Ok, so Aircel announced a price cut and the iPhone 3GS will now be available for 9,999, down by half from the original price of Rs 19,999. Aircel subscribers have to pay an additional Rs 3,000 and will get access to unlimited data usage. 2G/3G access will depend on the circle.
The offer sounds totally cool and is awesome since this is probably the first iPhone to cost so little in India. For all those who always wanted an iPhone this could be a great opportunity to get their hands on one.
However, before you get excited, here are three reasons why you shouldn’t buy the iPhone 3GS, no matter how dirt cheap it sounds.
1) No FaceTime: No front camera means no FaceTime, no Skype. Seriously, what’s the point of owning an Apple product without FaceTime. An 8GB iPod Touch, which is only Rs 13,000, has FaceTime. What’s the use of having a smartphone when you can’t make video calls?
The iPhone 3GS. Getty Images
2) Super slow processor and less storage space: The iPhone 3GS has a 800Mhz Cortex A8 processor under-clocked to 600Mhz and only 256MB of RAM along with an 8GB Flash Drive storage. Ah, in the age of quad-core processors you’d still be paying Rs 10,000 for a smartphone with very basic RAM. Temple Run will suck on such a slow smartphone.
3) It’s not just Rs 9999: Remember the price tag is conditional to you paying for the data charges which are an extra Rs 3,000 for around 2GB worth data per month. Its also only for postpaid users. You might say, I have wi-fi, so the data plan is no issue. But the offer is conditional with data plan and if you can’t use 3G for video calls, then its a waste of 3G.
But, hey it’s still an iPhone and the big daddy of all smartphones. So if you’ve always wanted an iPhone this might not be a bad time to get one.
Only, don’t expect it do wonders.
