Well there it is.

No surprises at all in the new iPhone. Yes, the much-vaunted 3G is there, but the early specs seem to indicate that actual 3G connectivity will be twice as thirsty as ordinary GSM talk time, and I expect there’ll be a similar dropoff for data. GPS is interesting, but I don’t know how much better it will be than the existing semi-triangulation locator.
See, here’s the thing: I’m on the wrong side of 30, married, fairly socially inert, and living in Silicon Valley. I’ve got free Wi-Fi coming out my ears on all sides, and for the most part don’t really get THAT much out of having 3G speed – there are not a lot of times when I need that kind of speed and don’t have access to it. In addition, I’m not wild about the fact that the base 3G data plan is $10 a month higher – which means, when you add it all up, that the most basic upgrade to the new unit will end up costing me $440.
There’s not $440 worth of delta between my iPhone and the new one. Which is actually a good thing, because that’s money that could more usefully be put into, say, a new TV in time for football season. However, for all the people who held off because they wanted 3G or GPS, now you get a nice cheap option relative to what was available at launch. (Although if you buy an 8GB model now for $200, then add in the $240 from the delta in plan price, you’re still paying only $60 less over 2 years than you would have at the start, and lining AT&T’s pockets besides.)
Two things people wanted that I don’t think will show up:
1) Video capture, to which I say – yeah, but the problem is, all but the best cameraphones still capture video at a crappy 160×120, or at best 320×240 (QVGA). One thing I’ve learned pretty quickly is that Apple is reluctant to include a feature that they think sucks, unless they can make it *not* suck. And I think anything less than VGA-quality video will, in Apple’s collective mind, suck.
2) MMS. I would still like a better way of receiving MMS. As it stands now, though, AT&T’s default method for informing non-MMS subscribers of a multimedia message is what shows up on the iPhone, complete with URL and incomprehensible ID and password. Ultimately I think the Cupertino powers that be will still say “why do you want to send crappy little pictures for a quarter a pop when you can send much better stuff in email for free with your unlimited data?” And I can see the logic there, but it would still be nice to get pix of my niece right to the phone without going through hoops.
Oh, and to whoever it was I saw on a web forum saying that the iPhone ought to have 160GB of storage the same as an iPod can: grow up.