Apple iPhone

[beesonthewhatnow]

OK, I've had a play on a UK phone this evening, bought by a fanboy work collegue.

Still not changed my mind, it's a rubbish (and I mean, rubbish) smartphone, with a brilliant (and I mean brilliant) interface, nothing more, nothing less.

 

[paolo]

OK, I've had a play on a UK phone this evening, bought by a fanboy work collegue.

Still not changed my mind, it's a rubbish (and I mean, rubbish) smartphone, with a brilliant (and I mean brilliant) interface, nothing more, nothing less.

Very succinct

I certainly wouldn't casually recommend one to anyone with a Blackberry or Treo.

 

[editor]

Tbh, after trying the touch, I can see how a lot of that stuff really doesn't matter when you're using an interface that just feels that cool to use.

Until the novelty wears off and you want to get things done, I expect.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Until the novelty wears off and you want to get things done, I expect.

Dunno how long it lasts but my mates had his for a week or so and he still enthuses about it...

I was mightly impressed by it, even typing was a piece of piss (and this was while very drunk!), finding and logging onto wifi networks was painless and surfing the net was the closest I've seen (with a twist of course) on a mobile to using a proper pc.

 

[editor]

Dunno how long it lasts but my mates had his for a week or so and he still enthuses about it...

Hope he's got it insured:

Sensing the advantage of this insider information, others were quick with their questions. "Can she confirm that O2 are pushing £7.50/month insurance, to cover the situation that in the case of a lost iPhone, O2 will require the unlucky punter to buy a new phone and undertake a second contract?" asks Lex2002.

We checked with O2 this morning and, unbelievably, this is true. If you lose your iPhone without insurance, then you will have to splash out on a new handset, and take out a new contract, paying two monthly tariffs at once. Now that is a costly mistake.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/137055/iphone-your-first-impressions.html

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Hope he's got it insured:

Go back a couple of posts and you'll see I was talking about the Touch...

 

[editor]

Go back a couple of posts and you'll see I was talking about the Touch...

My comments about fancypants eye candy interfaces applies to both the iPhone and the Touch. In fact, any consumer device.

But anyway, what do you think about O2's replacement policy?

 

[Crispy]

It's shit. Totally turned off getting one now (not that I was really considering it)

But if/when my ipod finally dies, I'll take a look at the touch. If they've got it up to 16GB, I'd bite. Although a nano 16GB would be more suited to me (and my wallet, no doubt)

 

[Kid_Eternity]

My comments about fancypants eye candy interfaces applies to both the iPhone and the Touch. In fact, any consumer device.

But anyway, what do you think about O2's replacement policy?

Um, yeah but he's got a Touch which has nothing to do with O2, more to the point I was assuming the Touch and the iPhone are basically the same in terms of use and saying I found it a piece of piss to type on and that I liked the interface.

Anyhoo...to answer your question:

It sucks donkey balls, big time. That's really shit of them but given the fact that Apple are fucking them royally on this device it's no surprise O2 are acting in this way...

 

[Kid_Eternity]

It's shit. Totally turned off getting one now (not that I was really considering it)

But if/when my ipod finally dies, I'll take a look at the touch. If they've got it up to 16GB, I'd bite. Although a nano 16GB would be more suited to me.

I'd be seriously tempted by one if

a) the giggage was upped to at least 32
b) the price dropped below £200

At the moment I'm saving for the mighty 160 gigger, my dream of all my movies in my pocket will come true, oh yes.

 

[jæd]

But if/when my ipod finally dies, I'll take a look at the touch. If they've got it up to 16GB, I'd bite. Although a nano 16GB would be more suited to me.

They have. Either that or the one on my desk is some kind of Far-East clone with a hacked ui...

 

[Crispy]

I don't really need the movies. If I'm travelling for any length of time and want to watch a movie, I'll use sparrow's laptop (and not have to transcode stuff!) - if she's not with me, I'll read a book.

That just stopped me buying one.

16/32 nano it is then!

Although now I see that the classic has 1/3rd more battery life. Weird, I thought it would be the other way round.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

I don't really need the movies. If I'm travelling for any length of time and want to watch a movie, I'll use sparrow's laptop (and not have to transcode stuff!) - if she's not with me, I'll read a book.

Fair enough, it's not just about long plane/train journies for me though; its for those quickly made video nights also I really like the idea of having my family guy etc with where ever I am for those quick views on the tube etc (without having to get out a laptop, power up, then find the folder with films in etc).

 

[Crispy]

I couldn't stand watching TV on the tube, myself...

 

[Kid_Eternity]

I couldn't stand watching TV on the tube, myself...

I can't wait to! Although I'll probably get the same looks I get while cracking up listening to Bill Hicks and Richard Pryor...

 

[editor]

It's shit. Totally turned off getting one now (not that I was really considering it)

But if/when my ipod finally dies, I'll take a look at the touch. If they've got it up to 16GB, I'd bite. Although a nano 16GB would be more suited to me (and my wallet, no doubt)

I think the Touch is a very nice looking piece of kit. If it can get to do all the usual PDA functions properly (and grow a card slot) it would be almost tempting.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

I think the Touch is a very nice looking piece of kit.

It's even better to use, surfing was very neat on it the best mobile web experience I've had thus far.

 

[editor]

I couldn't stand watching TV on the tube, myself...

Both my old Sony Clie TH55 (with iPhone sized screen) and my Treo 650 can run video fairly smoothly, but it's not something that really appeals to me when I'm on the move.

 

[Crispy]

Yeah, I've tried it before on various handheld devices. It's just no fun. You have to keep the screen rock steady, and the sound's no good. And it's too easy to get distracted by people moving past you or pushing their rucksack in your face.

On a train, you've got more personal space, but also enough space to get a laptop out, so it's redundant there.

 

[cybertect]

Hope he's got it insured:

It seems O2 are internally confused about the situation, then

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=384924&page=2

I got this email reply from O2 today. Seems pretty clear....

"If your iPhone is lost or stolen and you also don't have Insurance on your account, you can buy a new iPhone by paying the £269. You don't need to buy a new contract, as we'll transfer your services to your new iPhone.

Please note if you've a valid insurance cover on your iPhone, we'll then provide you with the iPhone and an inbuilt SIM card. You can get all the details related to insurance in your welcome email."

Similar response quoted by another poster on the same thread.

 

[Crispy]

It seems O2 are internally confused about the situation, then

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=384924&page=2



Similar response quoted by another poster on the same thread.

Ah, well that's a bit more standard. Still more expensive than a regular phone of course.

 

[paolo]

The written contract from o2 explicitly states that the current contract ceases if you buy a new phone. You do take a new contract though. There is no double contract scenario.

 

[rocketman]

On the other hand, some iPhone fans may opt to get their hands on an iPod touch - which offers many iPhone features and hosts 16GB storage, and is a delight to use. In an odd twist of fate, O2 is giving away free iPod touch's with some phones and certain contracts. See here
http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/freegift/AIPODTO16G/

So there's a way many people can get hold of a slice of multi-touch delight, without spending huge amounts on the phone (though contract prices seem to start at £35 per month, for better text and voice call allowances than you get from the iPhone).

Just struck me as interesting, that is all.

 

[editor]

On the other hand, some iPhone fans may opt to get their hands on an iPod touch - which offers many iPhone features and hosts 16GB storage, and is a delight to use. In an odd twist of fate, O2 is giving away free iPod touch's with some phones and certain contracts. See here
http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/freegift/AIPODTO16G/

I think the combo of the Touch with a good phone would be full of win -especially if the Touch gets hacked to allow full PDA goodness on board.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

On the other hand, some iPhone fans may opt to get their hands on an iPod touch - which offers many iPhone features and hosts 16GB storage, and is a delight to use. In an odd twist of fate, O2 is giving away free iPod touch's with some phones and certain contracts. See here
http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/freegift/AIPODTO16G/

So there's a way many people can get hold of a slice of multi-touch delight, without spending huge amounts on the phone (though contract prices seem to start at £35 per month, for better text and voice call allowances than you get from the iPhone).

Just struck me as interesting, that is all.

Yeah that is...will keep that in mind when 'normal' folk ask me the 'is the iPhone worth getting' question...

 

[Kid_Eternity]

I think the combo of the Touch with a good phone would be full of win -especially if the Touch gets hacked to allow full PDA goodness on board.

It's a damn shame the Touch doesn't have bluetooth, bonding it to my n73 and having 3g net access via it would be cool!

 

[rocketman]

I think the combo of the Touch with a good phone would be full of win -especially if the Touch gets hacked to allow full PDA goodness on board.

Yeah to an extent I think that's coming, as the iPhone SDK that's being released next year to let developers build apps for the iPhone will also let them build apps for the iPod touch.

My biggest complaint at the touch is its lack of an email client, I think that's a bad decision on Apple's part. Seems so arbitrary to not offer that in touch v.1. Though you can (sort of) use Gmail services on a touch, it's not perfectly supported.

Still, when Adobe and Apple have figured it out, I expect Flash support for both devices (probably after Christmas) so then a new selection of options for webmail kick in, probably.

 

[Crispy]

Apple wouldn't want to steal profitable iphone sales by making the touch competitive on features. My hunch is that the touch will only become a 'proper' PDA with the addition of 3rd party apps, which most likely won't be as well integrated and slick as the 1st party stuff on the iphone.

 

[editor]

My biggest complaint at the touch is its lack of an email client, I think that's a bad decision on Apple's part. Seems so arbitrary to not offer that in touch v.1. Though you can (sort of) use Gmail services on a touch, it's not perfectly supported.

Such a shame Sony didn't stick with the Palm OS.

My three year old Clie has the same size screen as the Touch, plus Bluetooth, Flash support, Wi Fi, card slot, video recording, voice recording, MP3 playback, full email client and an (average) browser, backed by thousands of Palm programs.

 

[rocketman]

Apple wouldn't want to steal profitable iphone sales by making the touch competitive on features. My hunch is that the touch will only become a 'proper' PDA with the addition of 3rd party apps, which most likely won't be as well integrated and slick as the 1st party stuff on the iphone.

Well, I'm meeting some Apple people tomorrow. I'm gonna point out the iPhone's killer feature is that it's a phone. I don't think having email on the touch would do anything much to reduce iPhone sales, but would massively widen the number of people using an Apple device.