Apple Iphone 16gb – Bigger, But is it Better?

Even though many have been disappointed by the slightly lacklustre feature set of the Apple iPhone, the main attraction of the brilliant touch screen and user interface did almost make up for what was lacking elsewhere. Although the firmware update (1.1.3) did solve the problem of sending text messages to multiple recipients, but the lack of MMS is still a trick that has been missed by Apple.

For such a high-price the Apple iPhone should really have had a lot more memory for the money instead of a pitiful 8GB. Now though, hot on the heels of the recently announced amendment to the tariffs comes the 16GB iPhone.

Double the memory obviously means a lot more space for music and videos downloaded through iTunes as well as pictures taken with the 2MP camera (still the same I’m afraid.) It appears though that this is the only update which personally I feel is a shame and something of a missed opportunity.

As well as upgrading the memory Apple could have at least made some adjustments such as adding autofocus & flash to the camera, MMS and the Bluetooth A2DP profile for playing music through wireless headphones, but alas that isn’t the case.

The privilege to have extra memory added onto a lacklustre mobile phone does come at a price. Whereas the current 8GB iPhone is priced at a still-unreasonable £269 + 18 month contract, the 16GB version will be priced at £330 and still require you to be tied down to an 18 month contract.

Interestingly for the same price you can get the new 32GB iPod Touch (obviously without contract) and personally I think that this is a much better option if you want to experience the full physical interaction of the Apple Touch UI without being tied down to a long contract. If the iPhone still does interest you it may be worth hanging on for a short time as it’s likely the Apple CEO Steve Jobs will announce some form of price cut for the lower memory range, just as was done in the US market.