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July 10, 2009
I Scream for iPhone
Dear Larry,
My iTunes is prompting me to upgrade my iPhone software.
Should I be doing that? Is upgrading to the new iPhone 3Gs worthwhile?
M. B.
Dear M. B.,
Apple recently released two major upgrades: (1) A software
upgrade for all existing iPhones that adds a host of new features, and (2) A new
iPhone model itself, the iPhone 3Gs, which replaces the iPhone 3G.
Because it’s free and works quite well, the 3.0 software
update is really a no-brainer. Whether you should consider upgrading your older
iPhone to the new 3Gs is another story entirely; we’ll address that later in
this column.
The 3.0 software update brings a bevy of desired features to
the iPhone (regardless of the model you own). The biggest by far is Cut, Copy,
and Paste. Previously, if you wanted, say, to copy the text from one
appointment, contact, or email to another, you had no choice but to retype it
all. And if you wanted to include text from a website in an e-mail or some other
item, forget about it—it wasn’t even a viable option. Version 3.0 puts an end to
all that. You now can tap on any text, and a pop-up with options to select text
to cut or copy—or to paste previously cut or copied text—will appear just above
the text.
With older iPhones, you had the option of typing text on a
cramped “Portrait” keyboard or on a nice and wide “landscape” keyboard if you
tilted your iPhone 90 degrees. Not so when composing an e-mail, and, of course,
that’s when a landscape keyboard really comes in handy. That problem has now
been remedied in the new version.
Add to this the ability to search through all contacts,
appointments, e-mails, music, and apps at once via Spotlight Search, picture
messaging (once AT&T supports it later this year), parental controls, along with
a host of other niceties, and you’d be hard-pressed to not find something to
like. And the fact that Apple provides it free of charge to all existing iPhone
users is just icing on the cake. Way to go, Apple!
In addition, the new iPhone 3Gs delivers its own set of
improvements. The big ones are speed (three times faster than the 3G), 25%
longer battery life, and a 3-megapixel camera now capable of recording video.
(The 3Gs comes with voice dialing too, but its implementation is admittedly
quite poor. Apple still has its work cut out for it in this area.)
Depending on when you originally purchased your current iPhone
and how much music and video you plan to store on the new one, the cost of
upgrading to the 3Gs would fall somewhere between $199 and $499. But, believe it
or not, there’s a very easy—and perfectly legal—way to reduce that price
substantially—if not all the way to $0! If you want to know how, write to me at
larry.schneider@accentoncomputers.com.
This is Larry Schneider, logging off.
