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Why you shouldn't buy the iPhone 3G on Friday

by Erica Sadun Jul 8th 2008 at 12:30PM

Time is a funny thing. A few weeks ago, eBay and Google were flooded with pricy first-gen iPhones starting at about $400 and people were snapping them up like crazy. Now, the same auction sites are showing dozens of listings from just $200 for 8GB iPhones.

The iPhone, as you will remember, debuted last year at $499 for a 4GB model and $599 for 8GB. Then there was the price drop, the $100 store credit and the introduction of the iPod touch. Soon after, the refurb units appeared at a slight discount, and then a bigger discount and then by March they were retailing $250 for the refurb 8GB model. Late adopters got great bargains by any stretch of the imagination, particularly those who mixed unlocking with creative data plan purchases.

Now it's time for the iPhone 3G to appear and it's horribly priced--as is every other subsidized smart-phone out there. Unless you live in the Netherlands, the rate plans range from bad to unspeakable. If you're in Scandinavia or New Zealand, our hearts go out to you.

From a price perspective, the cheapest way to use the phone is to buy it outright, unlock it and use it with inexpensive calling plans. Data plans, particularly, work best when you don't have to mortgage your children to afford to visit a few websites.

Using the iPhone outside the sanctioned plans involves giving up visual voice mail but otherwise it works pretty smoothly. It also involves running unfamiliar possibly scary software and taking risks with your unit that many iPhone users would prefer to avoid. Thus there exists the always growing market of third party unlocking and resales.

The iPhone dev team hints that they're ready to deliver unlocking and jailbreak tools as soon as Apple releases 2.0. Theoretically, you'll be able to use your current iPhone SIM and data plan (whether licit or less licit) with the new iPhone 3G. Obviously no one has been able to test or confirm this yet outside the dev team, which remains tightlipped.

In the US, AT&T is offering a "commitment-free" 3G iPhone for just $599. It's still locked to the network, and we're told you still need to activate it with AT&T before it can be used. Similar overpriced "commitment free" units will go on sale in Italy and a few other countries as well. You should be able to activate and then tell your carrier goodbye if I'm reading the terms correctly. I am not a lawyer.

So here's the question: do you want to pay the early adopter tax in order to play with shiny new iPhone? For US customers, the question reverts to bandwidth. If you can afford it, the new iPhone delivers 3G speeds. You won't have to call out for pizza as you wait for a website to load. But if you have the flexibility to wait, you can buy a better cheaper unit soon.

Other than 3G speeds and GPS, the new iPhone does not bring a lot to the table. It still has the same crappy 2 MegaPixel camera. It appears to have the same sized screen, the same speakers, the same microphone with a few cosmetic re-designs. If the speed issue isn't do-or-die for you, this is the upgrade to skip. You'll pay a lot of money for little more than a design bump.

Frankly, Apple would be foolish if they didn't have a better iPhone already in the works--one with a decent camera and other upgraded features. The 3G iPhone that goes on sale Friday, represents nothing more than last year's iPhone--that finally got delivered a year late.



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Time is a funny thing. A few weeks ago, eBay and Google were flooded with pricy first-gen iPhones starting at about $400 and people were...
 

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customer care

Brand new mobile phone with complete accessories and all comes with one year international warranty and 30days return
policy.

E-mail:(inquiry_electsltd@yahoo.com)

Apple iphone 3G 16gb.......$350usd
Blackberry 9000 Bold.......$320usd
Nokia 8800 Arte............$445usd
Apple iphone 16gb..........$300usd
Samsung omnia i900.........$305usd
HTC Touch Diamond .........$350usd
Nokia n96 16gb.............$320usd
Apple iphone 3G 8gb........$260usd
Sony ericsson xperia x1....$315usd
HTC Touch PRO.... .........$380usd
Apple iphone 8gb...........$200usd
Nokia n95 8gb..............$250usd
Samsung i8510 16GB(NEW)....$275usd

And many more....................

Apple iPhone 3G (16GB)

In the box
iPhone 3G (16GB)
Stereo Headset with mic
Dock Connector to USB Cable
USB Power Adapter
Documentation
Cleaning/polishing cloth
SIM eject tool

Delivery Lead Time:2/3 working days UPS/FedEx express couirer service.

TO PLACE ORDERS/TO BUY/MAKE AN ENQUIRY,:::KINDLY EMAIL US TODAY AT.....Company's E-mail address below

E-mail:(sales_enquiry@live.com)
E-mail:(sales_enquiry@gawab.com)
E-mail:(inquiry_electsltd@yahoo.com)

You can also join us on SKYPE CHAT::(sales_enquiry)

Yours Sincerely,
Sales Team

September 28 2008 at 6:03 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
customer care

Brand new mobile phone with complete accessories and all comes with one year international warranty and 30days return

policy.

E-mail:(inquiry_electsltd@yahoo.com)

Apple iphone 3G 16gb.......$350usd
Blackberry 9000 Bold.......$320usd
Nokia 8800 Arte............$445usd
Apple iphone 16gb..........$300usd
Samsung omnia i900.........$305usd
HTC Touch Diamond .........$350usd
Nokia n96 16gb.............$320usd
Apple iphone 3G 8gb........$260usd
Sony ericsson xperia x1....$315usd
HTC Touch PRO.... .........$380usd
Apple iphone 8gb...........$200usd
Nokia n95 8gb..............$250usd
Samsung i8510 16GB(NEW)....$275usd

And many more....................

Apple iPhone 3G (16GB)

In the box
iPhone 3G (16GB)
Stereo Headset with mic
Dock Connector to USB Cable
USB Power Adapter
Documentation
Cleaning/polishing cloth
SIM eject tool

Delivery Lead Time:2/3 working days UPS/FedEx express couirer service.

TO PLACE ORDERS/TO BUY/MAKE AN ENQUIRY,:::KINDLY EMAIL US TODAY AT.....Company's E-mail address below

E-mail:(sales_enquiry@live.com)
E-mail:(sales_enquiry@gawab.com)
E-mail:(inquiry_electsltd@yahoo.com)

Tel:+447045720555

Yours Sincerely,
Sales Team

September 21 2008 at 6:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dave

"In the US, AT&T is offering a "commitment-free" 3G iPhone for just $599."

really? out now? I thought it was coming later

July 14 2008 at 7:31 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ZinkDifferent

Erica invents: "A few weeks ago, eBay and Google were flooded with pricy first-gen iPhones starting at about $400 and people were snapping them up like crazy. Now, the same auction sites are showing dozens of listings from just $200 for 8GB iPhones."

As a matter of fact, the prices of first gen iPhones have not budged much on eBay over the past few weeks, and if anything, are bound to increase once it will dawn on folks that iPhone 3G won't be easily hacked or unlocked -- and the only hope is an original iPhone with iPhone 2.0 sofware, if that can be hacked WITH FULL FUNCTIONALITY, that is.

We'll probably get a couple more passive aggressive posts from Erica, as she realizes that her toy is being taken away.

July 13 2008 at 9:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
InkFreq

So, more useless drivel from a bitter programmer. Let me ask you Erica, you paid $99 for inclusion in the App Store, and the best you can come up with is a white screen to emulate a flashlight? Please, tell us all why your oh so enlightened opinion means so much. Your goal is to keep yourself in the public eye, boosting your own ego, on obviously lacking programming skills. And if you have to bash on Apple to do so, you will. This article is far less about Apple than it is about Erica Sadun.

July 13 2008 at 5:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kieran

Here's 3 really amazing points:

1. Why do so many people whinge about the iPhone price.Im from Ireland and wheather Americans know it or not they are getting the best deals on electronics. iPhone is not that expensive considering its the most advanced phone on the planet.

2. Why would Apple want to put a 5 megapixel camera in the iPhone? They're keeping that for the next iPhone, or the one after that. They have to stay in business. And also they are unlike other phone manufacturers in that they only have 1 phone on the market.

3. Nobody seems to be praising the newly added GPS. GPS is great? Now you can use iPhone as a sat-nav.

July 13 2008 at 5:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Adam

Erica, you are 100% correct. This is an incremental bump. Even if the next thing we see is 32 gig improvement (which is likely) it seems silly to upgrade until that more substantial improvement comes along.

This is not to say that the iPhone 3G isn't a nice bump, it just could have been more. If you didnt have one in the first place, the run like hell, you missed the EDGE crap and its about time to jump on the train. I would just hate to spend 200 on a upgraded phone, with a higher data rate, when I already have a G1 and am probably going to want to upgrade AGAIN when the 32 gig version comes out.

On another note, what is with the absurd vitriol being spouted by the commenters? You are upset that she isn't pro-apple enough? Are you INSANE? Its this level of irrational fanaticism that lends truth to the words of PC flame-war trolls on Engadget and elsewhere. 'Fanboy' is a meaningless term until you will it into reality with your silly comments. Its this type of belly-aching that is making me less and less happy about being a mac user.

By the way, if you just want to have someone pat you on the back for you recent purchase, go call up tech support and talk it through, ya crazies, do look at an article that tells you not to buy one IN THE TITLE.

July 13 2008 at 4:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jake

Well, for me, it's a matter of having just received the tax stimulus refund for the government which funds 1) an iPhone, and 2) 3 or 4 months of phone bills! I thought about the possibility of the price drops occurring again, but it's already pretty low. The refurbs flew off the shelf pretty quick when they came about last time, so I don't think I want to worry about that either. I don't know there are pluses and minuses to every release of a product like this, but I personally have waited a year, and I can't wait any longer!

Jake
NoteScribe: Premier [url=http://www.notescribe.net]note software[/url]

July 09 2008 at 5:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mike Butcher

Great piece. Right on the money.

July 09 2008 at 6:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ted

Hardly can't believe that you all have owned an iPhone for last two months. For shure, AT&T & Co pays tons to apple for the iPhone to get in their plans. Because "we" iPhone users "use" and are ready to pay for network data. And that is, what providers haven't been able to sell before. They asked hard dollars for some 100 kB, now one dollar for 100 MB and I am shure, they get money now - not before the iPhone. Because of Apples Safari and Touch Screen technology. Thats iPhone, pricing doesn't matter and thats why the providers ask a bit more money from us, because we are willing to give it for the happyiPhone...

BTW: I am maybe at the best end of the world?:: swisscom sells me an 16 GB for 575$ only (prepaid) or 23$ per month the cheapest. But I will go to buy the 52$ per month highest with 1GB data (these rates are without talking minutes or SMS), so I will pay each minute and SMS and at the end of the month, I will pay the same as you do with your including minutes and SMS...

July 09 2008 at 3:04 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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