Original 8GB iPhone versus 32GB iPhone 3GS

I ordered my original 8GB iPhone the morning they became available to order at the online Apple Store, so I had it for nearly two and a half years. Yes, I paid $599.00 for it along with all of the other drooling early adopters, and was then offered a $100.00 Apple Store credit when they quickly lowered the price. I never took Apple up on the rebate because... well, have you ever tried to spend only $100.00 at the Apple Store?

Anyway, my iPhone was my trusty companion for two plus years, and it was going so strong that I skipped the iPhone 3G generation entirely: The battery life was still excellent, and I had very few freezes in that time: I'm guestimating maybe four freezes in two years. Shortly after the iPhone 3GS came out, however - after my warranty and contract expired, of course - the screen developed a dead band right across the second row down of app icons. Through some creative rearranging, I was able to put apps there that I didn't use, but it was still a PITA within apps when I couldn't activate certain functions that appeared within that dead band of pixels. Mind you, I could see everything, it's just that within that band, the iPhone did not respond to touch commands.

My goal was to see if I could hack it with my limping-along original iPhone until the rumored tablet device came out, but recently - within the past few weeks - the old iPhone developed truly bizarre battery life variations. Most of the time it charged up fine and worked for days, but every now and then a charge would only last for a few minutes before going dead on me. Yesterday, the iPhone woke up and went dead within seconds, and that was the last straw. So, I hopped in the old pickemup truck and drove out to The Apple Store at La Cantera. Since I live on the north-east side of San Antonio right by loop 1604, that's only about a fifteen/twenty minute drive for me.

The store was slow, as you'd expect for mid-day on a Friday, and after looking around and drooling over the new 27" iMac - for a couple of hundred dollars more than a 30" Cinema HD Display, you get the same horizontal resolution and a quad-core computer! - one of the service reps hooked me up with Amir. I chose the black model, and with his little hand-held device, he had it up and running within five minutes! That's a far cry for the three day debacle that I went through with the original iPhone: An AT&T rep had to call me back a couple of times before we got that sorted out. So, I now have four times the memory, GPS, and all of the wonderful apps that only work with 3G or 3GS iPhones available. Best of all? My entire iTunes library fits in it with much room to spare!

Oh, did I mention that it was only $299? Freaking amazing.



They look the same from the front, but they feel entirely different. The beveled edges curve back more smoothly now, giving the new phone a sexier feel. Plus, the new one has a bit more heft to it. Things must be tightly packed in there! Feels like a silver ingot, or something.

I restored the phone from a previous backup when I got home and synched it with my G5, and everything including my Jesus wallpaper came through the process perfectly. But now, like I said, it's synched with my entire iTunes library instead of just selected playlists.



The look is also sexier, and the totally smooth back also has a lot to do with the sexy feel. It's a major finger smudge magnet, though. One nice thing about being a guitarist is that I wash my hands several times a day before I play, so I don't smudge up stuff too bad, and I also hardly ever get colds or the flu (I think not having a wife and/or kids has a lot to do with that too).

Oh, and Happy Halloween!



Nothing scary there. Well, scary beautiful and scary sexy, maybe.