[Closed] Thinking of ditching my iPhone

I keep mine in a sealed freezer bag when I'm out riding. No problems so far...

To people who MTB with their iPhones....
How do you find it deals with mud, rain and shocks? What sort of case & holder do you use?

Ive got one and i just keep it in the fleece lined pocket at the top of my camelbak, dry, padded, easy to access. It works with gloves perfectly fine (infact i can txt on it with one hand while riding, not on the road tho obviously). It seems reasonably waterproof, in that there isnt really anywhere for the water to get it. ive had it in my back pocket on the road bike and it got soaked in sweat with no problems, id not want to submerge it tho. Shock wise its supprisingly tough, ive dropped mine a few times and its not had any issue other than a few tiny scratches. One thing id worry about is grit in the screen, i imagine muddy gloves would not be good!

Interesting, sounds a bit tougher than I thought.
But does any one mount it onto the stem/handlebars? I played with the compass in the O2 shop and I thought that would be pretty cool on the bike!
I use a nokia 5500 at the mo and that is very rugged, but the screen is tiny.

There are Otterboxes available, which I'm pretty sure have bar mountings for bikes. In fact I'm sure someone was selling one a while back. Try googling for waterproof iPhone cases. I haven't 'cos I can't be arsed, but that's what google's there for... ;0)

I'm gonna keep it until the viewranger app arrives. If it's any good I'll stick with it, if not I'll be flogging a 3GS with 32GB memory and returning to nokia.

I'm sure those guys at viewranger will do a good job. I started using it 3 years ago and the amount it has progressed is impressive.

Well maybe one of these could work Count
[img] [/img]

But I'd still be worried about shocks to it on the MTB :/ I'm aprehensive that these things are really meant for cafes. My 5500 Sport has been clipped on the stem down DH runs and hasn't budged or suffered any problems. Also I carry 2 or 3 spare batteries for that...it sounds like the iPhone doesn't even let you change battery 😯

Is there a release date for a Viewranger app?

well, they're still advertising for someone to write the app, so it could be some time!

http://www.viewranger.com/jobs.htm

cp - Member
well, they're still advertising for someone to write the app, so it could be some time!

http://www.viewranger.com/jobs.htm

Heh....i see what you mean. I thought the way people were talking it was imminent!

Damn.....there'll probably be another 3 or 4 iphones before then 🙁

it sounds like the iPhone doesn't even let you change battery

Thanks, but that's even more space on the handlebars though, and another potential water entry point. Perhaps I'll have to keep waiting for a more rugged symbian.

No it doesn't.. But you can use external battery packs.

Still - it is the major fault with the set - cr*p battery life and near impossible to change the battery. And as it is a bulky set in the first place, who wants an external battery bolted on too?

Battery life is unquestionably the major shortfall of the iPhone - I usually charge mine later in the day so that I can do some browsing/game playing/etc in the evening. I do keep 3G/Wifi on all the time mind but I can't really be fussed to be turning it on/off all the time.

I can't really be fussed to be turning it on/off all the time.

[img] ?w=320&h=480[/img]
[url= http://theappleblog.com/2009/06/22/sbsettings-why-i-still-jailbreak-with-3-0/ ]SBSettings: the best reason to jailbreak an iPhone.[/url]

Turning 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth on and off becomes a simple swipe+tap.

I do keep 3G/Wifi on all the time mind but I can't really be fussed to be turning it on/off all the time.

Yeah, may give it a go actually turning it on and off and more significantly jailbreaking it at some point.

@GrahamS

Prob i find with sbsettings is it does not play nice with a custom, to kill ads, host file. The only compromise i have found is to run memtool which allows you to free mem and kill processes.

OOoh.. how (and why) are you using a custom host file?

What is jailbreaking?

GrahamS:

OOoh.. how (and why) are you using a custom host file?

Using a custom hosts file kills adverts, assuming it has the right entries in it, as it resolves the hostnames of popular ad servers to the local machine.

The how can be found here:

http://jamesisbored.com/iphone/adblock

As you have probably noticed the bigboss repository which hosts sbsettings is powered/funded by ads so they have stopped you being able to access the settings of sbsettings when a custom host file is detected.
There are ways round it, indeed there is a toggle for sbsettings that allows you to turn the adblocking on and off, but its a bit of a faff to install and i aint that fussed about sbsettings 😉

ooOOoo:
What is jailbreaking?

Jailbreaking is altering the firmware on your iphone to allow it to run non-signed apps and utilities on your iphone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jailbreak_(iPhone_OS)

Jailbreaking:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jailbreak_(iPhone_OS)

Nice one Jamie. Cheers.

tA....wow everything has a funny little name in apple world doesn't it.

ooOOoo - Member
tA....wow everything has a funny little name in apple world doesn't it.

Bad analogy, apple's more a pleasure to look at, nice to use the bits you can, but there's a lot there they won't let you touch.

IA:
Bad analogy, apple's more a pleasure to look at, nice to use the bits you can, but there's a lot there they won't let you touch.

Very true, but if your determined, or geeky, enough you can usually fiddle with all the bits Apple want to keep you away from. Usually only so you can make your iphone look stupid like i have done:

[img] [/img]

Usually only so you can make your iphone look stupid like i have done

Am I alone in thinking that looks quite cool? Sort of a Tron iPhone

Bad analogy, apple's more a pleasure to look at, nice to use the bits you can, but there's a lot there they won't let you touch.

OK, but you pay for the privilege. And Apple seem to lock you down far more than microsoft ever did. To me it seems like consoles vs PCs.
Only tried an iPhone briefly and was very impressed, just wish they designed something for more abuse than the local Costa. I hope the tablet that's rumoured is sorted, as I would love a decent netbook/tablet thing for sketching on. But I use CAD so I can't really embrace the whole Apple iLife anyway.

Hey, but I am that tiny minority, and so I was expressing my opinion. I wasn't knocking iphones, they're an impressive bit of kit. Just not for me. Very nearly for me, but not quite there. I can see why they're attractive for a lot of people. And I have several macs, no PCs - I wish the iphone was right for me, the integration is excellent (the price less so).

Apple seem to lock you down far more than microsoft ever did.

of corse they do. They always have. That's why Apple stuff "just works" because it is far easier to get it working if you have dictator-like control over the hardware and software. It is their greatest strength and also the reason many folk dislike them.

I find it acceptable in a phone (tho I jailbroke anyway) but I wouldn't like my PC to be that locked down.

By the way, anyone played with the Augmented Reality stuff in the Yelp app. Next big thing methinks!

[i]I wouldn't like my PC to be that locked down[/i]

I am happy that my computer is "locked down" if that means it works.

I have yet to see an "unlocked" home computer doing anything I want to do (though of course YMMV) and I don't miss the days of owing a Windows machine and asking for help on forums etc and being told "what graphics card do you have, maybe that is the problem?", or the myriad of other potential problems that can arrive when you have no "control" over what hardware your software is running on.

Interesting that there's a lot of requests for the Viewranger program - I wrote an app for the Android OS that shows your GPS position on an OS Map, might consider porting it to the iPhone if there's some demand.

So what I'm now wondering is, is the iphone worth it?
If you want a mobile, Mp3, t'interweb etc all on one handheld gadget? I currently have a Samsung Tocco but have never used the internet on it, I currently pau £25 p/month just for the calls and texts and so far my average bill is £32 .. so not far away from the £35 tariff I would do with iphone. It's a while away until I upgrade but saw lots of friends with them on the weekend and thought they looked a bit Gucci.

iphone users ... your thoughts.....cheers!

I'd be the first to slag off Apple for style over substance - but no, the iPhone is actually rather good. It is the main way I surf the web now (when not sat at a PC for work).

i have a touch screen... i have friends that have i phones and all sorts of touch screen mobiles and at some point they have all said that they r rubbish compared to the phone they replaced...i think mine isnt nearly as good as my old knakered samsung and i thought that was terrible...

rubbish compared to the phone they replaced..

Sitting here playing Civilization Revolution on my iPhone.
I don't miss my Nokia 6230 🙂

Munqe-chick, my bill every month comes to £35, and I do pretty much everything on my iPhone, web surfing and listening to web radio like 6Music included, both via wifi and over the network. I never, ever worry about incurring large bills. Mine is the base tariff, but I hardly make any calls or send texts so most stuff is via email. I have a Mac PowerBook in a case under the tv, I can't remember the last time I used it, possibly three weeks ago? All my STW browsing is done on the phone, so I can get on during quiet periods at work, or else I read e books on it. The next version will be next May, just in time for my next upgrade. 64Gb phone? Ooooh, I hope so.

listening to web radio like 6Music included

Interesting, via an app or safari?

So the £35 tariff was does that give you? the 600 mins of calls and 500 texts (wow I have 400 at the mo and with regular effort have never got over 250!!) what's the score with using the internet? Is that all included in the price unlimited? or if you go over a certain amount of time do you have to pay? the websites don't make it very clear!

35 quid = 600 mins, 500 texts, unlimited network data and unlimited access to The Cloud and another wifi hot-spot network.

you need to pay for the phone on this contract though, unless you are an 02 customer already and can get a free refurb.

use mine a lot for texting, web, emails, phone, ebay, f1 timing, tv guide, currency conversions, wikipedia, messenger, google maps as a sat nav, ipod.... over my 18 month contract I will save money over buying a new ipod, sat nav and my old SIM only contract... and I get loads of functionality in a very well thought out, genuinely useful and very very useable device!

Yep, unlimited mobile Internet access from the phone ("tethering" to a laptop etc is not included).
You also get free access to any BT Openzone or The Cloud wi-fi spot.

Oh and the [url= https://www.spotify.com/blog/archives/2009/08/28/spotify-goes-iphone/ ]Spotify app will be out shortly[/url] giving you access to literally millions of tracks on the move.

GrahamS:
Oh and the Spotify app will be out shortly giving you access to literally millions of tracks on the move.

You have to have the premium £10 a month account tho.

Jamie:
listening to web radio like 6Music included

Interesting, via an app or safari?

[url= http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=292233889&mt=8 ]Solved.[/url]

That's also coming for symbian & android too apparently

I've had a Tytn II (WM6) the last 18 months and wamted something a little more funky, but not with the iPhone politics. Did loads of research last week and picked up a HTC Hero on Yodafone on Saturday - 18 months, free phone, £35m 600 mins, ul texts, passport and ul data.

Have spent hours just setting it up and "playing" with it, because it's just so damn cool. Integrates Exchange, Googlemail (inc Reader, Docs, etc), Facebook, Flickr and Twitter plus loads more, so you get a one-stop shop for managing all your contacts, calendaring and updates.

Sweet iPhone-type UI (plus scenes for Work, Social, etc), loads of Android apps (inc Cardio Trainer which worked perfectly on a 3hr ride yesterday (with GPS, etc)), and more.

Ok, I've only had it a couple of days but I'm well impressed - it's what I'd call a 'lifestyle phone.' And the gf liked it so much she upgraded at the same time!

Highly recommended.

SM

What this Cloud wi fi thing?? I'm not very technie so don't really understand all that! I realise on that contract I would have to pay for the phone, £80 something mmmm will have to see!

Interesting SM, that looks like a nice phone.
The Nokia N900 is looking pretty tasty too

ooOOoo, can't say I know anything about the 5800 (or the OS it runs on), but it looks interesting. Regarding the Hero, I feel that the reviews and videos - great though they are - don't do it justice IMHO. When you actually have the phone in your hand and it's set up the way you want it (with customisable modes for work, social, sport, etc) then you realise how poweful it is in terms of making you feel connected to everyone you know and are in contact with (and beyond).

The best deals are on places like www.mobiles.co.uk.

Also, to get the most out of it you really need wi-fi or a fast connection.

SM

What this Cloud wi fi thing??

It's just a brand of public wi-fi spot that tends to pop up in some cafes, pubs, waiting rooms etc.
Typically you'd have to pay to use a wi-fi spot like that, but they are all included in the contract for O2.

im seriously looking at getting a 3GS in the next month or so, I dont tend to use the phone that much as as I'm over 18 I dont send that many text messages.

Its an expensive toy but I reckon PAYG is the best way to get one.
£440 with data and wifi included (cost 10/month after the 1st 12 months)
You are looking at a minimum of £740 getting one on contract.

Whats the deal with these free referbs then?
that might be worth looking at.

Good stuff SM. Maybe not for me though as I have realised I am essentially a hermit, and am fighting back against the pressure to digitise and display my whole social life (or lack thereof) 😕

listening to web radio like 6Music included

Interesting, via an app or safari?

Solved.

£3.99? I use fStream which is basic, but free.

fstream didn't work very reliably for me at all... am going to try wunder radio

Hmm.. always been fine for me, mind you I tend to just use iPlayer when I'm on wi-fi anyway.

GrahamS:

£3.99? I use fStream which is basic, but free.

True, but it was the first one i found on the app store and only demo'ing it at the mo. Interface is a bit shoddy but so far been playing Radio4 and 6Music fine over WiFi. Going to test it over 3G in a bit.

Edit:

[img] [/img]

Ooh it is a fair bit prettier than fStream 🙂

[img] [/img]

I have that app above "WunderRadio" works a treat on a 3G signal although you will suffer the occasional drop for a few secs. I walked home on Friday from the office (45mins walk) and had an uninterupted signal of Radio4 all the way home.

Having not had a new phone for about 3 years (been sat on a sim-only deal for the past 18 months) I've decided to give a refurb 3g a go. Will be here for the weekend and I can play for two weeks before deciding to keep it or not.
Until now I've been on WM6 and used the tethering option quite a bit, now it seems the iPhone can be tethered (although not completely legally but that was the also the case with WM6 on T-Mob and O2) it ticks the boxes.
UI has always been brilliant IMO.

Actually the iPhone CAN be tethered completely legally - it's just that O2, in their infinite wisdom, don't include the tethered data as part of that nice "Unlimited 3G Data" package, but instead charge you £15 a month for it. Gits.

http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/internet.html

The app I use for radio is iCarRadio. It seems to handle the bitrate well, which OoTunes doesn't terribly well, although it has a very much wider range of stations available. One thing I've discovered with the 3G phone is available memory affects buffering significantly. I use FreeMemory first, then start up iCarRadio, which means it buffers quickly with minimum drop-outs. OoTunes is great for stations like CBC Radio3, which plays Canadian indy bands, with a 58kb bitrate. 6Music runs at 128kb, which is much cleaner, but OoTunes doesn't seem to handle well. I've tried WunderRadio, but it just doesn't seem to run over Edge networks like iCarRadio does.
'Cloud' is just a term for ubiquitous wireless Internet access using free wifi hotspots or coverage across a whole town. 'The Cloud' is a commercial name for a wifi hot-spot provider, like BT Openzone or BT Fon. There's some interesting stuff about the amount of money being made from Android App sales compared to iPhone App Store sales on MacRumors. Very enlightening.

See now all this talk about tethering and the like has really lost me and make me wonder what the HECK you are talking about!?? help....

Tethering is just using your mobile to provide an Internet connection for your computer so for example you could surf on your laptop while out and about. If you don't do that then ignore it.

Everyone else calls it 'using your phone as a modem' Munge 🙂

I call it Tethering as it makes me sound cool....erm...doesn't it? 😉

Incidentally i use [url= http://www.junefabrics.com/iphone/index.php ]PDAnet[/url] if want to use the iPhone as a modem. Works very nicely with the MBP. Jailbreak needed tho.

Actually the iPhone CAN be tethered completely legally - it's just that O2, in their infinite wisdom, don't include the tethered data as part of that nice "Unlimited 3G Data" package, but instead charge you £15 a month for it. Gits.

See what you mean - yep tethering is not illegal, but frankly I think that data is data so being charged twice for the same thing is just wrong. Anyway I've been [responsibly] tethering for a couple of years now and never had an issue so I'm not going to start paying now 🙂

..think that data is data so being charged twice for the same thing is just wrong

Completely agree. Thought it was cheeky as **** when they announced it. Ridiculous that O2 are allowed to advertise "Unlimited Internet Data" and then charge extra for tethered data.

Okay think I'm with you! So if I wanted to just surf internet all day on the phone then it's included in the price plan??

Yes

Cool it's sounding ever more attractive 😆

update on the radio thing - installed WunderRadio last night - it is a wonder, it's brilliant. Far better performance than FStream. No dropouts at all yet, listened to a few hours worth, very good quality streams too. super impressed!

Sweet, might give it a try then.

Discovered a great game last night: [url= http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=326694383&mt=8 ]Word Ace[/url].
It's a live multiplayer cross between Texas Hold'Em and Scrabble/Boggle.