Apple I Phone? worth it or just techno hype...your thougths

[Peter 14.7]

Hello All

Being a non techo at 41 I thought who better to ask than SS for a techo opinion of the new Apple I Phone.

You see my company is ready to upgrade and I hear Telstra (our provider) will package free with $79 cap, which is our cap, but all they any good? Is it an advance? easier? nor intuative Or a techo toy.

So I invite opinion from those in the know.

FYI we mostly call each other, a lot, for short periods so we have 10 minute call within our group for free. It saves $1ks each month.

We uses SMS, MMS, take pics and would use the GPS feature a bit.
Need robust design and good battery life. Must be droppable. ease of use is a bonus.

Thanks in advance,

Peter

 

[Aaron Sice]

ditch the Iphone - get the Nokia.

 

[DavidMc]

I've been using one since 07.

I think it's appeal is it's intuitive, easy to use interface. Plenty of phones can do what it does (and more), but more people can actually use those features on the iPhone.

Telstra just opened large 'touch and play with technology' store corner of Burke/Swanston. Have a play with one when they get it in.

It doesn't do MMS yet. I think the battery life is good and it's just as durable as most phones.

 

[GreatPig]

Must be droppable

You got a lot of clumsy employees in your company?

GP

 

[Peter 14.7]

You got a lot of clumsy employees in your company?

GP

Me included.

In greater detail we are trade based business so phone spends time in top pockets and slips out, in dust, up ladders in celings, etc. Cannot be precious. I Phone has large glass display.

FYI we presently Run Nokia N70.

 

[Peter 14.7]

I've been using one since 07.

It doesn't do MMS yet. I think the battery life is good and it's just as durable as most phones.

Good Idea. Will go the check it out.

Can I confirm it does not send MMS that is pics over the phone? Not that the new Model is the 2.0. DO you have the old one being 07?

If no MMS that is major down side and Nokia wins.

Peter

 

[Witzl]

We uses SMS, MMS, take pics and would use the GPS feature a bit.
Need robust design and good battery life. Must be droppable. ease of use is a bonus.

Thanks in advance,

Peter

The requirements in bold above have just eliminated the iPhone as a suitable product for your needs.

I would not recommend it to a trades-based person at all.
The touch screen will die from dust and scratching, and they are not "user serviceable" (you cant even replace the battery).

For your average Joe "look ive got a sexy *insert techno product here*" user... then the Iphone will be all the rage. For anyone else, get a real phone.

 

[Peter 14.7]

Thanks Witzl

Just saw video form Australian on pro and cons of old model and with comments here my gut is saying let's not be an early adopter. Lets wait until the bugs come out.

Also as an employer I can see staff over using the video and news services to a point they rack up the charges and then have pay me back ( in the contract if they go over allowance). Will cause tension.

Still thinking and more comments welcome. I realise the new model is not out yet and my thread may be premature.

Peter

 

[Peter_Tersteeg]

Look at the HTC range. I'm using the TyTn II which has all the features you describe and more.

 

[Simon]

I sold a few of these over eBay for a pilot mate who was bringing them in. he absolutely loved his and al my buyers seemed really positive.

I nearly got one myself but figured I have a phone and a mp3 player already so I didn't really NEED one. I wanted one though after playing with them!

 

[Peter 14.7]

Look at the HTC range. I'm using the TyTn II which has all the features you describe and more.

Please explain? Peter

PS thanks Simon

 

[battle on]

I've had an iphone for nearly 6 months now and they are a fantastic phone however for a hands on tradesman maybe not the best choice.

This is by far the easiest phone to use and the downloads available now are growing by the day. I would think MMS would not be far away if not available already. I did see one in Singapore which had this on the screen but dont know if it worked.

Scratch resistant covers are available for the screens. The constant pressure a tradesman might put on the screen might effect its sensitivity though (not sure about that one).

Will definetly buy the 3G when I can.

 

[Pushka]

Good Idea. Will go the check it out.

Can I confirm it does not send MMS that is pics over the phone? Not that the new Model is the 2.0. DO you have the old one being 07?

If no MMS that is major down side and Nokia wins.

Peter

You can, you just do it through an email system which the receiver receives as an MMS! From a wannabe techno who is older than you!

 

[ianvestor]

Totally worth the money. I was a (very) early adopter and got mine for $1700 last year. So these days they look like a bargain.

Although dropping it is not an option as the screen is glass. One little crack and the touchscreen will die on you.

One thing I'd like to be able to do is forward SMSs... this option seems to be missing, although I've never read the manual

 

[DavidMc]

You can, you just do it through an email system which the receiver receives as an MMS! From a wannabe techno who is older than you!

You can send and recieve MMS but only via third party apps (which can only be installed by hacking the phone, something I wouldn't want to do as a business user). I've tried Swirly MMS etc it's very clunky and flakey.

The other thing that sucks is it doesn't have a flash, and you also can't bluetooth each other little joke video clips of guys farting etc which is something my tradey mates seem to enjoy.

For a tradey I don't think it's a good match. It's also clumsey to use for one handed operation as you can't 'feel' the buttons, something you guys might do more of than me.

For a corporate type like myself it's gold although a lot of fellow techies get all hung up because it can't do some obscure '1% of the population' feature their HTC's can.

It's got a few flaws but overall I think it's excellent and it gets better every 2 months with a firmware upgrade. Most people who bag it have never tried it, they've only seen the tech specs and a few hater websites.

Everyone will have them soon and you'll be able to see for yourself.

 

[Pushka]

You can send and recieve MMS but only via third party apps (which can only be installed by hacking the phone, something I wouldn't want to do as a business user). I've tried Swirly MMS etc it's very clunky and flakey..

No, this way is inbuilt into the IPhone, using the normal email system provided.

 

[DavidMc]

Yeah, no SMS forward also sucks.

However, the browser, email, maps, music and general UI are best of breed.

Apple is new to phones. I once made the comparision that the phone in the iPhone is about as good as the music player in the Sony/Nokia and vice versa.

The Sony/Nokia is a phone first with tacked on music capablities, the iPhone is a iTouch/iPod first with a tacked on phone.

I wish I had SMS forward but I'm happy Apple developed the Maps, Stocks, Weather, Facebook, Gmail and YouTube apps first.

 

[DavidMc]

No, this way is inbuilt into the IPhone, using the normal email system provided.

Does this work in Australia? I thought it was only in for US providers.

I'm on Optus. How would I do it? Email [email protected]?

(Plus this is only send, not send and receive).

 

[battle on]

You can get SMS forward put onto the phone.

Don't ask me the techno stuff but in Singapore for $50 sing dollars they put SMS forward, video recorder, camera zoom and a bunch of other stuff on there for me. Thats why I think MSM might already be available.

Cheers

 

[DavidMc]

Yep, it's all 3rd party though. Read: unstable and not as nicely integrated.

BTW if you have a hacked phone just run installer and install whatever you want, don't pay for any third party apps again.