“The new iPhone 3G is a surefire winner for anyone who doesn’t have an iPhone yet. It’s not such a sure thing for people with existing iPhones. Most iPhone owners wouldn’t have jumped at this year’s model no matter how much improved it was, because most iPhone owners have the common sense not to buy a new phone less than a year after spending $400 (or more) on their present one,” John Gruber writes for Daring Fireball.
“For the rest of us who lack such common sense and are considering upgrading — yours truly included — it’s not a sure thing. The only significant differences between the iPhone 3G and the original iPhone are the 3G networking and GPS. That’s it,” Gruber writes.
Gruber writes, “The old iPhone is still, by far, the most powerful handheld computing device in the world… Plus, even those who hold on to their original iPhones are going to get a nice upgrade, free of charge, when the 2.0 release of the OS ships…”
Full article here.
We asked a few readers what they were going to do with their iPhone 1.0 on July 11th. The consensus: that’s what the wife’s for.
I would think that gen-1 iPhone resales would be fairly hot since they will now be the only phones you can use on other networks.
Or at least that’swhat I’m hoping for ;^)
Wife’s looking forward to getting my gen-one iPhone … though given the new data charges I’m having second thoughts. Think I’m going to wait and see what reviews say (and see how much I like the software upgrade)….
She’s getting mine, I’m getting the new one. She’s happy cause she wants just what the first gen will do, I’m happy cause I get gen 2. Win/win.
My son has been pleading for an iPhone, so he can have my old one. He doesn’t care about 3G so it works out.
I will be passing my iPhone to my daughter. I’ll be having the new one.
Well, my wife really needs GPS, so I am unfortunate one because if we do get iP2, it’s going to be hers
I am upgrading
Until we get the teardown, we won’t know if there are any hidden features, like a faster ARM processor, secret WIFI-N radio, etc.
It’ll be interesting to see if there are any (connection plan) economies of scale for keeping the Gen I in the family.
same here, wife’s getting gen 1, i get gen 2.
I waited to for the second one and am now hesitant. I don’t live in an area with 3G service and GPS isn’t all that important to me. Perhaps I don’t don’t know why it’s all that cool. I do have an iPod Touch. Will someone tell me why I need the phone now?
i sold mine to some sucker on Craigslist within 6 hours of the iPhone 3G announcement. I got $260 for it! If you’re thinking of selling it, do it now!
To me, the best two reasons to keep my original iPhone are:
1. Works great!
2. Holding on to it for another year or so puts me in a perfect position to buy the next revision when it comes out.
It really depends on the Apps Store, and how many apps require iPhone 3G capabilities. If the best apps need the new phone, then I might have to upgrade.
Waiting for iPhone 3.0 due out in January ’09.
And yes I’m voting for Obama bin Laudin, because I God Dam America!
MDN word “think”. How appropriate…
I was actually asking for reasons to buy the Gen 2. Should I just wait until AT&T;expands their service and use the old Verizon phone I have. I works just fine and the Touch is great.
It all comes down to 1 thing for me.
Will the Slingplayer app be allowed by Apple to work over 3G?
If so, I’m upgrading. If not, the software update and continued lower data fees will be just fine for me until iPhone 3.0 in June 2009.
It works…
Follow up:
I’m fully expecting Apple/At&t;to extremely cripple the iPhone 3G in terms of what apps they’ll allow to use up bandwidth on their network.
If some really great stuff only works on Wi-Fi, there’s no real point in upgrading for me.
I’ll be getting 2, an upgrade for me and a new one for the wife. Now that it’s a better cell phone, I think it will do really well. I love the first one, but the actual phone wasn’t as good as the 3G…plus all the other stuff like gps and high speed…its a no brainer.
If you look at the stats, virtually all of the handheld web browsing is done by iPhones. Those are the people who, more than anyone else in the world know about how nice it would be to surf faster.
Realtime directions will eventually come out for the GPS (conspicuously not allowed by the iPhone dev license) and I hate the GPS in my car.
I seem to recall that the battery life is better too. 300 hours stand by.
So it’s a new one for me. Maybe one of my friends’ kids doesn’t have one yet.
M
1. Depends if you live in a metro area that has 3G coverage, I don’t and won’t be in the future;
2. If you do live in an area serviced by 3g, do you need it?
3. Will GPS add any value to you?
If those questions don’t lead to an upgrade path, why get into a brand new 2-year service contract. Wait. Eventually the phone will not be locked to a single carrier.
Besides, I just hate this activate in-store B.S. There are other ways this could have been handled. My nearest Apple store is nearly 5-hours away. The only way I can accept AT & T as a provider, is if I don’t need to speak to anyone. Actually, in reality that is just about the only way I can tolerate any cellular or cable provider.
I don’t know why those industries have such cruddy customer service.
My concern is whether AT&T;will require the old phone be turned in. I have heard some talk to that effect. I had assumed I could just show up with my SIM and leave the old phone at home but ….
“We asked a few readers what they were going to do with their iPhone 1.0 on July 11th. The consensus: that’s what the wife’s for.”
LOL… or daughters and sons.
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Gen 1 is a collectors item. When I eventually upgrade (not right away) the original goes back in the original box and is saved for posterity.