Grace Chng looks ahead to what the launch of the 3G S will be like this week.
FANS will get their hands on the next gen iPhone 3G S (S for speed) this coming Friday when SingTel starts selling it in Singapore.
Peek at SingTel’s website on Monday morning to find out how much you’ve to shell out for the fancy cool phone.
Before I share my views on pricing, let’s find out what has happened since SingTel started selling Apple’s cool phone on August 22 last year. Prior to the launch, tens of thousands of people signed up on SingTel’s website to book the phone and SingTel planned an elaborate event which included fireworks to welcome the iPhone to Singapore.
Fans queued around ComCentre, SingTel’s headquarters near Orchard Road, some for as long as 24 hours before the first customer got his hands on the iPhone just after midnight on August 22. They paid anything from about $0 to over $800, depending on their data usage and calling habits.
Yet after being in the market for less than a year, people are again excited by the prospects of a new iPhone.
Discarding the fan boys who will buy anything that comes out from the California-based Apple, the excitement is in the improved hardware and significant new software features.
It’s common knowledge now that the new iPhone can cut-and-paste, forward messages and send MMS (multimedia messaging) which are common features on other phone brands.
Existing iPhone users who have upgraded to the 3.0 operating system software in the last two weeks would have found that they could do this, plus search their entire phone contents and view anything in landscape mode from SMS to web pages.
However, it’s only with the hardware that you get two significant features. The 3 megapixel camera is miserly and is still way behind what other phone makers are offering.
But the focus feature gets my top marks. A blue square focuses on the centre of the image when you camera is switched on. Move the square to another spot on the screen and it focuses there. The camera does the rest and you get sharp images
Capturing video clips, I believed, has always been a pain. Not the actual shooting but the hours of editing that has to go with it when you only want a 5-minute clip. The iPhone’s on-screen editing makes this a snap.
Once you’ve shot what you want, you can playback the video clips. A toolbar appears at the top of the iPhone screen. Tap on where you want the clip to start and tap again on where you want to end.
Then select: Post to YouTube, send it as an e-mail or save it as a file. Voila! It’s that simple.
For these reasons, people are excited about the new gizmo. SingTel is planning another big event – maybe with fireworks again – as tens of thousands have again signed up on SingTel’s website to book or ask for more information on the new phone.
The telco is one happy company as the iPhone has been its bestselling smartphone, topping the charts each month since it hit the street in August last year. It carries no more inventory of the older 16GB iPhone as customers have cleared out its shelves.
But what of the pricing for the iPhone 3G S?
Contracts of the earliest SingTel iPhone customers are shy of a year. To get a new phone, they would have to break their contracts and pay full price for a new phone or they would have to add two extra years to the contract and pay a subsidised hardware fee. This may cause SingTel to lose a few customers.
Instead, I think customers will get to continue with their existing contracts but pay for the hardware. When the new phone was announced, the price was US$199 (S$289) and US$299 (S$433) for the 16GB and 32GB versions respectively.
I think SingTel will charge less than those prices, in the range of $150 to $350 for either of those two models.
The money is not in the device but the data revenue that SingTel will get. I, for example, have been accessing the Web more frequently from reading news to booking movie tickets since I’ve been using the iPhone. It’s a similar story with other iPhone users.
I’m waiting for Monday morning when SingTel announces the prices. But I’m 80% pretty sure that I’ll be getting one.
Grace Chng has been following Apple’s fortunes for more than two decades.
Tags:
apple,
iphone 3gs,
technology
Smith Williams
nice blog
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Check out their hilarious sample video here: http://budurl.com/ipopit2
Wassup with the fuss over megapixels?
As a tech-blog, it should already know that Megapixels does not equate to picture quality. Nor does most people need anything more than 3-4MP really. A 4R photo is just about 3MP.
Hell, a FullHD screen is only 2MP.
I (many people, for that matter) have taken 5MP photos that rival that of 12-14MP photos, with a normal point and shoot camera mind you. I only understand how DLSR works, but have absolutely no experience with it.
The only time you need anything more than 2MP (or 3MP in this case) is when you want to:
1. blow up shots
2. print photos that are larger than 4R
3. view these photos on a monitor/tv whose resolution exceeds 2048x1536 (FullHD = 1920x1080)
Is anybody gonna do that with the iPhone? Unlikely. I doubt anybody wants to upload or 'MMS' a 10MP .jpg picture that is 2.2mb. Serious photographers wouldn't be using phone cameras anyway.
Interestingly, if you really look around, you'd find pictures taken by the iphone's 2MP camera that rival many larger MP shots.
First, comparing battery powered speakers beside desktop speakers, then now this. It's like comparing a lorry beside a car and saying that a lorry is better suited for house moving.
Nowonder I don't read digital life for my tech news. Digital Life out to find the right people for their articles.
P.S - This is just a blunt and straightforward rant. This can either be taken as an offence (which it isn't. Coz, if it is, it's like me being offensive because I said an orange is not red), or be taken constructively.
Youtube, check email, navigate singapore and get the weather and stocks , video recording ,a compass and still I can't video call my Granny or bluetooth a photo/mp3 to my friend ? Premium Phone ?
But the real pity seems to be seeing someone giving a go at other commentor's English grammar .
YYC , I think Falali sucks but I do really admire their speed , just like I do admire your English more than my English teacher ..happy ?
And if you are really happy. its really really nothing fascinatiing,nothing capitivating...just a phone my friend .
Price for new subscribers is OK imo. I will prob get one since my M1 contract finishing soon. Bye bye M1.
I agree that it sucks for those who want to upgrade, but I want to say one thing.
is the surprise real or you just acting?
unless this is your first handphone, you wil know that this is standard practice here. if you take a high subsidy (like me, I took a subsidised Nokia N95) and then cannot change handphone for 2 years, or else must pay a lot. That's actually why I cannot change to the iphone last year although i also wanted it **** bad.
so, now it's your turn, those who bought ST iphone 3G also got their share of high subsidies already, and now you want another subsidy?
At the end of the day, either ST charges you, or charges others (like me) high price for the handphoen to subsidies you. if they give you $100 off, it surely mean that I must pay $100 more. UNFAIR. you should pay more if you die die want to upgrade your iphone.
or else, how, when Apple launch the iPhone 4G next year, then how, give you another subsidiesd handphone, where will it end? for me, I know this will happen, when it does, I will not be upgrading, I have to hold on for 2 years and then see how, wait for iphone 4GS!!!
Also, you only blame ST, to be fair, I think Apple shares part of the blame - personally I blame both for the price.
I read in the US newspapers that Apple charges AT&T a lot for getting it. Prob ST pay a lot too ... why you think apple give them and not SH or M1, clearly it's cos ST offer to pay them MORE. sounds liek football again, consumers pay too much 'cos of greedy football clubs and cable tv companies go crazy and bid so high for them.
Anyway, another option is if buy from those traders, those i think are most pure free market players, no funny subsidies or other BS, just best price deal.
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