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iPhone 4 replacing camera/phone/iPod? Question for owners.

Tears Apart

Tears Apart

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 10, 2009
564
13
Outside Closer
Hi all,

Generally my budget doesn't allow me to indulge in 750€+ (live in Europe) gadgets, however I currently need to replace my iPod classic *and* my 10 years old mobile phone *and* my digital camera.

Hence it occurred to me how the iPhone alone might replace these three items (I am a minimum-amount-of-belongings freak as well :)).

My question for owners/experts is, do you think that buying an iPhone 4 I would indeed suffice to these three needs? Camera-wise I don't need much, perhaps my biggest concern is the iPod functionality, both for capacity (I'd go for the 32 gb but I come from a 160 gb classic) and battery.

Many thanks for the feeback!

PS Any hint from where to buy an unlocked iPhone 4 in Europe that can be shipped to Germany?
 
I don't see this as being a feasible alternative for you simply because of storage considerations. With the increase in specs on the camera come the increase in file sizes. A little over a minute of recorded HD video would tax your device nearly 100mb. If you're the type that uses a lot of apps then there's another storage killer. And then you want to go from a 160GB world to a 32GB for iPod use? I just don't see this working out for you. Remember stand alone devices are always going to be better in terms of quality and performance. You don't use a Swiss army knife to replace actual knives. And you probably wouldn't want to replace your iPod, camera, and phone with an iPhone 4. Just my opinion.
 
For me, the iPhone 4 excels at these few things. The initial switch a few years ago to using my iPhone as my MP3 player instead of an iPod took maybe a week for me to get used to - and now I couldn't have it any other way. Now that the iPhone 4 has a seriously respectable camera too, that's one less thing I have to even consider bringing with me somewhere.

The camera should exceed your expectations, and I doubt you'll have a problem with the battery either, I'd even bet it would outlast any iPod classic. The only thing you really need to decide is if 32GB of storage will be enough. I used to like carrying my whole music library around, but now it won't all fit. I don't really mind, but maybe that's a deal breaker for you.

If not, then I think you'd be really, really pleased.

edit: And yeah, video recording chews up space pretty fast, but it's never been a problem for me in casual usage. I take far more pictures, and even several hundred of those takes up less than a gig. Obviously you'll want to upload that stuff to your computer before it starts taking up a ton of room.
 
I use it for all three of the things you mentioned, and wouldnt change it for anything. It does them all really well. The only problem i may see is you coming from 160gb to a maximum of 32.
 
Thank you for the replies. As to whether 32Gb vs. 160Gb.would be a deal breaker, I am quite sure it wouldn't. It's the battery I was concerned about, but it seems it can outlast my 30+ ipod classic hours in itunes mode? That would be awesome.

In regards to how specific items perform better, of course so, however I don't need a too high quality camera, and above all the idea of having three items in one is really interesting.

I wonder what other deal breakers there could be?
 
Honestly, the iPhone is so good as both an iPod and a camera that I hardly ever bring along, let alone use my Classic or my Canon G10. Once you get used to the ability to take a decent shot *at any time* and can immediately email it/mms it/upload it, and have it geo-tagged, a normal camera just seems crippled. The same goes for the ipod - once you start being able to take calls, switch from music to a video to streaming audio all with one device, a stand alone iPod starts to feel outdated. Yeah, the storage would be a concern, but there are a couple of options - 1) Itunes can now down-convert your music to 128k on the fly - this is great if most of your music is archived at high bitrate or lossless, it's less useful if it's already a low bitrate. You also pay a big price in sync time. 2) The iphone makes streaming media accessible. This is a big one because you may find that with endless Internet radio accessible, you don't need your entire collection anymore. There are also possibilities of streaming your own collection from home to the iPhone.

The major concerns I'd have are battery life - yes, the IP4 is the best in its class, and if you ONLY listened to your iPod, the battery would last quite a long time (not as long as a Classic I don't think though). The thing is, you will definitely be using it for other things, so expect battery life to be somewhere in the 12-36 hour range. Best to plan to charge it every night. The other thing is cost - the iPhone will likely add an additional monthly charge to your mobile bill for data - don't forget to consider this when budgeting.
 
Thank you Zhenya, that is valuable insight to me. You seem to confirm my hopes and concerns. The latter seem to shatter the former as you say.

In regards to monthly bill, despite living in Germany where contract-only IP4 are available, I will get an unlocked one shipped from another country (price is around 700€ from UK Apple Store).

In this regard, I am still figuring out *how* to do that. The best option in so far seems to be the service offered by borderlinx, anybody had experience with them? Of course the best would be to have a physical friend living over in the UK I guess.

Or, any other idea? Thank you.
 
......Well of course it's going to replace your phone. Why wouldn't iPhone 4 replace your phone? It's a freakin' phone. :rolleyes:
 
Yes of course the phone functionality would be covered well enough.

I realised that I have a friend in Switzerland: am I missing something or I could simply order an iPhone 4 from the Swiss Apple Store and have it sent to my friend's address and have him send it over to me via mail?
 
Yes it does all three surprisingly well if you have a data plan

And I think 32gbs is more than enough space, and here's why

I don't download music illegally, and I probably purchase 1-3 single songs a month, so I usually only have a few GB's of music on my phone.. but what I do have is several music streaming applications:

I heart radio, KPCC, Pandora, Fstream(shoutcast) , this provides me with more than enough options

In the past I used Simplify Media, which allows you to stream the music on your Itunes to your computer, so again if you have a data plan and good reception you have access to all your music.

The phone and camera work for me, just don't expect it to take decent night time shots
 
I'll counter with a slightly different opinion.

I love (really love) the iPhone 4 camera. HOWEVER - it can't really replace a dedicated digital camera as the zoom is pure digital (not optical) and even with some great apps - you don't have that much control over shooting. Maybe this isn't important to you. And like I said - the iPhone's pictures are great. But you're "stuck" with the most basic camera functions of a point and click. A GREAT point and click. But again - no good zoom capabilities and other things found even on a very cheap digital camera.

So it all depends on what you want to take pictures of/how you will use the camera.
 
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Shasta McNasty said:
I use it for all three of the things you mentioned, and wouldnt change it for anything. It does them all really well. The only problem i may see is you coming from 160gb to a maximum of 32.
Click to expand...

Same here, and I agree, the cap at 32GB may not work for the OP needs.
 
In regards to camera usage, I think that having a *great* basic point-and-shoot will work out fine for me. I just need reference pics of small crafts I build, and the occasional holiday shots. Can anybody tell me what's the minimum focus length of the IP4 camera?

As to having the 32Gb cap for my music library, I reckon that as the only issue standing before me, but if that's the only compromise I have to accept in order to be able to "compress" three dedicated items in one (and what an item!), so be it I guess : ).

In so far it sounds like a deal, after all I'd spend anyway 250€ for a new phone, 250€ for a new iPod and 250€ for a new camera, hence I can at least justify mentally such an insanely expensive item as rational, hah.
 
Ironically the function that the iphone is most mediocre at may be the Phone function lol

But this certainly replaced my ipod/phone/camera. Since I am not a serious photographer, I sold my 8mp camera already. I also sold any music players I had as well.

Also the games on the iphone are surprisingly very good but that is the only part I still need another device for, ie Nintendo DS, PSP etc. But other than that, the iphone excels in everything.
 
Until the iPhone 4, I still carried a pocket camera with me everywhere I went. It was stowed in my backpack/briefcase so it was only removed when I got to the jobsite and I'd clip it onto my belt (had a case for it). The 3G and 3GS just didn't have the resolution I wanted for on-the-job pictures, since most of these were later converted to photoshop drawings and then rendered as semi-transparent overlays to our blueprints so we could do before/after mockups for customers.

I no longer carry a secondary camera. The iPhone 4's camera totally surprised me. Yes, its "only" 5MP but the optics are very clear and the quality of the pictures is astounding given that it originates from a phone. It more than meets my needs now.

I've long since replaced all but my Shuffle (which I still use while running) with the iPhone's iPod feature. The 3GS/4 headphones with the built-in volume adjustment sealed that deal for me long ago.
 
Haha, I don't know what I was thinking, I ordered one from Switzerland that a friend could have sent me without realising I'd have to pay import duties!

Any suggestion as to how to get an unlocked iPhone 4 shipped to Germany at a decent price?

I heard about Borderlinx.com to have it shipped from the UK, though it would round up to 755€, what do you think? In Switzerland they get the 32Gb for 650€...

Thanks
 
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