I've been pondering whether or not it's worth getting an iPhone – I travel a lot for work, so had been looking at netbooks etc, but then I'm carting around a phone, MP3, and a computer. If I got one, how good would it be for: phoning; listening to music; checking e-mail; browsing t'internet; maybe a bit of reading of work reports or taking basic notes. Also, how good are they as a gps for biking etc – I noticed that there is now an 'app' for memory map – how well does this work?

how good would it be for: phoning; listening to music; checking e-mail; browsing t'internet

Pretty good.

maybe a bit of reading of work reports or taking basic notes.

You may need an app to view xls/doc/pdf's. I can't type quick enough for basic notes, pen n paper is better.

I noticed that there is now an 'app' for memory map – how well does this work?

Is there!? I'll have to check it out!

If you are going to do all you mentioned, then battery life might become an issue. GPS for biking is not really that good, as the battery doesn't last that long. I have a charger at work, in the car & a battery pack, so I don't have any battery issues.

memory map info: http://www.memory-map.co.uk/iphone/

I don't know about the GPS for bikes, but I think they're pretty rugged things.

As for everything else in your question: yep, that's pretty much it. Unless I'm at work, my iPhone is now my primary tool for email and internet use.

Not sure about taking notes. I still prefer pen and paper for that, even over a laptop.

Is there!? I'll have to check it out!

Yeah my bro in law showed me it last weekend. Looks quite snazzy.

It will open .pdfs and docs (never tried xls). Battery life isn't the best but as long as you charge it overnight and when you are in the office it is fine.

I love mine.

I knew memory map was coming to the iphone, but didn't realise it's finally been released. Just read some of the reviews on iTunes. It doesn't sound good!!!!

I think it's worth it. Others don't but for the things you said you want it for I'd say yes

it works fine for PDF excel and word docs as far as i've used them.

I use mine for all those things except memory map and its pretty good.

GPS for biking is not really that good, as the battery doesn't last that long

I usually use Runkeeper when biking which uses GPS and 3G, I've had this going for 3 hours without flattening the battery but it depends how often you have the display on – your mileage may vary. I carry a backup battery just in case.

No doubt someone will be along soon to tell you the iphone's no good because it's not geeky enough… 🙂

Fwiw, I just opened the file below on my iPhone and it worked fine.

http://www.lvis.org.uk/files/Bristol12_2009LVISresults.xls

Reading on any smartphone is a bit of a gip. You can get by with powerpoint presentations and the odd webpage, but any kind of document is a complete pain in the neck. More of a "if you have to check something in this .doc" type thing than something you'd actually choose to read on.

I use dropbox as my sync weapon of choice, and the iPhone app lets you view most file types, .doc, .pdf, .pps, .xls, .jpg etc that are stored in your dropbox.

Think I'd hang on until July for the 4G phone. Will be faster and have more screen area than the current offerings. There is also going to be a new interface as well but that should be compatible with 3G/GS phones as well.

I used to a serial smartphone upgrader – 12 month contracts, would always be something better around the corner and I would be itching for something that promised more by month 11. Invariably it was disappointing, just like the one before.

My iPhone was on my first ever 18 month contract. That's expired and I still like it, with no plans to upgrade at all. It's still working great, it's still miles better than the Windows or Symbian phones I had before, it's doing just what I want and am not feeling any need to change at all. Dropped to the £20 a month tariff instead.

It's good for on-the-go reading but if you're going to be doing "proper" work then a netbook is a much better bet. I've not tried it as a bike/walk GPS either – I suspect the battery life will be poor if you tried and I'd rather have a £120 waterproof GPS on my bars than my £400+ phone.

I've been given an iPhone by my daughter as a present

It's been sat on my desk now for over a month – I guess I better give it a go 🙂
I generally hate mobile phones though – I switch my work one off at 6 & never bother with it at weekends.
I guess she thinks I need to be contactable 24/7 😕

Right where's that instruction book?

As above iphone is fine for checking details in a document but I wouldn't want to be reading lots on it.

3hrs use gets me to 20% battery left from fully charged when using trailguru (eg gps) but I use it for logging rides rather than for direction. I use a proper gps for that.

Right where's that instruction book?

Good luck trying to find that, mine didn't come with on. I like mine, it replaced a phone "thing" and a music "thing" so less to carry, less charger angst in my life, all good. It's nice to use, the things it does well, it does well. If you see what I mean, I don't need it for business applications, so dunno how well it deals with spreadsheets and the like. Happy user. Wouldn't use it as a GPS on the bike though. It would kill the battery, and they're not that robust IMO

sharkbait – Member
Think I'd hang on until July for the 4G phone. Will be faster and have more screen area than the current offerings. There is also going to be a new interface as well but that should be compatible with 3G/GS phones as well.

While there will almost certainly be an updated phone and OS this summer, all of the above is rumour at present. 😉 Personally I think the chances of them making it with a physically bigger screen are approaching zero: the iPad is filling that niche. Resolution might go up a bit though, although I doubt that as well actually.

I got one for Xmas it totally rocks for email and musk and vids havnt tried gps yet but maps is wicked awsome

Mark Datz:
I got one for Xmas it totally rocks for email and musk….

No fair. Mine only smells of apples.

Thanks all for the info …

It would seem that there's a concensus that it isn't that good as a mtb gps (good points re the waterproofing) – but would it work for road cycling / car driving navigation?

It would also seem that although it can open doc's etc, that it's not so good for doing more than a quick scan – is that due to the screen / keyboard size?

What about internet use? – would you use it for hanging out on STW for example 🙂

oh … and has anyone used the camera – any good?

Sue_W :

but would it work for road cycling / car driving navigation?

I have used TomTom and Navigon for driving and works very nicely.

It would also seem that although it can open doc's etc, that it's not so good for doing more than a quick scan – is that due to the screen / keyboard size?

Without sounding a bit harsh, the screen size and the method of input will obviously restrict such a device. But, if you are planning on writing essays, editing documents and spending long periods of time using then you should get yourself a netbook. An iPhone is what it is, an on the go device. Compromises will have to be made for the benefit of having x amount of devices in one.

What about internet use? – would you use it for hanging out on STW for example

It is fine.

oh … and has anyone used the camera – any good?

Not really. 2mp with no flash or autofocus pre-3GS.

…right i am off to play Finger Physics.

cameras a bit rubbish, I've done this post from mine.

I do all my evening browsing on mine.

3gs is 3mp. Better than that sounds but only good for snaps rather than photos.

Very happy with mine, I do the majority of my browsing from it ( am now)

Mine is my primary devise for web browsing, emailing, using Facebook, taking snapshots, reading books, (I was sat in Café Nero in Bath today reading ‘The Return of Sherlock Holmes' with the 3D Reader). People slag off the camera, but even the 2Mp is perfectly capable of taking snapshots that'll print at 6"x4". Anyone would think it's a replacement for a Lumix TZ7! It's an equivalent to a Kodak Instamatic, for posting straight to Flickr or Facebook, and is more than acceptable for that. The 4G, due in June, which I'll be upgrading this one for, should have a 5Mp camera, and will almost certainly be 64Gb with the same A4 processor that the iPad will have. The music player is just fine, with some Sennheiser or UltimateEars MetroFi phones. Android phones look good, but there are issues with the open nature of the apps, in that there's no guarantee that an app that will work on a Nexus 1, for example, will work on another interpretation of the OS, by HTC, or anyone elses'. I've read of developers giving up on Android because they can't cope with the uncertainty of needing half a dozen different versions of one app. This may be an exaggeration, but there seems to be evidence to support it.

"clubber – Member
Fwiw, I just opened the file below on my iPhone and it worked fine.

http://www.lvis.org.uk/files/Bristol12_2009LVISresults.xls "

Cheers mate – share my lap times with the world why don't you?? 😉

iPhone – very good, recommended.

Here's a photo I took yesterday with the 2Mp camera on my 3G iPhone, in Wells Cathedral.
Not bad for a snapshot.

Anquet are not far from releasing a mapping app for iPhone. There are bike mounts available but they are only available from the States. Bicio and Dahon are two that are available now.

Pedal Brain will also be releasing an app and snazzy mount sometime soon, this works with ANT+ accessories (polar and garmin HRM belts) but this has a link to a subscribed training diary on-line.

cheers all … I think I'll probably be getting one as from what you've all said it will complement what I already have (a desktop pc, large and heavy work laptop and a DSLR)

Key question now is to (a) get one now – in which case should it it be the 3G or the 3GS, or (b) wait for the 4G upgrade that a few of you have mentioned?

love mine. Once you have one, all other phones are rubbish!

I bought a new 3G off a guy on avforums (unwanted upgrade) for £300 and have gone on a sim only deal. When the 4G. comes out I'll sell the 3G for not too much loss and go back on contract to get the 4G

get one now – in which case should it it be the 3G or the 3GS, or (b) wait for the 4G upgrade that a few of you have mentioned?

….and when the 4G is coming out there will be something else around the corner 😉

I bought my 3G off my bro-in-law in mint condition for £180 and use it on the O2 simplicity tariff. When the 4G comes out he will buy it and i will take his 3GS off his hands and be perfectly happy.

if you want to be in a contract for 18-24 months go for it!

I've got nothing against the iPhone – I think it's a great piece of kit. But I chose the Hero as my preferred upgraded back in August – that too is an excellent piece of kit.

Both (like other smartphones) have their strengths and weaknesses. And whilst, IMO, they can be great for "doing stuff" on the go, they're not yet a realistic substitute for a laptop with a dongle (or whatever). Biggest issues are still bandwidth and speed-typing. Therefore writing emails and other documentation is just a pain.

But outside of that, the iPhone, the Hero, and other such beasts will do the job admirably.

Main reason I chose the Hero is because it multi-tasks and has (when flashed properly) a very good battery life. E.g. I can do a 4hr ride, map the whole route with GPS mapping, and take pics etc on about 25-35% battery. Or I can go for a 2.5hr run, again with GPS mapping, take pics, listen to MP3s, make a couple of calls, check calendars, send/receive emails/texts, check RSS feeds, on the same 25-35% battery.

That said, I'll take a serious look at the iPhone 4G and swap if I feel it's worth it.

FTR, I have a PC and laptop, and travel around on occasion too. The phone is good, but not a substitute.

I've got to put in a word for the HTC HD2, I've had windows Mobile phones for years and years, but this is absolutely amazing!

As with all WM is uses active sync to quickly sync your contacts with outlook. MS Office is included – so theres easy editing of office files word, excel and powerpoint. as is Adobe PDF viewer.

the HTC Sense user interface is brilliant to use – and the 4.3" screen is gorgeous! HTC have done a brilliant job with the sense interface – yes the WinMob OS is in the background, but you bearly see it.

I travel a lot for work, so had been looking at netbooks etc, but then I'm carting around a phone, MP3, and a computer. If I got one, how good would it be for: phoning;

contacts synced with your outlook contacts list – and dead easy to find the contact to call – a 9 grid 'favorites' list or type the persons name or start of number and the phone shows up possible suggestions, voice dialing can be installed as a 3rd party app. Also active sync will allow you to sync between at least 2 computers.

The other thing is, when you plug it in, it will ask you what type of connection you would like – active sync, disk drive (ie it will display the SD card as a removeable disc drive, for faster transfer, or to use the phone as a modem for internet connection sharing. If you dont select an option within a few secs (5-10secs) then it will default to your last selection)

listening to music;

phone comes with a microSD slot, and usually includes a 2Gb card – the phone will read at least the current 32Gb microSD cards, the Music tab organizes music by album, artist, genre, song, playlist etc. turn the phone on it's side and you can flick through the albums and skip to a song via the track listing.

I use windows media to transfer music to the phone, but i believe there are other progs can sync music with the phone.

checking e-mail;

If your work has a Exchange server or similar, then you can put the settings in for push email (as in when emails are received by the server they are 'pushed' to your phone) otherwise you can set up the phone to check the sever in a set period to get your emails (from 1 min intervals to once every day)

browsing t'internet;

the built in Opera Mobile has been designed specifically for HTC, and features multi touch, as well as single touch (double tap the screen to zoom in) Very quick at loading pages, Internet explorer is also included, but is slower and doesnt feature multi touch (tho a double tap on the screen zooms in, which i find easier as that can be done with one hand, rather than needing one hand to hold the phone the other to 'multi touch' to zoom in)

if it is important, then the browswers support Flash and you can load the normal facebook page, rather than needing a seperate Facebook app (tho a seperate FB app is included too if you need it).

Opera will store passwords if you wish to save you logging in.

Oh and another thing, you can link your contacts with your facebook friends – which will put their profile pic as their contact image, a built in twitter app is included too, which can automatically receive the latests tweets.

if your intested in the stock market – theres a tab which will sync with the latest stock market update.

If you click a link for a YouTube vid, then the YT app will open to view the video, otherwise Vimeo and others will load in the browser.

maybe a bit of reading of work reports or taking basic notes.

while the disadvantage over older resistive touch screen of old WinMob phones means you no longer have a stylus to write notes i have been able to use my finger to act as a 'pen' there is a link from the phone screen to a notebook, so you can write notes while on a call, or you can use the Office OneNote app, there is also a voice recorder for dictation. as i said there is MS word, Excel and Powerpoint.

Also, how good are they as a gps for biking etc – I noticed that there is now an 'app' for memory map – how well does this work?

dunno about MM but i have got Tom Tom installed which works great, theres also Google maps included as standard (as is a trial verion of CoPilot, another sat nav prog, but i prefer Tom Tom) I've used the phone for Geocaching, and the 'BasicGPS' prog i have used shows the GPS is very accurate, i have had a reading within 0.5yrd of the location of the Geocache!

you can also 'geotag' your photos via the HTC footprints – that is tag your photographs with the co-ordinates of the location you took the picture.
the install of googlemaps now has the use of a compass so is show the direction your heading on the map – the compass is also a seperate accessable app if your orienteering, and can link to googlemaps to give you a bearing to your destination.

In the Windows Market Place (think the App Store) there is a GPS tracker app which can store your movements for downloading and logging – so you can see the route you took, and how far you went/have been.

there is also an app included as standard where you take a photo of a business card, and it will automatically convert the card info to your contacts list.

FM radio – plug any headphones with a 3.5mm jack in and you can listen to FM station radios

5M pixcel camera:

and video quality can be seen here:
here (unfortunatly the noise of the deltic did overpower the mic a wee bit… but then they are rather noisy things!)

in terms of battery life – i think judging by mates Iphone the battery life is similar, but i have the advantage in that i can swap batteries if i run out and cant get to a plug (there is also a large capacity battery available for HTC which doubles the battery life, and the thickness of the battery, if your a very heavy user) there are also cradles available for the HD2 which can charge the phone, and also a slot behind for a second battery to be fitted and charged at the same time.

Of course Bluetooth can be used to partner a headset, and send files between other bluetooth devices. and also the wifi connectivity – you can also use the phone as a wifi router.

Also, it will display the weather for your current location, which is also linked to your calender – so will display a 5 day forcast in the calender app underneath your appointments, there is also a separate weather tab, which can display the weather in any number of locations you set.

there is a fairly good review of the phone here

I love it, as i said, ive had Win Mob phones for years, but this one has blown me away!

oh and just for reference on battery life, on the standard battery, i had tom tom running for 2hrs while navigating through manchester, started off with 70% battery and was down to 10% when i switched it off when i hit the motorway and knew where i was. that also included making a couple of 5min calls to let the missus know i was going to be late home, while stopped at a supermarket for a loo break – didnt switch the sat nav off during the stops

I got one last week played with other people and was always impressed and thought it might be ok for me. Now I've got one and set it up for my lifestyle it is bloody awesome tool just staggering what you can have it do. I have all my shifts now stored on it with a very easy to use app, I have a 12 lead ECG reference guide on it and many other useful apps. Using it to pick up my emails with imap so it syncs with my computers and surfing with it works very well.

Battery life isn't great but disable wifi and GPS when your not needing it and it lasts a lot longer.

Love it.