Comments on: Apple's new iPhone 3G S sports new camera, video

Autofocus, tap-to-focus, and macro features join VGA video on Apple's upcoming iPhone 3G S, due to start shipping next week.

[SteveStrikesAgain]

As the satisfied owner of an iPhone 3G and other fine Apple products, I find it hard to express how pathetically inadequate this supposedly new "game changer" is. The original, disappointing 2MP camera - while admittedly pretty good despite its low pixel count - has now been upgraded to a whopping 3 megapixels. WOW! Does anyone at Apple realize many of their mobile competitors are already way beyond 5MP territory? However, putting that fact aside...there is still the revolutionary inclusion of MMS!! Um... Okay. Maybe that should have been built into the first OS or even the second - especially since Apple's competitors have had that capability for at least 2 years. But hold on...let's not forget about the cutting edge development of CUT & PASTE. Or VIDEO!!! Ditto ditto ditto. Reality check. What the NEW iPhone 3GS actually is (true to Apple's uncanny penchant for stiffing their first or second generation of loyal users) is a great phone that now includes all of the OLD features it should have been equipped with in Mark I. Cleverly though, Apple have successfully managed to "borrow" and incorporate many of these features from apps that have been available in their store for months - thereby stiffing their doe-eyed developers as well. So now, voice dialing is built in, along with voice note-taking etc.. True, some people will enthuse wildly about the digital compass (a nice, though highly-niched feature). But had Apple not established such draconian restrictions on GPS applications - out of allegiance to Google - the original iPhone might have actually included true turn-by-turn navigation or, at the very least, allowed TomTom etc. to be available for purchase. With a dedicated GPS app, there WOULD be no need to rotate one's iPhone to follow a map. So this astounding new feature is only merit-worthy in the absence of a glaringly obvious and much-needed application (which is still missing). The same thinking pretty much goes for the 3GS' remarkable "longer battery life". Let's be honest. When Apple can make a phone that hardly lasts a day on a single charge - even with 3G disabled and conservative iPod use - they have major chutzpah to trumpet energy consumption that is, like many of their other "game changing" new features, finally up to market standard. Yes, Apple have managed to include all of these really cool things in a single, fantastically user-friendly device... However, firing up the hype machine with such disingenuous zeal is exceedingly annoying - at least for Apple enthusiasts who don't fall into the slack-jawed, troglodyte fanboy category. In fact, all that this latest manifestation of Apple's marketing strategy manages to achieve, once their smarmy Video Tourguide finally winds to the end of his lacklustre presentation, is to provide Apple opponents with yet further ammunition for their form-over-substance argument. Added to the "great" trade-in deals existing iPhone owners will get when they want to upgrade, I can only conclude that the S in the new monicker stands for Sucker.

[JadedGamer]

Ah, a believer in the megapixel hype Hint: More megapixels on the same square area with the same lens means MORE NOISE and WORSE PICTURES. I have a 15 mpx Canon EOS 50D but without really good optics the images will be WORSE than the 10 mpx predecessor the 40D. Why? Because more megapixels is NOT necessarily a boon.

[SteveStrikesAgain]

There is a difference between falling for megapixel hype (which you are completely correct about) and Apple lauding the "amazing" new iPhone camera which - megapixels aside - can hardly be called a gamechanger - particularly in such a competitive environment. The point of the letter was simply this... Apple enthusiasts, like myself, have generally become far too accepting of incremental upgrades that are ultimately not that spectacular. Appreciating a fine product like the iPhone or MacBook Pro is one thing. Blindly refusing to acknowledge blatant shortcomings or over-promise by the company is another matter entirely. Perhaps if loyal Apple users were a little more vocal with our disapproval instead of swooning like crush-smitten teenagers when something new rolls out of Cupertino, the company might be forced to upgrade their "upgrades" a little more.

[jailbushcheney]

It is now irrefutable that cell phones and other sources of RF and EMF's cause brain cancer and a host of other acute and chronic conditions. Brain surgeon Vini Kuhrana of Australia and many other scientists around the world involved in research think that we are facing a health debacle that will eclipse tobacco and asbestos combined.Schools and city councils should be lobbied for change and wi fi should be taken out of schools and libraries. RF and EMF health issues should be taught in schools alongside the dangers of tobacco and alcohol. Our educators have a moral and legal obligation to protect our children from toxic environments.
Wake up from the microwave trance.
Check out: http://www.wirelesswatchblog.com

[jailbushcheney]

It is now irrefutable that cell phones and other sources of RF and EMF?s
cause brain cancer and a host of other acute and chronic conditions.
Brain surgeon Vini Kuhrana of Australia and many other scientists around the world involved in research think that we are facing a health debacle
that will eclipse tobacco and asbestos combined. There are thousands of
studies that support these statements coming mostly from European countries who have been aggressive about research while there is not one ongoing study in the United States. Portland OR and Los Angeles have adopted resolutions challenging the 1996 telecommunications act that prohibits using health concerns as criteria to question the placement of a cell tower. Telecoms will one day face huge liability suits and accountability. Schools and city councils should be lobbied for change and wi fi should be taken out of schools and libraries. RF and EMF health issues should be taught in schools alongside the dangers of tobacco and alcohol. Our educators have a moral and legal obligation to protect our children from toxic environments.

Wake up from the microwave trance.
Check out: http://www.wirelesswatchblog.com