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The deal is pretty much what I expected. I expected available sooner though.

...the iPhone is not only about price, it's about the whole experience...and the 3G thing has been beaten to death already...THERE IS NO 3G BECAUSE OF BATTERY ISSUES, PERIOD.

I more or less agree (capitals though, tut). However the massive disappointment is that there's such a low coverage figure for EDGE (30%, and that's on launch in November).
 
3G Facts

What good is a “feature” if it doesn’t work or if it works poorly? For those who has 3G, how often have you used the browser on your 3G phone?

---------------------------
3G is power hungry, even when not in use.

Many phone with 3G, even with brand new battery and zero use throughout the day, would need charging almost every day. Otherwise the battery runs out on the second day for many 3g phones, when there is zero usage of the phone.

If you use a 3G phone (minor usage), then you are likely to run out of battery power during the day.

If you are heavy user of 3G phone, you need to bring multiple batteries or clunky charger. Consider the cost of those extra batteries, and the extra space the extra batteries and clunky charger will consume.

---------------------------
Although theoretical speed of 3G is higher than Edge, in real life, speed and usability of 3G is limited by a few factors:
- Carrier limits (many carriers caps the speed on 3g phone connections)
- Browser rendering time. This is limited by the phone’s processor speed (most other phones contain slower processors than iPhone), the underlying OS (usually a crippled version of a buggy and notoriously inefficient Windoze OS), and a basic browser not really optimized at displaying non-mobi web sites (it’s slow to display mobi web sites, even slower to display real web sites).
- Usability of browser (navigation of content: browsers on other phones are much harder to move around, so it takes more time to read and navigate the same page compared to iPhone)
 
Well I tried to put that to him several times. I gave him plenty of rope to hang himself with:

- it's the same model as the US phone isn't it? "Apparently not."
- you can put a SIM in the US model, I've seen it done. "Yes you can."
- but you can't put a SIM in the UK model? "Our information suggests all the contact details etc is synced straight to the phone via iTunes."
- yes I know that, but it's written to the SIM in there, right? "We're hearing that there's no SIM."
- there has to be a SIM, what do you put inside it? "You can't get access to it, is what we're hearing. It's a sealed unit."
- but the US one isn't sealed. "No, it's not."
- but the UK one is? "That's what the information we're getting suggests."


You're right though, it sounds like total BS.

Would xplain:

Existing Customers

If you're an existing O2 customer and you receive your bills directly from O2, or you're an O2 Pay & Go customer, during the activation process you'll be asked whether you'd like to transfer your existing O2 mobile number to your iPhone.

This process can take up to 5 working days to complete, but don't worry - we'll provide you with a temporary number so you can start enjoying your iPhone straight away.
 
Not a good deal £35+18 month lock-down+£269 and you get 200 mins/ 200 texts with no long weekends talk/texts options i presume and what else...free vmail/ITS and unlimited data. No that much of a deal.

I currently pay £30+12 month lock-down and get 200 voice mins (rollover), 500 WAP mins, 500 texts a month (rollover) Free vmail/ITS/My Europe and 1MB data plus free midrange phones or large discount on high-end phones every year and i STILL think thats a rip off

Its either i get a Touch or a Yank iPhone and then switch to a Simplicity tariff
 
I realy would like to have an iPhone. I don't mind to spent 269 Quid for the iPhone itself, but I do mind to spent 35 quid a month for things I don't need or want.
I don't like I'm being forced to use a certain network. Maybe I have a good reason not to use a certain network (coverage problems) In europe there are so many networks, why not get a unlocked iphone which cost 350 quid and you can choose any provider you like?
 
best thread i've read, this is at the end of the day the device we have all been waiting for yet people come on here and moan moan moan.

Welcome to the internet :D

Made worse by the fact that most people posting in this thread are fellow Brits, we like a good moan.

Bloody cold today isn't it :mad:
 
Agreed. 200mins and 200 texts for £35 is terrible... I'd rather have a data limit and be able to talk or text more.

Looks like I'll be keeping my current phone for a while :)

For me it is the other way around. I barely to never use my cell phone. More or less carry it around for emergencys. But data would be interesting for me - mainly for email and some web.

I like to get a plan where I pay per minute (call by call) and have free data or pay that as well by data if I am not using a free WiFi.

Those plans do fit for some people I guess perfectly. For many others not at all.
 
I think it's the fact we'll be paying $500 and at cheapest $70 a month for a ridiculously limited plan...

Unless apple do a UK price drop or O2 get their act together, I'm not getting an iPhone, unlike many people seem to think on here, you CAN live without one...

yes we can live without one, just like i can live without my mac and could have bought a pc from dell, just like i can live without my 30g video ipod and could have bought an iriver(only one i could think of)but I and many people here want and have waited on this device.
it's simple buy one or don't i for one think its an amazing device(had a play with one a couple of weeks ago)
if the problem is with 02 buy one and unlock it!
 
Would xplain:

Existing Customers

If you're an existing O2 customer and you receive your bills directly from O2, or you're an O2 Pay & Go customer, during the activation process you'll be asked whether you'd like to transfer your existing O2 mobile number to your iPhone.

This process can take up to 5 working days to complete, but don't worry - we'll provide you with a temporary number so you can start enjoying your iPhone straight away.

From the Apple UK iPhone Q&A:
"Can I use the SIM card from my current mobile phone?
You should use the SIM card that came pre-installed in the iPhone."

So let's nip that one in the bud straight away.
 
Well I tried to put that to him several times. I gave him plenty of rope to hang himself with:

- it's the same model as the US phone isn't it? "Apparently not."
- you can put a SIM in the US model, I've seen it done. "Yes you can."
- but you can't put a SIM in the UK model? "Our information suggests all the contact details etc is synced straight to the phone via iTunes."
- yes I know that, but it's written to the SIM in there, right? "We're hearing that there's no SIM."
- there has to be a SIM, what do you put inside it? "You can't get access to it, is what we're hearing. It's a sealed unit."
- but the US one isn't sealed. "No, it's not."
- but the UK one is? "That's what the information we're getting suggests."


You're right though, it sounds like total BS.

lol.

All the press had a hands on with the iPhone today. I am sure the likes of Engadget and CrunchGear would have noticed if the SIM slot at the top wasn't there.
 
The cost of business

This may be a stupid question, but I'm going to ask anyway. Why Does apple charge hundreds more for most products in the UK compared to the US?

The costs of doing business in the UK are higher than the US-- wages, benefits etc along with VAT which adds taxes to every stage of an item's passage through the system. Since, most of you get paid more than US counterparts, it really is not that terrible for you. If costs were more equal, considering the exchange rate, Apple's products should be very cheap in the UK but the costs of business etc etc screw up that advantage.
 
Yet ANOTHER chat with ANOTHER o2 rep was quite interesting. Needless to say I didn't get the 600/1000 deal that eeeno has been promised, but I did hear some wildly speculative and possibly alarming gossip from him.

This chap reckoned that although the US version has a SIM card, the UK version doesn't. He said, repeatedly, and I quote:

"All the information we've got at this time points to the UK iPhone being a sealed unit with no SIM card inside it - all the information is locked inside the unit,

They have ZERO access to any current UK iPhone. If the iPhones are there, they would be selling it. Think about this, would it make sense to make a different iPhone for each country? Would Apple rather make one version and cut down on the manufacturing and inventory allocation cost?

These people have no idea what they are talking about. Typically PC people talking about Apple products due to lack of knowledge.
 
This may be a stupid question, but I'm going to ask anyway. Why Does apple charge hundreds more for most products in the UK compared to the US?

The cost of living in UK is higher than the US and the rest of the world. Infact, it's almost x2 of US.

For example, people who make $50,000 in the US can make about 50,000 pounds in UK (about $100,000 USD). However, a $1000 apartment in the US will cost 1000 pounds in UK. A cheap lunch is 4 to 7 pounds (and the portions are tiny), etc.
 
what about existing customers, do they have to switch to one of the 3 tariffs or can they just add unlimited data to existing tariffs?
 
From the Apple UK iPhone Q&A:
"Can I use the SIM card from my current mobile phone?
You should use the SIM card that came pre-installed in the iPhone."

So let's nip that one in the bud straight away.
Good call...

But let's also not forget that Steve has a habit of being creative with the truth.

Yes, you should use the sim card that came pre-installed in the iPhone... but then again you'll have a hard time getting it out because we sealed it in like we sealed the battery in. But have fun trying to swap it. Be our guest.

;)

But I'm with you. BS.

But still... interesting idea. And that guy clearly believed it 100%.
 
lol.

All the press had a hands on with the iPhone today. I am sure the likes of Engadget and CrunchGear would have noticed if the SIM slot at the top wasn't there.

Oh yeah...

Phew!

Okay, so now it's either wait 6 weeks and get one, or order from one of those re-mailers from the US and get it hopefully in 10 days max... crack... pop my current O2 sim in...
 
The Cloud

Looking at The Cloud's site, I think their coverage is pretty good! I don't know about rural areas, but cities and towns are pretty much covered. As access to The Cloud is free, I don't mind as much that EDGE isn't blanket-covered. This has made me warm up to the iPhone more, but I still can't get it yet.

I'm not sure about this fair usage thing. Is that only on EDGE or does that count The Cloud as well? It sucks if it does as viewing webpages is one thing, but what if you want to watch YouTube or a trailer from Apple's site?
 
Oh yeah...

Phew!

Okay, so now it's either wait 6 weeks and get one, or order from one of those re-mailers from the US and get it hopefully in 10 days max... crack... pop my current O2 sim in...


Im definitely tempted by the import route. Surely there must be stores in the big cities who are already doing this. Id pay £300 immediately for it unlocked.
 
The fair usage was 1,400 web pages a day, right?

Well... how is that a problem on a mobile device? Did they just use the webpages as a metaphor for actual data usage, and how many YouTube videos do the more educated posters out there think that 1,400 pages equates to?
 
Im definitely tempted by the import route. Surely there must be stores in the big cities who are already doing this. Id pay £300 immediately for it unlocked.

Unlocking it is a 30 minute job. It's dead easy. Download a FREE graphical-user-interface-driven app from, well, the right site (go check out 9to5mac.com for a lovely walkthrough that covers ALL your bases).

Why pay £30-£40 over the odds for it to have been done by someone else, especially when you don't know what it is they've actually done? I'd want to do it myself, frankly. It sounds easy.
 
Do you think we'll be able to sign up for a contract, get mailed a sim card and be able to put it into imported phones?
 
Unlocking it is a 30 minute job. It's dead easy. Download a FREE graphical-user-interface-driven app from, well, the right site (go check out 9to5mac.com for a lovely walkthrough that covers ALL your bases).

Why pay £30-£40 over the odds for it to have been done by someone else, especially when you don't know what it is they've actually done? I'd want to do it myself, frankly. It sounds easy.

Hmm. Interesting. Im due a new contract with O2 so I might get the N95 free and sell that on to essentially get the iPhone free.

I am going to wait until the 1.1.1 firmware update and see if the unlocking works fine. And if so, I will probably bite. What do you suggest? eBay?
 
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