Would you buy an I-Phone? are they any good?
- Thread starter Peter 14.7
- Start date
I have an iphone and love it. Phone calls are fine, text messages the simplest I have seen in any phone (and I have had nokia, motorola and eriksen) I email from it and it suffices as a very small computer for me - I can check share prices, bank accounts etc through the browser and also some apps. It is great for travelling - I have a couple of full length movies on it, as well as music and important milestone photos of families. The camera also works perfectly well for the random photos. Husband has a new Nokia and hates it. The only reason he doesnt get an iphone is that it is on the large size. Battery - I charge it most nights.
Thanks Everyone.
Still considering, Peter
Still considering, Peter
Peter, I wanted to post a reply because I think I have the same feeling towards 'phones' as you do. I just need to call people and receive calls, and most of the extras are just unused wastes of space and time.
However, having said that, I have had an iphone for over 2 years and it's awesome as just a phone. I've never upgraded the software, nor added any apps. It's as plain as the day I bought it for $2000 on it's first week of release in Hong Kong
And I've never once regretted buying it.
However, having said that, I have had an iphone for over 2 years and it's awesome as just a phone. I've never upgraded the software, nor added any apps. It's as plain as the day I bought it for $2000 on it's first week of release in Hong Kong
And I've never once regretted buying it.Thanks Ianvestor. This is valuable comment, Peter
Ditto what Ianvestor said. I got an iphone because it was cheaper to get it and slide across to a dearer plan (which meant a cheaper monthly cost to me) than continue with my Nokia.
My kids do so much on their iphones, but the only apps I have are the ones my 13 year old has added, plus ones I use - I check Somersoft, ebay, GPS and shazam (to find out what that song is on the radio). I don't have songs loaded, but want to load podcasts from ABC radio when I get time to do so.
I pretty much just use it as a phone, but have been checking SS on it a lot lately when not at home (keeps me sane).
I LOVE the ease of use for phoning and texting. It is so much easier than my old phone. Touch screen is a breeze and it is so easy to navigate around. It is bigger than my old phone, but as I don't carry it in my pocket generally, it is not a concern. I don't have to squint much to read it.
My sons carry theirs in their pockets but they have slimline cases, whereas I have a big rubbery type that has saved it a few times when I have dropped it.
I am not sure I would want employees to have access to it though. Just give them a "vanilla" phone or they will waste time playing.
My kids do so much on their iphones, but the only apps I have are the ones my 13 year old has added, plus ones I use - I check Somersoft, ebay, GPS and shazam (to find out what that song is on the radio). I don't have songs loaded, but want to load podcasts from ABC radio when I get time to do so.
I pretty much just use it as a phone, but have been checking SS on it a lot lately when not at home (keeps me sane).
I LOVE the ease of use for phoning and texting. It is so much easier than my old phone. Touch screen is a breeze and it is so easy to navigate around. It is bigger than my old phone, but as I don't carry it in my pocket generally, it is not a concern. I don't have to squint much to read it
.My sons carry theirs in their pockets but they have slimline cases, whereas I have a big rubbery type that has saved it a few times when I have dropped it.
I am not sure I would want employees to have access to it though. Just give them a "vanilla" phone or they will waste time playing
.The following shows what an iPhone can do in competent hands:
(1) Dave Wyman
http://www.pbase.com/davewyman/iphonic
(2) Chase Jarvis
http://www.chasejarvis.com/
- On black menu bar, click "Portfolios"
- Click "Iphone as Art"
Can Nokia match that?
(1) Dave Wyman
http://www.pbase.com/davewyman/iphonic
(2) Chase Jarvis
http://www.chasejarvis.com/
- On black menu bar, click "Portfolios"
- Click "Iphone as Art"
Can Nokia match that?
I've got a BB Bold. It does the trick for work but at the end of the day, banks, and every other company isnt configuring websites for BBs. Apple has nailed this.
Went to a clients house last night who has an iphone and IMO the iphone now destroys a BB Bold. The features it can do versus a BB is amazing. And new things come out constantly. IMO the only downfall with it is that its a touch screen and eventually theyll lose their calibration.
While I do like my BB and it is by far the best phone I've ever had and it has helped me expand the business, I dont know if I'll be retaining it when it comes off contract.
I think BB has a long way to come and a Nokia would have even further
Went to a clients house last night who has an iphone and IMO the iphone now destroys a BB Bold. The features it can do versus a BB is amazing. And new things come out constantly. IMO the only downfall with it is that its a touch screen and eventually theyll lose their calibration.
While I do like my BB and it is by far the best phone I've ever had and it has helped me expand the business, I dont know if I'll be retaining it when it comes off contract.
I think BB has a long way to come and a Nokia would have even further
considering that you can get the iPhone on sub-$70/mth contracts for 24 months.... its worth it IMO. After the 2 years is up, get something new.
I have to agree with Ianvestor.
As a phone for phone calls and messaging, its actually really good. The ability to see your sms "conversations" is awesomely handy.
browsing is better than most other "smart phones" ive played with.
emails arent quite as good at the BB though
the volume of "apps", especially useful free ones, is quite handy.
yes its largish, but its quite thin, so does fit in the pocket quite nicely.
I rate it, even though i hate apple.
I have to agree with Ianvestor.
As a phone for phone calls and messaging, its actually really good. The ability to see your sms "conversations" is awesomely handy.
browsing is better than most other "smart phones" ive played with.
emails arent quite as good at the BB though
the volume of "apps", especially useful free ones, is quite handy.
yes its largish, but its quite thin, so does fit in the pocket quite nicely.
I rate it, even though i hate apple.
I liked browsing even better before some jackass at The Australian decided to specifically cater for the iphone. Now the automatic redirect to http://iphone.theaustralian.com.au makes it way too annoying to read. And there's no way to force it to serve the regular pages, you're stuck with the stupid ones.
Hey All
Latest update is BB bold due to the email ability. Telstra has new deal of $120 and includes everything and $550 in calls and free emails.
Peter
Latest update is BB bold due to the email ability. Telstra has new deal of $120 and includes everything and $550 in calls and free emails.
Peter
That makes me so cranky too! I have found that many sites do offer the full page, way down the bottom of the screen.
no different to any other newer generation phone - it is all about the plan you're on and your usage...work that out and your just fine!
I live on mine all day and use plenty of data with email, browser activities and GPS and I don't EVER pay any more than 115 per month. Given my usage that is cheap!! on a previous $70 cap plan I was using $350 over my cap...
again, all about the plan and the usage, the actual phone has nothing to do with it.
I live on mine all day and use plenty of data with email, browser activities and GPS and I don't EVER pay any more than 115 per month. Given my usage that is cheap!! on a previous $70 cap plan I was using $350 over my cap...
again, all about the plan and the usage, the actual phone has nothing to do with it.
I love my iPhone.
For phone calls, it's so easy to find or scroll contacts. Even to include physical addresses which link to Google maps to find a place quickly.
Contacts can be uploaded to the Windows contact list.
For SMS it makes it much easier to find previous messages because they are kept together for a single contact.
I use the email extensively as well as the web browser. Most of my browsing uses wifi- so I don't pay extra for downloads over the limit.
The spell checking is ok but not great. If you don't type the correct number of letters it has trouble. It seems to be catering for missing the touch screen keyboard keys rather the not knowing the spelling at all.
The iPod player is great. There's a lot of free podcasts available- some of them university lectures. And of course I have my favourite CDs loaded. It picked them up from my pc when I connected.
I have tried a number of apps- mostly free or cheap- but I have just a few I use regularly.
Shazam has been mentioned. You can hold the phone to the radio for 20 seconds and it can identify the song, artist and album.
OzWeather gives much more detailed information than is available from the default weather forecast. Not only is the forecast better, I can see the radar which is great for me running a business which is weather dependant.
Stanza is a free app which enables me to read books. I can download books from Gutenburg for free- they are all books out of copyright but there's some great stuff there. I've recently been rereading some of the Sherlock Holmes books. Great when you're stuck in a queue or a cubicle.
Or there are books which can be read out to you. Audiobooks enables you to download or stream books for listening when you can't read.
I use Twitter and Facebook apps which have a better interaction than via the web.
I enjoy cryptic crosswords- especially SMH- but don't buy the newspaper often. An app called 2-across enables me to resurrect my interest in these, and it's been fun.
I have a dictionary and thesaurus for those rare occasions when I'm stuck for a word.
There are some nice "To Do" apps which are really helping me to get on top of things. A pity though that they don't (I think they can) integrate with the alarm function.
Something as simple as a shopping list is now easier. Especially when I can share it with my wife's iPhone.
"Quota" enables me to check my phone's usage to ensure I don't overspend. I track three family phones plus home Internet on this. Yes it is available on the web, but it's just so much easier accessing it from the phone.
PangeaVR is not one I access often but it's awesome. 360 views from many places around the world.
LiveCams is another nice toy. I can view many public cameras from around the world- and in many cases, even control them myself. I hope to be able to set up my store cameras at some stage. Apparently it's quite possible.
"DocsToGo" enables me to transfer Word and Excel files, an to edit them from my iPhone. Big Excel files can take a while to load and view. But my most critical file (staff roster) I summarize into a single file and publish as PDF. It's always accessible and doesn't take long to load.
There are apps which would enable me to view my cash registers. Apparently. That would be really nice.
So in short. Some very nice business tools. With a little bit of fun.
For phone calls, it's so easy to find or scroll contacts. Even to include physical addresses which link to Google maps to find a place quickly.
Contacts can be uploaded to the Windows contact list.
For SMS it makes it much easier to find previous messages because they are kept together for a single contact.
I use the email extensively as well as the web browser. Most of my browsing uses wifi- so I don't pay extra for downloads over the limit.
The spell checking is ok but not great. If you don't type the correct number of letters it has trouble. It seems to be catering for missing the touch screen keyboard keys rather the not knowing the spelling at all.
The iPod player is great. There's a lot of free podcasts available- some of them university lectures. And of course I have my favourite CDs loaded. It picked them up from my pc when I connected.
I have tried a number of apps- mostly free or cheap- but I have just a few I use regularly.
Shazam has been mentioned. You can hold the phone to the radio for 20 seconds and it can identify the song, artist and album.
OzWeather gives much more detailed information than is available from the default weather forecast. Not only is the forecast better, I can see the radar which is great for me running a business which is weather dependant.
Stanza is a free app which enables me to read books. I can download books from Gutenburg for free- they are all books out of copyright but there's some great stuff there. I've recently been rereading some of the Sherlock Holmes books. Great when you're stuck in a queue or a cubicle.
Or there are books which can be read out to you. Audiobooks enables you to download or stream books for listening when you can't read.
I use Twitter and Facebook apps which have a better interaction than via the web.
I enjoy cryptic crosswords- especially SMH- but don't buy the newspaper often. An app called 2-across enables me to resurrect my interest in these, and it's been fun.
I have a dictionary and thesaurus for those rare occasions when I'm stuck for a word.
There are some nice "To Do" apps which are really helping me to get on top of things. A pity though that they don't (I think they can) integrate with the alarm function.
Something as simple as a shopping list is now easier. Especially when I can share it with my wife's iPhone.
"Quota" enables me to check my phone's usage to ensure I don't overspend. I track three family phones plus home Internet on this. Yes it is available on the web, but it's just so much easier accessing it from the phone.
PangeaVR is not one I access often but it's awesome. 360 views from many places around the world.
LiveCams is another nice toy. I can view many public cameras from around the world- and in many cases, even control them myself. I hope to be able to set up my store cameras at some stage. Apparently it's quite possible.
"DocsToGo" enables me to transfer Word and Excel files, an to edit them from my iPhone. Big Excel files can take a while to load and view. But my most critical file (staff roster) I summarize into a single file and publish as PDF. It's always accessible and doesn't take long to load.
There are apps which would enable me to view my cash registers. Apparently. That would be really nice.
So in short. Some very nice business tools. With a little bit of fun.
I have the domain app which allows me to surf for houses from my phone
as well as the BOM app which hooks into the bom.gov.au website and gives me a better weather map and radar access than the phone supplied one.
The phone one is good for a quick look to see what the day is going to be like but if it is going to rain the BOM app is better to see wind and weather direction.
I also have the app that turns my iphone into a remote control to control my apple TV and laptop if I am playing music or video's.
The only app I am after that hasn't been created yet is a gpg encryption program.
The only thing that annoys me about the Iphone is that the stock standard apps such as youtube etc I cannot get rid of. All I have done with those is to move them all to their own screen on their own.
as well as the BOM app which hooks into the bom.gov.au website and gives me a better weather map and radar access than the phone supplied one.
The phone one is good for a quick look to see what the day is going to be like but if it is going to rain the BOM app is better to see wind and weather direction.
I also have the app that turns my iphone into a remote control to control my apple TV and laptop if I am playing music or video's.
The only app I am after that hasn't been created yet is a gpg encryption program.
The only thing that annoys me about the Iphone is that the stock standard apps such as youtube etc I cannot get rid of. All I have done with those is to move them all to their own screen on their own.
?? iPhone for webmail/gmail
This has been a very informative thread.
I do not use outlook (haven't done for a couple of years) so rely on webmail and now gmail.
Am I correct in assuming that the iPhone is better for this than Blackberry which seems more suited to email and syncing with outlook thru one's PC/notebook?
This has been a very informative thread.
I do not use outlook (haven't done for a couple of years) so rely on webmail and now gmail.
Am I correct in assuming that the iPhone is better for this than Blackberry which seems more suited to email and syncing with outlook thru one's PC/notebook?
Upgraded from my nokia to an iphone earlier this year and love it
I'm no gadget freak but find the email and address book features fantastic. Everything is synced with my MAC (which I'm still struggling with at times given it's vast differences with the PC!) so I can see at a glance which emails have been read already. Ipod is great as well and texting a breeze (though the auto spell checker can be a pain!). Best phone I've ever had.
Apps can also be handy- esp Google Maps in my case!
I'm no gadget freak but find the email and address book features fantastic. Everything is synced with my MAC (which I'm still struggling with at times given it's vast differences with the PC!) so I can see at a glance which emails have been read already. Ipod is great as well and texting a breeze (though the auto spell checker can be a pain!). Best phone I've ever had.
Apps can also be handy- esp Google Maps in my case!
I love, love, love my iPhone. So this is not an argument against it. At all.
However, I have this app too, and I have a theory that it is a bit out of date. Stuff that is listed on the proper site as ''under offer'' shows up as a regular listing; stuff that is gone is still on the iPhone app; stuff that is new is not listed on the iPhone thingy.
it could just be me. Yep, I'm impatient!
I've only just bought my 2nd ever phone (shock horror) at 35 years of age.
Its an iPhone and i rarely use it for calls but use it mainly for calendaring/scheduling.
I had some specific plans for it:
Ditch the home adsl $50/month
Ditch the home phone line $20/month
Ditch the home gaming PC and get some sleep at night (the big one...)
Ditch using a laptop for email and web unless doing a project like looking for a new IP.
I've successfully done all these with the iPhone.
It was dead cheap at $1050 outright since I didn't have a phone, ipod, camera, gps or laptop. So at $210 for each of those functions the iPhone made sense and was 'cheap' for me.
Not only that but i never need to login to mail again, the phone checks and alerts me to new messages and when I compose a new email the saved login details are used.
SMS layout is great.
GPS on Google Maps search for a town then choose 'navigate to here' is awesome and simple, I'd always said GPS is for people who can't read a map and therefore couldn't drive and operate a GPS unit at the same time. I now get it.
Web browsing and forms are made to suit phones, with dropdowns and data entry boxes magnified on selection. Even double tapping a web page frame zooms to the extents of that frame.
I love that fact that depending on the context of the app/page/detail that you're in changes the buttons/keyboard to suit. It fits with my idea of a great GUI or HTPC front end.
I picked one up without ever having used one before and not really looking into it and instantly was impressed with the user experience - constantly saying 'wow, that just works why don't computers make it that easy'.
Web on the iphone is how I think the web should be, suitable for banking, finding info or the like but not comfortable enough to browse for hours like a home PC (and therefore keep me up all night).
My bill is small since I've got a work mobile anyway.
Only downside is Apple's ridiculously crap and locked in iTunes software which makes even a simple laptop reimage and iTunes data restore always wipe a contact or two or lock out apps which need re-downloading. I get around this by syncing once and never again.
You'll be hooked once you buy one, a work mate used mine and two weeks later he and his mrs have one each. ha ha.
Its an iPhone and i rarely use it for calls but use it mainly for calendaring/scheduling.
I had some specific plans for it:
Ditch the home adsl $50/month
Ditch the home phone line $20/month
Ditch the home gaming PC and get some sleep at night (the big one...)
Ditch using a laptop for email and web unless doing a project like looking for a new IP.
I've successfully done all these with the iPhone.
It was dead cheap at $1050 outright since I didn't have a phone, ipod, camera, gps or laptop. So at $210 for each of those functions the iPhone made sense and was 'cheap' for me.
Not only that but i never need to login to mail again, the phone checks and alerts me to new messages and when I compose a new email the saved login details are used.
SMS layout is great.
GPS on Google Maps search for a town then choose 'navigate to here' is awesome and simple, I'd always said GPS is for people who can't read a map and therefore couldn't drive and operate a GPS unit at the same time. I now get it.
Web browsing and forms are made to suit phones, with dropdowns and data entry boxes magnified on selection. Even double tapping a web page frame zooms to the extents of that frame.
I love that fact that depending on the context of the app/page/detail that you're in changes the buttons/keyboard to suit. It fits with my idea of a great GUI or HTPC front end.
I picked one up without ever having used one before and not really looking into it and instantly was impressed with the user experience - constantly saying 'wow, that just works why don't computers make it that easy'.
Web on the iphone is how I think the web should be, suitable for banking, finding info or the like but not comfortable enough to browse for hours like a home PC (and therefore keep me up all night).
My bill is small since I've got a work mobile anyway.
Only downside is Apple's ridiculously crap and locked in iTunes software which makes even a simple laptop reimage and iTunes data restore always wipe a contact or two or lock out apps which need re-downloading. I get around this by syncing once and never again.
You'll be hooked once you buy one, a work mate used mine and two weeks later he and his mrs have one each. ha ha.
