"iphone"

[Tyger]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7000370.stm

November 9th.

Awesome machine - it is revolutionising the mobile industry in many ways, including handset pricing structures, revenue sharing contracts, relationships between manufacturers and operators, and not least of which unlimited data contracts and a FULL browsing experience.

A common moan is the lack of 3G. Now 3G is RUBBISH. I know, I build the networks. HSDPA which is a high speed version of 3G (UMTS) is being rolled out slowly across the UK. apple has already said that an HSDPA model will be available some time next year. By this time HSDPA will be more prevalent and an HSDPA phone will be worth having.

Currently WiFi is by far the best and fastest way to get data to your mobile device. O2 will be providing 7500 FREE WiFi hotspots for Iphone users, in addition to Starbucks hotspots being rolled out. Iphone has WiFi.

At £269 + unlimited data plans, this cutting edge device is a bargain and will sell millions.

www.apple.com/uk/iphone

[Rob's Lexx]

lol, i have one already

and yes its very nifty however, few things i don't like:

no video camera

no flash

no zoom prior to taking photos

no user customisability on menu's

no removal of sim or Battery (its a closed unit that requires sending off to remove either of these)

no games :shutit:

but apart from that, yep, they're very good.

the interface is VERY easy to navigate around and the video/music playback is good; although a better speaker is needed IMO.

will post some pics of it later hopefully.

any specific pics or info u want about it Tyger??

[maneesh]

im waiting for version 2 to be rolled out, with all the "niggles" fixed..hehe

[Tyger]

i_love_my_IS200: How do you have one already!??

OK - this is a PHONE not a camera! If you wanted a camera you bought a PHONE by mistake! ;-P

The menus are not customisable as they want a standard interface. apple know about interfaces and doesn't want you screwing it up! ;)

Why do you want to take the SIM out? ;) (you can)

Battery? You can get it swapped out for 50 squid like any iPod. No biggie. (you won't need to anyway)

No games... YET.... ;)

Thanks but I have been following the Iphone since it was a twinkle in Steve Jobs Apple-shaped eye!

I'd love to borrow it for a year or so though.. ;)

Maneesh: the v2 will not be til mid/end of next year and it will be an HSDPA/WiFi version. This phone is software upgradeable. There is NO point in waiting at all, unless you want HSDPA, which is a bit pointless as you have WiFi anyway....

[Rob's Lexx]

I have one because i know a man who can

yes, i agree, i have a phone, not a camera, but if you follow that philosophy, why make it be able to do anything apart from send and recieve calls??

as for the sim removal, well why shouldn't i be able to take my sim out if i choose to do so??? the same goes for the Battery. IMO, i shouldn't be resticted to do such things if its something i own!! In a way it appears to be an apple marketing ploy to restrict owners buying alternative parts etc at lower rates.

so apple want a standard interface....righty o, but i want my OWN interface as its MY phone, not anybody else's. You see, i understand where ur coming from, but think of this as if it were any other possession: if its mine, i'd like to do as i choose with it.

regardless, its a great piece of kit and my mates are certainly impressed. a phone cover is a must for it though (wouldn't wanna scratch it now would i, lol)

[Ellz]

Tyger i think you have fallen in love will this be the first man married to a phone ???? :winky:

i_love_my_is200 the question i want to know is --- is it easy to use if at all with one hand ????

I agree about the camera/phone abit though. I chose a good camera as I always have my phone on me and never a seperate camera and love to snap random crap.

Surely u must be able to download games with the installers on them ???

Tyger the only thing with a sealed case is if it freezes which a fair few mobiles do for the odd reason, you can take Battery out to reset that i would find annoying, thats if it does freeze, and im guessing when its all filled up with music, downloads, maps etc it may well do.

ALso not sure if you'd no but has O2 got the entire rights to it ???? will we only be able to get it on them forever ??? if so people are gonna get bummed as there will be no competition

[Rob's Lexx]

fairly easy to use with one hand, although i prefer to hold the phone in my left hand and use my right hand to navigate around it. I think most people will find this to also be the case. its a little large to use solely one hand to hold it and navigate around the menus.

as regards to the freezing issue, mine hasn't done so as of yet and i have about 2 gig of movies/music on there. Its all to easy however to leave programs running in the background and open new ones and i guess this could evcentually cause it to freeze etc. If that is the case, most phones often require a 'hard reset' - i.e remove Battery while phone is on, remove sim, replace Battery without sim, switch phone on, re-insert sim, switch phone on again. this won't be possible for a consumer to do on the Iphone, it will have to be sent off etc etc.

I believe O2 have exclusive rights to the phone, as did the sister company AT&T in the states. Its funny how they are charging more for it over here though......I believe the phone will be sold here with unlimited data transfer (although that too will still have an upper bound fair usage agreement (about 1400 web pages a day i think)) and O2 have secured deals with Cloud for wi-fi coverage over most of the UK, so thats pretty good.

[Parthiban]

You can't take the SIM out? I'm sorry, but what??

I hate Apple's marketing, it's pure genius but so irritating at the same time.

Basically eliminates all price competition - exclusive to O2, even if it hacked, you can't put a SIM in it........seems they've thought about all the normal pitfalls with mobile phones quite carefully..................

[MrADeveci]

I hate Apple's marketing, it's pure genius but so irritating at the same time.

I agree .... beutiful things they are.

But the only reason I would NOT buy an IPOD or an Iphone is for the simple reason .... I use a PC with VISTA and yes you can argue until the cows come home, or is it the sheep comes home ... whatever - but I like my vista, and I like my PC.

I do NOT want to use crappy ..... system hogging .... ITUNES!!!!!!! That's the simple reason I will not buy there products!

Thank you please :)

[MrADeveci]

I believe O2 have exclusive rights to the phone, as did the sister company AT&T in the states. Its funny how they are charging more for it over here though......I believe the phone will be sold here with unlimited data transfer (although that too will still have an upper bound fair usage agreement (about 1400 web pages a day i think)) and O2 have secured deals with Cloud for wi-fi coverage over most of the UK, so thats pretty good.

Here is another fact for you ...... all the police radio systems nationwide .... are now run off the 02 network ;-)

[Steve ( West Mids )]

Apparently you can buy them in the USA, get them shipped to a person over there for a small charge, shipped to you. You then use online instructions to unlock. No monthly fee and it costs between £226 and £291 all in:

http://www.hotukdeals.com/main.html

near end of first page ( at the moment ), or search on Iphone. Note forum has 300 replies, if you want to do it this way suggest you read this first not sure of the conclusions.

[Rob's Lexx]

@Steve, that thread is now expired as the prices quoted were wrong, but nice idea.

Anyway, on with some pics of my Iphone (possibly the 1st in the UK )

Front with Clear Skin cover

Back with clear skin cover

Back without cover

In Phone mode

Ipod Interface

Movies

Screensaver and phone unlock screen (My cat, Podge, aww aint she sweet )

The sim is in here and special tools are required to open it up :tsktsk:

Side view - slender design

Cheers

Rob

[aido]

Nice one Rob, know a few with these now, I am very tempted, but I do too much texting for it to be a viable replacement for me, hear it's a bit finicky? What do you reckon?

I'll wait for the rev 2 and buy myself an iPod Touch to tide me over for the time being :)

See you're still running your Linux based OS in the background too!

[Unregistered_User]

Nice real-life pics mate.

J

[Rob's Lexx]

Nice one Rob, know a few with these now, I am very tempted, but I do too much texting for it to be a viable replacement for me, hear it's a bit finicky? What do you reckon?

I'll wait for the rev 2 and buy myself an iPod Touch to tide me over for the time being :)

See you're still running your Linux based OS in the background too!

Aido, hows it going fella?!

I agree, texting on these is not the easiest of functions, but like anything, you learn to adapt to its useability and it soon becomes easier.

As a whole package, i must admit it can't be faulted, apart from what i mentioned earlier in the thread. i think UK consumers will have the same views as myself.

As for the Linux OS, yes fella, still running it and its great! Got both Ubuntu (Feisty Fawn) and Debian installed. Only hassle with it is the compatibilityu of external devices (like my new Samsung K3 MP3 player :tsktsk: ) - but there's a fix for most of them so not a real biggie!!

Where's Tyger gone with his input on this.........

[Rob's Lexx]

Nice real-life pics mate.

J

cheers fella

[swfcdan]

slightly off topic but i was in the apple shop in meadowhall last night, i went for a 'browse' and ended up coming out with an iPod touch a new iMac and also got a free nano chucked in too as my student card is still valid along with a nice 14% discount!

:P

[aido]

Speaking of Meadowhell Nandos reopens tomorrow!

I'll be there!!!!!!!

[swfcdan]

Speaking of Meadowhell Nandos reopens tomorrow!

I'll be there!!!!!!!

where?oasis? i never even realised there was one there

[aido]

Yeah man, it's on the right hand side as you're walking back to the shops near that Lanes bit.

All good :)

Rob, have you installed many third party apps yet?

I like the idea of things like having SSH clients etc, pretty cool, going to have to check one of these out when they're released - I just don't know if I'll last that long before buying the Touch!

[Rob's Lexx]

not installed anything yet mate, apart from a crap load of music, some movies and of course some more risque material :o

tis very good fella, why pay for the touch when you can get the phone functions on this??

[aido]

Because my phones take a battering pal, just looking at my N73 and that's worn after a year, paint coming off etc, to be honest it's actually the first handset I've ever had which has shown so much wear!

I'd be too worried that the Iphone wouldn't last up to the length of time with me, I'm a clumsy sod at the best of times!

My iPod is years old but still looks like new because I treat it with respect, I wouldn't dare leave an Iphone rolling around in the car etc, it'd get messed up, I think I'm getting old pal but with every phone I have I wish it was as sturdy as my 6310i was - now that was a good phone

[aido]

How are you guys getting on with these now?

I've done a few now for the lads, with the old firmware release as it was before they managed to jailbreak v1.1.1 - have to admit I was impressed, it certainly ticks all the geek boxes with things like SSH and SFTP on there, we tried a few emulators on there which was ok but a gimmick, I did like Summerboard with some of the different themes applied - very cool indeed!

Not got myself one yet, still unsure whether to buy a UK one or just get a US one and fettle it, haven't got the time at the minute to play around with one which is why I've not invested!

[lee_iceman]

Anyone see the gadget show on Monday?

They put the Iphone up against the N95, needless to say which one came out on top :D

[swfcdan]

Anyone see the gadget show on Monday?

They put the iPhone up against the N95, needless to say which one came out on top :D

i did, no doubt which is the better allrounder, although your still left wanting a Iphone