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| News Update | Reviews | Guides |
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Apple iPhone 2.0 |
| 2008-06-11 |
Source:
Herald Sun |
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Extratech editor Richard Conrad says the new 3G iPhone meets most expectations, and at a cheaper price.
MARK down July 11. That's the date iPhone fever will strike Australia.
The new iPhone is the second model out from Apple, but the first officially available to run on networks here.
It delivers most of the widely rumoured and hoped-for features such as fast mobile broadband, instant email delivery, GPS and a sleeker shape.
But the most astonishing news is the price. In the United States the new iPhone will sell for $US199 (about $210) for the 8GB and $US299 (about $315) for the 16GB models on 24-month plans.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs says this pricing will apply internationally. Given that pledge, any more than about $230 up-front for the 8GB model may leave Australians feeling ripped off.
No details of Australian contract prices are out yet, but Optus and Vodafone both say they'll have the iPhone on affordable plans and available pre-paid or on contract.
No word yet from Telstra or 3.
What's so great?
Why does it suddenly seem the iPhone is the world's most desirable mobile - if not the world's most desirable new consumer electronics product?
Why have so many Australians decided they'll get one, even before it's gone on sale?
Ease of use: Apple have a knack for giving consumers the confidence to adopt new technology - such as loading music in MP3 format from a computer to an iPod - by making gadgets look simple to use.
See the icons on the iPhone's touch screen? The majority of Australians have never held an iPhone, yet know they only have to touch the right icon to make a call, listen to music, surf the web, send an email or look at a local map. Geeks call that an intuitive user interface. It means you can guess what to do rather than reading instructions.
Lust factor: The desire one shiny little object can inspire is quite disturbing. Just look at it. You know you want one.
The price: Buying a "smart phone" from Nokia, BlackBerry, Sony Ericsson or the like suddenly seems a dumb idea, because they cost two or three times as much as the new iPhone and are probably harder to use. Ouch.
Connectivity: The new iPhone has quad-band GSM, tri-band HSDPA, Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE. Doesn't matter if you don't know what all that stands for - just rest assured you'll have the best possible web, email and phone access wherever you are.
Software: The new iPhone runs on a new operating system, called iPhone 2.0. Just as thousands of applications have been created to run on your computer, developers are busily beavering away at creating "Apps" to install on your iPhone. Download them straight to your phone from Apple's new App Store. Some are likely to cost about $10 to $20 here, others will be free. App categories include games, business, news, sport, health, reference and travel.
Emails: Sounds boring, but support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync has many potential corporate customers excited. Emails will arrive instantly - not just when you check for them.
New features: GPS for real-time mapping functions, a scientific calculator, parent controls to restrict content, the ability to save images from websites and overseas roaming (iPhone 3G will work in more than 70 countries).
Old features: Same as the first iPhone: browsing the web's a breeze and so is taking and showing off photos and using the iPhone as an iPod to listen to music or watch videos on the large screen. There are easy touch gestures for expanding and shrinking images or websites, and for flicking through your photo library. Whatever's on the screen automatically orientates for vertical or horizontal viewing.
Better battery life: Apple haven't always delivered on claimed battery performance, but are promising 10 hours' talk time on 2G networks and five hours on 3G (which can be switched off to save battery life), up to five hours' web browsing, up to seven hours' video viewing and up to 24 hours for playing audio.
MobileMe: Visit www.me.com to read about how the new MobileMe service synchronises emails, contacts and calendar details between your PC or Mac and your iPhone so everything's always up to date. Very handy.
What's not so hot?
With rumours flying hot and fast before the launch, expectations of the new iPhone were sky-high. Not everyone's impressed. Here's what's missing.
Videoconferencing and picture messaging: Not supported out of the box, but stay tuned for third-party apps which may add this feature.
Wi-Fi: Still 802.11b/g; no support yet for the new 802.11n standard.
A user-replaceable battery: The new iPhone has a sealed, non-changeable battery. Batteries fail. Then what? Off to Apple for an expensive service call for them to replace it. How annoying.
Bluetooth: Well, it's there - but not the A2 DP profile for using it properly.
Gigabyte upgrade: iPods now come in 80GB and 160GB models, yet the iPhone has only 8GB and 16GB options. The iPhone still has too little media storage space for too many music and video-file collectors.
A better camera: The quality's not great and only two megapixels is tired.
Cynical critics claim Apple's history of regularly releasing upgraded models boils down to shortening a gizmo's lifespan so customers make repeat purchases in the same product category.
Apple has certainly left room for more improvement, so expect new models with improved specifications later in the year... perhaps in time for the Christmas rush. |
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