Has anyone got one of these. Are they a good tool for entertainment, downloading maps to find your way, or just as a phone, etc. Is the ringing volume loud enough to hear in the truck. Thinking of getting one. So any views would be helpfull. Thanks.
I’ve got one and am fairly well pleased with it. I find it works very well as a phone (and the ringer is easily loud enough to be heard in the cab).
The (included) mapping program and built-in GPS work well for finding you way around (and the ability to switch to an aerial photograph view and zoom right in is brilliant for scoping out locations of e.g. loading bays, goods entrances etc), although there’s really no comparison with a proper satellite navigation unit.
As a music (and video) player, it works really well (I think that’s its primary design function), and of course integrates with iTunes on a PC or Mac just like any other iPod, although I don’t like the included earphones as they don’t fit snugly in my ears. The camera takes pretty good photos (although there’s no flash and the pixel count is a bit mean compared to some of the competition.
There are however some bad points. In no particular order:
You cannot forward a text message that you have received;
There is no facility to cut & paste text into a text message or email;
You cannot send or receive multimedia text messages;
The only Bluetooth funcion it supports is headset/in-car - i.e. you cannot use bluetooth to send photos, MP3s or contacts, nor can you use the phone as a bluetooth “modem” with e.g. a laptop;
There is no removable memory card (although the standard 8/16 Gigabyte memory is more than adequate for most people);
You cannot swap the battery yourself - it has to be returned to Apple;
The phone is physically fairly big (but it has to be to incorporate the excellent screen, which occupies almost the whole front face of the unit.
But for me the really neat thing about it is the “App Store”, where you can download a HUGE array of programs and games (good job the price plans include unlimited Internet and WiFi usage 
)
To sum-up, if forwarding texts and multimedia messages is your thing, look elsewhere (although some of the matters mentioned are due to be addressed in a (free) software update later this year). Similarly for taking photos.
tortoise:
Has anyone got one of these. Are they a good tool for entertainment, downloading maps to find your way, or just as a phone, etc. Is the ringing volume loud enough to hear in the truck. Thinking of getting one. So any views would be helpfull. Thanks.
I have a G3 one here in Poland and its the best mobile ever, but I say that as a Mac user anyway, so the way it works makes perfect sense to me. Currently it lacks MMS, video recording. mine is jailbroken although not unlocked, so I do have all of these applications from third parties, Apple are not very keen you do this by the way, but its quite easy. The ringer seems loud enough to me, I have downloaded an air horn with works very well. I use mine as an office, contacts, calenders are synced very well with my desktop, I use it as a music player, it of course has iPod. I use mine to play videos, take pictures, I would have thought however if you were more into games or entertainment, then there are better cheaper options. I have mine playing music and have a program that cost a couple of quid called Ahoy that alerts to camera positions. That works on its GPS without the need of a data connection. The wireless is fine, average speeds, so email, surfing is all good. I have some programs that help in my business, so it really is for me an office all in one.
You may want to hold off on getting one, the big news is version 3 is soon here and that will have all the stuff us jailbreakers have had for months, also Apple will allow developers to come up with a Sat Nav option. I have found that since I have got this I very rarely use my laptop while out and about. As an Apple user its the best thing since sliced bread for me, but if you are a windows user then I think you may find other options might suite you better.
I have just posted and seen Roymondo reply. The MMS, bluetooth, cut and paste options, forwarding messages are all missing, Version 3 will sort that out, but I already have these and have had them for months, there is a very large community supporting non Apple stuff for these phones. To get near a phone that had the abilities of the iPhone I was carrying a larger Sony and before that a Nokia 9500 brick. Its also working very well as a bluetooth modem 
The battery life is okay, a couple of days, but as its used as aMP3 player or office as well as a mobile phone I think it does very well. It will charge form USB and is quick to do a full charge, so it can be left a bit while syncing. The earphones are normal iPod ones, they went in the bin, very average. The screen is fantastic, I though the inputting text might be a bit of a fiddle, but after a few goes its very good and I can change from UK to DK and PL keyboards in a second, well its useful to me 
To Roymondo, wait a bit and I reckon Version 3 will take most of the issues you have or you can have them all now with a jailbreak.
drew128:
To Roymondo, wait a bit and I reckon Version 3 will take most of the issues you have or you can have them all now with a jailbreak.
Blimey - a software update that upgrades the camera sensor, retrofits a flash, fits a removable memory card and allows me to swap the battery? Where do I sign ■■
Roymondo:
drew128:
To Roymondo, wait a bit and I reckon Version 3 will take most of the issues you have or you can have them all now with a jailbreak.Blimey - a software update that upgrades the camera sensor, retrofits a flash, fits a removable memory card and allows me to swap the battery? Where do I sign ■■
I did say most of your issues If you wanted a phone with a flash or a memory card then you would never bought it in the first place now would you 
Be happy that version 3 brings it in line with normal mobiles at least…
Drew, any idea when we in the UK can expect to see this version 3 I-Phone?
I have fancied one myself but have been put off because of the missing functions that you describe. Also, what do you mean by “jailbroken”■■..hacked into? Doesnt that automatically void any warranties that come with the phone, surely Apple would know its been tampered with?
Cheers, bullitt.
bullitt:
Drew, any idea when we in the UK can expect to see this version 3 I-Phone?I have fancied one myself but have been put off because of the missing functions that you describe. Also, what do you mean by “jailbroken”■■..hacked into? Doesnt that automatically void any warranties that come with the phone, surely Apple would know its been tampered with?
Cheers, bullitt.
From what I read the software is available in Apples words “mid year” The beta versions are out for developers and Dev-Team have already jail-broken a beta version and thats as geeky as I can get I did read somewhere that the people who do components for iPhone are being asked for new versions, which might mean a new iPhone is on the way, thats a rumor only.
Jail-breaking is something that allows you to run 3rd party applications, its very popular to do this, certainly as the things that will appear this summer in the official version have been on the market for ages, I can record video and MMS it, been doing it for months. If your iPhone is jail-broken then you have the possibilities to unlock it also, but many people would jailbreak an iPhone with no intention of unlocking it. I have a broken iPhone I got for £50, the screen is smashed, although it works very well, I unlocked it myself, but should I upgraded it via iTunes I will lose the unlock, ITunes has no problem with the jail broken part, you can always just restore the iPhone to its natural state via iTunes.
My Polish iPhone has the latest firmware or baseband, so there is no software unlock, I could use a rebel simcard, its is jail-broken, but iTunes is very happy and that is connecting to Apple when I sync. I haven’t heard anyone bricking their iPhones for a long time. I done it also with my iTouch, there is just tons of better software when is jail-broken.
Cheers for that drew, after i posted the last post i had a look around and it seems that apple could well be launching the I-phone V3 in June / July!! Will have to keep an eye out and see what the prices are
As for jailbreaking, how can I do it, is it legal, can you tell us on here how to do it■■?
Cheers mate.
bullitt:
Cheers for that drew, after i posted the last post i had a look around and it seems that apple could well be launching the I-phone V3 in June / July!! Will have to keep an eye out and see what the prices areAs for jailbreaking, how can I do it, is it legal, can you tell us on here how to do it■■?
Cheers mate.
Sent you a PM… I can’t imagine Apple are very happy about. I much as I know developers of applications have to buy a license to get the code and Apple are a bit keen on control, so the program such as Cydia are generally free applications, Cydia groups independent applications like the apple store for you to download, which at the moment includes lots of things a native iPhone does not have, such as MMS, video recorded and stuff like ring tones. The iPhone is a blooming expensive phone, so I like to have some choice on applications and for the price I would really like the soddin’ thing unlocked as well…
If i’m right; from what i’ve been reading; OS v3.0 is an upgrade of the existing software. Which will be a free upgrade for the iphone. Not a completely new phone.
tortoise:
If i’m right; from what i’ve been reading; OS v3.0 is an upgrade of the existing software. Which will be a free upgrade for the iphone. Not a completely new phone.
Yes that’s correct, its a software update for the current iPhone. I mention a new iPhone only as the rumor is that component companies who supply for the iPhone are rumored to have been asked about new specs or so a rumor has it.
I got an iphone at the start of the year and i love it.
The screen has very good definition, some of the games are up to psp standard.
The iphone set a benchmark that all the other manufacturers try to beat, it has its faults but apple are supposedly addressing a lot of them in the upcoming 3.0 software update (which is free and very very easy to do)
tortoise:
Has anyone got one of these. Are they a good tool for entertainment, downloading maps to find your way, or just as a phone, etc. Is the ringing volume loud enough to hear in the truck. Thinking of getting one. So any views would be helpfull. Thanks.
compare it with this nokia before you buy http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-n82/specifications
and heres some stuff im using on it
bbc iplayer
you tube player
tomtom
free google maps
free nokia maps
nokia fm radio
nokia internet radio
mobbler,last fm
there is an upgrade of the phone due out on 17th June that will improve the phone no end, including tethering so you can use the phone as a modem on your laptop look here http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/steps.html
I don’t like them - they are too bullky and you can’t get a good tariff on them with O2.
I got this instead :
Its a great phone - touch screen, dowloadable free apps just like the iPhone - only they are free! and a 2gb SD card (upgradable)Its got google maps so i can use it to get an address or plan a route, and good access to internet - don’t need my lappy with me anymore.
And the best bit is I got it free on a £27 a month contract with unlimited wap/internet access on O2.
There are better options out there than the iPhone - u just need to look around a bit.
In the UK, O2 have exclusive rights to the I-phone so I would have to take out a contract with them.
But what if I bought an I phone from the Apple shop, would i then have to take it to O2 and get it “activated” by buying a contract or could i simply insert my existing Sim card (T-Mobile) and use it as normal? Would all the I-Phone functions, apps etc work ok or is the O2 Sim card different from the rest??
Cheers for any in put,
Bullitt.
bullitt:
In the UK, O2 have exclusive rights to the I-phone so I would have to take out a contract with them.But what if I bought an I phone from the Apple shop, would i then have to take it to O2 and get it “activated” by buying a contract or could i simply insert my existing Sim card (T-Mobile) and use it as normal? Would all the I-Phone functions, apps etc work ok or is the O2 Sim card different from the rest??
Cheers for any in put,
Bullitt.
if you bought it from apple it would still only work with o2, you can get them unlocked, but as soon as you sync it it would revert to being o2 from what I can gather. with the new iphone coming out soon I think the contract will be a lot cheeper for the old one soon
Cheers Jimti, i would also imagine that “unlocking” any new phone automatically invalidate any manufacturers warranties etc.
Its a shame apple wont release it to any other networks to sell, abit of competition would keep the prices down a bit!!
Just on Bullitt and Jimti above posts…
I wanted to unlock my iPhone mainly because I wanted to use my iPhone in Denmark, the carrier I have in Poland is fine, so it wasn’t because the tariffs were bad, I just wanted the functions that the phone offers while working in another country. My choice was a software unlock rather than a sim adaptor and it was free and well supported. You actually have to use iTunes to do this, this is the bit when I think most folk think Apple will see you doing something bad and brick your mobile. I use iTunes to sync and there is never any problems when I connect an unlock phone to iTunes, if you did this with another sim card, it would just say wrong sim and not allow you do do anything, once the unlock in injected iTunes sees it as a normal iPhone and has no issues, so there is no real possibility to break the phone.
When you get an upgrade offed through iPhones. then I just say no to it and a few days later a patch will be online and we use a bit of software to build a package which will offer all the new Apple stuff, but keep all the holes were the unlock software will function open. You connect to iTunes and when offered the upgrade, you choose the package you have just made, very simple. At any point you can restore to the normal Apple software and the jailbreak will be gone as if it was never there, it will be a normal iPhone, no one would ever know
The people doing this stuff are very focused on the new iPhone software so some newer iPhones are not unlock able, Apple do not like people doing this of course and the latest baseband has close all the holes were the unlock can be injected. I bought a PAYG for the wife and that had the latest baseband version and a software unlock was not possible, so we just got a rebel sim card for £10 and that works okay, its like a small flexible circuit board, very thin and fits in the sim card tray with the sim card you want to use. When the new version arrives we will wait a bit and see what the new software unlock will do for us.
I was using my iPhone in the UK on T-mobile just before we left for Poland, I put the sim card in and was offered some new network settings for MMS etc and was using the phone on web and walk, no problems at all. Some people want to jailbreak for the software you can get, I have a friend who is with o2 and happy with that, but wanted video recording and MMS which Apple have not got, so with a jailbreak he was offered lots more possibilities with applications. The new version will address a lot of applications missing and may make jail breaking less interesting for those after just software things. TomTom have announced turn by turn navigation for the new iPhone, Navigon also. The TomTom appears to be offering a car cradle as well, so hands free and navigation in one package.
I was in Denmark last weekend and it seemed everyone had an iPhone, I would put the ratio at 20% running a normal iPhone and 80% jailbroken, no one having any problems at all. A slight downside depending on your thoughts, The wife can log on to a web page and see were I am, she knew when I left Denmark yesterday and was waiting for me with a cup of tea when I arrived back in Poland, she has used this to ask me to pick up some shopping as she can see that I am passing the supermarket, but I can see some folk finding that a bit worrying.