iphone ...any good?

[nixforfun]

Apologies if this is not the best place to put this post- mods may choose to move the post around if they wish...

For days I have been contemplating buying an iphone 16gb for myself. I am on O2 but have a Simplicity plan but don't want to go for a new contract. So the only option for me is to buy the iphone on PAYG for £ 393. Expensive but ok...

The only problems are:

1) The iphone is locked to O2 and once I move to India (whenever) I need to get it unlocked. I believe that for iphone 3g there is no credible unlocking facility yet and with every software update, the iphone gets locked again. I have searched for getting an official unlocked iphone from countries in Europe and Australia but they are coming for approx £600. I am not sure the additional £200 investment is justified. Any experiences?

2) I keep on hearing news of updates coming for the iphone like iphone nano or iphone HD or latest i heard was iphone 32g. Don't want to buy something only to see it getting outdated in 2-3 months (hard with technology )

Can anyone throw any light on the above points and help me make a decision ?

Regards
Nik

[mobaholic]

If you want to read some of the reasons why the iPhone is not a good idea, go here.       

Its only rationale is to browse the internet on 3G: is that even available in India I wonder ?       

~ £400 for a mobile which will last and last might be one thing ( though on Pay & Go you have to topup by £10 per month to get your 'free' internet browsing and WiFi for just 1 year ), but who wants to pay that for a sealed unit - which won't even let you change the battery when that needs replacement ?       

There are users here who have bought one, and presumably think it is worthwhile, but for my money the advice would be DON'T !       

My personal opinion is that the iPhone is a typical Apple product - over priced, greatly over hyped, and lacking the specs to go with either !  ( It can't even handle MMS, for goodness sake ).       

[moonandstar]

hello nixforfun,

I have had the iphone 3g 16gb since it was first released and i am very happy with it. The price was not an issue for me as I took out the phone on a contract.

Your situation is different as you want the phone offline and understandably this will incur a high one off cost.

The phone can be easily unlocked by yourself but yes as a new update comes around the phone will be most probably be locked back to o2. The only thing is you do not have to update software immediately it is up to you when you want the update to be applied. This means you can wait for the unlock software to be compatible with the new update.

Another option is something called a turbo sim. These basically trick the iphone into thinking it is on the o2 network while you put any sim you want into the phone. These cost about £10-£15 from ebay and are unaffected by software updates.

As for updates to the iphone your guess is as good as mine. I dont see a "new" version coming out until the end of the year but an increased capacity one or a nano version may turn up sooner than later.

moonandstar.

[moonandstar]

If you want to read some of the reasons why the iPhone is not a good idea, go here.       

Its only rationale is to browse the internet on 3G: is that even available in India I wonder ?       

~ £400 for a mobile which will last and last might be one thing ( though on Pay & Go you have to topup by £10 per month to get your 'free' internet browsing and WiFi for just 1 year ), but who wants to pay that for a sealed unit - which won't even let you change the battery when that needs replacement ?       

There are users here who have bought one, and presumably think it is worthwhile, but for my money the advice would be DON'T !       

My personal opinion is that the iPhone is a typical Apple product - over priced, greatly over hyped, and lacking the specs to go with either !  ( It can't even handle MMS, for goodness sake ).       

mh you are correct in saying most phones are much better than the iphone in terms of phone functions. The n95 is a far superior to the iphone when it comes to telephony functions.

The iphone is more a multimedia device and nothing can beat it when it comes to music and video functions. It all comes down to what you need the device for, i personally don't like carrying 2-3 different devices around so the iphone is perfect as it is a mobile, mp3 player and an internet browser all in one.

As for cost i agree it is high and i would not buy one unless it was subsidized by the network.

moonandstar.

 

[nixforfun]

mh you are correct in saying most phones are much better than the iphone in terms of phone functions. The n95 is a far superior to the iphone when it comes to telephony functions.

The iphone is more a multimedia device and nothing can beat it when it comes to music and video functions. It all comes down to what you need the device for, i personally don't like carrying 2-3 different devices around so the iphone is perfect as it is a mobile, mp3 player and an internet browser all in one.

As for cost i agree it is high and i would not buy one unless it was subsidized by the network.

moonandstar.

 

Thanks MH and moonandstar for your comments,

I agree with both of you. iphone ,indeed, is low on specs, high on cost phone and other phones are much better. I have a N95 for over 1.5 years now and features wise I dont even use my N95 properly. I hope you would agree that the only attractive thing about the iphone is its user interface and is more of a glamour product. I had waited long for Nokia 5800 but that has not turned out to be very attractive.

[ash]

Hi Nix,
Nokia 5800 is a reasonably good phone. Its available sim free directly from nokia shop for 250 £ which is much cheaper than iphone !
-You can use it for internet surfing (3G).
-It has got decent touch screen function (you can use your finger, 
  although it may not be considered as sophisticated as iphone).
- you can use this phone in India.
- 8GB card comes free with it.
- It has excellent in built speakers for music.
No, I am not a nokia salesman but I have 5800 for 4 weeks now and am very happy with it. I regularly use its GPS navigator as well. (it didn't come with car mount, you have to buy separately).