“It would be nice if Apple and AT&T could come up with some little extra boost for Christmas sales like, for example, a software upgrade. That was pretty much inevitable, don’t you think? The idea that the iPhone could go even three months without a significant firmware upgrade would be ignoring the reality of modern consumer electronics. Apple or AT&T will have got a few things wrong that will require a firmware upgrade to fix. And while they are at it, I’m sure the companies will add a feature or two, like TRUE 3G DATA SERVICE,” Robert X. Cringely writes for PBS.
“It is my understanding that Apple and AT&T are planning a fall rollout for full 3G iPhone service, with technical trials already underway in certain AT&T markets. AT&T’s (formerly Cingular’s) 3G uses a technology called HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), which is a combination of GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) and EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution). It provides average mobile data download connections between 400 kilobits per second (kbps) and 700 kbps,” Cringely writes. “Not as fast as any of us would like, of course, but the new service will be 3-5 times faster than the current EDGE network alone, making your iPhone suddenly 3-5 times faster than it was before, right?”
“I think so. The question here is whether 3G is already built into the iPhones shipping now or whether it will require a new model? Given that it is coming so soon after the iPhone introduction, I can’t believe that even Steve would make us buy new phones. It is very likely that a firmware upgrade will awaken the 3G within all you iPhone owners,” Cringely writes.
Much more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “pogo” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Note: Apple CEO Steve Jobs spoke with The New York Times’ John Markoff on June 28th. Markoff reported, “Mr. Jobs also said that Apple’s hardware design team had decided against using the more advanced 3G chipsets because were relatively power-hungry. As result, Apple improved the battery life of the iPhone. ‘We felt it wasn’t the right trade-off now,’ he said. ‘I’m sure that will all change in the future.'” Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ll take sync-able Keychain and Safari AutoFill (especially names and passwords) for the first iPhone update, please.
