Any Apple iphone users?

[RogerS]

I've been with Orange for many many years and on balance customer service has been first rate. I used to be monthly contract but never used my minutes so went to PAYG which was a disaster (for old motormouth here).

So going back to monthly only to see that most of the Orange phones seem pretty naff..tiddly keys etc. Not really into gizmo's. GPS? What's wrong with a map? Had a play with the Samsung Tocco but found the touch screen interface clunky.

By chance I toddled into the O2 shop and played with the iPhone and was seriously seduced by it. Only problem as I see it is signal strength for O2 where I live is, I believe, marginal. Although in theory I can transfer my number to O2, check out that the phone works Ok and if not transfer back to Orange, that whole process sounds fraught.

So...I'm after some user feedback on the iPhone.

Thanks chaps

Roger

 

[andypo]

I am on orange and managed to Swap my phone for an unlocked iphone. Now working on orange and have to say its bloody marvelous only downside is its size. If you do get one first think to do is jailbreak it.

 

[misterfish]

If you have an unlocked phone available (friends can be invaluable!) why not get an O2 PAYG sim card and see what the signal strength is actually like where you live ( http://freesim.o2.co.uk/ ).

Misterfish

 

[RogerS]

I'd heard about the unlocking of iPhones (and also the steps that Apple were taking to make them unusable :wink: ) so don't think I'll go down that route.

The idea of a SIM only is a good one as I have quite a few old mobile phones and so one of them should work.

However, it would appear to be all academic as I checked out the coverage map on O2 and there are a number of white aka very poor/no signal areas. But even where there is coverage it is listed as Standard (whatever that means). I asked O2 customer services if I could migrate my Orange number over, see if the iPhone worked and if it didn't, migrate back to Orange.

The reply was that (a) the coverage was standard and so the iPhone wouldn't work (don't quite understand that) but if I still wanted to go ahead then I could but I couldn't migrate back unless I paid out money to terminate the contract. As if.

They 'helpfully' gave me an 0870 number to call network services but that turned out to be a waste of time since you can't get any further in the call without entering your O2 mobile number. Doh!!

EDIT: Spoke to O2 customer service and was told that Standard means (as I suspected) not 3G so rather pointless to get an iPhone I guess.

 

[Calpol]

Sounds like you've made up your mind but anyway the signal at mine is 'variable' on the website, actually it's none!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Roger,

I looked at all the top phones last autumn. In terms of ease of use and speed the iphone was by far the best. Anything using Windows mobile was slow and clunky. A mate has the iphone so I've played with it a few times. On 3G or wireless it's great. On normal reception it's pretty rubbish.

A few weeks ago I was watching an item on ebay in the pub! Was great using the iphone and the free wireless in the pub. Even managed to put in a few bids.

There is a mobile phone conference going on at the moment in Barcelona so watch out for lots of new phones coming out soon.

Dave

 

[RogerS]

Hi Dave

Sadly out here in clunksville, we don't get 3G so sadly little point in going for an iPhone. To add insult to injury, O2 ran a fullpage ad for the iPhone in the Telegraph today.

Settled for a basic Nokia 6500 classic. No frills. And still with Orange.

Roger

 

[Anonymous]

been using the Iphone 2nd gen for 4 months ans it is pretty good - once jail broken that is. As it comes, there are several levels of functionality missing such as:

Can't copy and paste.
Can't forward texts
can't add multiple recipients to texts
can't send picture messages

and several more

Once jail broken, you can add a different application that llooks the same as the standard 'conversation' texts, but adds missing functionality

 

[SammyQ]

Ahhh...."jail broken"????? care to enlighten the entrenched techno-not-so-much-phobe-as-out-of-date Tony?

Sam

 

[neilc]

can't add multiple recipients to texts

Tony while your quite right that it lacks some basic texting functionality, you can do the above, you just add all the contacts individually rather than as a group. Hopefully some future software upgrades will address all the other issues fairly soon.
Neil.

 

[RogerS]

can't add multiple recipients to texts

Tony while your quite right that it lacks some basic texting functionality, you can do the above, you just add all the contacts individually rather than as a group. Hopefully some future software upgrades will address all the other issues fairly soon.
Neil.

Plus the r..e...a..l..l..y superb interface more than makes up for this.

Jail break - ability to make the iPhone work on a network other than (in the UK) O2. The problem is that Apple will produce firmware upgrades that will or likely will zap the jailbreak and so the phone will stop working....until someone comes along with another jailbreak..meanwhile you're stuck not being able to use your phone.

 

[Anonymous]

Jail break - ability to make the iPhone work on a network other than (in the UK) O2.

I believe the other reason is to allow you to put software on the phone which is not from the apple online shop. Apple have been limiting the applications which they put in their shop (not more than one of any type of application). This means other software which makes texting easier has not been allowed in their store.

Dave

 

[RogerS]

Having beaten my had against Orange's .....no, I'll stop there....I popped into the O2 shop and while waiting overheard another customer come in asking about the iPhone. How much etc. He didn't ask the most important question...ie will it work in my area nor did the sales girls. I suggested he ask them and to be fair to them, they did say that 3G coverage in Hereford city was patchy.

When I asked her to recheck my own coverage, she commented that it was patchy but also that where she lived, even though the map said OK, it was very patchy there. Which bears out what Calpol said.

Anyway O2 do give a 14 day trial and if Orange mess me around any more then I'll probably give O2 and the iPhone a whirl. Mind you, I'll need to shave my fingertips to be more pointy.

 

[yo_chuci]

i've just got a T-Mobile G1 google fone... i like. brother has iphone and it is nice and smooth etc, i just liked some of the bits you could get on the google and the fact it was open source so loadsa peeps can right applications for it...

the gps tracking is great, go for a walk and it can plot your route on google maps (pos google earth too depending on wich gps tracker you use)
i like the full keypad, google maps
downside atm is no video recording but that will arrive soon with an app.

all depends what you want from a phone... oh the batery life isn't gr8 but thats normally due to using it alot,