Why not to buy the new iphone

The final specs for the much awaited new iphone have been announced officially on the apple website. Dubbed the 3G-S it's really what the iphone should have been on it's initial release; a couple of years ago. The features are pretty ordinary with only a few tweaks to the phone to attempt to make it more relevant, but failing miserably.

Often we here phrases like 'worlds best smartphone' associated with the iphone, but here's a phrase far more suitable which you wouldn't have heard much of; 'bargain bin filler'. I still fail to see what all the excitement is about with such dismal specs. What are these new specs you ask? Lets take a look under the hood of the iphone 3G-S.

The camera on the phone has been upgraded to 3 megapixels and is capable of both stills and video. And yes this iphone CAN actually take video, be it only VGA! Crazily enough apple seem to have forgotten to put support for video capture into their previous software. With the current camera phone standard being 5 megapixels, and thanks to LG and samsung about to be lifted to 8 megapixels placing a 3 megapixel camera in the new iphone seems somewhat backward. Especially when you consider 3 megapixel cameras haven't been standard in camera phones for 2 years!

The new iphone will also support voice commands, so you can tell your phone to call Joe Blogs and it will call him based on the number you have stored for him in your phone book. Wait a gosh darn minute though, didn't that technology start appearing as standard in phones 8 to 9 years ago?

Apple have seen fit to add; wait for it; a compass to the iphone 3G-S. Why apple feel the average iphone user would be inclined to use a compass over the assisted GPS maps still boggles my mind. It certainly sounds very much like a feature they added that sounded sorta cool, just to flesh out the new features list a little.

The 3G-S will also be able to sms forward and send and recieve mms. Apparently iphone figured up until now the average iphone user had no use for mms messages or the ability to forward their messages to others, but they did need a compass?

A landscape touchscreen keyboard has been added to messaging apps, and you will now be able to cut, copy and paste words and photos. Apple have also added a search feature so you can search your phone for that email or note you're after. And yet still I'm not seeing anything special given this is meant to be a SMARTPHONE.

The phone has finally been brought into the current age of mobile internet with the inclusion of support for HSDPA, which will make surfing the web faster in supported area's. Hardware wise the phone has been upgraded so that apps will load up to 2 times faster. They have even finally included the ability to take voice memo's, a feature which most phones could do 8 or so years ago, and all but apple ipods have been able to do for almost as long.

One cool feature of the iphone 3G-S is it's support for Nike+ allowing you to insert the sensor into your Nike+ shoe and get stats about your work out direct to your phone. These stats are saved and you can see your averages and progress. This comes of course from the ipod apps which are able to do the same thing, but I guess it's much more practical to have it in your phone instead.

There are a few minor improvements to the battery life and the phone now comes in either a 16GB or 32GB model but that is about all the bang you get for your buck. Given the costs associated with an iphone it hardly seems worth rushing out to buy the new 3G-S which really is how the first iphone should have looked. The specs for this phone should be much higher then they are, if not only to keep up with the standards other providers are pumping out. But none the less, I'm quite sure there will be many people whom fall for Apple's marketing ploys and do indeed purchase the new iphone.

Which is a shame given there are so many phones out there which beat the iphone hands down. I've already given examples of this in my post "why iphones are for losers", but since then there have been even more advancements. In love with your apps? What about the much awaited google phone running android? Or for the true app lover, try running multiple apps at once!! Think it's impossible? Not on the new palm it's not!

In summary the new iphone is at least 2 years to late to the party, with the only phones still carrying hardware like it in the prepaid bargain bin. But still people, hooked on the marketing hype and under the misinformation they need one to be "normal" will rush out and buy the new 3G-S iphone. Which is disappointing but not unexpected.

Links;

Apples iphone 3G-S
Why iphones are for losers
Palm Pre
Googles G1 with Android