This new iPhone is faster than my original Mac Plus!
Yeah, and with more RAM, a color screen backed by a GPU, can communicate with the world, and responds to spoken commands. Oh, and even without a subsidy, costs far less too.
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iPhone 3G S Has a 600 MHz Processor, 256MB of RAM, PowerVR SGX
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Yeah, and with more RAM, a color screen backed by a GPU, can communicate with the world, and responds to spoken commands. Oh, and even without a subsidy, costs far less too.
"Background apps" are a great buzzword, but the iPhone DOES have a well-designed way to switch from app to app. Instead of leaving an app running when you're no longer interacting with it, it "pauses" the app (in whatever state, at the discretion of the developer) and then switches pretty quickly to another app--which is much like multitasking only with fewer resources. Need background notifications? Push does it better, faster, and with less battery/RAM usage. Meanwhile, certain key functions like alarm clocks, phone calls and music playback DO multitask on iPhone.
And thus, the iPhone doesn't face the problems of the Pre's background apps:
* They bog each other down (check the Pre reviews).
* You have to manually manage what's running, instead of just "doing what you want."
* They burn battery life.
The iPhone doesn't have "true" multitasking, but nor is it a conventional single-tasking UI. You can think of the Home button as an app switcher instead of Quit--in fact, I'm sure many people have never considered the question either way. They jump from app to app knowing simply that "it works."
Really, "true" multitasking has three main advantages:
1. An app can get work done (3D rendering, video compression, whatever) while you do other things. But that kind of heavy math work is done on a full computer, not a handheld.
2. You can be notified of incoming communications. iPhone OS 3.0 does this--BETTER than true multitasking, in fact.
3. You can switch between apps more quickly. I'll grant you that--but the iPhone (3GS especially) still switches pretty fast, and apps that load slowly are the ones that hog resources and wouldn't multitask well anyway (like some games). So I don't feel this slightly-faster-app-switching outweighs all the negatives of multitasking. (And this is NO advantage unless switching to an app you'd already been running. But I for one don't switch between the same 4-5 apps all the time, I switch among TONS of apps--games mainly--and multitasking won't help there. First launch is still first launch. Not a problem on the Pre with only 18 apps of course
I'd love to have "real" multitasking as an option on the iPhone, but in reality it wouldn't be useful so much as it would be a nice buzzword. I'm content with the "fake" multitasking and all its benefits. It's a good solution to problems the Pre hasn't solved.
YES, exactly. I've been wanting to write this up, but you've put it better than I would have.
Background tasks are just a means to an end, not an end itself. As you point out, Apple's approach is more appropriate for a cell phone/pda device.
That's exactly what I haven't understood about all the 'no multitasking' complaints about the iphone recently. It seems to do just fine for me multitasking the things I actually want to multitask on a phone, like listening to music while reading email, continuing a phone call while looking up a contact, etc.
But at some point, just how much multitasking do you want to do on a 3" screen? I can't imagine having an email window open next to a web page for example on a palm sized device. What would be the point? And if I can't see them at the same time, then why is the hibernate in a saved state trick not good enough, especially if it helps with battery time?
Speaking of 3" screens, I went to look at a Pre the other day. It was noticeably smaller than the iphone. The extra thickness wasn't as annoying as I expected it to be due to the smaller height (when closed) and width than the iphone. (Still, extra thickness is NEVER a good thing in a pocket device.) However, the small size comes at the price of a noticeably much smaller screen. I didn't get to play with one yet, but I imagine the screen size will be a serious disappointment. I can think it will only be even worse if you try to have two applications visible on the screen at one time.
I went to the sprint store today, and they too the phone off the display... I came back an hour later and they put it back because they said they were 'charging' it or sumtin but anyways when I played around with it, for like 2 minutes, the phone was laggy as hell and it kept on turning on the freakin palm pre trailer.
This is why the iphone wins. The pre is confusing and laggy and if someone got it they would mess up on pretty much everything. I have small fingers and yet when I put my fingers on the keyboard it takes up 2 key spaces, which is a BIG downfall. This is also why the software keyboard wins. People say the iphones soft keyboard sucks, but they don't know that actually as fast as a hard keyboard, and WAY more customizable. You wouldn't need a different phone for every country, that is why the iphone wins again.
Plus no keyboard = for screen space which = bigger soft keyboard as well I do mess up on alot of things but I mess up on hard keyboards as well, which isn't a problem.
This is why the iphone wins. The pre is confusing and laggy and if someone got it they would mess up on pretty much everything. I have small fingers and yet when I put my fingers on the keyboard it takes up 2 key spaces, which is a BIG downfall. This is also why the software keyboard wins. People say the iphones soft keyboard sucks, but they don't know that actually as fast as a hard keyboard, and WAY more customizable. You wouldn't need a different phone for every country, that is why the iphone wins again.
Plus no keyboard = for screen space which = bigger soft keyboard as well
I do mess up on alot of things but I mess up on hard keyboards as well, which isn't a problem.
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If Apple would just suck it up and copy Android and have notifications just show up in the title bar of the iPhone OS, that would make my day. I think there's actually some software available for jailbroken iPhones that does this!
Yes, that's what I'd like too. The popups would still be my first choice (since games pause nicely when it happens) but I'd love some control.
My ideal, I think would be:
* Notifications (of all kinds--calendar events, IMs, whatever) each have an icon, set by the app that sent the message, so the icon can itself convey info at a glance.
* By default, this icon appears nice and big in the corner of a nice big pop-up message (same pop-ups we have now).
* But for advanced users, a "Notifications in Top Bar" setting would remove all pop-up dialogs (other than those presented WITHIN an app you're using of course). Instead the icon alone (small) would flash in the top bar. Off to one corner, so tapping the top-bar to quick-scroll up would not be hampered too much.
* Tap the icon to bring up the usual pop-up and deal with it.
* Or HOLD on the icon to make it stop blinking (but it remains there for when you're ready to tap).
* If too many different icons pile up (could fit quite a few if the clock could be covered), then you'd see a "..." up there to remind you to swipe sideways through them.
* And a separate setting for what to do in full-screen apps (those without any top bar--games and video mainly). Same two choices: popup or top-icon (which would superimpose right on the video or game). Plus a third choice: no notification. Best for game-players who don't need some tappable thing appearing. The icon would still appear, but very briefly and non-tappable. It would flash a few times, play its sound (if any) and be gone.
* And on the home screen, use the little page-dots at the bottom to indicate a badge on that page. The dot would simply become a tiny red dot with white ring--no need to fit a number.
so tempting to get the iPhone 3G S model as my first iPhone but im also thinking of waiting for the 4G model next year. i have no idea if the next iPhone will even have 4G capabilities as well as the networks in my country though.
its a significant upgrade inside even though it looks exactly the same as the 3G. the upgrade is more than enough for me to be satisfied. now that we no the CPU has been upgraded and has double the RAM it certainly sweetens the deal.
its a significant upgrade inside even though it looks exactly the same as the 3G. the upgrade is more than enough for me to be satisfied. now that we no the CPU has been upgraded and has double the RAM it certainly sweetens the deal.
So, are you suggesting that the performance of the iPhone should not be increased? Ever? That it should be just as fast as it was on the day of the release, for all eternity?
Do you also complain when computers get faster, and developers write new software that takes advantage of that new performance? Should Macs still use 68000 CPU's? I mean, wouldn't increasing the performance of computers hurt those with older computers and fracture the marketplace?
Fact is that the app store is already fractured. Some apps require a camera or GPS, and iPod touch is missing both of those, and the original iPhone is missing the GPS. So not all apps in the App Store function properly on all hardware. So this really doesn't change anything that much.
Of course the CPU in 3G is fast enough for apps that are designed to run on the 3G...
what makes you think that you need to be a hiker in order to use the compass? Why not dismiss the Maps as well, since "I'm not a hiker"?
The uses of the compass were only hinted at in the keynote. Schiller said that when you combine the magnetometer with the accelerometers, you can create some pretty nifty controls for apps. I bet that the magnetometer will be used in ways that we can't think of at the moment. Hell, who would have guessed that some developers would use the built-in microphone of the iPhone to turn it in to an ocarina?
3.0 software will be available on the 17th June for $9.99
No news on hardware updates for the touch.
Yet without real API on the Pre, none of that matters since nobody can currently write 3D apps on the Pre even when the Javascript API is released.
I have been shouting my lungs out here, but no one seems to be listening:
What is the speed of the flash in the new iphone, is it quicker or not, this is (one of ) the real bottleneck (s).
What is the speed of the flash in the new iphone, is it quicker or not, this is (one of ) the real bottleneck (s).
Maybe someone asked earlier but what's gonna happen in the app store since Apple ditched the uniformity of it's touch devices with the introduction of GS?
We'll see games with options menu to scale down the graphic detail? Apps that require 256MB RAM only?
We'll see games with options menu to scale down the graphic detail? Apps that require 256MB RAM only?
No. Sega themselves said the original iphone was as powerful as a dreamcast. This is up to 2x better. Gamecube is further ahead of DC than that. This is somewhere between a DC and a PS2.
We don't know, so we can't answer you. What do you want us to do?
That will be the developer's choice if they want to make 3GS only apps. They won't abandon the 40 million iDevice install base already there.
How does making apps exclusive to the 3GS abandon the other iPhone users? Those apps weren't made for the other iPhones and therefore the developers know that's not their market. Should developers still make apps that run on Windows 95 hardware too? The sense of entitlement in this forum is through the roof.
I expect new Touches will be out at the end of summer when the Back To School promo (free Touch) ends. That's Apple's usual timing with iPods.
It would be pretty awesome to have camera/mic/GPS/compass/vibrate (good for games, not just calls) at least in the top model. But I tend to doubt it. Faster processors and more storage though!
In fact, they DO still make apps that run on old Win95 computers. And by the same token, there will be TONS of apps for pre-3GS iPhones, for far longer than our phones will even last. And you're right--the sky is not falling just because the iPhone didn't remain frozen while the competition advanced
There's an article on Apple Insider about how Apple handeles Apps on different versions of hardware (among other things). Scroll about half way down to the section "Keeping software compatible isn't easy"
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/06/11/why_apple_keeps_iphone_specifications_quiet.html
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/06/11/why_apple_keeps_iphone_specifications_quiet.html
No one answered even that.
. Someone should search though because it's very important.
No one answered even that.
We have to wait for the ifixit teardown. If you're really that interested, you can take a look at the article about Apple ordering NAND chips, see where they came from and try and find a datasheet on them.
Should I buy now or wait? Let's see what we get with the 3Gs (by the way, a stupid name).....
Faster processor.....current 3G is fast enough for most Apps....and OS 3.0 will make it even faster.
Video....A 'toy' that you will grow tired of.
Digital Compass.....I'm not a hiker.
Voice Control....Might be nice.
Any rumors on the 2010 iPhone?
The digital compass will be handy in street mapping.
The 3GS has twice as much RAM which should reduce the amount of applications crashing. If you think the 3G doesn't crash much, you obviously don't use your phone much.
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