Monday, June 16, 2008

The ‘little’ miseries you’ll get from iPhone 3G’s low price



Hoooray…! Would probably is your first reaction when you heard the announcement of new iPhone will cost only at $199 (8GB model), or maybe some of you actually sang “He’s a jolly-good fellow” for Steve Jobs generosity (while Steve do his 'dance' thing)? ;-D

A few handful might be asking, how can it be so cheap? It is a ridiculously bargain, mmm… funny too, if Apple is offering its one and only mobile phone on such price tag. I won’t start talking about how and why on iPhone 3G’s low price again, because I’ve discuss it on my post here at Palm Addict.
But instead, I’m going to give a little revelation to what you’ll get in the box of iPhone 3G. Apple has posted up the iPhone 3G specs at its
website as following:
  • Screen: 3.5 inches (diagonal); 480 by 320 pixels (163 ppi)
  • Input method: Multi-Touch Storage: 8GB and 16GB
  • Cellular: UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
    Wireless data: Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)UMTS/HSDPA: (850, 1900, 2100 MHz); EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
  • GPS: Assisted-GPS
  • Camera: 2.0 megapixels
  • Battery: Talk time: Up to 5 hours on 3G; up to 10 hours on 2G; Standby time: Up to 300 hours; Internet use: Up to 5 hours on 3G; up to 6 hours on Wi-Fi; Video playback: Up to 7 hours; Audio playback: Up to 24 hours
  • Dimensions: 4.5 by 2.4 by 0.48 inches (115.5 by 62.1 by 12.3 mm) Weight: 4.7 ounces (133 grams)
  • thinner (what?! Really!?)
  • plastic back
  • flush headphone jack
  • “improved audio”
  • solid metal buttons
  • 2.8 times faster network speeds

If words don’t satisfy you enough, then head on to Apple’s gallery page to watch a 360 degree-rotating & animated photo of iPhone 3G. And while you’re at it why don’t you also throw yourself down on the iPhone 3G television ad, that was shown during Steve Jobs’ keynote speech at WWDC ’08.

As usual, there are some accessories included within the box along with your new iPhone 3G such as stereo headset with mic, doc connector, documentation, cleaning/polishing cloth and all new SIM ejector tool. But one peculiar accessory for powering up your drained new iPhone, the USB power adapter is drawing everyone attention. I’ll let Jason Snell from Macworld, who lucky enough to get his hands-on the iPhone 3G said about this:

Then there’s the new, laughably small, iPhone power adapter. The old adapter looked like a tiny version of the iPod or MacBook power brick. This one looks like of those plug adapters I had to buy in order to plug a three-pronged electrical cord into an outlet that only had two prongs. On one side are two prongs, and on the other side, a USB port. That’s it. I don’t know who at Apple is obsessed with tiny power adapters, but just when you think they won’t get any smaller, they do.”

Another comment from Cristopher Mascari at Gizmodo has his mind on this small USB power adapter too: “what's up with this cheaper-looking power adapter, and was it really worth it to include a paperclip (read: SIM ejector tool) replacement? There is now a whole new power adapter, one that doesn't look as cool."

And Cristopher also found something else in the accessories specs: “What's even more interesting, is the un-clickable link that describes it: "iPhone 3G Universal Dock Adapter 3-Pack." What the hell does "3-Pack" mean?”

Not all have said bad things about this new USB power adapter, Glenn Fleishman from PCW Business Center has mentioned good thought: “When an Apple exec slid the iPhone 3G power adapter to me across a conference table during a briefing Monday, I was briefly confused as to what he was showing me. It was so vastly unlike every other power adapter ever designed. Apple isn't just about the flair and pizazz. They're about the hard engineering work required to make things simpler and less invasive. It takes a village of wonks to shrink a power adapter.”

Personally, I like more on Cristopher insight up there, not on his rather sarcastic thought, but on his thought behind all of this: “So why has Apple cut out the fancy included accessories? It could maybe sorta have something to do with that drastic slash in price. And really, it's not the first time Apple has removed in-the-box accessories when a product got cheaper."

So, how’s it gonna be? Will you still gonna buy the new iPhone 3G? If you’re still need more reasoning before make a decision, then try to read my previous post here at Palm Addict to ease out on your endless misery there. ;-D

Sources are from:

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

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