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I was in Europe for 2 weeks and used my iPhone constantly, visual voicemail,
read the NY Times and LA Times every morning on Safari, Google maps and Weather a few times a day, sent pics I took back to the famiy and friends and when I was at the airport to leave I still had not used my 20 megs. Don't know how you use 10 megs a day, but I had trouble using 2 megs a day.

Just checked via Webkit Inspector with Flash disabled:
nytimes main page: 508kb
latimes main page: 687kb

So >1mb just to check the front pages, let alone read a specific article + google maps & sending pictures : hard to believe you didn't even get to 20mb in 2 weeks
 
If the iPhone launched in Germany turns out to be the same non-3G version
that's out in the US... well, I hope it won't sell well at all. If it forces Apple to either update the thing or lower prices.

Just sayin'.
 
On this whole 3G issue...

So right now I have a Nokia N80, wonderful specification, but doesn't work smoothly for whatever reason. It has 3G and is on the Orange UK network.
I do not get 3G coverage where I live now, I do when I go to college, or to a local city. It is not worth me keeping the phone in 3G mode purely because of the battery drain, as when it is not in a 3G area it constantly searches for one.
When I do need to use the browser on it, I am more than happy to use EDGE, the speeds aren't that bad and I am usually travelling so I have time to kill. The phone also has wi-fi so when I am near a usable hot-spot I can use that. If I am not near a wi-fi hot-spot I am usually near a computer. On the occasions I have used 3G for browsing I personally felt no gain in speed over EDGE.

So all in all a 3G iPhone would be of no benefit over an Edge based one. This goes for all people who are in similar circumstances than I.
Yes, it would be nice for a future proofed iPhone, but none of the networks in the UK seem to want to cover my area, and battery life would suffer.

Sorry for the reasonably long post, but I felt that I needed to put in my little bit.

cheers
matt
 
In the UK, I would say that nobody pays over £50 UK for a new contract phone these days. People expect them to be FREE if they are signing a contract which is £35 or more each month.

My Nokia E65 on launch day was free with my contract. Im sure there are people with bucket loads of spare cash who can justify the iphone, but it seems massively over priced for what is still essentially... a mobile phone.
 
The iPod Touch isn't 3G and I'm sure they're selling plenty of those... ;)

The iPod touch isn't a phone.

And every interface Nokia has made was laughable compared to the iPhone.

Maybe they should stop chatting and start producing phones without horrible interfaces.

And maybe Apple should make more than one model, with more options, better cameras, etc.
 
This has been rehashed a thousand times, particulary with respect to wired telecommunications, e.g., "The USA doesn't have good broadband internet speeds cause its cost prohibitive to lay fiber optic cable in the huge land mass". This disinformation is sprayed out there by the telecom monopolies in this country!

Whether its about wired broadband or cellphone technology, the flaw in that argument is that the population density of the top 25 markets (or even top 100) in the United States is quite high, definitely high enough to warrant competitive broadband and cellphone technology. And yet besides the extremely limited rollout of Verizon FIOS, most of us are limited to a DUOPOLY of DSL/Cable for internet with abhorrent speeds for either and ridiculous prices and terms of service.

On the cellphone front, we are hardly any better. Indeed the CDMA 3G coverage isn't too bad in populated areas, but we are still much behind the latest technology and we pay out the **** for what we do get.

I don't mean to jump on you, but Im very passionate about this issue and wish to dispel any misconceptions about why the US is falling so behind in certain technological areas. I mean for GOD **** SAKE, WE BASICALLY DOMINATED THE LAST 40 YEARS OF TECHNOLOGY IN THIS COUNTRY AND NOW LOOK WHATS HAPPENING. The piece of *** corrupt Republican politicians sold us out to the telecoms long ago. I am so sick of that.

Im moving to Tokyo....

</rant>

Yes, nice rant, except that I already realized this when a kind Aussi gave me some info. Do read more of the thread before exploding;)
 
Well, it will take longer for Canada because it's not a major market. Germany is the 2nd or 3rd largest consumer market behind the US. Japan is also up there. If Apple is going by a "large markets first" policy, then I'd say you're going to be waiting a bit longer.

BRING ON JAPAN!

I think Japan is Apple's 2nd biggest market and also the 2nd biggest cellphone market as well.

Q1 2008 can't come around sooner - which is the rumored timeframe for the iPhone in Japan.

I was in the US this week on business (at O'hare now waiting for a connecting flight back home to Tokyo) so got to visit an Apple Store Thursday and played around with an iPhone and just luved the thing! Can't wait!

Will be buying an iPod touch to tie me over!
 
Japanese Market

the next best market for the iPhone is Japan.

Japan is the most sophisticated phone market in the world, at 2G the iPhone is just not ready, it needs to be 4/5G to compete successfully there:D
 
iPhone Euro contracts

In the UK, I would say that nobody pays over £50 UK for a new contract phone these days. People expect them to be FREE if they are signing a contract which is £35 or more each month.

My Nokia E65 on launch day was free with my contract. Im sure there are people with bucket loads of spare cash who can justify the iphone, but it seems massively over priced for what is still essentially... a mobile phone.


I suspect that the contract that comes with the iPhone will subsidise the purchase cost as happens with every other new phone
 
Japan is the most sophisticated phone market in the world, at 2G the iPhone is just not ready, it needs to be 4/5G to compete successfully there:D

Which got me poking around on Wikipedia: "Besides this vagueness there is no definition to what 5G is but it will go beyond all preceding generations: 4G, 3G, 2G, and 1G wireless communication systems and is expected to start to be known before 2015."

Spectacular!
 
So all in all a 3G iPhone would be of no benefit over an Edge based one. This goes for all people who are in similar circumstances than I.
Yes, it would be nice for a future proofed iPhone, but none of the networks in the UK seem to want to cover my area, and battery life would suffer.

cheers
matt

No, this is a bit different in Germany. No operator is going to upgrade the entire network to EDGE. Even T-Mobile announced they will only use EDGE in areas where they don't plan 3G in the near future. This means we probably won't ever have a lot EDGE coverage while 3G is widely available now. (I live in a small town with 20.000 people and there is good 3G coverage by all 4 operators.)
The operators prefer to put the money into 3G because the license was expensive and they want to use it and they don't wont to attract more data traffic to the GSM/EDGE networks because they allready have serious capacity problems in some areas.

So "in the middle of nowhere" the iPhone could get good EDGE connections, but in cities - where there is 3G - you have to use sloooooooooow GPRS.

I don't think battery life is such a KO. They could easily implement an "auto" mode. Let the phone stay in GSM/GPRS in standby mode or during ordinary phone calls, but switch to 3G when safari or smething is on.

With HSDPA even the iTunes wireless store could be used without WiFi.

Christian
 
I think you used a lot of wifi, a NY Times page is typically 400k, Gmaps 500k up to 1MB or more and a photo is probably about 1MB. In my own country i do plan on using visual voicemail and push mail, 10 MB per day is nothing.

I'm well aware of when I used wifi and when I was on edge. Pictures from the iPhone are not that large. You are estimating a little high. Yes you are right, I used wifi whenever I could as it seems to be everywhere. Can't wait to get back over! Never had a google map load anywhere near 500k either by the way. If you use EDGE or 3G exclusively I can see you running closer to your daily estimate, but who would want to, EDGE is slow and 3g is not a whole lot better. Apple must have some type of software cache going on web pages and google maps, I know they dumb down youtube for EDGE. All I know is what I used (I monitored my usage in Settings closely) and two weeks of data only cost me $24. By the way extra KB turn out to be around the same if you run over. Now, roaming charges @ $.99 a min and long distance, that is what gets to be expensive.
Good Luck, I hope you find the same when you get yours. By the way Bruges happens to be my girlfriend and mine's favorite small city in Europe. We try to get there at least once a year. My favorite large city is Stockholm.
 
Which got me poking around on Wikipedia: "Besides this vagueness there is no definition to what 5G is but it will go beyond all preceding generations: 4G, 3G, 2G, and 1G wireless communication systems and is expected to start to be known before 2015."

Before 2015? That's still a long way off...
 
If it's not 3G I'm gonna laugh, then cry, then be very angry.


5 Stages of Grief or what the iPhone has and doesn't have and whether to purchase one or not. The stages are...

denial (it doesn't have 3G???), anger (it doesn't have 3G!!!), bargaining (well, so it doesn't have 3G...), depression (why doesn't it have 3G???), and acceptance (who needs 3G!!!):D

ACCEPTANCE - Everyone posting that the possible upcoming launch of the iPhone in UK, Germany & France and elsewhere in Europe will be less than stellar forgets that at least you are talking about it. Because, for the most part, you are Apple enthusiasts, the Apple loyalist, the beta testers for Apple products, or just interested in the iPhone and want to see it in person. But what ever category you label yourself as, and for all your arguments that it doesn't have 3G this or MMS that, at least you are talking about it. And after the launch and people start buying and using it, you might take a second look and say, if I want the iPhone now, I'll have to accept it as it is and go out and buy one. So, enjoy it while waiting for the iPhone 2nd generation, that will hopefully have 3G this or MMS that.

Enjoy Apple's announcement tuesday:apple::apple::apple:
 
399€ sounds a bit dodgy.. That's quite a lot of a price difference from the US version. If the EU version doesn't have any different hardware, then why spend some 150USD more on it?

that's nothing compared to adobe's creative suite which costs nearly 2.6 times the u.s. price here...
 
Worldwide Distribution...

Any theories on when Apple will distribute the iPhone in ALL major markets?
 
Edge vs 3G

I have to say that my experience with EDGE has been quite a pleasure. Now, I am sure that 3G would be faster, but I am able to do everything I want to do on my iPhone.

I have to say that having used Apples products since the 80's, I am QUITE used to hearing other "Intelligent" sources knock those products, even when the end-users find them to be superior. All I can say is, for this OR any other product: Using and Seeing is believing for me.

So right now I have a Nokia N80, wonderful specification, but doesn't work smoothly for whatever reason. It has 3G and is on the Orange UK network.
I do not get 3G coverage where I live now, I do when I go to college, or to a local city. It is not worth me keeping the phone in 3G mode purely because of the battery drain, as when it is not in a 3G area it constantly searches for one.
When I do need to use the browser on it, I am more than happy to use EDGE, the speeds aren't that bad and I am usually travelling so I have time to kill. The phone also has wi-fi so when I am near a usable hot-spot I can use that. If I am not near a wi-fi hot-spot I am usually near a computer. On the occasions I have used 3G for browsing I personally felt no gain in speed over EDGE.

So all in all a 3G iPhone would be of no benefit over an Edge based one. This goes for all people who are in similar circumstances than I.
Yes, it would be nice for a future proofed iPhone, but none of the networks in the UK seem to want to cover my area, and battery life would suffer.

Sorry for the reasonably long post, but I felt that I needed to put in my little bit.

cheers
matt
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/1C28 Safari/419.3)

if they sell it unlocked, I can see a lot them being sold in the us.
 
And more...

I hope that the announcement is more than just the iphone for Europe. I know that the Brits would love to have some video content.
 
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