Now that the iPhone 3 has officially been announced and the world knows there are 1500 upgrades or new editions present in this model, what most people really want to know is which ones are important, when they can get their hands on one, and how much it is really going to cost. Without doubt the iPhone 4 has jumped over everything else available by leaps and bounds, but when you really break the iPhone 3 down, what is important and what is fluff? Most importantly, does it make financial sense to own it? As sexy and fun as the new model is, for some people it may not be necessary to upgrade yet.
The iPhone 4 has a totally new design highlighted by the stainless steel band that serves as the antennae and the front and back glass Apple is touting as being around 7x more durable than plastic. It is the thinnest smartphone on the market, and also among the lightest at a little over 2 grams.The volume buttons were separated which may not sound like a big deal, but when it comes to ease of use it really is huge. A secondary mic was added for noise suppression, and the 5 mega pixel camera with LED flash capable of 720p video is a significant upgrade.
The secondary video call camera is what is going to allow you to use Apple’s new “Face Time” feature which is just another name for video calling really. The drawback is it will only work iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 right now, but Apple does plan to expand this somehow. The Retina Display upgrade is a tremendous leap forward in graphic clarity and quality. So far as the outside goes, this is a sweet unit.
Cracking the iPhone 4 open, the A4 chip which is the same one used on the iPad is what knocks your socks off. Among all the things it will do which are awesome, the thing you will really notice is that the power management feature it has is going to extend the battery life which has already been beefed up independently. Having 7 hours of call time is going to be nice without any doubt. The gyroscope is going to take gaming to a whole new level, but if you aren’t a gamer that won’t matter.
A big change is ditching the SIM card for the microSIM. You can’t transfer your old SIM card unless you shave it down which is a pain and not something everyone can necessarily do and not jack things up. The iOS 4 looks like it will be a killer platform. The multitasking actually worked in the demonstration Steve Jobs made and all demonstrations after his keynote speech at the WWDC so this is perhaps