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The biggest reason to NOT buy an iPhone 3GS?

att or apple

coolwater said:
Thanks to all those TEXT MSG fees which costs practically nothing. :mad:
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are we talking about ATT here or apple, because

A) I don't think ATT has 25 billion lying around
B) apple doesn't make any money off the exorbitant ATT SMS fees.
 
tivoboy said:
are we talking about ATT here or apple, because

A) I don't think ATT has 25 billion lying around
B) apple doesn't make any money off the exorbitant ATT SMS fees.
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as of march it is over 2 billion in cash per google finance
 
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I have thought long and hard about this and for once apple/02 ain't getting my money.
They will next year though
 
The biggest reason not to get a 3G S? Probably the 2012 or 2013 iPhone... but I hear the 2017 iPhone is gonna be more than just a "minor" upgrade too. You should probably wait at least 10 years in my opinion, because the next upgrade is always less than a year away!


Seriously, if you can't afford it stop trying to rationalize it with all these useless threads.
 
Whats wrong with upgrading now? For all we know, there might not be an iPhone next year. Ill enjoy my 3Gs now and worry about the next iPhone when the time arises.

Plus, I should be able to sell it for what I bought it for next year anyways. That was the deciding factor for me.
 
jpk32092 said:
Well if you already have a 3g...

The biggest reason not to buy a 3GS is because Amazon sells compasses for 6 bucks.
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Seriously? I hope you are kidding because thats a terrible comparison. Thats like me saying "Yeah I was going to upgrade my Pentium 4 to a Core 2 Duo but really the only benefit I can see is that the new system has a memory card reader." See how idiotic that sounds? Apply that to what you said. Faster speeds, more ram, double the storage at a lower cost point, more features? Oh right, none of those matter.
 
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whyamihere said:
while i feel i can survive without video or a compass, AT&T has basically made the decision for me. i can't upgrade until december without paying $200 more. let's face it, $399 is not reasonable for the hardware changes from the 3G, and come december it will be too close to the next release for an even better phone. thanks at&t for making the decision easy, i think.
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This is exactly how I feel. I'm not eligible for the full subsidy until December, which then puts me 6 months away from the next phone. If I buy in Sept I get caught in the same upgrade loop every year. Yes, I'd like to get the 3Gs, but it's not worth $400- to me, on top of starting over with my AT&T contract for two years. Doesn't make sense to me to pay a premium for the phone and still be required to start fresh on a two year contract. I think millions of people will skip this generation of IPhone for these very same reasons.
 
stockcerts said:
This is exactly how I feel. I'm not eligible for the full subsidy until December, which then puts me 6 months away from the next phone. If I buy in Sept I get caught in the same upgrade loop every year. Yes, I'd like to get the 3Gs, but it's not worth $400- to me, on top of starting over with my AT&T contract for two years. Doesn't make sense to me to pay a premium for the phone and still be required to start fresh on a two year contract. I think millions of people will skip this generation of IPhone for these very same reasons.
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The restarting the contract is the thing that confuses me though. I got my iPhone 3G in January of 2009 (6 months ago) at the early upgrade price of $400. BUT, I also have an iPhone 3G S arriving at my door tomorrow, and it ran me $200. Thus, as you can see, the early upgrade didn't restart my contract. Or at least it didn't reset my upgrade eligibility because I have been able to upgrade for the 2 year discount rate for over a month now.
 
Konz said:
The biggest reason not to get a 3G S? Probably the 2012 or 2013 iPhone... but I hear the 2017 iPhone is gonna be more than just a "minor" upgrade too. You should probably wait at least 10 years in my opinion, because the next upgrade is always less than a year away!


Seriously, if you can't afford it stop trying to rationalize it with all these useless threads.
Click to expand...

LOL!! I hear ya.

I'm eligible in December (if all my plans fall apart). If I get 3G S in December, then a new Phone comes out in 7 months - is AT&T going to let me upgrade for cheap? Hell no. I'll not only be in the same boat as now - but WORSE.

It's all a big wash.
 
adammull said:
If the 4G phone is amazing as some people make it out to be, would you not pay $500 for it? Didn't millions of people pay $500 or even $600 for the 2g phone with EDGE data?
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I was one of those that payed the $699 at release for the 2g iPhone, and still use it and not upgrading. I don't think the 3G S is worth it to upgrade considering the improvements they have made. I would rather wait for a more significant upgraded phone that they owe us.
 
I always used to wait for the next best thing, but it's nice to actually enjoy nice things now, instead of planning on enjoying them in the future. You only live once!
 
2G to 3G upgrade: 3G and GPS

3G to 3GS upgrade: Faster processor, more ram, better camera (3MP, autofocus...), video recording, compass, voice control, Nike+...

Seriously, how is the 3GS a "minor upgrade"?
 
anjinhamarota said:
2G to 3G upgrade: 3G and GPS

3G to 3GS upgrade: Faster processor, more ram, better camera (3MP, autofocus...), video recording, compass, voice control, Nike+...

Seriously, how is the 3GS a "minor upgrade"?
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It isn't, however some people only have the ability to see physical device changes as major changes. They could have put a teleportation device in the 3G S, but since it looks the same its only a minor upgrade. That is what I refer to as unintelligent thinking.
 
You're an idiot

uberamd said:
Seriously? I hope you are kidding because thats a terrible comparison. Thats like me saying "Yeah I was going to upgrade my Pentium 4 to a Core 2 Duo but really the only benefit I can see is that the new system has a memory card reader." See how idiotic that sounds? Apply that to what you said. Faster speeds, more ram, double the storage at a lower cost point, more features? Oh right, none of those matter.
Click to expand...

You're an idiot. You're on a crusade to try to prove to everonr that the 3GS is amazing and what not, and while doing that you try to make the poster you are replying to look like an idiot. Faster speeds? I'll save myself the money and wait three seconds extra on my 3G. New features? A compass sweet.

You're the same idiotic poster who was selfish enough to try to prevent current 3G owners from getting any sort of compensation. Greedy b@$*ard.

Maybe you have enough money to throw out on a phone that for most 3G owners isn't much of an upgrade.

Stop trying to make posters look like idiots. K
I have zero respect for you, and I'm sure most other MacRumors members would agree with me.
 
SephirothXR said:
I have yet to see if I'm even eligible to upgrade without penalty. But even if I can do it freely, I'll get stuck in another 2 year contract. Not only can I not switch to another carrier if Apple switches, but I also might not be able to get the iPhone 4G without paying for another upgrade fee. We haven't gotten word from AT&T if they'll reduce the upgrade fee like they're doing now for the next iPhone, which could be one of the biggest upgrades for an iPhone. What do you guys think? Would you be more inclined to buy the 3GS if you knew that you could buy the iPhone 4G without the upgrade fee in the future?
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Mmmmmmm, I'm still happy with my original iPhone? I got my stereo BT with a dongle for $30 so I got what I what at least. I'll probably upgrade in the future for a new one but not yet. I've seen hardware upgrades in computers since the IBM XT and Mac SE days and it just takes more to impress me these days.
 
jpk32092 said:
Maybe you have enough money to throw out on a phone that for most 3G owners isn't much of an upgrade.
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I'm totally with you. I didn't get the 3G when it came out because it wasn't worth the upgrade cost. Same processor, same RAM and the 3G speeds didn't matter much to me because I usually use WiFi. Just a warming over of the original phone.

Now, the 3GS is more compelling as a replacement for my first gen iPhone. Twice as fast, twice the RAM, HSDPA, better camera, 4x the flash, etc. 1,1 to 1,2 was a tiny change ... 1,1 to 2,1 is more like it.
 
The Price is the main reason & I don't think I would really use the video much so not really much point for a phone that looks the same but will cost me a bomb.
 
uberamd said:
Sad isn't it. If we had gotten that stupid matte finish all these "its just a minor update" people would be drooling over it.
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For serious. Even my initial gut reaction was the "it's the same" one. It's a lot harder to rationalize such big changes could be in the same body. The reality is that the faster processor and OpenGL ES 2.0 (seriously) are really huge. Sure you can say "oh I'll just wait the extra .5 seconds, lol," but soon apps are going to be pushing the limits of your two year old processor and the 3GS won't even flinch. At some point you're going to wish you had that double memory. If you're at all into gaming, ES 2.0 is supposed to be like night and friggin day compared to 1.1.

The 3G was just the original iPhone with 3G, GPS(very useful), and a plastic back(which people hated). The 3GS is twice as fast, has twice the memory, a magnetometer (lol, it's just a compass..right?), faster internet capabilities, and everything else we've already heard about. Stop bashing it because you can't get it yet.
 
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