the phone to be $cell_carrier_x certified, it is sufficient that the phone complies with the GSM spec.

The CDMA family is:
CDMA (2G) - CDMA2000 (2.5G) - EV-DO (3G) - UMB (4G)

The GSM family is:
GSM (2G) - EDGE/GPRS (2.5G) - UMTS (3G) - HSDPA/HSUPA (3.5G) - LTE (4G)

Re:So When Did a Year Become 18-Months?

[Anonymous Coward]

Since Steve never said 10 million in a year there wasn't a memo to miss. He said 10 million by the end of 2008. Oh, and the iPhone has always had more then one button. Maybe you should try paying attention from now on.

Re:Already?

[olafva]

Sounds like you don't have an iPhone and have nothing to base your opinion on. I have an iPhone, Blackberry, Tmobile, Sony Erikkson and Nokia, and I can tell you the iPhone leads the way and nothing can even come near it. It deserves the Invention of the Year Award it received from Time.
BTW it's easy to unlock (one click on ziphone.com) and easy to
use with WIFI as a phone WITHOUT A CONTRACT using fring.com
That's my current iPhone, and the new 3G iPhone is an even better bargain (with GPS & 3G) that will revolutionize the cellular and even commnications industry which is why it deserves all the press it is getting. IT'S DEFINITELY A BREAKTHROUGH!

Re:Biggest news is...

[Eric Smith]

by the way, does the Touch get GPS, too?

Not likely, since that's a feature of the cellular radio chipset.

Re:Already?

[prockcore]

the new iphone requires a contract to buy. you can't buy them from apple anymore.

Also, jailbreak won't work on the new iphone.. so there goes all of your selling points.

Keynote Video

[ProfessionalCookie]

The WWDC 2008 Keynote Video [apple.com] is up now. Enjoy.

Re:Price...

[p0tat03]

Actually they do :P AT&T, Virgin, T-Mobile, amongst others, sell pre-paid phones in convenience stores, including 7/11 :P