any mobile phone experts here?what to get next

[MercFanUk]

Onto my second iPhone now (3GS).

I've included a photo and video so you can see the qulity of those if you are interested. The phone is great, the app store has almost everything you can think of. They are also now allowing voip over 3g, which means once skype update thier app, you'll be able to make calls using skype, without using any minutes etc up.

Call quality: Personally, I've never had an issue. People always sound clear, and they never seem to have issues hearing me either.

Battery Life: Well, thats not as great. I can use my phone throughout the day easily, however if I don't charge it overnight, I'll be screwed the next day. (I have mine checking a few email accounts regularly through the day, which can eats battery life).

Updating: Updates through iTunes are nice and straight forward, never had an issue with that.

Camera Quality: On the 3GS it's really not to bad. Theres no flash however. Video quality is pretty decent too.

Storage: I have the 16gb variant, and thats lot's for me. I have a couple of full length movies on there, about 15 different albums, and a couple of TV shows. I stil have LOTS of space left.

3G / GSM coverage: I'm on o2, so would be different if you go for orange, however I never have a problem connecting to 3G etc at the same time as others on my network with different phones.

iPhone OS: In my opinion, it's fantastic. Everything is smooth, fluid, and the touch interface is one of the best around. I can even type on the on-screen keyboard pretty quickly.

Features: Standard includes Email (Inc Exchange support), Calendar, Contacts, Google Maps, compass, GPS etc etc

In summary, as you can tell, I love this phone. Does everything I need brilliantly. That said, some phone's do things better. The camera - while adequate - isn't as good as some other phones. Then again, for me personally, that's not so much of a problem as the quality given is still pretty good. Battery life could be better, but if you charge your phone every night, you won't notice anyhow.

Heres an example photo (Compressed by facebook):

Not bad in daylight, although I have to say indoors it doesn't perform as well.

Here's an example of some video (Switch it to 480p for best results, however again compressed by youtube!):

[YOUTUBE HD]Ej-l8tfstYE[/YOUTUBE HD]

 

[Baron_Samedi]

Nice write up, iphonefanuk

As a mildly interested party, I think that the iphone, while it appears to have some issues is the popular device with MBCLUB...

Is it worth hanging on until July for the next version?

 

[MercFanUk]

Nice write up, iphonefanuk

To be honest, I have no idea if it's worth waiting for the "4G" or not. Apple keep thier product updates so closely guarded up until the day they actually annouce it, that theres no real way to tell what will be updated, or when it'll even be released...

 

[Baron_Samedi]

Good point!

So, who would be the best supplier of said iPhone?

 

[MercFanUk]

Well, I got mine before other networks had it, so it was either o2 directly, or from the carphone warehouse. (I got mine from the latter).

These days, I suppose you'd just need to look at the packages provided by o2/orange/vodafone, and see which suits you best!

I can't comment on network quality/customer serverice from orange or vodafone, but I've never had a problem with either on o2.

 

[Baron_Samedi]

Any idea how good the Tescomobile deal is?

 

[MercFanUk]

Nope lol, I've gone the contract route, so I'm not up on the PAYG variants

 

[mikeouk]

once again, thanks for all the very informative info here, appreciate it

 

[Jukie]

Nowadays with such a diverse range of Cellphones, I think personal choice comes into it more, so I wouldn't advise anyone really.

All I can say is I've had a Nokia E90 for the last 18 months and was very happy, but as previouslt stated, it won't be everyones cup of tea. I'm due for an Upgrade in 2 weeks and I'm getting a HTC HD2. My wife has the iPhone, she loves it, I don't. (Plus I want something different). When it works, (the iPhone), it's great, but it hangs a lot and the blutooth is temperamental.

And as far as a stable platform, if Google have gone with the HTC platform, it can't be all that bad....... I suppose I'll find out.

Cheers, Bill.

Bill,

Will be interested to hear how you go with the HD2 and what you think of it.

Cheers, David.

 

[Gridlock]

iPhone - but if you do, wait until June if you can. Buy an HD2 now, SIM free, change your tariff to a SIM-only one like O2 simplicity with a rolling 30 day contract and then pick up an iphone after June (when a new one may be announced) on a contract. If you don't like it, return it using Distance Selling and keep the HD2. If you do, sell the HD2. The money you'll save by moving to a SIM-only plan (especially if you get a good one from Retentions) plus the HD2 sale will mean you break even either way.

Only downside is you have to fork out SIM-free price for the HD2, but if you can then it's not going to cost you in the long run and you'll get to try both phones and possibly break the contract cycle if you stick with SIM-only

Work in the industry

 

[timwood2000]

To be honest, I have no idea if it's worth waiting for the "4G" or not. Apple keep thier product updates so closely guarded up until the day they actually annouce it, that theres no real way to tell what will be updated, or when it'll even be released...

4GS out in May. Really.

 

[Baron_Samedi]

Closer than the July date I read... but does put buying a 3GS in question - dammit!

 

[Gridlock]

Anyone who knows, and there aren't many, won't even hint they do because the very second you breach an Apple NDA is the last second you'd ever work in the industry. So any rumour/tips you see on Apple product is fairly sure to be unfounded, other than maybe Walt Mossberg or a few sector Analysts - sometimes.

Look at what Orange France's MD said about the iPad a few weeks ago - he thought it included a webcam.

I guess in summary - don't buy 1st gen Apple stuff and when you do buy from them buy early in the product's life to avoid feeling mildly annoyed 6 months later.

 

[MercFanUk]

Thats my main gripe with Apple's stuff - planning ahead. I understand why they don't release info - it helps the rumor mills, builds massive hype, and stops people releasing very similar products at the same time... but it's so damn annoying! You can never plan ahead with thier stuff. It bugs me big time lol

 

[e class coupe]

One thing that worries me about the fourth gen iPhone given recent announcements it will most certainly have an apple manufactured processor ( a few of apples latest innovations haven't been perfect out of the box 27" iMac screen battery life on MacBook pros)

 

[G-Force]

Mike,
I am a massive fan of Nokia (and have had 5 6300...i have went back to the 6300 so many times after buying N95 8Gb,Sony things,,,motorola and samsung phones...XDA orbit, i always returned to the trusted 6300, i got a 6700 for a while and if i am honest it wasn't worth the money, i had a shot of a friends ipod touch at christmas...and i was hooked!!!!! and still am. I bought a 16GB 3g off afriend at work when he got the new 3gs and i love it!!! people say the battery life is poor..and it is..only because you cant leave the damn thing alone.

Great looks, great video playback, great for surfing and very intuative to use, tons of memory, an app for most things you could ever need. I say it is all the phone any individual could need because you get an app for whatever you want the phone to do for you.

I have an MBU1000 viseeo unit in my car and the iphone pairs up great and uploads all my contact too....i love it.
GET ONE BOUGHT :bannana:

 

[fast_eddie]

Hi,

I'm currently using a Samsung i8910HD (personal) - and I love it, especially the fact that it works well with the MB SAP Bluetooth unit which is a bit cranky and generally works well only with Nokias.

I'm also using an iPhone v1 as work phone, lovely interface but no joy yet with HFP bluetooth connection to car as I simply haven't tried - from reading forum posts here, it's an exercise in frustration.

All that said, I had a nice surprise yesterday with a few Nokia E52 phones delivered from our mobile operator - configured and sync'ed with our corporate Exchange (published via Outlook Web Access) within 5 minutes of taking them out of the box. Without doubt my best experience yet if you need to sync with Exchange.

Regards,
Eddie

 

[agatward]

I've just upgraded to a Google Nexus One, purchased direct and off-contract from Google. It was a decision between that and a Nokia N900, and despite personally knowing the lead software developer for the N900, I thought the Google phone was a better choice for me.

So far (had it just over a week now) it has been fantastic. It's a few mm larger than the iPhone in width and height, and a couple of mm thinner. Screen is amazing as it's OLED based, rather than LCD, and has a very high resolution. Camera is 5mp and has an LED flash, which is reasonable but not too great in low light conditions.

I use it mainly on WiFi for data, but have rock solid 3G connection even where other phones can't lock on. WiFi throughput is great, a good SIP client is available, and unlike the iPhone, Android phones can multi-task (have more than one app running at a time). Email integration with Exchange and IMAP based accounts works flawlessly for me, despite what a lot of reviews say!

Web browser is great, it doesn't support Flash yet; however there is an iPlayer app available and a YouTube player is built in. Flash version 10 is coming, being ported by Adobe themselves.

GPS is great, is assisted by Google's database of phone mast and Public WiFi AP IDs, so gets lock within a few seconds rather than having to wait minutes. The GPS is integrated with Google Maps; however turn-by-turn directions are not available in UK yet. There is good navigation software available for about £30.

Call quality is very clear due to the additional noise-cancelling microphone; however the speakerphone is a bit more tinny than the one in the iPhone.

Andy.

 

[Baron_Samedi]

agatward, what is the name of the iphone flash app?

 

[cheffy]

It all depends on what you want it to do ! I have a Samsung S8300, which can either be touch only or slide it up and use the buttons as normal (which I do) what I would say is, it has a great 8 mp camera on it, which is superb, I got absolutely amazing pics from the Grang Prix at Silverstone and also Touring Cars at Knockhill last year, most peeps wouldnt believe I took them with my phone. On the other hand, the touch screen is mega sensitive, you can browse internet etc etc etc, if thats what you want to do, I only use it for calls, texts, and pics occasionaly, recently got my daughter latest Sony Ericson cant remember model number, but I'm sure it has 12 mp camera, all in all she says its fab, But all said, when my contact is due again I shall go back to Nokia.
I am also with Orange - not best chuffed with them btw, had major disagreement with them all week, but thats another story.