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UK, France, Germany iPhone Soon?

as much as I really really really want an iPhone, if it's GPRS that would kill the experience. What's the point in having a fast fluid UI then waiting 2 minutes for a page to load?
I guess I'm glad in a way that I have about 14 months left on vodafone, by the time I've sat that out there should be an iPhone 2 or 3 with 3G, and maybe on other networks too.
o2 needs to sort its data tarriff out, we'll just have to wait on that one.
 
When loading 3's home page through GPRS/EDGE (when there is no 3G signal) it takes ages, but on a 3G connection the page comes up almost instantly, and this isn't even on a smartphone, it's on a Nokia 6288, So there is no way that saying using GPRS/EDGE to load pages on the iPhone will be anything but painful
 
i'm still holding hope for a 3G iPhone to be released in a few months time in the UK/Europe..

It's just the norm nowadays..

What if someone took your widescreen TV away (be it CRT or LCD/Plasma etc..) and replaced it with an old 4:3 square box TV..
After being used to widescreen, you just can't go back, as it's the way forward.. similar theory with the 3G/GPRS debate..

I'd sacrifice battery life for 3G anyday.. i have been for the past 2 years on my nokia smartphone which I have to charge almost every night.
 
O2 in the UK seems like a strange choice. The iPhone seems like a perfect with with T-Mobile - nobody comes close to their "web'n'walk" unlimited data package for 7.50 a month. As for people moaning about their coverage, I've never had a problem with it either here in Bath or anywhere else.

I don't work for T-Mobile or have any affiliation with them, but after a few years on Orange, 3 and Vodafone, they have easily the best customer service. That will count for a lot when the iPhone comes out if Apple want people to have a good experience...
 
DominicUK said:
O2 in the UK seems like a strange choice. The iPhone seems like a perfect with with T-Mobile - nobody comes close to their "web'n'walk" unlimited data package for 7.50 a month. As for people moaning about their coverage, I've never had a problem with it either here in Bath or anywhere else.

I don't work for T-Mobile or have any affiliation with them, but after a few years on Orange, 3 and Vodafone, they have easily the best customer service. That will count for a lot when the iPhone comes out if Apple want people to have a good experience...
Click to expand...

Orange's customer service has gone downhill rapidly recently. Whilst i haven't had too much o do with O2's customer service, it hasn't been too bad. you got to remember that they'll be bringing in new data packages/plans when they announce the contract - Apple just wouldn't let them commit marketing suicide by not having flat data plan options when the iPhone rolls out.
Maybe they'll even have sorted out the size of the phone bill.
The o2 3g network works fine over my N73 - it's just th pain of using a small screen to get to the internet...
 
fireplace said:
02 customer service is abysmal, its all in India and even their written emails are vitually unintelligble gibberish. The only reason I am with them is that I got so depressed trying to contact anyone with any authority that I gave up until the contract expires.
Click to expand...

Bah! Speak for yourself, O2 customer support is amazing. Always helpful and English/some other region of UK.
 
DominicUK said:
O2 in the UK seems like a strange choice. The iPhone seems like a perfect with with T-Mobile - nobody comes close to their "web'n'walk" unlimited data package for 7.50 a month. As for people moaning about their coverage, I've never had a problem with it either here in Bath or anywhere else.

I don't work for T-Mobile or have any affiliation with them, but after a few years on Orange, 3 and Vodafone, they have easily the best customer service. That will count for a lot when the iPhone comes out if Apple want people to have a good experience...
Click to expand...

Vodafone have just launched a £7.50 inlimited data add on also.
 
What about Spain and Italy?? All right, maybe Spain is not a good market for Apple, but ITALY?... They're one of the most advanced countries in mobile technologies!!!

I supose Telefónica will bring the iPhone to Spain, thing that I hate because I'm a Vodafone (not Vodaphone) client.
I think I'm going to wait and see how the iPhone works in Europe, and then... buy it.
 
All this people here ranting about this company's service stinks and that company's phone reception is awfull... WAKE UP !! You think Apple cares ?

All they care about at the moment is to go with a provider that is as big as possible, while at the same time giving in to their excruciating demands of 10% of the revenue made out of iPhone. Apple is caring about the money, nothing less ! That is why we won't see an iphone in many countries, including my own... I think we won't see an iphone in much of Europe until most of the hype has blown over, and Apple has made enough money to let providers have the phone without the 10% deal...

As far as I can see, iphone seems like a very sweet device to have. I would love to have one. But because of Apple's "attitude", I think I'll settle for the next best thing, like HTC's Touch or something. Yes, it's Windoze Mobile, but at least I can buy it :rolleyes:

So far MY rant, peace to :apple: ;)
 
DrAtheist said:
as much as I really really really want an iPhone, if it's GPRS that would kill the experience. What's the point in having a fast fluid UI then waiting 2 minutes for a page to load?
Click to expand...

Seriously: you guys are overblowing it. I have surfed with both 3G and GPRS. And the difference between the two is neglible. The big bottleneck in my case is the phone itself, that is struggling to parse the website. The speed of the connection is not the bottleneck, the bottleneck is the CPU.

In fact: I just tested it: I opened macrumors.com using 3G and then using GPRS (on the same phone). No real difference in speed. In both cases I got pauses as the phone was parsing the website, and the connection was never the bottleneck.

Sure, I wouldn't want to use GPRS when surfing on a laptop. But for surfing on a phone it's adequate.
 
Evangelion said:
Seriously: you guys are overblowing it. I have surfed with both 3G and GPRS. And the difference between the two is neglible. The big bottleneck in my case is the phone itself, that is struggling to parse the website. The speed of the connection is not the bottleneck, the bottleneck is the CPU.

In fact: I just tested it: I opened macrumors.com using 3G and then using GPRS (on the same phone). No real difference in speed. In both cases I got pauses as the phone was parsing the website, and the connection was never the bottleneck.

Sure, I wouldn't want to use GPRS when surfing on a laptop. But for surfing on a phone it's adequate.
Click to expand...

in that case you've got a crap CPU in your phone!
I too have surfed with 3G and GPRS, I have an N73, it is 3g and when I'm out of a 3g area (rare on vodafone) it switches to GPRS.
I use opera on the phone, 3g, loads nice and quick, gprs, loads sloooow. One is faster than the other, and what youy don't seem to get is, the iPhone has a decent CPU. It wont bottleneck data, because it is fast enough to handle it.
 
DrAtheist said:
in that case you've got a crap CPU in your phone!
Click to expand...

Nokia E61. I don't think it has "crap CPU".

and what youy don't seem to get is, the iPhone has a decent CPU. It wont bottleneck data, because it is fast enough to handle it.
Click to expand...

But the thing is that GPRS is not "slow" on my phone. The speed is decent. if iPhone is a bit faster, due to faster CPU, I really fail to see the problem.

Maybe you just have crappy GPRS-networks?
 
I really want to see the iPhone released over the whole EU (as any other cell phone is), not just the big selected countries... I guess the countries list will be as short as it is now with the iTunes Store. :(
 
Evangelion said:
Seriously: you guys are overblowing it. I have surfed with both 3G and GPRS. And the difference between the two is neglible. The big bottleneck in my case is the phone itself, that is struggling to parse the website. The speed of the connection is not the bottleneck, the bottleneck is the CPU.

In fact: I just tested it: I opened macrumors.com using 3G and then using GPRS (on the same phone). No real difference in speed. In both cases I got pauses as the phone was parsing the website, and the connection was never the bottleneck.

Sure, I wouldn't want to use GPRS when surfing on a laptop. But for surfing on a phone it's adequate.
Click to expand...

I agree with your statement if it's only browsing but when you do your email (which seems a real possibility with the iPhone) it makes a bog difference :eek:
 
applemumba said:
I have noticed that on an existing O2 contract phone that we have the "G" for GPRS changed this morning to "E" Edge network.
Click to expand...
If this is indeed the case, I'm quite a lot more interested than I would have been had EDGE not been added. However, I'm still not a fan of o2. Past experience means that while the iPhone may cause me to wet my pants with excitement, it'll still take a lot convincing to persuade me back to those imbeciles.

Consultant said:
My coworker showed me his new $500 ($350 refurbed) Windows Mobile "Smart Phone" yesterday. It's a joke.

He said he cannot connect to his home wifi network without researching for hours and then found out that he had to add a static ip.
Click to expand...
I have never had a DHCP issue with my SPV M600. It's a fantastic device. I'd hazard a guess there's an issue with your friend's phone. I'm upgrading mine to WM6 over the weekend :)

Plus, my phone runs Sim City 2000 :D

DrAtheist said:
Vodafone have just launched a £7.50 inlimited data add on also.
Click to expand...
*subject to 38,295,913 clauses to make you pay a minimum of £150 a month
:rolleyes:
 
Santa Rosa said:
T-Mobile in the UK is basically terrible, anyone I have known to have T-Mobile has hated it, one of my friends might as well have had no sim card in his phone thats how bad the service was.

Apple have done well to get in with O2 if that is what has happened. O2 or Vodafone are the two main companies in the UK that would suit the iPhone IMHO. I would have preferred Vodafone personally but am definately not bummed if O2 have the contract.

If T-Mobile or Orange had got it then that I think on the whole would have been a bit of a disaster, Im sure there are many happy customers with these networks but I would have said the majority would prefer O2 or Vodafone.
Click to expand...

I've never had any problems with T-Mobile and since I've joined 3 of my friends have joined as well. I've never have any dropped signals or calls, neither have they. I can get a signal when O2, Vodafone and Orange customers cannot. I think a lot has to do with handset choice.

In my view the decision to go with O2 in the UK is based solely on money and Apple being able to get the best deal. I don't think the best choice for customers has anything to do with it. I guess on the bright side at least they didn't choose 3!
 
ABM said:
It's the same ARM processor: ARM-926, 220 MHz ;)
Click to expand...

My phone processor is better than... oh wait

The E61 must be doing something wrong, because if you are receiving data at 10x the speed, but not getting it displayed in any less time, that means the phone is processing data slower the faster it receives it! :eek:
 
I use a Blackberry 8300 Curve. That uses GPRS. For push emails GPRS is absolutely fine. There's a reason why Blackberry devices are so damn popular (yes there are a few 3G models).

As for web surfing the slowest thing is loading the very first page once you start up the web browser. Once the first page has loaded up (no matter what it is) other pages load reasonably fast.
 
9to5mac is reporting that, according to an Orange rep, the European iPhone is 3G.

3. The iPhone will be 3G in Europe. This means it will be a different hardware device than that of the American model. There was no mention of a GPS or memory differences – not that those won’t come out. This confers with this report http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/22/ft_iphone_launch/ which lays out the case by showing the huge investment in network - $8Billion.
Click to expand...

http://9to5mac.com/apple-orange-ipone-details-43252450

Seriously hope this is true.
 
DrAtheist said:
My phone processor is better than... oh wait

The E61 must be doing something wrong, because if you are receiving data at 10x the speed, but not getting it displayed in any less time, that means the phone is processing data slower the faster it receives it! :eek:
Click to expand...

It's not 10x faster. The speed of 3G is 384 kbit/s for mobile systems (stationary devices can reach 1mbit+/sec). EDGE is 236.8 kbit/s. You tell me: is EDGE REALLY that slow when compared to 3G? People here seem to think that using EDGE is horrible when compared to EDGE. That it's like going back to the stone-age. When in reality it's not like that. Yes, it's somewhat slower. But like I said: the connection has never been the bottleneck for me. Of course you can have crappy networks that are slow, but that's not a problem with GPRS as such, it's the carriers fault. Maybe we have good-quality GPRS-networks here, I don't know.

The phone is processing the data at the same speed, no matter if it's 3G or GPRS. Using 3G, the data arrives slightly faster than with GPRS, but the difference is neglible.
 
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