Today Apple unleashed not only Snow Lepoard, a new iPhone OS, Updated Macbook Pros, but also a new iPhone called the iPhone 3GS. Now you can read around the web about the new features from the Video Recording to the Compus, but I wanted to focus more on the gotchas from today’s announcement.
1. The new iPhone may surf the web and launch applications faster, but it the battery life is not improved in any capacity when you are talking on the 3G Network.
Now I found this stat interesting because it has been a year since the last iPhone. Over time components use less power, but why not on this model? My guess is that 3G antennas still have not reduced their power draw to any significant level. You can’t improve power draw on a 3G call with a faster processor or more internal memory, the only way you see a big lift is if the antennas that receive these signals get more efficient.
2. On Wi-Fi the battery life last 50% longer. Well according to techcrunch the cpu in the new iPhone is 50% faster at the same power draw, so these numbers line up perfectly. Whats going on here is just that the iPhone renders pages 50% faster hence it lasting exactly 3 hours longer.
What About the MacBook Pro Updates?
Apple revamped the pricing as well as the product mix for their Macbook Pro line as well today, but there are a few gotchas there as well.
The entry level MacBook Pro starts now at $1599 but comes with only an integrated graphics card (formally all MacBook Pros come with an integrated and dedicated GPU) and the onboard chip at 2.53ghz only has 3MB of L2 cache. Something to keep in mind when you see this lower pricing knowing that most competitors laptops have a dedicated graphics cards and a better chip.