The White iPhone 3GS Is Rare Like A Unicorn

Why does everybody hate the white iphones but not the white Mac Laptops?

LEWD98

3 of the 7 stores in IL have white 16GB iPhone 3GS models in stock. 4 of them have 32GB models. This post = only news if you live in TX.

tayaya

@Barry99705: Indeed. Ever tried explaining an orange stain on your fly to your friends?

Fractal the Meek

@bilups: The reason the white has a black front is because of the 3 sensors right beside the earpiece... the sensors are a very dark brown/pretty much black colour... The black plastic under the glass that goes around the screen has 3 holes in it over top the sensors.. if this plastic piece were white, you would see those holes and you'd have 3 ugly very dark brown/pretty much black circles beside your earpiece...

also, I agree, the white is ugly.. Its not even a nice shiny white, yes, it shines.. but it seems to be a dull off white and not so much white. I work at Rogers and I see them every day.. it's dull and ugly...

tsdexter

@aphxtwn:

And so that you fingerprints and smudges would?

@Samifumi:

I had a white 3G and also upgraded to the white 3GS. The white back seems do do a much better job of hiding finger prints, scratches and smudges.

Do people seriously give *this* much thought to the color of their phone? it's a phone! If you're an Apple fanboi, according to everything I've seen, you'll undoubtedly replace it in a year when the next one comes out, so it's not like you'll be stuck with it THAT long.

asten77

@mems1224: It's not a bad thing. Just something that is done in TX that is not done as often in other parts of the country.

@Greg Taylor: You lost us at Omnia....

So the answer to the question is: Yes, it can be considered a "competitor", but what good is the competitor when they only show up 5% of the time?

imTheKing

@92BuickLeSabre: wait...when did eating tex mex and drinking shiner become a bad thing???

mems1224

my girlfriend got a white 16GB on opening day.. i guess they are all out now ?

paral3ellum

@Fractal the Meek:

Probably about the same as mine, as the white case shows cracks a lot more prevalently then the black case. Good luck getting Apple to do a damn thing about it though.

cash907

Wow, there is actually a place called Sugar Land? First Colony Mall? Interesting...

@dingus: Well done!

Con Seannery

@Hackintosh: If I had to tout one feature the iPhone had over the Pre it would most certainly not be the camera.

Wish Apple would make Macbooks with white keyboards. I'm not a fan of the black keyboard now, and it doesn't match my white 3GS.

Harry Pujols

MMM...i love my new white 3GS. It's gorgeous, black was way to boring in the long run. Btw, it is a 32gb.

Eric Hines

@rmcski21: My Omnia takes video and pictures quite nicely. And has more tricks than an iPhone.

I say screw 'em both

Greg Taylor

@bilups:

The front's not white because it would have looked horrible against the black springboard screen.

I love my white 3G. It reminds me of Eve from Wall-e.

jfj

@RiceBandit: Heh, it doesn't show other white stuff.

Jmclark

@macserv: I see what your saying, but some people have better things to do with an extra hundred bucks, especially if those people know they won't be using over 16GB and / or will be upgrading in a year anyway.
I never came close to using 16GB on my old phone. Actually 10GB would have been just fine for me.
At 32GB I could fit my entire music collection on the phone (if I get rid of stuff that I know I will never listen to... Ever).

With that said. I bought the 32GB model.
Mostly out of anticipation for the GPS software. If the map sizes are anything like I remember from the Garmin iQue days, the maps are going to take up about 4GB for the entire country.

CaptCaveman

@cloudnine: These are the reasons I bought a white model this time.
I hardly notice any fingerprints on the back of the phone now.
I don't drop my phone, but I never manage to pick my phone up off a table. I always seem to drag it off. Especially when waking up in the morning.
And last, I had black last year. Time for something different.

CaptCaveman

@92BuickLeSabre: Personally I think Shiner Bock is way more overrated. Brooklyn Lager is basically Sam Adams...which isn't a bad thing in my book.

I remember back in the day when everyone had white this, white that, and I got the 5th gen video iPod in black because nobody -- and I mean nobody -- had a black iPod back then.
Now we've gone full circle, and yet here I am, still buying the black ones.

@aznkuo: BOOMER!

(That's right, after all of the above, it turns out that, personally, I'm from Oklahoma.)

@nbolmer:
thats such a stupid comparison. Its a cell phone, it takes cell phone quality videos and pretty good ones at that. It also has the ability to edit those videos... so yeah, against every other kind of video recording camera, the iPhone is crippled. But so is whatever cell phone you have, and everyone elses.

rmcski21

I probably will stick with white, if only because you can see the cracks better and claim it is a defect when you want an upgrade.

I was really confused at first when I recognized 10 of those shopping center names haha.

@92BuickLeSabre: HOOK 'EM.

@macserv: You put premium in your Civic too, yes?

dingus

@Con Seannery: They prefer to be called carbon pigment enhanced acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic electronics enclosure Americans.

dingus

@Neone: Looking to buy some blacks, were you?

Con Seannery

I bought a white 3G last year. I learned from my Blackjack 2 that glossy black looks awesome when it's clean, which is never -- fingerprints turn it into a smudgy piece of sh-t.

Daniel Parmelee

@RiceBandit: Well, considering that most people's iphones are only going to be in their hands, fingerprints are just about the only problem (except for those who have a tendency to drop their phones... in which case, scratches also don't show very well).

cloudnine

@macserv: I sold my 16gb 3G for $260 on craigslist and the new 16gb 3GS (after taxes and everything) was $257. Can't beat a (basically) free new phone. I didn't feel like spending any money on a new phone considering how recently I had just bought the 3G.

Does that answer your question? :P

cloudnine

@TurboTexas: Now I got it. Hitler!

TurboTexas

@apple....ofcourse..: You do not know the size of Houston then...

John Hines

@Alim Rehemtulla: ...

TurboTexas

@92BuickLeSabre: Did someone say Texas?

TurboTexas

Ohhh Get a white one and marker (sharpie) it up.

Jonathan Spafford

@Timothy Rivera: What kind of consumer-logic is that? White would show everything else BUT fingerprints...? Right?

@The Red Comet: But white made Don Johnson the shit back in the day! Everybody knows this to be true.

@clipper:
This just in: Fashion trends based on marketing and mass production. Full story at 11.

its fuckin texas bro.. they probably made 500 of each model in the state

apple....ofcourse..

@The Red Comet: Yes. I don't understand why the front isn't white. That alone made me ignore the white.

chauncy that billups

I hear ya Buchanan. I was gonna upgrade but $600 for a 3gs from a 3g is too steep. I also woulda gone with the white one just to have something different from what is already in my pocket. Oh well. Hopefully the next iteration will look at least a bit different.

tubsdouglas

@oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...: I don't consider Pre as a competitor. However, I think WebOS is.

@oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...: Well, yeah, it's a competitor. It's not anywhere close to defeating the iPhone, but it's out there, so it is competition.

It's early in the game to just call the Pre a dud. It looks like it's got the makings of a solid gadget, just needs a few fixes. Even the iPhone wasn't really done right on the first try. Whether Palm gets everything together...we'll see.

@tex210: I've got more Aggies in my family than Bevos, and I promise I've had more than my share of quality Tex-Mex. But I'll take you up on the Bar-B-Q, as long as you're a brisket guy, and you make your sauce the old-fashioned way, not the icky-sweet new-fangled way.

And I'll still have it with a Shiner Bock please.

@rudii: Hit up Colorware ;)

@tex210: He's talking about AT&T, which can't do any tricks at all when compared to other networks.

spannu

Had a white 3G, and got a white 32GB 3GS. Always liked the white better than gloss black. Looks cleaner and slimmer in my opinion. It also hides fingerprints and scratches a lot better. If they sold the matte black finish, it would be a different story...

@ttech10: Well yeah, but this list is for 3GS phones.

@92BuickLeSabre: Shiner Bock... that's what people think... I'm into liquor. Burnt orange is alright, at least you're giving some college credit, but the in state rival is moroon, I mean maroon. And as for Tex-Mex... I wish I could cook you some for real... not that taco bell/cabana crap either, but a large portion of the population wouldn't touch any of it, and is more than content with a big Barbecue/Bar-B-Q. If that's more to your liking, I use Pecan wood... most around here say they like mesquite (but use charcoal). Oh yeah, Black iPhone 3G, cus that's what fell off the truck...

@macserv:

I've had all 3 iphones and I've never used over 16GB, so I think I'm good.

@Michael Crider: "I'd say it's a matter of when, not if, Apple's one-trick pony is outdone." And people have been saying the same thing about the iPod for years now - probably isn't going to happen anytime soon. Also, yes, I'd like to hear what you think iPhone's "one trick" is.

Shawn Pero

@wilson_c: Hahaha I see what he did there.

Apple should made only 10 iphones in Green and see how much people would be willing to pay for them.

Mutley

@Cyborgmatt: I'm surprised so many people like the white iPhones. I think they're utterly hideous. The front is still black, so there's the big mismatch there, and the silver Apple/iPhone logos do not stand out as much in front of the white. The chrome lining too, they blend in more. Black exudes class and professionalism.

I guess the white iPhone is like a white suit. Trying to stand out and be trendy/fashionable, but it looks terrible and is not great for most situations.

@92BuickLeSabre: I actually prefer St. Arnold's when I have the choice. If you haven't tried it, it's great, and they rent out the brewery for parties.

@macserv:

I don't get it either.

$100 more for *double* the capacity. Seems like a no-brainer to me... especially since you can't add more space later.

It's the same with TVs. Get the size you really want... even if you have to save up longer to get it. If you buy a 32" LCD TV now... you can't turn it into a 40" later.

They're all the same color in an otterbox defender case....

iphonechromatic? where my blue iphone is?

rudii

@Fractal the Meek: You sound like you speak from experience.

@Beef Bacon...?: Drink one for me. I'll be sitting here swilling my overrated Brooklyn Lager and pretending...

@macserv: Not all of us have mommies and daddies paying the bills for us.

@Michael Crider: If by "one-trick" you mean "The one trick it can do is thousands of other tricks", then giddy-up.

@92BuickLeSabre: Mmmmm shiner bock...

/runs to store

@macserv: Hey, can I have your extra $100?

clipper

What I don't understand is why anyone buys the 16GB 3GS. When you're going to pay $1300 over the course of the year for service, why agonize over $100 at the point of sale?

@undefined: Considering that the pre has smaller distribution on a tiny, outdated network, I'd say yeah. Since Palm has no intention of permanently saddling their phone to a single, abusive network, nor do they intend to sell only one model in a single form factor to a single demographic, I'd say it's a matter of when, not if, Apple's one-trick pony is outdone.

Michael Crider

@NurseDave: How dare you! I'm sitting on a mid-century white plastic chair right now, and I would never buy a white iPhone!

*harumph*

@nerve11: Great post, thanks for weighing in.

I thought they were discontinuing the 16GB iPhone 3G's and leaving only the black 8GB 3G.

Could it not be that just they had more black iPhone 3G's in stock and that's why they still have them.

If you're looking for a white 16GB iPhone 3G I'd say your only hope now would be eBay since, again, I don't think they're still making them.

When you're going to pay@oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...: The Pre is competition. It's not the "iPhone Killer" that some wish it was, but it's definitely competition, as it has a LOT of great features and functionality that many (myself included) would like to see on the iPhone.

In VA, it looks more like a breakdown by size. Only one store out of six has a white 16GB, two have black 16GBs, but they all have 32GBs in either color. I'll probably get my wife a white one for her b'day so we can easily tell them apart.

HenryES

I got the white this time around, was replacing my original iphone and thought the white looked better.

mxpx5678

@Cyborgmatt: Reminds me of white plastic chairs from the 70s.

NurseDave

going to get my 3G S this friday, ill take whatevers in stock woot!

mikereynaga

@Timothy Rivera:

and scratches.

APPLE WILL TAKEOVER THE WORLD!!!!!!!

Alim Rehemtulla

@Cyborgmatt: It does seem to look more cheap, especially if you get the pink color on it like I've seen in the pictures. Still, I couldn't care less about the iphone.

nerve11

@oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...:

Yes, you are a fanboy but at least you're honest. :)

I would say white is popular because of fingerprints. They dont show.

Timothy Rivera

i originally bought a white 3G, then i returned it 2 days later because it was the ugliest thing i've ever seen

f0rge

As a current black 3g owner...
"I said if you're thinkin of being my baby, it don't matter if you're black or white"
OK, my tribute is done.

Wait, people are buying a mass produced electronic device to stand out? The device that has been selling out everywhere? That one? That makes you unique?

I love gadgets and especially the iphone as much as the next guy, but you've gotta be kidding me...

clipper

Are we really willing to accept that what happens in Texas is indicative of what happens everywhere else?

Because if it is, then there are a lot more people being executed, eating Tex-Mex, drinking Shiner Bock, and wearing burnt orange* than I had previously been led to believe.

*But not necessarily in that order.

I got the white 3Gs (at memorial city, no less) a couple weeks ago. I had the black 3g before, and wanted something different.
Oh, and the galleria ran out of the 16 in black about 45 minutes ago, FYI.

@Hackintosh: Using an iPhone for video is like racing a Daewoo.

nbolmer

Why did you put "upgrade" in quotes?

wilson_c

@oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...: It can't do video (stop motion, but thats round about), and thats the main reason that everybody held out for iPhone, so no.

Hackintosh

I opted for a black model since it's the same color as my heart *hair flip*

I hate my dad?

DesperateForApproval

i bought a black 3gs specifically so i wouldn't stand out.

aphxtwn

Am I the only one who thinks it looks crap in white/pink?

The white 3G was, strangely enough, a status symbol of sorts. This was probably because if you had the white, you spent the $299 for the 16GB. That "status" will surely die off after a few more months.

I bought the white iPhone 3g last year and bought the white iphone 3GS this year. (i actually got it at the discount price; no idea why, i guess AT&T loves me.)

I got the one last year because I was bored of black ipods and phones - all i've ever owned since my first ipod (3rd gen). I felt like white was a fun throwback to the old school ipod days.

And yes, I enjoy the fact that it was far more distinct than the ubiquitous black iphone. And every other black smartphone out there.

i have a black iphone 3GS. When I bought my iphone 3G the only color I could choose was white, they did not have any blacks left.

Wonder what return rates will be like when geeks of the world recognize the obvious conflict with Cheetoh fingers.

Fractal the Meek

ok this is gonna sound fanboy and Im fine with that. But you still think the pre is competition?

@rmcski21: Not really, quite a lot of cell phones have superior video to this mediocre offering.

nbolmer