No more iPhone 3G S?

[MrMaguire]

I watched the keynote for the iPhone 5 and I didn't see the good ol' 3G S in the line up of iPhones for this autumn.

I checked Apples website as well and they are only selling iPhone 5, iPhone 4S and iPhone 4.

Have they finally dropped one of the best phones ever made?

 

[cambookpro]

Yes
What more can I say. It's old and time to be replaced.

 

[Zedsdead185]

well, it is over 3 years old. That is pretty darn old in tech terms, never mind mobile phone terms.

Put it this way, when theres the iphone 4, 4s and 5 now available, why would anyone decide to get the 3GS? Its going to be incompatible with a lot of newly released apps, and I've got a feeling that iOS 6 will be the last version that will run on it.

 

[Catloverwrestler]

I'll sell you mine if you want one.

 

[Irock619]

well, it is over 3 years old. That is pretty darn old in tech terms, never mind mobile phone terms.

Put it this way, when theres the iphone 4, 4s and 5 now available, why would anyone decide to get the 3GS? Its going to be incompatible with a lot of newly released apps, and I've got a feeling that iOS 6 will be the last version that will run on it.

I am sure some 3Gs phones are working just fine despite they're 3 years old. It seems Apple forces people to upgrade if they want to enjoy new features. I think they should allow the software upgrades for older phones. If they don't work as well, then the consumer has the option to upgrade.

 

[TC400]

ATT may still have a few laying around.

Infact they do.
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/apple/iphone/3gs-8gb-black-refurb.html

 

[Zedsdead185]

I am sure some 3Gs phones are working just fine despite they're 3 years old. It seems Apple forces people to upgrade if they want to enjoy new features. I think they should allow the software upgrades for older phones. If they don't work as well, then the consumer has the option to upgrade.

Yes, I'm sure they are working fine. I still have mine about and its great, but its not future proof. Many people still have a lot of old phones, apple or not, that work fine, but they are just not up to modern day standards enough for selling as new.

Also, and i hate to bring specs up but, the iphone 3gs has a single core 600mhz cpu with 256mb of ram, and when compared even to the iphone 4 with its 1ghz single core and 512mb of ram, then it shows how underpowered it is. And now, the latest iphone has multicore processors and 1Gb of ram. It just can't compete anymore.

Now this wouldn't matter if new software was running smoothly on it, but its not, and these numbers just show why. The thing is, is that tech becomes outdated a lot faster than anything else, and with the current extreme competition in the smartphone market right now, they are advancing and becoming outdated a LOT faster.

 

[Pinkie Pie]

Because they make three phones. The 4 is moving down into the 3GS's place. Are they supposed to keep making and selling every iPhone model forever?

I am sure some 3Gs phones are working just fine despite they're 3 years old. It seems Apple forces people to upgrade if they want to enjoy new features. I think they should allow the software upgrades for older phones. If they don't work as well, then the consumer has the option to upgrade.

Uh, if you have a 3GS, you're allowed to keep it. If you're buying an iPhone, you get the 4 for the same price as what the 3GS has been: free. In two years the iphone 5 will be the free one. Sorry technology advances?

 

[MrMaguire]

I actually have an iPhone 3G S 16GB and I think it's a perfectly usable smartphone providing you don't try to do anything crazy with it.

I really did think that the 3G S would be available forever.

Can you imagine it, Apple selling the iPhone 5, 4S and 3GS.

A cheap but still excellent smartphone that people can chose as an alternative to one of those cheap Android phones that don't really do anything very well right out of the box.


Just my 2 cents is all.

 

[dontwalkhand]

I actually have an iPhone 3G S 16GB and I think it's a perfectly usable smartphone providing you don't try to do anything crazy with it.

I really did think that the 3G S would be available forever.

Can you imagine it, Apple selling the iPhone 5, 4S and 3GS.

A cheap but still excellent smartphone that people can chose as an alternative to one of those cheap Android phones that don't really do anything very well right out of the box.


Just my 2 cents is all.

Why should the 3GS be there and not the 4? Also this phone held a lot of developers back.

 

[MrMaguire]

Why should the 3GS be there and not the 4? Also this phone held a lot of developers back.

I suppose it's just my personal preference.

Then there is the fact that the 3G S takes a standard sim card, and of course the iPhone 4 has the antenna issue (unless Apple completely fixed that).

Plus the performance difference between the 3GS and the 4 is pretty small.

Now if they could ship the 3G S with a retina display that would be cool.

----------

I'll sell you mine if you want one.

I already have one. But thanks for the offer.

 

[KPOM]

I was a bit surprised they didn't keep the 3GS around for emerging markets like India and China where historically Apple doesn't sell as well because of price. I also noticed that the iPhone 4's unlocked price in the US is $450. The 3GS was $375 last year. Both the 3GS last year and 4 now are "free" on contract, so they also took the opportunity to raise the unlocked price of their lowest priced phone.

 

[Zedsdead185]

I actually have an iPhone 3G S 16GB and I think it's a perfectly usable smartphone providing you don't try to do anything crazy with it.

I still have a G4 iBook which also works perfectly as long as you don't do anything crazy on it, but I don't think it would be wise if apple were still selling that...

A cheap but still excellent smartphone that people can chose as an alternative to one of those cheap Android phones that don't really do anything very well right out of the box.

If apple were to keep selling it, it would very soon become similar to one of those phones due to the fact that it would have to be preloaded with iOS 6 and the most used apps would be upgraded to optimise for 6, no doubt taking up more memory and processor usage.

I see what your saying, but apple have never really been one to sell a super-cheap alternative. As in the kind of cheap alternative that can hardly do anything out of the box....

 

[MrMaguire]

I still have a G4 iBook which also works perfectly as long as you don't do anything crazy on it, but I don't think it would be wise if apple were still selling that...



If apple were to keep selling it, it would very soon become similar to one of those phones due to the fact that it would have to be preloaded with iOS 6 and the most used apps would be upgraded to optimise for 6, no doubt taking up more memory and processor usage.

I see what your saying, but apple have never really been one to sell a super-cheap alternative. As in the kind of cheap alternative that can hardly do anything out of the box....

I see what you're getting at, i'm just kinda sad to see it go. Though lots of people are still using them and still will be including myself.

I just like things to last a long time like that. I even still use my Nokia 8310 from time to time. Fantastic little phone, even in this day and age.


Plus I hate android devices, especially cheap ones.