Looks like Apple is more positive about its position in the Indian mobile market after iPhone 4 launch in India. Its now going to re-launch iPhone 3GS unlocked version for Rs.19,990 which is approximately $444.
“Apple has divulged plans to relaunch its iPhone 3GSwhich was then only available through network operators like Vodafone and Airtel,” Ruchika Mehta reports for IT PRO India. “The new unlocked version will come with 8GB internal storage at a very reasonable price of Rs. 19,990 [US$444].
Apple’s latest iOS version 4.3 supports iPhone 3GS, making it a worthy opponent to similarly-priced Android devices with better hardware,” Mehta reports. “Apple has also said that iOS 5 will work on iPhone 3GS though it is likely that not all features will be supported.
Mehta reports, “For now, Airtel and Aircel will reportedly offer the iPhone 3GS while others will join the league after sometime. Moreover, users now have the flexibility to change operators as per choice.” The new version, which directly competes with Samsung Nexus S, misses out on a few features like Facetime, but you can’t have everything, right?
If you are on iPhone 3GS, will you upgrade to iPhone 4 for iOS 5? May not be. Almost all iOS 5 features work just fine on iPhone 3GS. Heres the video from AppleRumors.it, an Italian Apple blog, and this will put everything in the right perspective
Looks like iPhone 3GS is the next to be axed from the firmware updates mania of Apple. iOS 5, the next BIG firmware update might ignore iPhone 3GS and go with iPhone 4 and above. Eldar Murtazin is a Russian mobile phone guru who recently tweeted that the next major iOS update, iOS 5, will only run on the iPhone 4 and above iPhones.
Just one comment. Apple iPhone 3Gs wont be upgradable to iOS 5.x. iPhone 4 will.
Apple might go with iOS 5 requiring a minimum of an Apple A4 chipset to run at acceptable performance levels, then maybe Murtazin might have something. We will have to wait for WWDC to find out.
Apple’s support forums is abuzz with some more reports about iPhone 3GS having issues with iOS 4. But Apple is not acknowledging these reports. Whats happening is, after upgrading to iOS 4, some users claim to have encountered problems with MMS messaging, signal strength, random reboots, dropped calls, and other issues.
I just updated to 4.0.1 and not I get a weaker signal!!!! They need to fix this crap!! I have 2 bars in sitting in area that I have ALWAYS had FULL bars. Making the bars taller does fix anything.
I just did the upgrade from 4.0 to 4.0.1 on my 32g 3Gs and got an error with the firmware installation. Of course, I did a backup before doing the upgrade. I had to boot into recovery mode and do a restore, which took about one hour because I have so many songs, videos, and photos on my phone.
I had a perfectly good working I phone 3gs earlier today now I can’t make a call. I called apple and they couldn’t give me an answer. They said that restoring was a ” long term fix for now” lol. And it didn’t even fix it.
Daring Fireball has shared this interesting comparison between a Motorola Droid 5 megapixel camera and a iPhone 3GS 3 megapixel camera. A Chicago Sun/Times’ technology columnist, Andy Ihnatko, has put some side-by-side comparison shots up on Flickr. Looks like Droid’s camera looks good on paper only. Here is what Ihnatko had to say:
The iPhone has a 3 megapixel camera and doesn’t have any kind of onboard scene illuminator. But does the Droid actually take better pictures than the iPhone?
Overall, no. Over the past few days I’ve shot lots of scenes with both phones and the iPhone consistently produced prettier images. Where software inside the Droid is easily bamboozled by uncooperative lighting, the iPhone’s camera app almost always finds a workable and attractive solution. The Droid’s lens is surrounded by a super-duper-bright LED that works as advertised. In dim lighting or even in darkness, the Droid produces a usable photo instead of a black-brown smudge. But again, the hardware is often failed by the software.
Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner ran this interesting post on why iPhone could be easily termed as the ‘Product of the Decade’. A very interesting and thoughtful writeup. You got to check to checkout this article as well. Let me share a few interesting comments:
“Been to Home Depot lately? They’ve got the Christmas stuff out. Ditto for Costco and probably Target. Christmas, the day, may “come but once a year,” but the holiday season began in, what, July?Been to Home Depot lately? They’ve got the Christmas stuff out. Ditto for Costco and probably Target. Christmas, the day, may “come but once a year,” but the holiday season began in, what, July,” Mark A. Kellner writes for The Washington Times.
“I feel led to do something never done before by your columnist during 18 holiday seasons, short, long or otherwise. While I’ve always selected some ‘product(s) of the year,’ I’ve never anointed one as a ‘product of the decade.’ Though this particular product first appeared in 2007, its impact has been large enough to overshadow just about everything else that has come on the market since Jan. 1, 2000.”
Dont ask me from where I got this insider news. Most probably you will be able to buy Factory Unlocked iPhone 3GS at CROMA Stores around major cities in India. Guess how much it would cost – approximately Rs.39,000 (USD 800) for 16GB iPhone 3GS. No news about 32GB though.
Since its going to be Apple unlocked iPhone 3GS, it will be sold at CROMA stores which is not a GSM service provider in India. It might be sold by Airtel and Vodafone too. No news about whether Airtel or Vodafone would sell locked iPhone 3GS for less. Lets wait for another 4 days. )
Apple upgraded iPhone 3G with a massive processor and graphics speed to make iPhone 3GS the most powerful mobile phone in the market. With a new digital compass and voice control, Apple managed to persuade first and second generation iPhone buyers to invest in 3GS. Electronista has done a special iPhone 3GS review that focusses on whats changed in this smartphone. Worth a check:
Design Changes – Quite simply, there are very few practical changes to the outside of the iPhone 3GS. We do wish Apple chose a material with better grip and scuff resistance for the back, however, such as the Teflon that HTC uses for the Hero. Without a rubber or silicone case, there’s always a sense that the phone may slip out of your hand if you’re too careless.
Speed: The iPhone’s Centerpiece – Everyone who has had extended time with any previous iPhone has noticed that the near-instantaneous experience shown in Apple’s TV ads have been at odds with reality. Apps take longer to load, websites render slowly even on fast connections and 3D games sometimes bog down.
New Camera and Video – Outside of the CPU and GPU, the 3GS benefits the most from an upgraded camera sensor. The 3.2-megapixel resolution is still well below that of some challengers, which are now often at 5 megapixels or higher, but through our testing it’s clear that the new iPhone’s camera is almost uniformly better than its predecessor and may be more useful than those of challengers.
The Compass – While it positions itself as a technology leader and certainly is one in mobile chips, the iPhone 3GS is actually late to the field in adding a digital compass, also known as a magnetometer.
Voice Control - Again showing Apple trailing behind competitors even as it leads them in some areas, voice commands are also new to the iPhone 3GS despite them existing on BlackBerries and other phones for years.
Postalshack on Youtube shot this iPhone 3GS video at a mall concert:
Technologic Overkill will be recorded as the first music video shot on an iPhone 3GS. The song by XFYA accompanies the plight of a little blue robot and his attempt to be relevant in an increasingly technological world. Pretty cool video. Check it out:
Interesting information – iPhone 3GS bill of material and feature set shows that it costs the same to build 16GB iPhone 3GS as the previous model (8GB iPhone 3G) reports iSuppli.
“The entry-level, 16Gbyte version of Apple Inc.’s new iPhone 3G S carries a BOM cost of $172.46 and a manufacturing expense of $6.50, for a total of $178.96,” said Andrew Rassweiler, director and principal analyst, teardown services, for iSuppli. “This is slightly higher than iSuppli’s estimate of $174.33 for the original 8Gbyte iPhone 3G based on pricing in July 2008. Although the retail price of the 16Gbyte iPhone 3G S is $199, the same as for the 8Gbyte version of the original iPhone 3G, the actual price of the phone paid by the service provider is considerably higher, reflecting the common wireless industry practice of subsidizing the upfront cost of a mobile phone and then making a profit on subscriptions.”
Looks like Apple is more positive about its position in the Indian mobile market after iPhone 4 launch in India. Its now going to re-launch iPhone 3GS unlocked version for Rs.19,990 which is approximately $444.
