If this isn’t a clear sign that we’ll be seeing the new iPhone 5 in the coming weeks, we don’t know what could make it more evident. Best buy today began selling the Apple iPhone 3GS for zero dollars. That’s right, you can get an 8GB iPhone for free (with the standard 2-year contract, of course).
Back in January, Apple dropped the price to $49, but we haven’t seen the phone for free until now. The deal is only available at Best buy brick-and-mortar stores, so you’re going to have to leave the house to take advantage of it. we also don’t know exactly how many 3GS phones the company has in stock, so there’s a chance this model will be sold out by the time you get out of work and over to a local Best buy store.
Clearly, the 3GS is being “end-of-lifed,” which basically means that Apple wants to get rid of the old phones to make way for its new bouncing bundle of joy, the iPhone 5. It’s the old “out with the old, in with the new” all over again. true, if you’re dying to have an iPhone but can’t afford the $199 to $299 it’ll cost you for an iPhone 4 (and presumably the iPhone 5 will have the same list price) with a new 2-year contract, the free iPhone 3GS may be the way to go for you.
However, in our opinion, the iPhone 3GS, which was released over two years ago, is really showing its age. The iPhone 3GS has a 480 x 320 resolution, just like the previous versions before it did. The iPhone 4 on the other hand has a 960 x 640 resolution, and the iPhone 5 is said to have a Retina Display as well. as for the processor in the iPhone 3GS, it has an 833 MHz CPU, whereas the iPhone 4 is a more recent 1GHz chip. Memory also doubled from 256 MB in the iPhone 3GS to 512 MB in the iPhone 4. The iPhone 3GS is missing the 3-axis gyroscope, dual-microphone noise suppression, and mircoSIM that the iPhone 4 has. as for the camera, the 3GS only has a 3-megapixel part, whereas the iPhone 4 offers a rear 5-megapixel camera and a front VGA camera. The iPhone 5 is said to have an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera.
As you can see, the 3GS is rather outdated, and most of the comparisons above were with the iPhone 4, which will soon be outdated as well when the iPhone 5 is released. If you’ve waited this long to get an iPhone, we suggest you just buckle up and get the iPhone 5. If you just want a free AT&T phone and you don’t really care much about having the latest technology, this may be just what your’e looking for.