Upgrading to the iPhone 3G S
June 25, 2009
by Walter S. Mossberg
Here are a few questions I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.
In your review of the new iPhone 3GS, you said that AT&T had changed its upgrade policy so some buyers of the previous model could get the new-customer price earlier than planned. Can you explain this in more detail?
Almost all cellphones in the U.S. are subsidized by the carriers to bring down prices. Typically, existing customers—who have already benefited from a subsidy—can’t upgrade at the lower new-customer price (in this case $199) until they reach a point in their contracts where this subsidy has been recovered. These dates vary, based on a formula that takes into account things like the customer’s monthly spending rate.
When some early adopters of the 2008 iPhone model, the 3G, discovered they wouldn’t immediately qualify for this $199 “standard upgrade” price—the same as the new-customer price—they got angry. So AT&T made a concession, but only a partial one. It declared that any customer who had been told he or she couldn’t get the $199 price until sometime in July, August or September of 2009 would in fact now be able to qualify for that lower price starting on the first day of availability.
This concession doesn’t apply at all to owners of the original 2007 iPhone, or even every owner of the 2008 3G model. And it isn’t based on when you bought your 3G, but when the system told you that you could buy the new model at the “standard” upgrade price of $199. You can check the price AT&T or Apple will charge you for an upgrade by going to www.att.com/iPhone and clicking on “Check upgrade eligibility.”
I’ve recently heard that the new Palm Pre smart phone is unable to import data from the old Palm Desktop program. In other words, if you have Palm Desktop filled with data from a previous Palm model, you’ll be unable to get that data into your new Palm Pre. Is this true?
No. While the Pre isn’t designed to repeatedly sync with the old Palm Desktop software, Palm does offer a program, for Windows and Mac, that will perform a one-time import of your old data from Palm Desktop. It can also do a one-time import of data from certain other desktop programs as well, including Microsoft Outlook on Windows, and iCal and Address Book on the Mac. This program will help you move your data to one of the online services, such as Google, with which the Pre is designed to sync continuously. The software is called the Palm Data Transfer Assistant and is free at http://bit.ly/3lIaZ.
I am contemplating purchasing the 17” MacBook Pro rather than the 13” or 15” models because the antiglare matte screen is offered only with the 17”. How bad is the glare on the smaller screens and how cumbersome do you find the larger 17” MacBook Pro?
For a laptop of its size, the 17” MacBook Pro is remarkably thin and light. But I did find it cumbersome to use in coach seats on airplanes and to cram into small briefcases. As for the glossy screens, which are now the most common option on many laptops, they bothered me at first, but I don’t notice the glare now. However, both of these are personal issues. So my suggestion is to go to a store and see for yourself.
You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online for free at the All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.
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Comments
Walt – It is my understanding that the program that Palm offers to load PIM data for the Pre will only convert contact and calendar information. If you use tasks and memos, that information will not be converted and there are no alternatives, not even from third party developers. Is that true?
Posted by Bob Brown at June 26th, 2009 at 10:34 amWalt,
correction on the Iphone 3GS purchase. I switched to an iphone in mid may, 2 weeks before the 99 upgrade to the 8G 3G phone.
As soon as the offer was posted, I contacted ATT and they said I could either switch to the 16GB, and pay a restocking fee, or get $100 credit for 8GB.
I chose the $20 restocking fee and got a 16GB iphone for $20.
mike
Posted by mike diaz at June 28th, 2009 at 7:50 amre: iphone. I’m wondering Walt if you know what Google does not have its gmail, google docs, etc available as native apps for iphone. It does for blackberry, and that’s the only thing that’s holding me back from switching.
Posted by sean kerrigen at July 5th, 2009 at 12:09 amRegarding anti-glare on the MacBook Pro 13″ and larger: There is a product – a film (by Power Support for $35) that puts a matt finish on the screen without degradation. An Apple employee showed me one with the film on and it was quite good. Apple stores all sell it.
The trick is to be patient while installing it, slowly rolling it into place with a curved motion so that you don’t trap air bubbles. Better yet, wear protective thin gloves so that if you need to manipulate the edges you don’t create a permanent air bubble along the edge from skin oil. It is the same material people have used for years to protect iPod and iPhone screens and it is very durable. I use it on my iPhone.
Posted by Michael Koren at July 9th, 2009 at 9:08 am@Sean:
While I agree Google does not have a “native” app for its gmail, docs etc, what Google has done is put out the Google app for the iPhone, a wonderful free app.
This Google app allows you first to voice search. But then, you touch the “app” button at the bottom of the screen and you get iPhone formatted screens for a number of the various Google web functions, including gmail, google docs and so on.
Since accessing mail and docs (as well as doing voice searches) requires the web anyway, you have the functionality you already want. What is missing is downloading your emails to a client in the background. Of course, you won’t have that anyway unless you set up your gmail account for access, in which case the included mail app will work fine with gmail.
Posted by Michael Koren at July 9th, 2009 at 9:20 am> Google does not have its gmail,
> google docs, etc available as
> native apps for iphone. It does
> for blackberry
The reason is that the iPhone also runs Web apps. There is no need for a native version of these.
You just navigate to Google Docs with Safari, then click the + menu and choose “Add to Home Screen”.
Google has added iPhone icons to their Web apps, so you will see what seems to you to be a native Google Docs on your iPhone, however it is the Web app. Same with all the other Google apps.
If you’re staying on Blackberry that is not gaining you anything when it comes to the Web or Google. If you are into Google you need an HTML 5 browser like the one in the iPhone just to get started.
Posted by Fred Hamranhansenhansen at July 13th, 2009 at 6:46 pm