gdgt

I like mine. It was worth the purchase. Granted I was up for subsidy and sold my 3G for the same price as the 3GS, but I am still happy with the purchase.

Waiting for it to be on Verizon. Too many years attempting AT&T, Sprint, and other networks. A phone's gotta work as a phone first and foremost. I almost switched despite wanting to stay on Verizon. And.... heard too many bad things. Once it's not exclusive to AT&T, I'm all in on this one.

My upgrade date was February 2010 (I bought it day one, but had to get a new one after it fell in a toilet durring CES, so my date was pushed back). I checked again right now and I can upgrade right now!! I'm going to the Apple Store tonight!! I want the video and map orientation.

You should all check again on apple.com

I say Wait. Too Much Money.

I just bought a 32GB 3G S and the original 3G. I left Sprint, so no upgrading costs for me.

The 3G S was for me and the 3G for my wife. I've compared them, and the 3G S definately is faster in terms of productivity. However, the 3G is almost there with the 3.x OS from the functionality point of view.

Veronica, I would wait until December. It's only a few months away.

Part of it also depends on your financial situation, I feel. If you have the cash to spare, go for it. If you're like me and you're saving up for a new computer, then an incremental upgrade like this is not enough (And I do believe it's an incremental upgrade). There's something to be said for keeping with LYM (Last Year's Model).

Just wait though; I might just crack and give in to the shiny anyway.

Hey we a gadget people ain't we, I say get the latest 3Gs, that's what we do. Get the latest gadget and not worry about should I, would I.

I have just got my 3Gs and its faster, more options and yes a new gadget to satisfy my gadget need.

Get it, you know you want to.

I paid full price, and I would personally wait. The camera's better, the video is cool and the speed is nice, but w/o subsidy I would wait.

I did it, without the subsidy. I don't care. It ended up paying for itself after some...ahem...family gifts. Totally worth it. Super speedy, super quick.

It runs my video game emulators very well. I have a video of gpSPhone (Gameboy Advance emulator) running at 150 to 225 FPS on the 3GS compared to 60 FPS or less with frameskip on the 3G.

It's easily benchmarking 300% faster in my CPU intensive software.

The iPhone 3GS is a great phone and handles performance intensive tasks with a breeze. Well worth it for me.

If you aren't up for subsidy until December, why not hold out until the next revision? I'm sure it will be much more drastic and the only thing you get in the 3GS is video, compass (not all that useful...), voice commands (again not all that useful) and the better speed.

I'm going to tough it out until next summer :)

Go for it! The extra speed will be worth it. You only live once.

What are the main uses for your current iphone? Email, web, calendar, games, and/or apps? Right now there's a bunch of smartphones that are "similar" to the iphone. Blackberry tour(good for email), the new HTC android phone, palm pre, etc. HTC will be an awesome phone if you like to browse the web on the phone because it has adobe flash. The palm pre is good for running multiple apps at once. Iphone is ummm...well an iphone. I had the 3G but I switch to the palm pre because I wanted a physical keyboard and the ability to switch from app to app. Battery life could be better though. So I guess my answer is to figure out which applications you use the most often so you can find the phone that suit your daily lifestyle.

I'd wait. By the time your full subsidy is in effect the true potential of the 3G S will likely be realized through apps and app updates.

I was in the same boat for my wife's iphone 3g(i already got the 3gs on day 1. So i decided to get hers on ebay for a 1 day trial and her 8gb iphone 3g went for $345(before fees) shipped. Well i took the money the next day and got her the 16gb 3gs for $400. Well considering we only paid $200 bucks last year for hers i say we are waaaayyy ahead . Considering the added speed which really is a huge difference, the video which is awesome, the extra storage, and more it is well worth it to do it early. i didnt even have to ship out her currrent iphone until till the other was activated. So just to let you current 1st gen and 2nd gen owners of the iphone know, Dont be stupid. You can sell your iphone ebay for more than you think apply that money to the new one without even spending a dime! I hate to here people say "ohhh but i like mine the way it is...." come on people. You can use your current iphone to a. take a pic of itself in the mirror b. click on safari on your iphone c. post it on ebay d. sell it in 24 hours. e. following day take the cash to apple and get your new 3gs. f. activate it g. transfer your purchases from your previous iphone to your mac(or pc) &restore to factory h. go to ebay again pay for the shipping online &print it out.i. package the iphone and just drop it in a drop box @ a local Usps. And youre done! It is really that simple people. promise. Ive done it for mine, my wifes, a nd 2 buddies all this week and no one has spent an extra dime( i actually made an extra $150 because someone paid $450 for my 3g iphone 16gb when i paid $300 @ AT&T. questions?

All the reasons to get it or not are already out there.

My head said no way, wait, but my heart said go for it.

Guess what? I went for it!

I wasn't eligible until December, but I called AT&T and talked them into giving it to me for the full subsidized price. You could try that. The 3GS is a significantly better phone, in my opinion. It's worth some trouble/money to upgrade.

if you can get the better pricing through at&t or rogers, etc, I would. If you can't, only if you really really want it.
The 3gs is finally a new iPhone. If you consider the only difference between the 2g and the 3g was the case and 3g/gps. Same proc, ram, etc. Where as the 3gs is a whole new beast on the inside, not the outside. I am much happier with the 3gs, as it seems to be the iphone that I wish I had all along. for 200-300 its worth it, 600 or 700 hell no. well maybe... lol

Personally, I separate my gadgets into two broad categories. Core and peripheral. Core are the devices I depend on everyday. Your primary cel phone is clearly core. Peripheral stuff like gaming consoles, GPS gadgets, dedicated music players, video cameras, whatever - those it makes sense to watch for version upgrades and purchase new ONLY when you're getting a huge boost in performance.

But core technology is a different beast. These you live with intimately. And if it's a complex category like a smart phone, with substantial operating features and a pretty steep learning curve, then my feeling is that you keep as current as possible. Always.

Not because this particular subset of features provides better functionality "right now" but rather because you want to learn how it's features interact with your LIFE right now.

One small example, my original iPhone changed the way I use my computer's "contact" lists. It's become the central repository of a LOT of my data that I never kept in one place before. The fact that it's backed up with Mobile Me, synced across my phone, desktop and laptop, and instantly recoverable and re-installable should any device crash or need replacement was a HUGE step forward in my life organization process.

The original iPhone changed how I do things - vastly for the better. So that device becomes core and to the extent I can afford to - I'll constantly keep it as current as possible. Because it plays a central role in my life.

FWIW.

i think the next revison will be more substantial, but you can't wait forever right? So if you need a new smartphone between now and next June, get it.

i'm on tmo and off contract, and have been using sidekicks. that said, i own a 2nd gen itouch which being able to make skype calls is mad crazy from a non phone. i got it as my boss' tend to be mac'centric and i'm a bit of a mac hater as they release then update 9months later and really make a point of making you feel like you now own a brick. be it a tower, laptop, ipod or phone.

i think the itouch is great, now that it has copy and paste. so...

knowing i have to carry a phone for me, and an itouch to keep my boss' contacts and schedule on it, i am thinking of the 3gs but at&t is not as strong as verizon in los angeles. i love the thought of open source so android is big on my list, but the g1 wasn't perfect, and i saw the magic (mytouch) in london at a vodaphone shop, it was just okay. the hero depending on who the provider is, could be the deal breaker for me over the iphone, yes it may not have as fast of a processor, but it's open source. and wouldn't be great to have everyone making something better?
the iphone is pretty and sexy, but with all the tests, why pay for a phone outright that really doesn't do much more than what you have? plus if verizon picks it up in 2010 it gives you a bit of bargaining power when your contract is up.

Are you planning on buying a 3GS for sure in December at the latest or do you even consider skipping the 3GS? A little more information would be helpful. Do you care for the new/better multimedia features? If you look at the 3GS exclusive feature list, what things would you say are important for you and what aren't? How long are you planning on keeping the 3GS? What are the chances that you buy a new mobile in summer 2010? ...

If you are buying a 3GS for sure then it depends on how you use your iPhone. The faster speed and increased RAM was the most important hardware change for me. I use Safari a lot and the update really makes it A LOT more usable. Much less crashes because of the RAM, faster loading times and you can finally work (reliable) with many safari windows. Of course everything else also runs smoother, loading times are faster, possible jailbreak advantages (backgrounder) etc. Plus the extra multimedia features. But if price is an issue or if you consider to wait until December (which means either you HAVE to wait because of the money or you are all in all pretty happy with your current iPhone 3G and there's no real NEED for you to upgrade for productivity/usability etc. reasons) AND if there's a big chance that you want to buy the next iPhone in the summer of 2010 then I would wait and skip the 3GS altogether.

But as I said in the beginning, without more information it's very hard to answer your question any better than some generic iPhone 3GS review.

Simple answer: totally worth it.
Sold my 3G on eBay and covered the $399 penalty price with what I made off it.

My carrier in Australia, Optus, decided that I wasn't worthy of an upgrade discount despite spending a truckload with them every month for a number of years, so I haven't upgraded.

They've done me a favour, though, I think. I'm over the idea of a 3G S. Going to wait for whatever Apple brings out next year. It's bound to be a bigger update than this time around.