Why you are not getting an iPhone

[Loge]

Lack of basic text messaging features - no forwarding, no sending to multiple contacts. And did someone mention a lag when starting a message?

 

[superleccy]

1. Don't want an 18 month contract.
2. My current (Non-O2) tariff is a very very good deal indeed.
3. Concerned about migrating from ProfiMail on my N95 (which I live in) to iPhone mail.
4. No picture messaging.
5. Waiting to see what happens when SJ "opens" the iPhone.
6. Waiting to hear reactions from early adopters in the UK.
7. Waiting to see if I can pick up a "safely" unlocked one from France.
8. Waiting to see if they release one with 40Gb or more of storage.
9. Dislike the fact that even after the 18 month contract is completed, you still have to stay with O2 to continue using your iPhone.
10. No video recording.
11. Limited bluetooth functionality.
12. No file browser.

Unlike others, I couldn't care less about 3G.

SL

 

[scotthayes]

Unlike others, I couldn't care less about 3G.

SL

Although I put the lack of 3G put me off, if it wasn't for the 18 month contract with 02 and then having to stop with them I could have swallowed the £200plus it would take to get out of my Vodafone contract and lived without 3G. But really not happy that I'd be stuck with 02 for ever and a day. Let's hope some bright spark find a loop hole in the law that allows them to be used to their fullest on any network.

 

[nickspohn]

1) The iPhone is suppose to be perfect and since it doesn't have certain features that other crappy phones have, yet the iPhone is the only phone to have certain things that make it 10x better than others.


Oh wait i have an iPhone 🙄

 

[slicedbread]

i can't justify £899 over 18 months.

 

[superleccy]

Thought of two more reasons...

13. No Salling Clicker.
14. The Opera Mini v4 Beta for the N95 isn't such a bad browser. Although obviously not in the league of the iPhone, I can live with it.

SL

 

[Ubuntu]

I would have got one, because I don't mind so much the lack of decent features (I have a 3.2mp camera on my phone - I rarely use it), but it was more of a value thing.
For the costs involved, I wanted something a lot... better, compared to the competition.

Ah well.

 

[megfilmworks]

To those who wish the iPhone had 3g:
3g is dead on arrival. It will go the way of HD DVD and Blueray.
I had 3g for 2 years and it sucks (so does edge)
The future is in wifi, so stop complaining about old technology and get on with the future.

 

[GumpsterBoy]

Because of 02. I'd love to buy an iphone and have emailed them for assurance EDGE at least would be in my area soon - there are not many wifi hotspots here. My first email asked for a coverage map which they do not have, my second asked whether there was edge coverage in my postcode to which I got this reply:

"We're unable to tell you whether there is an EDGE coverage in your postcode area. The iPhone runs on GPRS, EDGE & WiFi. If you're in an EDGE coverage area using an iPhone, GPRS will automatically default to EDGE and vice versa. There is no rollout plan for the EDGE coverage at present, but we'll be expanding the coverage in the future. Edge current covers approximately 30% of the populated UK coverage. "

Not exactly the best sales😡

 

[colonelbutt]

1. Don't want an 18 month contract.
- good point, but almost unavoidable these days and hardly an iphone thing
2. My current (Non-O2) tariff is a very very good deal indeed.
- bet it doesn't include unlimited data or cloud wifi
3. Concerned about migrating from ProfiMail on my N95 (which I live in) to iPhone mail.
- what email service do you use ? does it have imap ?
4. No picture messaging.
- well you can email. does anyone really use this ?
5. Waiting to see what happens when SJ "opens" the iPhone.
6. Waiting to hear reactions from early adopters in the UK.
- excellent. and thats from a former HTC man (I have had s60v3 as well)
7. Waiting to see if I can pick up a "safely" unlocked one from France.
- unlocked is dodgy. best to buy legit and unlock - much safer
8. Waiting to see if they release one with 40Gb or more of storage.
- eventually yes, probably 16gb in 12 months, but you can wait forever
9. Dislike the fact that even after the 18 month contract is completed, you still have to stay with O2 to continue using your iPhone.
- just unlock. O2 are good in my experience, my whole family uses
10. No video recording.
- true, but necessary ? Jobs thought carefully about what people really do use. no phone is ever going to replace either my DSLR or my harddisk Cam (which I hardly use except on kids birthdays, and there a phone quality video would be no good)
11. Limited bluetooth functionality.
- not having stereo profile is a bummer. hopefully they can revise this through software. However, even though I have a motorola S9, wired headphoens are much better quality, don't have to be charged and no problems of brain cancer from bluetooth waves 🙂
12. No file browser.
- you can on your PC and from OS. and you can pick up all pics and videos. nice on an HTC geek device, but probably not target market for iphone

agree about 3G, its just a battery drain.

I hear you. Jobs had to choose between weathly non-geek consumer and geek. he chose the former. that is apple's niche.
i am not sure he wants to compete with either cheap PCs or the HTC Kaiser. I mean ipods still sell well and there's no removeable storage or radio ! its definitely calculated for target market....

 

[superleccy]

1. Last time I looked, all networks offered 12 month contracts. At the moment I have a zero month contact.
2. No cloud, but does have unlimited data, unlimited voice, unlimited text/picture messaging and free insurance. Perk of being an ex-employee of one of the big 5. 😉
3. It's POP, but I've managed to set it up so all 3 of my email accounts synchronise perfectly and instantly over the Internet (incoming and outgoing) between my Mac, N95 and web-clients.
4. I wish. Until my friends and family migrate from MMS to mail, I will continue to need MMS.
7. I'm frightened of bricking my iPhone or missing out on software updates. Need to do more research tho.
8. Yeah... could be a long wait. 🙁 Maybe they'll release a HDD version... but I'm not holding my breath. Else I guess it will go 16Gb... 32Gb... 64Gb... over the next few years.
9. O2 explicitly say that you must stay with them to continue using your iPhone. It's in their Ts&Cs.
10. Well, I use video recording quite often.
11. I was thinking mainly about file send/receive.

I hear you. Jobs had to choose between weathly non-geek consumer and geek. he chose the former. that is apple's niche.
i am not sure he wants to compete with either cheap PCs or the HTC Kaiser. I mean ipods still sell well and there's no removeable storage or radio ! its definitely calculated for target market....

Indeed... agreed. Jobs knows his target market, it's just that this time, I'm not in it.

 

[TonyHoyle]

To those who wish the iPhone had 3g:
3g is dead on arrival.

You *are* joking. An average wifi hotspot has an effective area of about 30 feet. It's hideoously expensive to cover even a moderately sized area with it. The bandwidth is shared amongst all people connecting to the hotspot, so even in a busy starbucks it can suck horribly.

All the grand plans to make 'city wide' wifi have fallen on cost and feasability grounds.. that's partly why wifi access is so expensive. Wi-Max may address that but it's years off. In reality you can go for days without seeing a public hotspot.

3G is at about 92% coverage now. It works everywhere. Every phone (except the iphone) supports it, and everyone uses it. It's *far* from dead. Its natural successor, 4G, is faster than wifi (it'll be at least 100mbps but in japan they pushed it to 2.5gbps.. although I doubt that speed is attainable commercially).

 

[emotion]

3G is at about 92% coverage now. It works everywhere.

The network might tell you that but it is clearly not true. Especially for O2.

Look at the network supplied 3G coverage maps. Most cities are covered, and we're moving to open wifi in cities anyway (despite what you say).

Every phone (except the iphone) supports it, and everyone uses it.

It is also a stretch to say that.

It's *far* from dead. Its natural successor, 4G, is faster than wifi (it'll be at least 100mbps but in japan they pushed it to 2.5gbps.. although I doubt that speed is attainable commercially).

Despite what I say above I actually agree that phone networks not wifi are the way to go. When you are on a bus or train wifi does not have the ability to follow you around from cell/access point to cell/ap (yet).

Until that happens, they are not really equivalent technologies.

 

[TonyHoyle]

Look at the network supplied 3G coverage maps. Most cities are covered, and we're moving to open wifi in cities anyway (despite what you say).

Manchester Council's own open wifi project failed utterly. Manchester Wireless failed as well.. and I thought that had a good chance of succeeding at one point.

You'll know yourself how little real wifi there is there - some BT Openzone in the centre (I believe they were the original partners to create the city-wide wifi so they still have quite a few of their wifi phone boxes arond), some Cloud.. most of the city seems to have none at all outside McDonalds/Starbucks/Costa Coffee (all payware*) and a few independents (some of which are indeed free but there's an increasing trend to password protect them so only their current customers can actually use them).

5 years ago I'd have agreed with you, but I've watched what's happened with these wifi projects and I no longer believe it has any future based on current technology. For the home and office.. yeah it's great..but the technology wasn't designed to span areas that big.

* I know McDonalds are eventually going to be free.

 

[emotion]

You'll know yourself how little real wifi there is there - some BT Openzone in the centre (I believe they were the original partners to create the city-wide wifi so they still have quite a few of their wifi phone boxes arond), some Cloud.. most of the city seems to have none at all outside McDonalds/Starbucks/Costa Coffee and a few independents (some of which are indeed free but there's an increasing trend to password protect them so only their current customers can actually use them).

I'm not disputing that. However as time goes on the time is right for full city-wide wifi deployment. Particularly as more and more handheld devices use the technology and it is being expected.

McDonalds have just announced free wifi in their "restaurants". Not that I'd ever ever go in there but it's an interesting recent precedent.

BT/Fon is also something that might change things for the better.

For the home and office.. yeah it's great..but the technology wasn't designed to span areas that big.

See above, I mostly agree with you on that point.

 

[TonyHoyle]

BT/Fon is also something that might change things for the better.

That is something that may make a difference... a bit like the old Manchester Wireless plans but backed by a company that might be able to actually pull it off.

I'd join in if I could work out the right firewall rules (that's a problem with the approach - you're leaving your home network open.. and I'd rather someone didn't decide to attach kazaa to my network and blow out my monthly allowances).

 

[Sijmen]

1. No iPhone in the Netherlands.

(Just like movies and shows/series on iTunes, will we ever get them?)

 

[Grasbak]

I currently spend £5 a month pay as you go...... i would love an iPhone just... well just because! But I cant afford the extra £30 a month.

I think its a great device, I was very impressed that both o2 and carphone warehouse had fully functioning models (i noticed they were 4gb versions!) to play with the shops. Presonally I think the cost is worth it for what you get. I just cant afford it 🙁

 

[alFR]

I'd join in if I could work out the right firewall rules (that's a problem with the approach - you're leaving your home network open.. and I'd rather someone didn't decide to attach kazaa to my network and blow out my monthly allowances).

As I understand it the public part of the network (at least when you use one of Fon's own routers) is in a DMZ, so your home wifi network is kept secure. You do still have the problem of people using a lot of bandwidth, but they can be ID'ed by the password they use to connect to the open part of the network and (I assume) banned if they persist.

 

[colonelbutt]

I'm not disputing that. However as time goes on the time is right for full city-wide wifi deployment. Particularly as more and more handheld devices use the technology and it is being expected.

McDonalds have just announced free wifi in their "restaurants". Not that I'd ever ever go in there but it's an interesting recent precedent.

BT/Fon is also something that might change things for the better.



See above, I mostly agree with you on that point.

the future is wifi and 3/4G (BTW the biggest difference with the 4G technologies being talking about is that for the first time phones will use packet switching (like IP) and not circuit switching, which both 2G and 3G UMTS do today).

I go to NY alot, and NY public library and a number of coffee shops I know are the ideal places to browse using wifi.

I wouldn't use 2G, let alone EDGE or 3G in the USA as browsing abroad with a UK contract is totally out of the question due to cost.

As far as the UK goes, browsing on EDGE on the train is fast enough for me. At home and at work I have PCs and laptops and so wouldn't use a phone browser anyway.

Would I like 3G ? sure, but ONLY if the chip drew the same power as the 2.5G one. Do I need 3G ? absolutely not! Do I need wifi ? absolutely - essential for travel.

my 2 cents

 

[emotion]

I'd join in if I could work out the right firewall rules (that's a problem with the approach - you're leaving your home network open.. and I'd rather someone didn't decide to attach kazaa to my network and blow out my monthly allowances).

Naah you're missing the point. The system partitions your AP into two. One your own and one that is designated public. You have no control (or little) and no responsibilities for the public one. That is BT/Fon's responsibility. I believe the bandwidth split is controlled carefully too.

As far as the UK goes, browsing on EDGE on the train is fast enough for me. At home and at work I have PCs and laptops and so wouldn't use a phone browser anyway.

If it's there. I live in a heavily populated area in the north west of england and EDGE coverage is patchy at best.

Would I like 3G ? sure, but ONLY if the chip drew the same power as the 2.5G one. Do I need 3G ? absolutely not! Do I need wifi ? absolutely - essential for travel.

I mostly agree, though I think the power consumption thing is partially a red herring put out their as part of Steve's RDF. The chipsets will become more efficient in any case.

 

[colonelbutt]

I think the power consumption thing is partially a red herring .

I have had 3G phones, and without exception I have turned 3G off and received at least 50-70% better battery life.
the samsung i600, o2 exec lasted 1/2 a day. and even the efficient sony k610i and w950 were appauling on 3G.

my previous phone was an HTC Touch and I particularly liked the touch as it didn't have 3G and had a good battery.

I would not have bought the iphone if it had 3G which couldn't be turned off...

I am sure over time they will get better though!

 

[emotion]

I have had 3G phones, and without exception I have turned 3G off and received at least 50-70% better battery life.
the samsung i600, o2 exec lasted 1/2 a day. and even the efficient sony k610i and w950 were appauling on 3G.

my previous phone was an HTC Touch and I particularly liked the touch as it didn't have 3G and had a good battery.

I would not have bought the iphone if it had 3G which couldn't be turned off...

I am sure over time they will get better though!

Yes, as I say, I think a lot of phones have very small batteries and possibly other inefficiencies but I did qualify what I said with 'partially'. I'm aware of the battery trouble with some 3G.

 

[megfilmworks]

Despite what I say above I actually agree that phone networks not wifi are the way to go. When you are on a bus or train wifi does not have the ability to follow you around from cell/access point to cell/ap (yet).

Until that happens, they are not really equivalent technologies.

Actually airplanes are installing wifi, trains,etc., Wifi is easily accessible now and in the future in all travel modes except my car.

 

[emotion]

Actually airplanes are installing wifi, trains,etc., Wifi is easily accessible now and in the future in all travel modes except my car.

You clearly have no concept of how uselessly out of date the transport system is in the UK. My commuter train is 30 years old. There is no chance wifi is going to appear on that anytime soon. They can just about afford seats (no, I'm not joking).

Buses are more or less the same, and wifi is never going to appear in cars in it's current form.

The phone networks are the answer in this situation (2.5G/3G/3.5G).