First off, I have an iPhone 3GS, and I really like it so far.  Secondly, I didn’t even pay the discounted retail price for it, so my sentiment about the price not justifying the features still stands.  However, for what I paid for it, it’s definitely worth it.

My dad recently joined the ranks.  When he was deciding what kind of phone to get, I showed him my iPhone, and he seemed genuinely impressed.  He decided to get one.  Then, in looking at pricing, he debated the 3G for $99 or the 3GS for $199.  Then he thought of a third scenario.  He’d get the 3GS, and let me pay the difference, then he’d take my recently replaced 3G with a brand new Apple Care plan on it, and I’d take the new one.

Dad has a 3-week old 3G and I have a 3GS now.  When we separated this morning from the AT&T store, he was confident he could make and answer calls.  After a brief session with some of the apps last week, we now know that Dad wants the Google app, Vlingo and a few others neither of us could remember.

Saturday, I’ll be heading over to his place to get him fully set-up, with Wi-Fi at the house, the apps he wants and an overall comfort level with his phone.

With the enhanced camera and video camera, I’ll try to get some more stuff up on my site more often.  Maybe I’ll put up a cool image gallery or something, instead of the turd of a photo page I have now.

By the way, looking at some site data for my blog, I found that a few dozen people found my site by a goofy joke I’d typed in the last post about the iPhone 3GS+.  This is how rumors get started…

As much as I love my current phone, I’m going to pass on this new one, at least for now.  Here’s why…

First off, I’m not saying that I wouldn’t take one if someone handed one to me and said “it’s on us”, but at the price point, the features it offers are not enough to justify the cost.  I suppose my post’s title could be a little misleading, but “iPhone 3GS – I Would Want It Either Offered More Features or Took a Price Cut” wouldn’t fit in many RSS readers.

Arguably, the biggest feature of this new phone is its camera.  Both the video feature and the fact that it’s more than just a cell phone camera are compelling.  In demos, they showed off the ability to click an object on the screen that the camera is looking at, and that object will be what’s in focus.  So if you had a foreground, a subject and a background, clicking on any one of those elements would make THAT element crystal clear.  It’s also a 3 megapixel camera, which is leaps and bounds better than the turd on my current 3G.  However, I don’t take enough pictures with my phone for a better camera to be an attractive feature.  It’s not REMOTELY what I bought or use my iPhone for.

A feature that I WOULD want, if the price were right, would be the voice activation/dialing/etc.  However, a week before launch, I’m not completely assured that the voice activation isn’t in, or can’t be added to, the new 3.0 OS that EVERY iPhone will be getting soon.

I guess if the phone was more attractive to me, personally, I’d be more up in arms at the fact that as a 3G owner, I’d have to pay full retail price for one, starting at $399, instead of what NEW owners get to pay, starting at $199.  But that’s if I wanted one.  As it is, I’m not upset because I don’t think it’s a worthwhile upgrade for what I want out of the phone now.  As time goes on, I might change my mind.

Now, my friend Chris is looking forward to getting one, and for good reason.  One, he’ll be getting it at the acceptable price, and two, he’s moving up from his EDGE phone.  He’ll have the jump in features that made the 3G so attractive, PLUS the bells and whistles of the 3GS.  Hell, the jump from EDGE to 3G in itself was the most attractive thing to me about switching phones last summer.

Maybe I’ll wait for next year, and see what the iPhone 3GS+ can do…

A game night has been scheduled at Craig’s this weekend.  I haven’t seen some of those guys in a while, so that will be FUN.

Tonight, I plan to release what’s left of my tree frogs at Angie’s pond.  Sean had taken several of them earlier, and I plan to keep the two bright green ones, but the rest will hopefully grab mosquitos out of the air around the pond.  Also, tonight is Beef Stroganoff night.  Luke was asking what my favorite food was over the weekend, so I told him I’d make it for him one night this week.

Our podcasts keep getting delayed for one reason or another.  I hope we can get back on the stick soon and crank out some more, or maybe just go ahead and make the leap back to video.

The App Store on iTunes is really growing quickly, with new stuff coming out all the time.  Most recently, I’m using:

• Twinkle
• Labyrinth LE
• Enigmo
• Tap Tap Revenge
• iWant
• ReQall
• Pandora

The Dark Knight was a good, not great, movie.  (Spoiler-free) I really liked it, but wish he’d pick a style.. hyper-realistic or goofy technology/fantasy.  It was all over the place.  And I thought Ledger was a really good Joker, but will be surprised if he gets an Oscar.  Vote in my poll and tell me if you agree.