Thankfully for me the pressure is off! I can make full use of my iPhone in the UK as of last night
Hey Yoga,
If you are on O2 have you been using Edge and is it as bad as the reviews from the US make out?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
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A *big* hint that o2 will be doing the iPhone in the UK?
- Thread starter Leemo
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Hey Yoga,
If you are on O2 have you been using Edge and is it as bad as the reviews from the US make out?
Good question. Spill it!
Yes, come on yogamonkey, don't keep us in suspense!
Please post the full experience so that we can start droooooooooling!
As much detail as possible please.
My experience with Edge and iPhone (on UK O2 contract) is :
- Edge is fine for the widget apps in iphone (i.e. sticks, weather, googlee maps)
- Edge performance with Safari is dependent on the site being visited. Heavy graphic sites take quite some time to load, actually like 56K modem times! Simple site, like RSS reads are quick.
- Overall I am happy with performance, but YOU NEED UNLIMITED data tarriff!!!! O2 at presnt rather rubbish data tarrif! But i understand these will come to a change in october.
- Edge is fine for the widget apps in iphone (i.e. sticks, weather, googlee maps)
- Edge performance with Safari is dependent on the site being visited. Heavy graphic sites take quite some time to load, actually like 56K modem times! Simple site, like RSS reads are quick.
- Overall I am happy with performance, but YOU NEED UNLIMITED data tarriff!!!! O2 at presnt rather rubbish data tarrif! But i understand these will come to a change in october.
- Have you used iphonesimfree ?
- What are the limitations ?
- Any pictures of the o2 iphone ?
THANKS
I'm using it on Virgin Mobile UK. No limitations apart from visual voicemail which was to be expected.
I haven't set up YouTube (can't ever imagine using it) but this has also been done on a software unlocked phone.
I actually found the whole process to be really painful. Don't get me wrong, the software from iPhoneSimFree was totally painless. Getting the app on the phone in the first place completely floored me. I'm just your average apple fanboy who has never hacked anything in his life, so it was a bit trying. I guess the fact that I was being used (voluntarily and happily so) as the lab rat for the software was also a bit of pressure. But I loved it!! There were problems for me because I had a SIM PIN activated, but apparently that has now been resolved in a patch for the software. I did the whole thing with support via MSN from the guy who runs www.iphoneworldwideunlock.com and Jesus from Gizmodo who was observing the process. Jesus was the one who spotted the PIN error! Saved the day.
I guess if you are ok with things like Jailbreaking and Springboards and all other things I had never heard of it would be a walk in the park. The unlock process itself took minutes. The whole thing took 4 hours due to my lack of experience and then the PIN issue but I don't think even that would be a problem for users now.
I would definitely recommend it for people in the UK (and elsewhere) who want an iPhone NOW and aren't bothered about waiting for the official launch.
If anyone has specific questions (not too techie please) feel free to ask.
Paul
Fortunetly for me I have a little computer background so I worked the iphone the harder way using the "TurboSIM" way. I won't explain it here, you can google the process, but it is not for the brave to hack type.
Everything of course works bar Visual Voice mail. I recently fixed the voicemail notification issue so now I get alerts when someone leaves a voicemail (did not get that first with O2).
Youtube again requires further hacks - as pointed out above - it is somehow tied into AT&T activation process, but can be made to work. My experience with youTube is - it works as its supposed to (though not all videos are made avaliable on iphone i.e. YouTube on desktops has more videos avaliable).
I think once iPhone arrives here in the UK i will sell my US purcahsed and SIM Unlocked phone and get the Uk version instead - for peace of mind really.
Everything of course works bar Visual Voice mail. I recently fixed the voicemail notification issue so now I get alerts when someone leaves a voicemail (did not get that first with O2).
Youtube again requires further hacks - as pointed out above - it is somehow tied into AT&T activation process, but can be made to work. My experience with youTube is - it works as its supposed to (though not all videos are made avaliable on iphone i.e. YouTube on desktops has more videos avaliable).
I think once iPhone arrives here in the UK i will sell my US purcahsed and SIM Unlocked phone and get the Uk version instead - for peace of mind really.
iPhone in the UK - All Day Today
Hi All,
Although I have been able to get my hands (briefly) on a US iPhone at a party for actors a while back and was blown away by it then, however it was today that our CEO stuck an iPhone on my desk. It was only showing the activation screen, so I decided to run a program called iNdependence which allows the phone to be activated... (no phone functions)
Luckily it worked OK (although anyone who is doing this should always make sure you 'pair' the phone by running iTunes (and then quitting once it comes up with the activation screen) before you start. Finally I was able to start using the thing, but the fun stopped there for a while. Frustratingly the phone would not work with Wifi on either of our office networks. Eventually I found that I had to manually enter an external DNS address in there and it worked after that. Normally I am used to everything working out of the box - this would not be a good experience for a user to go through, but once it was going - the office stopped and gawked at it, and could not believe how good it was...
The whole browsing experience cannot be described - the amount of thought into the little things like web form elements really show a lot of thought about every aspect of the device. E-mail is amazing and everything else is as I experienced it last time... This is a landmark product and feels about five years ahead of everything else - purely on user experience.
I was always going to get one, but now this means I will be getting one as quickly as possible when they come out here...(UK)... Just dying for an announcement now... Really killing me to wait after today's extra long teaser.... It is now back on the CEO's desk now..... Sigh...
Hi All,
Although I have been able to get my hands (briefly) on a US iPhone at a party for actors a while back and was blown away by it then, however it was today that our CEO stuck an iPhone on my desk. It was only showing the activation screen, so I decided to run a program called iNdependence which allows the phone to be activated... (no phone functions)
Luckily it worked OK (although anyone who is doing this should always make sure you 'pair' the phone by running iTunes (and then quitting once it comes up with the activation screen) before you start. Finally I was able to start using the thing, but the fun stopped there for a while. Frustratingly the phone would not work with Wifi on either of our office networks. Eventually I found that I had to manually enter an external DNS address in there and it worked after that. Normally I am used to everything working out of the box - this would not be a good experience for a user to go through, but once it was going - the office stopped and gawked at it, and could not believe how good it was...
The whole browsing experience cannot be described - the amount of thought into the little things like web form elements really show a lot of thought about every aspect of the device. E-mail is amazing and everything else is as I experienced it last time... This is a landmark product and feels about five years ahead of everything else - purely on user experience.
I was always going to get one, but now this means I will be getting one as quickly as possible when they come out here...(UK)... Just dying for an announcement now... Really killing me to wait after today's extra long teaser.... It is now back on the CEO's desk now..... Sigh...
I've gotten into trouble for posting this information - officially now suspended from o2.
Just so you guys know!
-Leemo
Just so you guys know!
-Leemo
sorry to hear that.
off topic: Apple store is closed. New ipod 16Gb 3G for UK "shipping Today" soon
ahah rumors rumors it's probably a maintenance thing
It was an internal thing.
'Leak' wise it was public domain info anyway, hardly something 'confidential' as it's being described. Anyway - life goes on! As does the wait for this phone
-Leemo
Yeah i dont get that either. Everyone noticed their phones displaying "E" (EDGE) so it wasn't a big secret.
Oh well...
I'm yet to see an "E" on my phone (Nokia N80) either when I was in London or down here in Brighton. I'm fairly confident that if they do go for Edge rather than the 3G that we want then it'll be rolled out down here in Brighton fairly sharpish considering the fact that there's a new Apple Store opening here pretty soon.
[Edit]
If O2/Apple start getting silly over prices (e.g £270 and a £40pm 24 month contract), then I think I'll wait till I go to the US next, pick one up for £199 (equivelent US->GBP), unlock it and get a simplicity tariff there is no point paying silly money for a 24month contract and having to buy the phone yourself.
I despise things like 'Oh the Nokia N95 is only free if you pay £50 a month' ********. orange have a habit of trying to charge me for any phone upgrade after my 12 month contracts (£25pm) over the last few years. I have developed a technique for getting round it though, it's as follows:-
1 month before the contract ends ring up and inform them you want to give the 1 month notice as you want to terminate the contract. usually they say nothing a this point. 1 month later (when the contract ends) ring them up and ask for the code to transfer your phone number, at this point they will beg you not to leave (as they know you are serious because you gave them the notice and now want the code to change numbers). Then they let me have any phone I like for free (even ones you have to pay for) , I got my P990i this way for free instead of £150!!
If O2/Apple start getting silly over prices (e.g £270 and a £40pm 24 month contract), then I think I'll wait till I go to the US next, pick one up for £199 (equivelent US->GBP), unlock it and get a simplicity tariff there is no point paying silly money for a 24month contract and having to buy the phone yourself.
I despise things like 'Oh the Nokia N95 is only free if you pay £50 a month' ********. orange have a habit of trying to charge me for any phone upgrade after my 12 month contracts (£25pm) over the last few years. I have developed a technique for getting round it though, it's as follows:-
1 month before the contract ends ring up and inform them you want to give the 1 month notice as you want to terminate the contract. usually they say nothing a this point. 1 month later (when the contract ends) ring them up and ask for the code to transfer your phone number, at this point they will beg you not to leave (as they know you are serious because you gave them the notice and now want the code to change numbers). Then they let me have any phone I like for free (even ones you have to pay for) , I got my P990i this way for free instead of £150!!
Had an update today. Looks like Europe iPhone launch is early to mid nov, not 1st Oct as previously reported.
Nooooooooo! Thats like 2 months! I'm really considering getting one off eBay and unlocking it...