Tech Buzz: ayePhone vs nayePhone

I was all giddy to receive this email from Apple. It's been, what, like just a month or so ago when I was more than determined to buy the 1st generation iPhone, only to be stopped by my psychic boo. I'm still amazed at how he predicted Apple was going to release a new version at this stage of the year. You should be the marketing manager for Apple, Robbi!

And now that my wishful thinking has been translated into reality, Apple releasing a newer version of the iPhone, that is, I'm actually going to list a few reasons on why I should keep on waiting for a better - per Robbi's calculations - release. Although this may sound like sourgrapes, it's not.

Reasons Why Kricket Shouldn't Shell Out for iPhone 2, Just Yet.

No Philippine release until September, 2008: I've been to an Apple-licensed distributor store at the mall today, and the lady matter-of factly told me this not-so dream phone of mine wouldn't see Philippine grounds til Fall, not that we have that season here. I don't want to risk having it shipped. Precious glass surface.

2 megapixel camera: Uhh..my 2 phones as of now are above 3 megapixel, so I don't quite understand how Apple tolerates a camera resolution that was popular when I was in my freshman year of law, or senior year of college for that matter. I have a feeling their engineers have forgotten that camera phone resolution is supposed to, at least, go with the year ending. 2007 had phones released with 5, 6 and 7mp. It's 2008, do the math. Oh, and did i mention no self-portrait mirror nor flash?

Multimedia Drought/Insufficiency: 3G, MMS, TV? Yes, i know the phone actually has 3G but video-conferencing being the best feature that comes with this technology, they should have seriously considered adding a forward-faced camera, am i correct? 3G without video-conferencing just doesn't make sense. I feel all nostalgic, trying to look back at my college days, with a Nokia 6630 (2.5G - for whatever reason they left out .5) when I actually had to face the mirror to fully appreciate a video call with my dad. I forgive Nokia knowing that was years ago. Back then, I also remember my local service provider advertising their latest Live TV service, at 30P/day which leaves me wondering why Apple couldn't support such feature at this time of the century? Then I remembered, Itunes! Yes. I'd have to blog separately about that. Then again, the inability to send/receive MMS. Okay, so maybe you can send multimedia thru email, but it would be a pity not to be able to open a mms message from other phones, considering you're supposed to have the coolest phone on earth.

Price: Heh, half the price my arse. Check the tiny speck on the picture, yes that one I pointed with a lamely-drawn arrow (What? you reckon i'd actually photoshop it?). It's 199$ for a two-year contract. I need to get my facts straight, but it's 5am here, so I'd just say I am shocked to learn it's actually still 600$ outside the plan. Locally, Globe Telecom is said to be the official carrier. I wonder how much they will offer a prepaid package for? I asked them about 2 weeks ago, and all the lady could say was "Info will be out by late September but it surely will be available for prepaid users". Apparently, they're still conducting trainings for those who will be assigned to the iphone department. I just stood there with an "oh, okay" face even though my brain was screaming "Hear this, i'll email you a video tutorial and FAQ page from the internet on how to use an iphone, heck i'll even gladly write one for you cause as far as i know, even my 5-year old sister knows how to surf the web, much less figure out how phones work so just give me that darn info right now, cause I need to save up, lady!". P9,000 won't be to too big of an amount to save, but it's getting past Globe's hypocritical and oozing with superiority complex plan-approving team that I'm worried about.

Memory/Expansion: What "advanced" phone doesn't have MMC/SD/MS etc slots? It's insane. Not as half as crazy as Apple saying there won't be a 32gig release though. Of course there won't be, for now. Not until the Holiday bells start jingling and the 8/16gig ones are out of stock, that is. I need to find a good eye-rolling icon.

What's the verdict, then? Naye. I'll tarry. And hope that Apple won't give me another set of reasons to "just wait for iPhone 3" by then. It would go on forever. But who knows, when that pretty glass surface glistens before my eyes come September, i'll be salivating and rendering this post moot and academic.