3G iPhone Expected in June

MaineCoasts writes "The Times Online reports that European sellers of the iPhone are braced for 'significant losses' on unsold inventories of first-generation iPhones which must be cleared away for the new 3G versions expected in June. The three European distributors of the iPhone 'sold 330,000 units to the end of December, but industry sources say that European sales of the iPhone were forecast to be between 500,000 and 600,000.'"

£100 price drop in the UK

[ItsIllak]

The three UK retailers (Apple, 02 and Carphone Warehouse) have all dropped the price from £269 to £169 a few days ago. They claim this price is valid till the 1st of June. It's still stupidly priced - I can go into a shop, buy one for £169, go home, jailbreak it and that's it. If I follow what they want me to do and sign up for the semi-unrelated contract, I get screwed for £35/month and for some reason have to agree to being screwed monthly.

By comparison, my current phone contract which gave me a free HTC Tytn II is £15/month for free internet and £60+ worth of calls and texts.

Say no to the new pricing model - if you have to, buy an iPhone, but get another phone for free on a new contract and sell it to recoup the costs.

Re:only 3G

[Crazyswedishguy]

I'm having trouble determining whether above post was a joke... In case it was, I guess I missed the "woosh". Either way, I'm sure some people are actually asking the question, even on /.

3G doesn't refer to the memory, but refers to the network capabilities and how fast it can handle data. Currently, iPhones work with EDGE, which is essentially a souped-up version of GPRS. EDGE is generally described as 2.5G, and is not very fast.
The new iPhones will be 3G (HSDPA/UMTS on GSM networks), providing a much faster bandwidth for viewing websites etc.

Re:Phones doesn't require monthly fees.

[T-Bone-T]

No, since it just cost slightly less and have much less functionallity.

Much less functional? You're comparing the iPhone and iPod Touch, right? The iPod Touch is practically an iPhone without the phone.

Re:Features i'd like before considering getting on

[Ford Prefect]

My Sony Ericsson K750i has a decent flash.

You sure? My own Sony Ericsson K750i hasn't got a flash. It's got some naff white LEDs which light up, but they're on continuously - it's definitely not got a conventional, camera-style xenon flash tube.

Not that I care, of course - flash photography is the spawn of the devil. And is why I spend a bit too much on fancy, low-light lenses for my Canon dSLR... ;-)

Re:I'll take one

[Derek Pomery]

GPS isn't that useful in urban areas.
The accuracy when you can't get 3 satellites is no better than using cell tower information.
And many times you can't even get that. Indoors of course, nothing at all.
In the country, it is better, but then, most of the time when I want directions for Google Maps I don't care if it positions me to a "mere" half a kilometre of precision (which is about as bad as it'll get - in city you can often get to within one or two hundred metres).

Battery drain and increased internal demands of GPS on the already space-tight iphone isn't worth that for my uses of it.

So. Basically, hell yeah I'll take what amounts to a UMPC - especially at a discount.
And for the /. crowd - it now runs linux... (Damn Small Linux at the moment - more to come I'm sure - and still needs work on, oh, the radio and touchscreen)

Re:only 3G

[Anonymous Coward]

3G doesn't refer to the memory, but refers to the network capabilities and how fast it can handle data. Currently, iPhones work with EDGE, which is essentially a souped-up version of GPRS. EDGE is generally described as 2.5G, and is not very fast.

3G is not just about bandwidth, but has many other advantages over 2G.

A big advantage of 2.5G over 3G is the range, as you with 3G have to be within 2km of the base station (antenna). This is also the reason you will probably have to use 2.5G outside cities.

The new iPhones will be 3G (HSDPA/UMTS on GSM networks)...

No. There exists no such thing as UMTS on GSM networks. There are UMTS networks and there are GSM networks. (And most 3G phones can handle both networks.)

GSM uses TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) while UMTS uses CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access).
The frequency bands used are different.
The modulation is different.
The stacks are different.
etc.
etc.

Re:I'll take one

[plumby]

In some city centres surrounded by skyscrapers, possibly. My N95 can usually locate me to exactly the right street even in the centre of Nottingham. I don't often find the need to use it (I've got dedicated ones for on my motorbike and for hiking) but whenever I have wanted to use it, it's always been pretty accurate.