iPhone 3G S Has a 600 MHz Processor, 256MB of RAM, PowerVR SGX

[Hattig]

I'm curious how it stacks up next to my first computer, a 400 mhz, 256 RAM imac G3. It certainly has a higher capacity! (13 GB HD) 🙂

Well the G3 is probably more powerful on a clock-for-clock basis than even the ARM Cortex A8. On the other hand the latter has NEON which is similar to Altivec, so maybe we should be comparing with an early G4. I would say that at 600MHz the 3GS has more computational power than a 400MHz G3, but I wouldn't bet more than $20!

The RAM is the same, but faster on the 3GS.

The graphics are likely better on the 3GS as well, what did your iMac have - Rage128 graphics? Yeah, the PowerVR SGX520 should be beating that.

 

[lord patton]

Do you really think the 3Gs is going to overtake this marketshare? My guess is never.

That's a pretty ****** guess.

Seriously, if not this year, certainly next.

 

[/dev/toaster]

This is actually really bad news for anyone with a 1st or 2nd generation iPhone. That means that developers will be pushing the limits on their apps to the point that anyone with the older phone is ****ed, unless they want to pay AT&T $250 to break their contract.

For this, I am not looking forward to how many applications I won't be able to run with 3.0.

 

[iphones4evry1]

I hope this means it will enable developers to create a whole new level of better Apps.
Look how much better i.TV is now with the newest version. I hope more Apps become high tech like that.

 

[QCassidy352]

I think all they did was turn up the speed on the current iPhone CPU to 600mhz (last I remember the current iPhone 3G CPU is rated at 600mhz but Apple runs it at 412mhz) and add 128MB of RAM.

I'm pretty sure the article says it's the ARM Cortex, which is a whole new processor.

Well the G3 is probably more powerful on a clock-for-clock basis than even the ARM Cortex A8. On the other hand the latter has NEON which is similar to Altivec, so maybe we should be comparing with an early G4. I would say that at 600MHz the 3GS has more computational power than a 400MHz G3, but I wouldn't bet more than $20!

The RAM is the same, but faster on the 3GS.

The graphics are likely better on the 3GS as well, what did your iMac have - Rage128 graphics? Yeah, the PowerVR SGX520 should be beating that.

Thanks - that made my day. 🙂

This is actually really bad news for anyone with a 1st or 2nd generation iPhone. That means that developers will be pushing the limits on their apps to the point that anyone with the older phone is ****ed, unless they want to pay AT&T $250 to break their contract.

But as kas23 points out, there's a huge installed base of users with the older hardware. What did they say during the keynote - something like 20 million devices (iphone and ipod touch) running the iphone OS? So even as the 3GS gains traction and the new ipod touch comes out, that would be a lot of users for developers to neglect.

So while I agree with you that you'll see more and more apps that won't run on the 3G (and other older hardware), I think the great majority of apps will, at least for quite some time. 20 million users is just too much of an audience to ignore, at least until a very large number of 3GS iphones and 3G ipod touches have been sold.

 

[casmith07]

I'm really excited for the future of this model over the next year or so.

 

[lord patton]

This is actually really bad news for anyone with a 1st or 2nd generation iPhone. That means that developers will be pushing the limits on their apps to the point that anyone with the older phone is ****ed, unless they want to pay AT&T $250 to break their contract.

For this, I am not looking forward to how many applications I won't be able to run with 3.0.

As others have said, this is inevitable. On what time frame, and in which manner, do you suggest Apple improve the horsepower of the iPhone?

I bet they would have bumped the specs a little last year, but didn't want to complicate things for the nascent developer community. But you have to go forward sometime.

 

[fr0]

The old iPhone is massively more powerful than a Mac Plus (which had a 8Mhz 68000), let alone the new one.

I believe the Newton was also more powerful with the Arm 610 running at a blazing 20MHz. Amazing how far things have come.

 

[DELLsFan]

This new iPhone is faster than my original Mac Plus!😱

Think about it. The iPhone is more powerful than some computers were 10 years ago! ... Hell, maybe even 5 years ago! 😱

 

[nagromme]

FWIW, DaringFireball seemed to think that the new Cortex processor would be much faster than the previous iDevices--out of proportion with mere clock rate.

This is actually really bad news for anyone with a 1st or 2nd generation iPhone. That means that developers will be pushing the limits on their apps to the point that anyone with the older phone is ****ed, unless they want to pay AT&T $250 to break their contract.

For this, I am not looking forward to how many applications I won't be able to run with 3.0.

Technology marches on. Things improve. But I disagree with your dire conclusion--I think things will be just fine for a long time for the 40 million users of "older" iPhones/iPod Touches.

Looking at non-games:

* New, demanding apps won't flood out THAT quickly. Your contract may be long over before you notice any widespread issue, if ever.

* If an app NEEDS extra speed then it could never have been done on our older devices anyway.

* If it merely benefits from speed, then that's great--it will still run our old devices, just slower, naturally.

* How many mobile apps are that speed dependent anyway? Most are not doing massive calculating, or are offloading the heavy math to a server (like Shazam). The speed makes everything snappier, but it seldom makes something possible vs. impossible.

* 40 million users is not a market to turn your back on. And the 3G is still going to be selling in mass numbers at $99, so the 40 million will keep growing. How long before the number of 3GS's is higher than the number of everyone else? A long time. But even a 40+ million user "minority" will still be worth selling apps to for a long time after that.

And looking at games, which push a computer's power to the limit:

* Desktop games have long offered different detail/quality levels to run well on different speeds of hardware. iPhone games can do the same, or turn their back on 40+ million customers. (Or, more likely, developers will target ONLY the older devices.)

* Eventually, certain games will push the limit in fundamental ways that could never have been done on our older devices. The existence of the 3GS is not the problem--our devices were NEVER going to play those particular kinds games (which will be the minority anyway) so we haven't lost anything.

I really don't agree that "anyone with the older phone is ****ed," and I'm very glad to see the platform moving forward.

 

[twoodcc]

glad to see this. i bet the ram really helps out with the video recording, editing.

 

[Michael CM1]

This sucks.

iPhone 3g chip supports OpenGL ES 1.1.

New iPhone supports OpenGL ES 2.0.

This will require developers of 3d apps to write 2 versions of their app.

It will fracture the app store.

Sigh.

Well, guess they should stop selling The Sims 3 and World of Warcraft since they won't work with every Mac ever sold.

 

[iSee]

This sucks.

iPhone 3g chip supports OpenGL ES 1.1.

New iPhone supports OpenGL ES 2.0.

This will require developers of 3d apps to write 2 versions of their app.

It will fracture the app store.

Sigh.

The alternative is to not improve, which is worse.

Also, I'm pretty sure (correct me if I'm wrong) the newer GPU continues to support ES 1.1, so app writers have the choice to support all devices with one code base.

 

[PlaceofDis]

this is the reason i will be upgrading from my first gen. the new features of the 3G were nice, but the performance boost will be the most noticeable change of all on the newest model.

 

[BG-Mac]

Still on the fence about whether or not to upgrade from my current 3G. Knowing me I'll end up biting the bullet and paying the $499.. 🙁

 

[nagromme]

Still on the fence about whether or not to upgrade from my current 3G. Knowing me I'll end up biting the bullet and paying the $499.. 🙁

My thinking: if I get a 3GS now, it will be very hard to justify getting a 2010 iPhone. By waiting, not only do I avoid paying a contract penalty, I get a much better iPhone 🙂

 

[chrmjenkins]

My thinking: if I get a 3GS now, it will be very hard to justify getting a 2010 iPhone. By waiting, not only do I avoid paying a contract penalty, I get a much better iPhone 🙂

Personally, I think a 2010 iphone would be an aesthetic upgrade only. The guts won't change (but a 2011 iphone should have a cortex A9). I wouldn't mind a hardware/aesthetics alternating cycle, as that's what it seems to be. For instance, I could have lived with the first gen iphone while the 3G was out (I'd only miss the nav really), but the silicon geek in me is screaming YOU NEED THIS PHONE.

 

[jhsfosho]

I don't think this is a big enough of a performance boost to warrant the upgrade for most current iphone users. Only the 1st gen iphone users or people that are just getting an iphone for the first time will be getting an iphone 3gS. And maybe some die hard apple fans or developers.

 

[TheOrioles33]

Still on the fence about whether or not to upgrade from my current 3G. Knowing me I'll end up biting the bullet and paying the $499.. 🙁

If you can afford it, just do it man. Why wait? I ordered 1 for me and 1 for my wife. I have the 3G and she has my 1st gen hand-me-down. Cant wait!! If we sat around always "waiting until next year" nothing would ever get done in the world. 😀

 

[casmith07]

My thinking: if I get a 3GS now, it will be very hard to justify getting a 2010 iPhone. By waiting, not only do I avoid paying a contract penalty, I get a much better iPhone 🙂

This is my thinking in porting over from VZW. The iPhone, to me, has finally reached a point with the hardware that incremental updates each year would not really justify a new purchase, FOR ME personally. Same reason I really have yet to update my MacBook Pro from 2007.

 

[kiranmk2]

Anyone know what video this iphone will decode? 720p? 1080p? Obviously pointless on an HVGA screen, but the same chips inside a new AppleTV or an AppleTV app for the iphone and accompanying HDMI-output dock could be intreguing

 

[diamond.g]

So the SGX, puts the iPhones 3Gs at what, Xbox 1 level of graphics? Maybe even Wii level?

 

[nagromme]

Personally, I think a 2010 iphone would be an aesthetic upgrade only. The guts won't change (but a 2011 iphone should have a cortex A9). I wouldn't mind a hardware/aesthetics alternating cycle, as that's what it seems to be. For instance, I could have lived with the first gen iphone while the 3G was out (I'd only miss the nav really), but the silicon geek in me is screaming YOU NEED THIS PHONE.

The processor may not advance next year--who knows--but knowing Apple, something else will, not just shape/appearance. Battery life? Front-facing camera? Camera flash? WiFi N? And the change I want most: 64 GB? And Apple's apparently at work on its OWN chips for... something!

Meanwhile, the silicon geek in me likes the frosted side!

If you can afford it, just do it man. Why wait? I ordered 1 for me and 1 for my wife. I have the 3G and she has my 1st gen hand-me-down. Cant wait!! If we sat around always "waiting until next year" nothing would ever get done in the world. 😀

But if we control our compulsion to consume just HALF the time, we'll still get the same things done... at half the cost 🙂 I seek a happy medium. Every other upgrade* is my plan (just like I do with Adobe software and iLife).

* Unless my iPhone app (don't ask, it doesn't even exist yet 😱 ) makes money, and then I could decide that my old phone PAID for my new one. And, you know... I'd need it for testing, right? Yeah, that sounds good!

 

[chrmjenkins]

Anyone know what video this iphone will decode? 720p? 1080p? Obviously pointless on an HVGA screen, but the same chips inside a new AppleTV or an AppleTV app for the iphone and accompanying HDMI-output dock could be intreguing

The chipset is capable of 720p. This is the same as what the TI OMAP 3430 claims.

 

[wilycoder]

The alternative is to not improve, which is worse.

Also, I'm pretty sure (correct me if I'm wrong) the newer GPU continues to support ES 1.1, so app writers have the choice to support all devices with one code base.

So app writers like myself will have 3 options:

write code in ES 1.1 and not take advantage of ES 2.0 features. lame.

write dual render paths for ES 1.1 and ES 2.0. lame.

write ES 2.0 code and tell ES 1.1 phones to get lost. also lame.

there will need to be some mechanism in the app store to determine which apps can run on which phones. do they already have this mechanism for the edge and 3g phones? i'm pretty sure that every single app on the store right now can run on any iphone currently shipping...