What could possibly come after the
iPhone 3GS? The iPhone 3GSS, of course! Joking aside, turns out
Apple's already dropped the
4G bomb on one of its job postings in May 2009 while seeking for a "Cellular Technology Software Manager" with "expert knowledge of... WCDMA/UMTS, HSPA, HSPA+, LTE etc." That's right,
LTE. Now, we're not saying this means a 4G-powered iPhone is next in line in the annual product cycle, nor does this listing confirm Apple's favored 4G radio (be it a
decoy or an eventual change of heart), but given
AT&T's interest in LTE plus its prolonged love affair with Cupertino, it's pretty hard to not consider LTE as a realistic option on future Apple portables. Frankly, it won't be the end of the world if a 4G iPhone fails to turn up this summer -- most of us here would rather have something with improved battery life, real
multitasking, and 720p camera over those insane data speeds. No,
really.
[Thanks, Bryan]
posted March 25th 2010 11:35PM
@Sad Sack
iPhone screen is already too bright, I never have it maxed out. A bit higher res wouldn't hurt but not if it makes it look as crappy as the N1. Snapdragon still doesn't push as many triangles as a 3GS and even with 400 extra MHz the Android UI still doesn't feel as snappy as the 3GS'. IF you want widgets just jailbreak.
@grahamj
I don't have any intention to jailbreak, and I wouldn't know how to even if I did. I would rather have Apple offer this functionality themselves (but I'm not holding my breath for it - Apple allowing customization is an oxymoron). Regarding brightness, however, I'm referring strictly to brightness when outdoors under sunlight - turn the auto-brightness setting on and it will not be too glaring indoors. I'm not asking for AMOLED, since I hear it's even worse under sunlight than LCD. It would be nice if Apple put in an LED-backlit display (though I've never heard of a phone having this - only TVs). I just want some way to be able to see my screen better under sunlight with more color saturation.
As for processing power, I would like the new iPhone to have the same proc as the iPad (naturally, it would have to be an upgrade to the 3GS, and maybe technology will have advanced by next year to allow for a 1GHz proc to be less of a battery drain). I'm not terribly concerned with multitasking - I'd like it, but I can live without it for now, especially when most games save your state of progress when you close them.
I'd love a 4-inch screen, but I don't expect that to happen - Steve Jobs will probably just tell customers to get an iPad if they want a bigger screen. It would be nice to have higher resolution within the current 3.5 inches, though (for example, the Dell Aero packs a 360 X 640 resolution into its 3.5-inch screen.
@Sad Sack
Jailbreaking is easy, look it up :) All phones have LED backlighting - CCFL tubes are way too big and power hungry for mobile devices. The iPhone is already one of the best for direct sunlight viewing as they have a transreflective film behind the display which is fairly rare. Agreed that colour saturation could be better when using it but at least you can see the screen, better than you can say about most phones.
A bigger screen could be alright but of course you sacrifice size that way, I like the iPhones size. More CPU is always welcome but I do find the 3GS to be very fast pretty much all the time. I don't think extra speed would help overly much. I guess we'll know more about that once the iPad comes out since its CPU likely runs faster.
@hated one
"Will iPhone 4 g outsell palm droid htc nexus wm nokias Sony lg samsung smartphones on June of 2010,? Of course it will."
Nokia currently sells around 3 times as many smartphones as Apple. The next gen iPhone will have to do *very* well to sell 25 million a quarter.
@hated one
Will the Toyota Corolla outsell the Porsche 911? Yes,
Does the Honda Civic get better gas milage than a Aston Martin? Yes,
Does the Chevy Aveo seat than a BMW Z4? Yes.
Can the Hyundai Accent carry more than a Porsche Boxster? Yes.
Is the Toyota Yaris smaller than a Audi Q7? Yes.
Do ATT customers over over over pay for their service and limited 3G coverage? Yes.
Anymore FAQ? Keep them coming.
iPhone puppets remind me of the King (Steve Jobs) and his followers (iPhone puppets) in the Hans Christian Anderson story "The Emperor's New Clothes"
The kid who shouted "The King has no clothes" is probably an Android user.
@Ted S
No, WinMo 5.0 ;-)
@Sad Sack
5.0? lol
The kid will really be stoked when he grows up and discovers Android.
everyone knows iPhone interface is the easiest to use, hence why it sells so well among the average consumer.
personally i really think they need to up their hardware game with:
4G
AMOLED screen
8MP high quality cam
720p video
that alone will bring in more customers but i'd also like to see a LARGER SCREEN. maybe call it the iPhonePro???
but if apple do little or nothing with the hardware this year, it could very well be their worst sales year yet.
@liquidmonkey
Don't hold your breath for these things to happen... Steve Jobs has little incentive to offer real upgrades, since his iPhones still outsell the competition and offer a huge advantage with its iTunes integration. Just look at the 3GS last year - not much in the way of new features, just some hardware tweaks designed to provide better speed and less battery drain. Besides, 4G networks are just beginning to become available - WiMax doesn't count because Apple is (apparently) not going to build a WiMax phone (besides, all you need to turn the iPhone into a WiMax phone is a mobile WiFi hotspot). LTE networks aren't expected to reach the level of coverage 3G offers until @2013.
@Sad Sack
i don't see stevie boy pulling the trigger on any of these things either which is a real shame. this is why apple is going to lose ground. he has become lazy in offering inovation to the iphone.
how they still manage to outsell everyone totally boggles my mind.
4G - it needs another year to mature for sure. i think the EVO jumped the gun but i guess someone has to be first.
android is gaining ground but apple still has itunes and their app store which i guess are two HUGE selling points for people. although double twist works just as well ;)
i'm sure apple will always remain on top as their design and software is top notch, its just a shame they ignore the hardware side of things when it comes to the iphone.
if they improved that i might even consider getting one...
@liquidmonkey .
As you no doubt know, there are 2 standards for 4G: WiMax and LTE. WiMax is much farther along than LTE in terms of availability, but most industry experts believe that LTE will eventually overtake WiMax because of offering better data speeds and more reliable service. Nevertheless, WiMax is now available in several large markets, with many more expected by the end of the year. The HTC EVO is a WiMax phone, so it won't have any problem selling. WiMax should be available in most major markets by late 2010 or early 2011. If the EVO was an LTE phone, then it would really be jumping the gun ;-)
@liquidmonkey
No one cares about 4G yet. AMOLED looks nice indoors but nearly invisible outdoors. PenTile variants (like the Nexus One) look like garbage anywhere. I think most people would rather stick to the iPhone's current size than making it larger. 720p cam would be nice but I doubt many people would break their contract for it. In lower lighting (the majority of shots) the extra pixels wouldn't help quality all that much anyway.
@hated one
Will Apple release an upgraded iPhone this year? Between the iPad release and the fact that LTE is far from being widely available, it just doesn't feel like this year will feature a new iPhone, even though each of the last 3 years in a row featured a new iPhone. Besides, Apple would have already announced it if they were going to release a new iPhone this summer, wouldn't it? Weren't the iPhone 3GS and iPhone OS 3.0 already announced by this time last year? It's interesting that the next OS that will come out for the iPhone and the new iPad is, not OS 4.0, but OS 3.2.
If the american consumer response to the iPhone 3G is anything to go by they will think Apple invented it and complain about how their last phone had more battery life. -rolls eyes-
@Cy Starkman
Outside of San Francisco and Gina Tripani's little tiny world, most people love their phones, and don't waste time thinking about battery life. They just love having access to almost 200 thousand apps.
@Wesscoast
I use my iPhone for just about everything, but I also get constantly annoyed by my poor battery life (admittedly, it's a 3G, not a 3GS). I don't plan to upgrade to a 3GS, since it's only an incremental upgrade to the 3G, so I guess I'll have to get a Mophie Juice Pack or something until Apple releases a 4th-gen iPhone, hopefully with some real upgrades over the 3G/3GS generations.
It's not hard to decide. If people like screans let them buy phones with good screens, if people like multi-tasking let the buy a phone that does that from the start. Now for the people who likes smart phones. Let them get an iPhone. I've watched every single peice of hardware come down the line. Non will do it. Not one. People who played with they iPhones fresh out the box. Will love it for a time, some will move on. Most will question one word that will change everything..... JAILBREAK with this I can easily take my phone and establish multi tasking like the palm pre, htc style themes android thems or dang near whatever I want to do. I'm getting an ipad wifi only and with an app fro
the jail break I will tether my 3g signal to my ipad untethered. Why would I need a data plan. There several reasons apple is where it's at. The most important reason is because it dosent spread itself then. So it dosent get old. Most people use iTunes if not they played with an iPod or at least looked at an iPhone wether or not AT&T sucks. It's all about what u want. If I could do it all over again. I wouldn't make a move from my iPhone 3gs jailbreaked untethered shot out to geohot
720p video recording capability is A MUST!!!
@eka
LOL, with what lens? Seriously. All well and good you can get 720 lines in resolution at 30FPS (for about 10 minutes until the battery is dead), but the image quality is gonna suck anyway without focal length adjustments, zoom, and proper white balance.
If you want 720p video in your pocket, go buy a Canon 1300 or 3500 point n shoot. They're smaller than an iPhone (and a tad thicker) and have 3X digital, a nice lens, and a hell of a lot more features for photo and video. The lens on your phone if for the few times you are not otherwise equipped with a camera.
Dear Engadget comment posters. I own (and love) an iPhone. Someday I would like to use it on a half-way decent network. Stop stomping all over my dreams.
@soypancho
When someone builds a halfway decent network, I'll accept your agrgument.
In reality, they all have the same issues in NY, SF, and Chicago. Outside those cities, it;s hit or miss which carrier has the best service, and the difference is somewhat negligible. That said, AT&T regularly shows that on a national whole, they have the fastest and most stable network. Having lived in 7 different cities and towns, with my wife in 4 years, and having worked a traveling IT job for 3 of those, and with my wife being on verizon (because all her family is) and me on AT&T because i love my iPhone, Verizon drops WAY more calls and sprint has no coverage in a lat of key places.
@soypancho
you mean, ....a network that:
a) has the iPhone, and
b) has a ton of unused bandwidth?
That's an impossible combination.
Only Droid owners enjoy such an empty world.
There is no need for a 4G capable iPhone since ATT is nowhere near of deploying a 4G network unless Apple scratches the exclusivity deal with ATT and slaps a Sprint WiMAX radio into it. I highly doubt we'll that happen although it would be in Apple's best interested to make the iPhone available on ALL networks. Imagine how that would sell.
@jeff0529 i wouldn't say the Evo is superior, it has more specs but i wouldn't call it superior. One feature no one will ever be able to match Apple on this one is namely the integrated iPod and iTunes connectivity on the iPhone. That alone is superior against all phones out there and that's why it's the platform of the future. Apple owns the PMP market and that's why they will own the smartphone market because people with an iPod sooner or later will want the iPhone and their life is so tight together with the iPod/iTunes that they will bear any short comings the phone might otherwise have (lack of multi-tasking, no front cam, no keyboard, etc) Apple just needs to make more form factors to cater different demographics, there is no question everyone wants one simply because the iPhone is an iPod first with phone capabilities.
If the 3Gs isn't much of an update from the 3G, then how Is the EVO much of an update from the N1?
3Gs got new hardware and software. Better camera w/video capabilities. Faster processor. Upgrade to 32gigs onboard storage. Voice-Over. Voice commands. Etc etc.
@Motlee
I thought the 3GS was a pretty huge upgrade. The significantly higher power was nice, and the addition of a video camera and compass were welcome additions. Given the fact that it was obviously going to run the same OS, what more could Apple have possibly done to make it more of an upgrade? Changing the screen resolution would have been too big of a fragmentation that would have come too early I think.
@ebgolfin Sorry, that was worded badly. I was trying to make the point that the upgrade to the 3Gs WAS a big step.
It will probably come out in a future iphone but not the next one (4g)
I want to know where os 4.0 is? If apple make 3.2 the big new os for the iPhone it will be really sad. If they don't announce it soon after ipad launch and wait till June I'm going to seriously consider just using my nexus one exculsivley
@stabbytheicepic There is but your statement tells me you don't know the history of how it became that way.
The iPhone doesn't have to open up to other manufactures and it will never open up. The whole reason to buy an iPhone is because of the tight hardware/software integration. If you want something that works exactly like the manufacturer says and is willing to provide the best support in the market if something goes wrong you get the iPhone.
@hated one Exactly! All these nerds and geeks get orgasms over spec sheets. Wake up, everyday consumers don't give a damn about that. If it was all about specs, the iPhone would have been killed a long time ago.
Really Engadget? May 2009. I'll say again. MAY 2009!!! Seriously, how is this news? We all know it's coming. The fact that they have one job opening for LTE programming (among 12 other languages) doesn't mean shit. Way to be late to the party with this "news".
I have no plans to buy an iPhone anytime soon (I'm on Sprint), but honestly, the next iPhone is the one I'm most interested in seeing. When the first one came out, it was head and shoulders above the others IMO, but since then, I don't think they've changed it much. Of course, they didn't have to, as none of the "iPhone killers" really panned out.
But now, there is real competition, phones that can legitimately be called "superior" to the iPhone (not saying one phone is better than the next, but you could make an argument). This iPhone coming up will need more than just the equivalent of adding copy/paste to show me Apple is interested in innovating.
I don't hate Apple, but in honesty, I think Steve Jobs is pretty much full of crap, hopefully he changes my mind with the next phone. The better the next iPhone, the better the next non-iPhone, etc, etc.
apple and att have been riding the iphone wagon for far too long now. sooner or later people are going to get bored with the phone and find out its not really a smart phone but a glorified feature phone. then the sales of this device will make so sharp a fall that you can cut diamond with it. they better do something entirely new or else android is going to really rule the world. and yes, i am a iphone hater
Wow, this is a pointless story.
No shit sherlock, I thought Apple would stay with 3G forever! :O
All i know is Apple better do something real impressive this year, i have an iphone 3gs but after seeing the wp7s.... im geeked!!!
If Apple follows what they did with the iPhone prior, they will wait til other phones have had 4G for 4 years before adding it to the iPhone. Then Apple will announce it like it's the first phone ever to have it.