I-phones.

I-know sod-all about smartphones. I once had a company Blackberry for
a fortnight.

'Er Ladyship has decided that she wants one for her birthday. I nearly
fainted when I saw the prices, however, as far as I can see, some sort
of Orange contract is the way to go: O2 coverage round here is a bit
patchy, apparently.

The monthly running costs of around 30 quid for the cheaper tariffs
from Orange seem not to bother her, despite her always whinging about
how little money she has[1].

Any I-horror stories? Models to avoid?

Are I-phones likely to be locked to one provider like ordinary
mobiles?

I'd rather not get her anything remotely technical that might end up
with me providing technical support, so suggestions of other kinds of
smartphone that "just needs an OS upgrade to Robot IVXXII to be way
better than an I-phone" will get, at most, a contemptuous snort from
me.


[1] This typically happens after I buy myself a new toy.
--
-Pip

On Wed, 18 May 2011 21:51:42 +0100, Pip Luscher
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I-phones.
>
>The monthly running costs of around 30 quid for the cheaper tariffs
>from Orange seem not to bother her, despite her always whinging about
>how little money she has[1].

I have an iPhone 4 on Orange.

>Any I-horror stories? Models to avoid?

Getting a new one, yes? They're all the same, only variance is in the
amount of storage they have on board.

>Are I-phones likely to be locked to one provider like ordinary
>mobiles?

Yes.

>I'd rather not get her anything remotely technical that might end up
>with me providing technical support.

With an iPhone, you can just send her down to the local Apple store
and they'll sort it.
--
GSX-R1000 K8

On 18/05/2011 22:15, Ben wrote:
> On Wed, 18 May 2011 21:51:42 +0100, Pip Luscher
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> I-phones.

I made a big spreadsheet doing TCO for many options, and in the end
bought the stupid thing outright with applecare and got a tmobile
sim-only deal with built in internets which costs something like £10pm
when it's all done and dusted. That got me an unlocked phone so I can
get a new service deal whenever I see fit with whoever I want and it was
the cheapest end to end way of getting the thing.

I have to say the iphone4 is bloody great, it never gets in my way and
has stopped me getting lost and let me do so many real world things I'd
never have thought of before that I know I'd be lost without it now.

On 19/05/11 4:51 AM, Pip Luscher wrote:
> I-phones.
>
> I-know sod-all about smartphones. I once had a company Blackberry for
> a fortnight.
>
> 'Er Ladyship has decided that she wants one for her birthday. I nearly
> fainted when I saw the prices, however, as far as I can see, some sort
> of Orange contract is the way to go: O2 coverage round here is a bit
> patchy, apparently.
>
> The monthly running costs of around 30 quid for the cheaper tariffs
> from Orange seem not to bother her, despite her always whinging about
> how little money she has[1].
>
> Any I-horror stories? Models to avoid?
>
> Are I-phones likely to be locked to one provider like ordinary
> mobiles?
>
> I'd rather not get her anything remotely technical that might end up
> with me providing technical support, so suggestions of other kinds of
> smartphone that "just needs an OS upgrade to Robot IVXXII to be way
> better than an I-phone" will get, at most, a contemptuous snort from
> me.
>
>
> [1] This typically happens after I buy myself a new toy.


They are great. New model coming out in a couple of months if you can
hold off.*

Fraser

*They will probably have a new model out every few months until the
universe dies of heat death.

On Wed, 18 May 2011 22:58:33 +0100, cat <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On 18/05/2011 22:15, Ben wrote:
>> On Wed, 18 May 2011 21:51:42 +0100, Pip Luscher
>> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>> I-phones.
>
>I made a big spreadsheet doing TCO for many options, and in the end
>bought the stupid thing outright with applecare and got a tmobile
>sim-only deal with built in internets which costs something like £10pm
>when it's all done and dusted. That got me an unlocked phone so I can
>get a new service deal whenever I see fit with whoever I want and it was
>the cheapest end to end way of getting the thing.

I have to say, I did the same when the 4 was being released. Buying a
16Gb one and an O2 Simplicity Sim worked out the cheapest way of doing
it. But at the point I want to buy it, I didn't have enough cash for
the handset and the next best deal was the Orange contract. Only
works out about 50 quid more expensive over two years, iirc.
--
GSX-R1000 K8

On 19/05/2011 07:21, Ben wrote:
I didn't have enough cash for
> the handset and the next best deal was the Orange contract. Only
> works out about 50 quid more expensive over two years, iirc.

Fair point if you MUST have the clitphone of the moment. I did similar
to get an N95 when I was desperate for a satnav and too cheap to pay for
anything. However, over the 18 month contract, watching other people's
monthly fee fall and their phone's get better started getting
increasingly frustrating. Paying that last £15 to get the brick detached
from the network was the icing.

I use it as an alarm clock now.

On May 18, 9:51*pm, Pip Luscher <plusc...@live.invalid.co.uk> wrote:
> I-phones.
>
> I-know sod-all about smartphones. I once had a company Blackberry for
> a fortnight.
>
> 'Er Ladyship has decided that she wants one for her birthday. I nearly
> fainted when I saw the prices, however, as far as I can see, some sort
> of Orange contract is the way to go: O2 coverage round here is a bit
> patchy, apparently.
>
> The monthly running costs of around 30 quid for the cheaper tariffs
> from Orange seem not to bother her, despite her always whinging about
> how little money she has[1].
>
> Any I-horror stories? Models to avoid?
>
> Are I-phones likely to be locked to one provider like ordinary
> mobiles?
>
> I'd rather not get her anything remotely technical that might end up
> with me providing technical support, so suggestions of other kinds of
> smartphone that "just needs an OS upgrade to Robot IVXXII to be way
> better than an I-phone" will get, at most, a contemptuous snort from
> me.

Carphone Whorehouse
iPhone 3GS
On O2
£21.50/month
No money up front for phone
2 yr contract

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/buy...O2-15A24-FCONO

--
Ian

On Thu, 19 May 2011 10:07:00 +0800, Fraser Johnston
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On 19/05/11 4:51 AM, Pip Luscher wrote:
>> I-phones.
>>
>> I-know sod-all about smartphones. I once had a company Blackberry for
>> a fortnight.
>>
>> 'Er Ladyship has decided that she wants one for her birthday. I nearly
>> fainted when I saw the prices, however, as far as I can see, some sort
>> of Orange contract is the way to go: O2 coverage round here is a bit
>> patchy, apparently.
>>
>
>They are great. New model coming out in a couple of months if you can
>hold off.

Did anyone see Alex Riley's "Secrets of the Superbrands" a couple of
days ago on BBC3? Amongst other things it looked at the opening of a
new Apple store in London. The evangelical behaviour of staff and
customers alike was really quite disturbing.

--
Colin Irvine
ZZR1400 BOF#33 BONY#34 COFF#06 BHaLC#5
http://www.colinandpat.co.uk

"Pip Luscher" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I-phones.
>
> I-know sod-all about smartphones. I once had a company Blackberry for
> a fortnight.
>
> 'Er Ladyship has decided that she wants one for her birthday. I nearly
> fainted when I saw the prices, however, as far as I can see, some sort
> of Orange contract is the way to go: O2 coverage round here is a bit
> patchy, apparently.

Three and Vodafone also do the iPhone, with Three being the cheapest

> The monthly running costs of around 30 quid for the cheaper tariffs
> from Orange seem not to bother her, despite her always whinging about
> how little money she has[1].
>
> Any I-horror stories? Models to avoid?

At the moment you can buy a 3GS or a 4. It's well worth paying the extra for
the newer handset both in terms of performance and reliability. The 4S or 5
(depending on what the call it) is expected to be out in September at which
time that will take over the same price point as the 4 and the 4 will
replace the 3GS as the basic model.

> Are I-phones likely to be locked to one provider like ordinary
> mobiles?

Yes


--
Alex

On 19/05/11 3:21 PM, Ian wrote:

> Carphone Whorehouse
> iPhone 3GS
> On O2
> £21.50/month
> No money up front for phone
> 2 yr contract
>
> http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/buy...O2-15A24-FCONO

3GS is a bit crap reception wise. The 4 is way better.

Fraser