The question that many are asking themselves after Apple’s keynote announcement on Monday (June 8th, 10:00 US EDT) is, “should I upgrade to the new Apple iPhone 3GS?”
This is a reasonable question to ask as rumors of the cost of the new iPhone models are in the USD600 and USD700 range without a new 2-year contract with the respective carrier.
Many of you know, Apple also made available the “Golden Master” version of the iPhone firmware 3.0 to its developers for testing. This software when released will be free to all existing iPhone and iPhone 3G users.
Therefore to help everyone answer the question “should I upgrade to the new Apple iPhone 3GS?”, I thought I offer a features comparison of the new iPhone firmware 3.0 running on the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.
| Feature | iPhone 3G | iPhone 3GS |
|---|---|---|
| Cut, Copy & Paste | X | X |
| Spotlight Search | X | X |
| Forward message (SMS) to someone else | X | X |
| Selectively delete messages | X | X |
| Voice memo | X | X |
| iTunes App Store parental control | X | X |
| Locate your iPhone (will require a MobileMe subscription) | X | X |
| Connections to Dock Connector API compatible devices | X | X |
| Sending MSM (depends on mobile carrier) | X | X |
| CPU speed | 412MHz | 600MHz |
| System RAM | 127MB | 256MB |
| Camera resolution (Megapixel) | 2.0 | 3.0 |
| 3G Data or HSDPA speed (depends on carrier) | 3.6Mb/s | 3.6Mb/s 7.2Mb/s |
| Tethering (depends on mobile carrier) | X | X |
| Voice commands | X | |
| Magnetometer (digital compass) | X | |
| Record and edit videos | X | |
| Accessibility | X |
We still do not know the exact SRP for the Hong Kong market, and most importantly, will Apple continue its previous practice of selling “SIM unlocked” versions of the iPhone without contract from its carrier partner, 3 HK?
If Apple will keep things status quo then we can expect the prices of the iPhone 3G S models to be slightly lower than the previous SRP (HKD5400.00 and HKD6200.00) of the iPhone 3G, and with official “SIM unlocked” versions of the iPhone 3GS.
I think Apple realizes by now, people in Hong Kong do not like contracts even though prices of the committed contracts are very attractive. As people in HK, on average, change mobile phones every 15 – 16 months.
If you do not yet own an iPhone you definitely will benefit from the features offered by the iPhone 3G S.
If you own an original iPhone you will really enjoy the faster speed of the iPhone 3GS.
If you already own an iPhone 3G and had purchased it within 2009, I suggest you wait until next June (2010) to see what the next version of iPhone will look like.
I think tethering works on iphone 3G as well, I haven't tried it, but my 16G iphone 3G from 3HK has that option in settings.
Hi Andreas,Yes, tethering does work on the iPhone 3G running the iPhone firmware 3.0, but it depends on whether the carrier will allow it.For the case of Hong Kong users, we are fortunately that all HK carriers allow tethering (at a cost). You can see my other post regarding enabling/setting up tethering on your iPhone.
HI Vinko,Thanks for the CTM MMS settings they working just fine… Do you know of anywhere I can get the tethering settings for CTM Macau?
Hi Craig,You're welcome. I could not have done this without the community.Check out my post on Tethering iPhone 3.0 for iPhone 3.0 tethering set up. It should be fairly self explanatory. If not please let a message here.