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Out of interest, can CDMA phones be unlocked? If so, how are they transferred to another network given there's no SIM card? I live in the UK so don't know about CDMA.
I don't really know about the details, but my understanding was that CDMA phones aren't really locked so to speak, but the carrier won't activate them unless they are "on their list of approved devices" aka devices sold by them.
 
Exactly. The current 3.5" display is far from perfect for me. Typing on the screen still leads to many errors. A 4" display would do wonders for the iphone.

But would not be perfect for me so your talking out of your ***. Bigger screen less pixels overall which means smaller fonts don't have the crisp look they have now. So the screen is perfect as it is, if its going to get bigger then they have to move the dpi up a notch to keep that nice Retina look.

Want a bigger screen, get an android and be happy.
 
NO WAY. Apple is not going to wait 15 months just to slap an "s" on the end of the name. Also, the 3gs is showing its age and is contradictory to Apple's obsession with the latest and greatest in design. It will be phased out completely very soon.
 
Iphone 4S? Epic fail on Apple's part (and yes, I know they will sell millions). 15 months to put a new CPU in an iphone. Not impressed.

Well since it's not out or confirmed I don't think that is a fair assumption. I seriously doubt apple will name it the iPhone 4S, as it would be the 5th gen iPhone.
 
I think the 3GS rumor is likely correct as Apple made a point of iOS 5 working on the 3GS

However, given how much a mixed bag iOS 4 is on the 3GS I wonder how well iOS 5 will run?

What nonsense - OS 4 works great on the 3Gs - it is still a great phone and offers the full complement of applications. At $50 or $0 it is a great bargain and still superior to android devices in the same price range. People fail to realize that man of the droids are cheap underpowered POS that are obsolete as soon as you walk out the door.
 
4s??

I really don't understand why everyone thinks it's going to be a "4S"... it will be an iPhone 5.... look at the iOS dates- 1st gen iPhone through the 3GS iPhone was all iOS 1-3. now we have iPhone 4 with iOS 4. they just showed us iOS 5. it's going to be iPhone 5. not just a spec bump. it's going to be a sweet phone.

- this tiered pricing will be good for people that don't want to pay for the newest thing, but apple will probably dump the 3GS in the next iOS.

I'm exited to see this upcoming iPhone as well as next years. I think apple has big plans.
 
I really don't understand why everyone thinks it's going to be a "4S"... it will be an iPhone 5.... look at the iOS dates- 1st gen iPhone through the 3GS iPhone was all iOS 1-3. now we have iPhone 4 with iOS 4. they just showed us iOS 5. it's going to be iPhone 5. not just a spec bump. it's going to be a sweet phone.

- this tiered pricing will be good for people that don't want to pay for the newest thing, but apple will probably dump the 3GS in the next iOS.

I'm exited to see this upcoming iPhone as well as next years. I think apple has big plans.

It doesn't work that way. The iOS doesn't tie into what it will be named, its the design that does.

If they are keeping the iphone 4 design and just upgrading the specs then it'll be a 4S. But if they remodel it, it will be a 5.
 
That's true. I personally wouldn't buy an iPhone 3GS today... even if it was "free"

But... people are still buying the 3GS even today... that $50 price tag lures them in.

You and I both know that the initial purchase price of the phone is nothing compared to the overall cost over time. But... it's a big deal to a lot of people.

Maybe Apple's plan is to get people hooked on iOS with a cheaper phone... and convert them to a more expensive iPhone later on down the road.

The 3GS outsells the 4, at least from my own observation.

A "free" 3GS would be awesome because it could be the trigger that gets people into smartphones.
 
It doesn't work that way. The iOS doesn't tie into what it will be named, its the design that does.

If they are keeping the iphone 4 design and just upgrading the specs then it'll be a 4S. But if they remodel it, it will be a 5.

yeah you're right- in my opinion I think that's the way apple is going. either way- iOS5 has fixed everything I had a grudge about(custom text tones, independent auto correct and spell check and a few others) and my iPhone is my mobile office if you will... I use it for EVERYTHING- so even a spec bump has my vote- but after delaying the iPhone a few months, I think Apple has something up its sleeve
 
Apple aren't obliged to offer software upgrades to anyone - as long as the product you buy continues to work, which it would/will.

It's not that long ago that phones didn't get software upgrades full stop, let alone annually for free! So I doubt too many people would actually be bothered.

Hhhm, not strictly true. How often have we had to update something for you to be able to carry on using it? It does happen.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8J2)

There is no way after a 15 month delay that apple would only upgrade to an A5 processor and an 8 megapixel camera for a 4S. I believe that they will keep a similar design that will be thinner and perhaps put aluminum on the back, same screen size, A5 and 8 megapixel camera.

This. Not radical new design like the iPhone 4 was, but a tweaked yet noticeable design change. I'd be happy with that. To be honest I just hope they bump it to 64gbs of storage.
 
I really don't understand why everyone thinks it's going to be a "4S"... it will be an iPhone 5.... look at the iOS dates- 1st gen iPhone through the 3GS iPhone was all iOS 1-3. now we have iPhone 4 with iOS 4. they just showed us iOS 5. it's going to be iPhone 5. not just a spec bump. it's going to be a sweet phone.

- this tiered pricing will be good for people that don't want to pay for the newest thing, but apple will probably dump the 3GS in the next iOS.

I'm exited to see this upcoming iPhone as well as next years. I think apple has big plans.

I think you are expecting too much here

I wouldn't expect a big upgrade from the 4.

I think next years will be bigger.
 
The 3GS outsells the 4, at least from my own observation.

I find that hard to believe. Any proof?

Q3 2009 - 5.2 million iPhones (3G-3GS)
Q4 2009 - 7.4 million iPhones
Q1 2010 - 8.7 million iPhones
Q2 2010 - 8.8 million iPhones
Q3 2010 - 8.4 million iPhones (3GS-iPhone 4)
Q4 2010 - 14.1 million iPhones
Q1 2011 - 16.2 million iPhones
Q2 2011 - 18.6 million iPhones

Notice the sharp uptick in iPhone sales after the iPhone 4 came out.

Is the old 3GS really the bulk of those sales?
 
My big question is whether Apple is going to add a camera blocking system to the new phone. ie to block people to record "concerts" or such.

honestly, if they do such, i am going to boycott the new phone.
 
I can see this happening:

If the case design isn't changing (its still a possibility as i bet Apple could just not tell the manufactureers until they're ready) then how about 3 phone types in the single form of the iphone 4 (will just a antennae redesign).

So iphone 3gs internals for the cheap one, the iphone 4 as it is now, and a spec bumped iphone 5.

Or the iphone 4 shifts down to the cheap one, new iphone 5 for the high end model.

Thats my 2 AU cents worth.
 
I find that hard to believe. Any proof?

Q3 2009 - 5.2 million iPhones (3G-3GS)
Q4 2009 - 7.4 million iPhones
Q1 2010 - 8.7 million iPhones
Q2 2010 - 8.8 million iPhones
Q3 2010 - 8.4 million iPhones (3GS-iPhone 4)
Q4 2010 - 14.1 million iPhones
Q1 2011 - 16.2 million iPhones
Q2 2011 - 18.6 million iPhones

Notice the sharp uptick in iPhone sales after the iPhone 4 came out.

Is the old 3GS really the bulk of those sales?

Because Verizon only has one iPhone to sell I'd say the 4 outsells the 3GS.

But for AT&T only sales numbers, $49 is $49. The 3GS does everything that 90% of iPhone users need. It outsells the 4 based on what I've seen. Could be different in other locations, but I do know the $49 3GS is such a deal compared to the 4.
 
Out of interest, can CDMA phones be unlocked? If so, how are they transferred to another network given there's no SIM card? I live in the UK so don't know about CDMA.

I don't know about a network change, but at least within the network you log into (in our case, Verizon) the carrier's network and modify the account with the IMEI number for the phone.
 
One, free with contract is a powerful incentive, especially for people who really just want to use it and don't care about the technical details. I wouldn't be surprised if a significant number of iPhones never have their software updated. Macrumors posters are not very representative of the broader user base.

Here in Japan, the 3G was free with a contract last year, and if I'm not mistaken I believe the iPhone 4 may have been as well for a short time. Thing is, everytime you plug it in to load apps, it tells you the software is outdated, so I'd wager that many people do blindly update, as I once did, leaving me with this terrible brick of junk.

iOS 5 runs just fine on the 3GS. Virtually every new feature in iOS 5 runs just fine on the 3GS. In fact a lot of stuff runs faster—eg Safari is noticeably faster.

The big problem with your argument is the 3GS was a huge step up from the first couple generations of iPhone. The original iPhone and 3G were pretty anemic in ram and processor. The 3GS was a night and day difference.

I think you are underestimating the speed improvements on the 3GS. It is a significant speed improvement. And first reports are iOS 5 runs great on the 3GS.

Right, maybe iOS5 works ok, but what about the updates after that? What about the annual-hardware-update-unknowing people that buy the phone next May or June, when it's iOS 5.X.X and iOS6 is around the corner? And what about the updates after that?

The 3GS *may* run iOS5 *ok*, but it's gonna get owned by future updates that would still fall during the phone's life cycle to a customer who buys it and expects 1-2 years of use out of it.

Like someone else said, the value proposition of paying a whopping $350 for a phone that's 2 years old and already horribly outdated is just plain terrible. Unfortunately though, there are a lot of customers who are going to be misguided and buy this phone, expecting to get 2 years of reliable service out of it. Apple's past history with iOS shows that to simply not be the case. Once a phone hits 2 years old, Apple basically stops supporting it, and the 3GS is two years old already today. No way people who buy it are going to be able to run iOS6 and even iOS7 (think of people who buy it next year right before iOS6 comes out, they will be expecting it to run on iOS6 right after they buy it, and iOS7 a year after that when their phone is just over a year old to them).

If there's one thing this pile of crap 3G has taught me, it's buy the newest phone there is and don't update it.
 
Because Verizon only has one iPhone to sell I'd say the 4 outsells the 3GS.

But for AT&T only sales numbers, $49 is $49. The 3GS does everything that 90% of iPhone users need. It outsells the 4 based on what I've seen. Could be different in other locations, but I do know the $49 3GS is such a deal compared to the 4.

What have you seen... do you work for AT&T?

Worldwide numbers would probably paint a different picture.

I just find it hard to believe that iPhone sales exploded after the iPhone 4 came out.... but it's the "old" model that sells the most...

:confused:
 
Whats the point of that

Unless its a "World Phone" what's good is it??? in the US we are limited by going with AT&T or using just edge on T-mobile with a 3GS. You would be off buying an ipod touch and getting a Go phone LOL.
 
I am waiting for the next revision of the iPhone. I have a 3Gs and just completed the contract. I could get a iPhone 4 now but hopefully the wait will be worth it. It should be if there are any improvements in storage or RAM. Ideally for me the 5 (or 4s) will have 1GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. I know a lot of people don't care about specs but I do. I need enough RAM to have different Safari pages or tabs without reloading every time I switch between them. Also 32GB barely holds enough Apps, movies and music for me. Some of the game Apps are getting pretty big. If I can't have both 1GB and 64 GB I think I will be happy with just at least one of those upgrades. If neither is introduced I will be sorry I waited. 512MB and 32GB just doesn't cut it any more.


You're probably going to be sorry you waited. You might want to adjust your usage habits, it's a phone.
 
But would not be perfect for me so your talking out of your ***. Bigger screen less pixels overall which means smaller fonts don't have the crisp look they have now. So the screen is perfect as it is, if its going to get bigger then they have to move the dpi up a notch to keep that nice Retina look.

Want a bigger screen, get an android and be happy.

A 4" screen at 960x640 would still be very high resolution and "crisp". Most large Android devices only have 800x480 screens even the huge 4.3" ones.

$349 is too much for an iPhone 3GS. I wouldn't pay $149 for one.

I also doubt that Apple has gotten the cost of the 3GS down much. Making it cheaper usually requires further efforts to miniaturize the chips and combine multiple chips into one, but it's old technology and the various chips came from different manufacturers so likely cannot be combined.
 
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