Giz has a good article on the accuracy of the 3G rumors.
It is quite impressive that most of the rumors were correct. It’s really interesting how much speculation Apple events and products get. I really can’t think of any other company that gets this much rumors thrown around and such a huge amount of people following them. Then again, I’m pretty biased guys. 
I’m kind of disappointed that MMS/Copy-Paste wasn’t shown off at the event. Although, I’m sure that someone can make an app that’ll do it. I’ll gladly pay $9.99 for MMS and copy-paste. I’m really tired of going to viewmymessage.com and jumping through 8 hoops, zooming in and out, etc. It’s really more difficult than it needs to be.
Video conferencing was a cool rumor but I didn’t see it working. Even though it would be totally cool, you have to factor how much bandwidth that would take on the 3G network. Also, why video conference on 3G when you can call? I think that’s what was going through the minds at Apple and AT&T. If they were to implement a iChat-esque software, it’d have to operate only on Wi-Fi. I think that’d be the best for battery life and network strain.
The design is definitely killer. I feel they were taking a little bit of design from the MacBook Air with the curves on the end. It definitely looks sleek but will probably move a lot more when put on the table compared to the flat 1st gen iPhone.
One feature that completely blew me away, but was obviously needed, was contact search and bulk move/delete. I don’t know how many times I wished I didn’t have to scroll by the alpha-list on the right side and swipe to the name. Now, I can easily type and click. Bulk move/delete was long overdue as well. I’ve wasted many minutes deleting messages from my inbox one at a time. Swipe, delete, swipe, delete. I’m glad they implemented this in iPhone 2.0.
With the slew of apps introduced, I must say I was very impressed. I was really excited when I saw Mark Terry, CEO of Moo Cow Music, onstage. Yes, I am an owner of a jailbroken iPhone and iPod Touch, and I must say that his products were my favorite apps. At the beginning, with his app Pianist, I knew there was something special there. Bringing instruments to the iPhone is an excellent idea and can appeal to many crowds (especially to me since I was a band geek ). After pianist came excellent apps such as Guitarist, Drummer, and finally Band – which debuted at WWDC.
Finally, the one thing that everyone can agree on… affordability. With the new subsidy plan, we all now can afford an iPhone. Although, I will admit, I did like my iPhone as a status symbol. $199 for an 8GB iPhone is not bad at all. Just for $100 more, you can get 16GB, great deal. Now this leads to a few more questions though. Currently, in the Apple Store, an iPod Classic 160GB is now more expensive than an 8GB iPhone. I’m not sure about you guys, but I’d rather have an iPhone than iPod Classic. Thanks to Apple, storage isn’t a big part of my purchase strategy. I used to be the guy that HAD to have every song in my library. ‘Ol Jobsy though made me realize by creating iPods with smaller storage, I don’t need ALL my music – just the music I listen to on a daily basis. Next, an iPod Touch is now more expensive than an 8GB iPhone. Why get the Touch when you can get an iPhone that is an upscaled touch. I’m sure the thinking behind this is you have to do the 2 year contract, unlimited 3G and text plan etc. In fact, now that I think of it, with the implemented rule of activation in-store only, this is exactly what they were thinking.
On an other note, the white iPhone is incredible. I want it, solely to match my MacBook. I bought the White Incase Slider Case for my iPhone for this purpose, although superb protection was an added bonus. The one thing that is odd about the white iPhone is that it is considered the “higher end model.” For a while, black was the color of the high end model (MacBook, iPods, etc.). Now, taking a step backwards, they have made the white as “higher end model.” I have no problems with this, but it’s just a simple observation.
So, are you going to be at your local Apple Store or AT&T store on July 11. With availability only being at the aforementioned locations, you really don’t have a choice. I, myself, will be camping at the Jacksonville or Orlando, FL Apple Stores. Hope to see you there!
[Read at Gizmodo]
