3G iPhone Due in 2008

[Roller]

Honestly, I saw the iPhone in flesh here in Germany. And all I can say is that I'm not impressed. It's an ugly big brick! There are plenty phones on the market, that are equally slim/slimmer, smaller, more sexy and more functional.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess - I think that the minimalist look of the iPhone beats all the phones that are covered with buttons and keyboards, but that's my opinion.

And why is smaller better? The tinier the screen, the fewer pixels you can view at any time, unless the display resolution increases to compensate, making the screen unreadable.

 

[winterspan]

CDMA iPhone, 3G iPhone

You'll be waiting a long, long time. Prob. Never. CDMA is a dying standard as Verizon's partner has already stated that the next gen 4g? is going to ditch CDMA unless I am mistaken.

Its official Verizon is going GSM, for their 4g network. Looks like CDMA is going the way of the caveman.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Verizon-Wireless-Picks-100Mbps-LTE-89807
-neal

Why? CDMA is dead.

You guys are completely missing the point. I'ts not about CDMA itself, it's about Verizon and Sprint coverage. For now, CDMA is SURELY NOT DEAD. It will be when Verizon and Sprint move to WCDMA/LTE for their 4G networks, but for now, it is the best coverage by far in the United States. Nearly all city/suburban areas and many rural areas serviced by Verizon are running 3G EVDO/Rev.A. But it's not even about the 3G. For many, including myself, Verizon/Sprint CDMA is the *ONLY* decent coverage available. AT&T doesn't even cover 90% of my state. They have absolutely terrible service in the west, outside of the coastal cities. Look at the map.
Will it be much nicer when AT&T/Tmob/Sprint/Verizon are all running 4G compatible networks? Of course. But for now, Verizon's CDMA is the only real option for MANY people in the USA.

As far as 3G goes. Meh. I would rather have GPS and more storage space. 3 G is far from ubiquitous here in the states and certainly not around where i live. It would be nice i gues, just make sure it doesn't affect battery life.

3G is pointless, unless you are downloading 20 meg attachments (which I can guarantee you are not on your iPhone). EDGE is fast enough.

I dont know what the big deal for 3g is.

Why do people want 3g? Will you be able to download stuff into your iphone? i know the benefit is 600kbps+
but is it really needed? Faster internet browsing?
malls,cafes and anywhere you can think off have a hotspot network oepn.

Hahaha. You guys crack me up. "3G is pointless" "EDGE is fast enough" "use a hotspot". LOL.

First of all, for a large percentage of people, especially those outside major cities, Wifi hotspots are *not* an option most of the time. Even when you can find one, many of them are taking over by Tmobile or Boingo or some other provider and are $10/day or more.

Secondly, for the people who think 3G is "pointless"... Have you even used the service before? That's like saying Verizon FIOS internet service at 30Mbps is pointless, because crap 768kbps DSL is "fast enough". HA. Give me a break.. I just used an iPhone for the first time today at AT&T, and it took forever to load a webpage.

I know AT&T's HSDPA network sucks because it's only rolled out in a small % of their network... Hence the reason why I wish Verizon had picked up the iPhone. Their 3G EVDO is ubiquitous.

 

[winterspan]

To the people waiting for the 3G phones (or other capability)...

If you always wait for the next greatest thing, you would never buy anything. If you always want the latest and greatest then I hope you have a big pay check and a nice wife (or husband) that doesn't mind you spending many hundreds every other month on gadgets. The next iPhone will come out with 16GB. People will bitch and moan that it doesn't have 32GB. Then the next one will come out at 32GB and people will bitch because it doesn't cure cancer. Get used to it.

If you want to wait on buying a phone because of 3Gish capability, wait for the 700MHz to come across. I was working on a project with a company where we were getting 1.5megs throughout our municipality to the end user. It was a proof of concept on what you can do with this 700. That's probably 3-4 years out and will only get better My point is, do you want to wait for that too?

So in other words, you are saying I shouldn't wait for a 3G iphone, because if I always wait, I'll never buy anything. Then you tell me I should wait until a new 700 mhz network is finished in 4 years to get speeds I can get with a 3G iphone (1.5 mbps) which will be out in 4-6 months. but now you tell me your point of the post is so I should not wait.

my brain just exploded.

 

[chicagostars]

a conversation

MacRumors poster: No 3G? The iPhone sux without it, I know even though I don't have one! I hate AT&T! Every other carrier's service and coverage is better, I know! Apple is mean because they don't want me to hack an iPhone. I hate them. I'm going to buy the latest Nokia phone and show them!!!

Steve Jobs: That's okay. We've got thousands of other people lining up for this one who don't even know what 3G is and who wouldn't even think of hacking their phone. Who the heck are you anyway? Wait . . . nevermind.

MacRumors poster:

 

[trogdor!]

Everyone keeps using the argument of using free hot spots..... Im sorry, but literally 95 percent of the hot spots i run into are these dumb tmobile/whatever wireless company charge to use the network. Free ones are hard to find sometimes even in large cities.

 

[Cintos]

MacRumors poster: No 3G? The iPhone sux without it, I know even though I don't have one! I hate AT&T! Every other carrier's service and coverage is better, I know! Apple is mean because they don't want me to hack an iPhone. I hate them. I'm going to buy the latest Nokia phone and show them!!!

Steve Jobs: That's okay. We've got thousands of other people lining up for this one who don't even know what 3G is and who wouldn't even think of hacking their phone. Who the heck are you anyway? Wait . . . nevermind.

MacRumors poster:

Early Adopter First mac in 1989 ($1200 for a 20Meg Drive - yes MEG) Technologist User: I could not care less about the bleeding edge user - let him buy something else. For the rest of us, it's the iPhone. For my use, the iPhone is spectacular. I have a VZ 3G broadband card in my laptop if I need to get into complex web sites. Phone, photos (beautiful!), iPod, videos (woow!), mail, Google Maps, and the "news" and stock trading spectrum of the web through safari are spectacular. I find myself virtually NEVER luging out the laptop and firing up the 3G just to peruse a needed data set - the iPhone has it loaded well before then - assuming that the EVDO is actually working there.

Just ran back and forth from NYC to Rochester, and the AT&T service was fine all along; the NYS Thruway has wifi at the service areas - the iPhone automatically jumps to them. My take on VZ is that while CDMA has a significant (!!) coverage advantage over GSM, to their financial advantage VZ has simply been able to install fewer towers; net result is similar service.

The ticket will be the next gen LTE kit; I can wait two years...

 

[Snide]

I made this post in the iPhone Hacks and Apps forum (tethering thread),
and I think it's relevant to this one as well. Note that I'm talking about
sites that are well-optimized (as most are, such as MacRumors).

 

[LoganT]

no 3G within 100 miles of me, bring on the better battery life with EDGE, screw 3G.

You do know that 3G is backwards compatible with EDGE?

 

[twoodcc]

good. i'm not surprised at all. i just wonder what other features the next iPhone will have

 

[Oneness]

It exists vastly in any place that matters.

Yes, but I don't just sit and stay in 'any place that matters'. Some of us do actually get out of the city limits quite regularly and I would like my $600 phone to work everywhere I go.

You do know that 3G is backwards compatible with EDGE?

Ooppss.... Forget my last post. Sorry for being sarcastic iblue.

 

[LoganT]

If you always wait for the next greatest thing, you would never buy anything.

See, I don't understand this logic. Right now the 1st-Gen iPhone is out right now. I will wait until the 2nd-Gen iPhone comes out to buy it. When the 2nd-Gen comes out I'm not going to skip it and wait until the 3rd-Gen comes out and so on.

 

[LoganT]

U should probably try iphone.ebay.com, it only took 12 - 15 secs.

That defeats the purpose of an iPhone though. "Remember it's not the mobile internet or the kinda of sorta looks like the internet, internet. It's just the internet on your iPhone..."

 

[callmemike20]

By looking at this map, it seems as if 3G ends about 20 feet into my back yard. I guess I will be able to use it when im sitting on my deck in the summertime.

This should come as no surprise, as apple has indicated that a 3G is in the works.

For me, it matters not. I live in a rural area which won't see 3G for many years. EDGE reception, however, is quite good and very useful. True, I prefer to use Safari with Wifi over EDGE, but Google Maps, Weather, Mail, etc all work pretty darn well with EDGE.

I realize that the majority of the US population lives near or in our 50-100 or so major metropolitan areas, but for those of us in more rural areas, this is a non-issue. Look at the coverage maps for your area... can you use 3G?

http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/

I'm guessing most of you can, but certainly not everyone.

I'm far more interested in apple bringing out another iPhone product (nano-type) than an upgrade to the existing iPhone.

 

[bretm]

You'll be waiting a long, long time. Prob. Never. CDMA is a dying standard as Verizon's partner has already stated that the next gen 4g? is going to ditch CDMA unless I am mistaken.

And because Apple has 4 1/2 years left in it's exclusive contract with AT&T.

That defeats the purpose of an iPhone though. "Remember it's not the mobile internet or the kinda of sorta looks like the internet, internet. It's just the internet on your iPhone..."

True, but designing an interface that exclusively matches the iPhone interface and size is actually a step up from a generic web site.

Google defaults to it's mobile version, but can be changed. The mobile version sucks. But I'd love it if they came out with a iPhone version. Mostly becuase of the text size and need to zoom/double click.

Yes, but I don't just sit and stay in 'any place that matters'. Some of us do actually get out of the city limits quite regularly and I would like my $600 phone to work everywhere I go.

Geez, I just visited a 250 acre farm in Unity, Wisconsin for crying out loud. Look it up. It's in the middle of nowhere (Wisconsin) AT&T had full signal at all times. The town has like 43 residents. What else do ya want?

good. i'm not surprised at all. i just wonder what other features the next iPhone will have

They're still wavering on including copy and paste.

Everyone keeps using the argument of using free hot spots..... Im sorry, but literally 95 percent of the hot spots i run into are these dumb tmobile/whatever wireless company charge to use the network. Free ones are hard to find sometimes even in large cities.

In ATL it's just about every bookstore, coffee shop, restaurant, bar, whatever. I even get them in doctors offices and sitting at a stop light (from someone's unprotected house).

 

[DiamondMac]

The first few weeks I was content with Edge but lately it has really been getting on my nerves as it is just downright ridiculously slow to the point of just not even getting me to where I need to be.

I live in a 3G area so bring it on and hopefully I can upgrade

 

[needthephone]

Outside the US any mobile phone has to be 3g minimum to be taken seriously. I doubt if you can buy a new non 3g phone in Aus for example. I wouldn't buy the iphone as it is-it is a phone after all and it should run on the most up to date networks. We(us apple lovers who think eveything apple do is right) can protest all we like, simple fact most people won't take it serously until its 3g and even less seriously because of the price they are charging for what many people see as an out of date P H O N E. I noticed that for the UK launch all the media picked upon was the lack of 3g.If I wanted multitouch I would get a cheap crappy Nokia on a nothing per month 3g plan and a touch and keep them in the same pocket.

We can argue until we are blue in the face and apple can put as much spin on it as they like, that EDGE is as good or nearly as good as 3g. Its a marketing spec thing. People know that anything less than 3g is obsolete, out of date, living in the past.

I love the iphone but it has a serious achilles heale and credibilty problem by not being 3g.

 

[TurboSC]

The first few weeks I was content with Edge but lately it has really been getting on my nerves as it is just downright ridiculously slow to the point of just not even getting me to where I need to be.

I live in a 3G area so bring it on and hopefully I can upgrade

yea i hope they offer some sort of upgrade plan for people with iPhones now. that would be awfully nice...

I'm eagerly waiting for more information.

 

[Phil A.]

Outside the US any mobile phone has to be 3g minimum to be taken seriously. I doubt if you can buy a new non 3g phone in Aus for example. I wouldn't buy the iphone as it is-it is a phone after all and it should run on the most up to date networks. We(us apple lovers who think eveything apple do is right) can protest all we like, simple fact most people won't take it serously until its 3g and even less seriously because of the price they are charging for what many people see as an out of date P H O N E. I noticed that for the UK launch all the media picked upon was the lack of 3g.If I wanted multitouch I would get a cheap crappy Nokia on a nothing per month 3g plan and a touch and keep them in the same pocket.

We can argue until we are blue in the face and apple can put as much spin on it as they like, that EDGE is as good or nearly as good as 3g. Its a marketing spec thing. People know that anything less than 3g is obsolete, out of date, living in the past.

I love the iphone but it has a serious achilles heale and credibilty problem by not being 3g.

Blackberries (possibly the most successful new brand in recent years, at least in Europe) are not 3G...

 

[elcid]

Outside the US any mobile phone has to be 3g minimum to be taken seriously.

I believe it is selling fine in Europe.

 

[crackermac]

So in other words, you are saying I shouldn't wait for a 3G iphone, because if I always wait, I'll never buy anything. Then you tell me I should wait until a new 700 mhz network is finished in 4 years to get speeds I can get with a 3G iphone (1.5 mbps) which will be out in 4-6 months. but now you tell me your point of the post is so I should not wait.

my brain just exploded.

Perhaps I didn't word it correctly. Right now, 3G is the rage for some. Now, in Feb, some company buys up the block of 700 and annouces what their plans are, a nationwide wi-fi. Everyone now gets excited about this because of the blazing fast speeds but it requires a special chip in the phones that are due out in a year. Do you wait for that chip?

Say a 2nd Gen iPhone is due out in June. A month goes buy and you haven't taken the plunge yet and rumors appear that the next iPhone is supposed to support WiMax. Now what?

I guess what I'm getting at is, at what point do you stop waiting for the next technology?

 

[glennyboiwpg]

Perhaps I didn't word it correctly. Right now, 3G is the rage for some. Now, in Feb, some company buys up the block of 700 and annouces what their plans are, a nationwide wi-fi. Everyone now gets excited about this because of the blazing fast speeds but it requires a special chip in the phones that are due out in a year. Do you wait for that chip?

Say a 2nd Gen iPhone is due out in June. A month goes buy and you haven't taken the plunge yet and rumors appear that the next iPhone is supposed to support WiMax. Now what?

I guess what I'm getting at is, at what point do you stop waiting for the next technology?

Exactly... The way I see it is... when you want something, do the research and when you think the technology is where you want it to be, then you go and buy it... once you buy it, you don't go looking for trouble... don't go looking at best buy, dont' go scouring the net looking for that product you bought because you will ALWAYS find that in six months it will be cheaper, smaller, better, faster, etc.

Do the research, buy when YOU are comfrontable with the purchase and then get on with your life.

End of story.

 

[takao]

I believe it is selling fine in Europe.

it's not even out in whole europe nor are there actual numbers around last time i checked

edit: according to rumors there have been around 15.000 to 18.000 sold so far in germany

 

[bytethese]

Soon please!

I just cracked the glass on my iPhone a few weeks ago. Thankfully the device still works but I heard it's $250 to fix. I'd rather put $250 towards a 3G iPhone, with hopefully more capacity. Is it Jan 8th yet?

 

[crackermac]

Blackberries (possibly the most successful new brand in recent years, at least in Europe) are not 3G...

I never noticed, but I couldn't find one Blackberry that is 3G. I don't know what percentage Blackberries are compared to other "internet phones", but I'd say that a Blackberry is extremely popular. I don't see many articles or people saying they suck or their holding off until a 3G version.

 

[plumbingandtech]

You guys are completely missing the point. I'ts not about CDMA itself, it's about Verizon and Sprint coverage. For now, CDMA is SURELY NOT DEAD.

The point is, as Bretm mentioned above,

A) Apple is on a contract with ATT for 4 more years or so.
B) CDMA is dying and will be switched over to a new network 4g? by the time the contract is over with ATT.

So C) as the orginal poster asked when an Verizon iphone?

Well no one will be "hearing him now" on an iPhone on the Verizon network, since it won't be coming to his network in the foreseeable future.