Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.
AIA

Apple adds 3G capabilities to $199 iPhone

by
12th Jun 2008
Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco this week saw the veiling of its newest iPhone.

The two-hour keynote session focused on the iPhone 3G, which will be available from mid-July for just $199 for a standard model with 8GB of storage and 24 month service contract. The devices design is much the same, though a little thinner at the edges and the headphone jack is now flush to the side. This feature won applause from the WWDC audience as it means standard headphones will now work with the iPhone.

For business users, the iPhone 3G’s email will support for popular email servers and providers — including Apple’s new MobileMe, plus Microsoft Exchange, Yahoo! Mail, Google Gmail and AOL — and most industry-standard IMAP or POP mail systems. In addition it comes with more than a dozen standard file and image formats, including PDF, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, so viewing email attachments should be no problem.

You will also be able to synchronise the iPhone with Outlook calendar and contacts using Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync.

The leisure applications, music and video via iTunes, are up to the usual high standard and the iPhone 3G has a built-in camera too. Oh, and did we also mention that you can make phone calls and send text messages on it too?

But is the iPhone 3G a fashion accessory or a serious business tool? Without 3G support it was probably too much of the former, a kind of phone-enabled iPod. The new 3G version comes with just about everything a serious mobile data user could ask for, with the added bonus that it just looks and feels fantastic – and it’s not going to cost the earth.

In the UK the new 16GB model costs £159 on a £35 per month O2 contract (free with the £75 contract) and comes in either the standard black or a new white version. Jobs said $199 for the 8GB version will be the most Apple charges for the standard model in any of the countries. O2 is quoting £99 for the 8GB model on its £30 and £35 tariffs and free on the more expensive tariffs. Both versions are set for release July 11 and will be available in 22 countries with more to follow later this year. They will be available here from O2 and through Carphone Warehouse.

Tags:

Replies (1)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

Nigel Harris
By Nigel Harris
16th Jun 2008 09:38

Memory size not really an issue
When the iPod Touch and new iPhone were launched the biggest complaint was that the move to solid state data storage had drastically reduced the capacity of these devices. The old iPod Classic with mini hard drive goes up to 160GB and holds up to 40,000 songs. In contrast the biggest iPod Touch holds 32GB or 7,000 songs.

In reality, most people find 4-8GB more than adequate, so it's not such a big deal unless you want to carry yiour entire DVD collection on it! To put it in perspective, 8GB devices hold about 2,000 songs; at say 3 minutes per song that's 100 hours of music!

Thanks (0)