iPhone 3Gs

[nicwing]

Hey guys, I am doing some work supplying content for a new iPhone app at the moment and I am seriously considering dibing in my 5 year old and extremely reliable Nokia for one of these babies but looking at the O2 deal it's going to cost and I need to sign up for 18 months or 2 years so before I do can any of you tell me whether it's a good thing or not?

(BTW, Because my requirement is based on the Apple apps the choice is iPhone or stay put, I am not looking for an appraisal of other wonderful handhelp mobile technology)

[Lee Nub]

Pretty sure O2 lose the exclusivity on the iphone soon, worth checking with your current provider. My business manager at orange said they will be getting them.

[nicwing]

Thanks Lee, I'm with O2 anyway on a SIM only deal so v easy to change but wanted to know more about the hand sets, technology, reliability, usability really.

I will certainly wait until the O2 exclusivity runs out as that should have an impact on pricing.

[Pantomimehorse]

well I love mine but think the O2 contract is a bloody rip off, I bought my first Iphone 3g second hand then bought another 3GS second hand then just put my old sim card into it. That way works out far cheaper and you arent stuck to their silly 18month contract.

[Big_T_UK]

Nic,

Are you the one person on the face of the planet that has not had to endure me rant about my iPhone? OK, here goes, the SHORT version.....

I have the 16gig 3G. The 3GS has a faster processor and faster graphics chipset. It also has an "improved" battery....

Well, my experience with the 3G. UNSTABLE! Applications die and return you to the main menu constantly. It is a JOKE. You just start to get something productive done with any given application when they just turn up toes and kick you back to the application listing screen/s.

Applications can cost money but many are free. I see little point in spending money on application, if you look around you can almost always find a free app to do what you want. Some apps have free versions that either have advertising or are restricted in functionality. This does not matter though since the fucking things never run for more then a couple of minutes ANYWAY!

Reception is a JOKE. The 3G signal drops all the time, even in strong signal areas. This was supposed to have been fixed a couple of versions of the OS back but I fail to see an improvement and many users agree.

It was in the tech news yesterday that Apple accept a thirty percent call drop rate, ARE YOU KIDDING ME, IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE A PHONE!

The cost is shockingly high. The mobile browsing is good, if you have signal and it does not crash on you. Lots of websites force you to a special iPhone/mobile cut down version of the full site and this can be very frustrating. Some sights let you choose to go to the full version (example: wikipedia), other sites pretty much force you to use the mobile version (example: youtube). This can destroy what in other circumstances could have been a very usable browsing experience. The browser still does not support flash and this is crazy. It is down to Apple not wanting you to get music through other methods but it makes browsing a minefield of "dead" websites.

Now the real killer, the real flaw in the hateful, half assed, Steve Job vomit fillet piece of Apple fan-boy propaganda that is the iWank! THE BATTERY. It is beyond a joke. IF you turn off 3G, IF you turn down "pull" email to once an hour, IF you turn off wifi, IF you turn off bluetooth, then you might get a days use out of it. If you want to GPS your location in googlemaps then you can watch the battery just vanish before you. On my days in London I either carry an old Nokia to swap my SIM card into WHEN my iPhone dies or go into Sautters or Casa and charge it while I smoke.

The REAL UBER iPhone TWATS will then point out how quickly is charges. YES YOU UTTER MORON, if you have a TINY battery that holds a TINY charge then shockingly it will charge quickly! Small fuel tanks fill fast but run out fast. I am an IT guy but I am not dedicated to any one operating system or manufacturer. I neither love nor hate Apple computers and own several of the older ones. All systems are good for some things and bad for others, horses for courses if you will. I only state this as dedicated Apple fan boys will assume I am just an Apple basher, not so. The iPhone is so near to being great that the basic faults make it all the more frustrating. Will it be great one day, probably. Is it great now, NO.

Wait, at least wait a while for the next iteration. The 3GS is an evolution of the 3G, not a revolution. It has many of the same problems. Yes the battery maybe twenty percent better but twenty percent of NOTHING is still NOTHING!

Do not get raped for the mad price for this fashion phone. I love my gadgets, I have far far far too many but wow what a crushing disappointment this hateful piece of crap turned out to be.

T.

[jonnor]

Come on Big T, get off the fence, do you like the iPhone or not?

[nicwing]

Come on Big T, get off the fence, do you like the iPhone or not?

Now that really did make me laugh.

Thanks for the heads up Bug T, I will get one of you boys to check out the new App and my content just as soon as it's released then.
N

[Lee Nub]

As nic didnt want other phone reviews i wont mention my phone which is also very good in a pie/crumble and as juice

[Deano]

I agree with T's sentiments to a degree, but on the other hand, I'd not use anything else now. Reception can be dodgy, and apps can crash, but my experience has not been anywhere as near as bad.

In fact, I wouldn't recommend anything else.

[nicwing]

Deano, has T got a duff battery or do you suffer from the same power problems.
How are you by the way/ Haven't spoken to you for ages!!

[Deano]

You gotta live with the poor battery life. It's a charge-a-day device at the very least. The apps and games make up for it, as does not having to carry around a seperate ipod.

Pros and cons.

[jonnor]

I have had an iPhone 3G for about a year, I have most of the battery draining stuff on, push email, location services etc, and the battery last a day to a day and a half, this is the best phone I have owned, and im happy to pay just over a quid a day for all the benefits it provides me, I haven't had anywhere near the issues Big T has, but it's not perfect, just IMO, very good, go on get one!!

[Lascaux]

1st class rant there, thoroughly enjoyable

ive yet to have a current generation phone whos battery lasts more than a day. i carry 2 spare batteries with me everywhere for my samsung omnia. things are just shit, all things, except cigars, and even a lot of them are shit.

shit shit shit!

[Gary]

I've had the new iphone 3GS for about 2 months or so, my first smart phone and I have to say I think it's the absolute dogs b*ll*x!!! Ok you have to charge the battery every night, and it does cost a bit up front with a minimum 18 month contract and ?35 a month, but in my opinion it's totally worth it.

Although the iphone does everything normal phones can do, it does soooo much more, things like voice dialing, voice searching on google, the maps, google earth and the internet not to mention thousands of useful Apps and game make it, for me, easily the best phone I've ever had. I wouldn't have any other.

But like others have already said, O2 is loosing it's exclusivity for the iphone contract and by Christmas or just after it both Vodefone and Orange will be selling it so I'd definately way till then to see what the rates are like.

All in all I'd say go for it Nic, I bet you won't be sorry!

[Ramon]

Do not get raped for the mad price for this fashion phone.

That's it in a nutshell, it's a phone, for crying out loud, forget all the BS, as long as you can make and receive calls, (in a stylish way), that's what its primary function is. If you want to do something else, get a dedicated piece of kit that does the job properly.