So it has finally arrived, but not quite what most expected…

http://www.apple.com/uk/iphone/

I have been waiting for it a long time, though not so sure whether its worth an extra £100 or even more (pricing in UK hasn’t been confirmed yet).

Tempted to just go with 3G and wait for 3.0 OS.

Pricing now up on o2 site.

PAYG:
iPhone 3G 8GB – £342.50
iPhone 3G S 16GB – £440.40
iPhone 3G S 32GB – £538.30

Nuts. Would really like one to replace my 1G iPhone, don’t think i can justify almost £500 on a phone.

32GB storage gets it a yay for me – now does what I want it to do in terms of storage. Will wait and see how expensive it will be on contract before deciding though.

Pay monthly (18 month contract)

16GB – £35/£35 per month – £190 for the phone!!!!!!!!!!!!
32GB – £35/£35 per month – £275

f*** me…

P.S Why is the 8GB version still £97 when it is $99 in US??

The 8Gb on the US site is $99

Well, that decision has to be made based on whether or not the new features are worth the extra cost. Double the storage, double the RAM, much faster processor, better camera with video, much better battery life, proper digital compass using magnetometer…
And that’s just what I remember from watching the live keynote speech on Macrumors.com earlier on. Personally, with what it does, I think it’ll be worth every penny. As it happens, the iPhone I’m writing this on has developed a hardware problem stopping me syncing and charging from my Mac, so a replacement is in order under warranty. He he.

Just found the stuff on 02.co.uk (which seems to be running quite slowly at the moment)

Not so bad at £175 on a 2 year contract, though still a lot of beans.

Just got an android phone (HTC Sapphire), and it does everything the iPhone does, but is open so you’ll get loads more apps. It’s the only touchscreen phone I’ve used that didn’t make me really angry too (although I’ve only used the 1st gen iPhone, not the newer one).

well yes its supposed to be 2x faster and what not, but from using my girlfriends iPhone 3G not a single time I thought “damn, I wish the window opened faster”. The games did not run with a choppy framerate either.

Playing games on a PC and requiring more RAM/faster CPU is fair enough, but its a bloody phone!

I have always been a big admirer of mac stuff, but this ridiculous.

Can i have at go on your phone leon. I’m weighing up the new iphone, n97 and whatever else the competition is.

ust got an android phone (HTC Sapphire), and it does everything the iPhone does

Will it play protected .aac files?

Is the music player as easy to use as an iPod one?

Will it plug straight into the iPod lead on the car stereo and my sound dock thing that just has an iPod connector?

(serious questions BTW, not trolling – I am quite far down the iPod accessories line here)

Clubber – YGM

I was expecting/ hoping it would look a little different – the changes are all good but haven’t convinced me to get one

just need to wait for the Palm, Nokia N97, etc. to be priced up on contract before I make a decision

The way it works in the real world, is that when a model is replaced, a new one is introduced at the same price(well, its free on most networks), and the old one is sold off cheaper.

Now the old one is the same price, and the new one is 2x more expensive

Nice little comparison chart from Engadget.

I would spring for the 3GS if I was buying new, but the 3G is still a perfectly capable phone IMO.

I will be looking for a new phone in July so it’s absolutely a “yea” for me. My present 3G is fantastic, so this will be even fantasticker !! 🙂

If you are going for a new pay monthly contract for 24 months it doesn’t seem too bad as you are looking at twice the capacity (plus other changes) for about £10-£20 more for the initial cost. Plus if you only want 16gig you get all the other new features for less than the old 16gig one. I have been holding off getting one but will now.

Lee Anderson has one for sale at the moment on the classified section. im tempted…

Just like most mac stuff it’s overpriced for what it really is. How can they justify charging that much for a bloody phone??
I don’t care if it can wipe my @rse (iWipe anyone?), at that price it’s definitely a nay.

I have the 3G 16gb one and it is awesome i cant wait for the update, come my new contract time (less than 12 months) i will get the 3GS for sure, i am very impressed with the changes and improvments thay have made 🙂

Just like most mac stuff it’s overpriced for what it really is. How can they justify charging that much for a bloody phone??

Because it is FAR more than a phone. I hardly ever use mine as a phone when compared to the time I spend surfing, playing games, watching podcasts or listening to tunes.

Really, I’m no Apple fanboi, but it really is a very nice device.

Just like most mac stuff it’s overpriced for what it really is. How can they justify charging that much for a bloody phone??

It’s really not just a phone though is it. I don’t own one, but mates do, and they are pretty amazing. Granted they are not cheap but it is basically a PC with communication features.

Its a conservative shuffle forward rather than a step or jump. I think its a really disappointing upgrade. Cant really see the advantage. Fingers crossed there will be a lot of cheap 3Gs up for grabs on the web or from 02. Other than the camera I didn’t see people moaning too much about the hardware and the OS3.0 will solve most of the software/firmware complaints. Very disappointed there’s no OLED screen when every one else’s high phone seems to be sporting one.
Where’s the Nano or the tablet? I was considering an IPhone, I think I’ll keep an open mind to others now.
Poor show Cupertino.

At last! My e61 has been trying my patience for a while now with it’s “Full battery, no wait, a single phone call and it has turned itself off”. Ok, it’s just the battery and I do like the keyboard, and the fact that I have TomTom on it, and it does mail really well too… But! It doesn’t have a camera and the music player is rubbish. It also has no inbuilt GPS, so I have to keep carrying round the dongle if I want to go somewhere using satnav.

At least this way I can give my iPod to the missus and just carry _one_ device. And such a nice device. Sleek, smooth, shiny. I will never be unable to find a pub in London again. It truly is the gentleman’s beer finder.

As you might have guessed, I’ll be buying one. In black. It means going to O2, but Vodafone suck in our road anyway, so sod them.

“water & oil-resistant finish”

hmmmm…..is this finally up to the job of MTB GPS?

Looks like O2 plan to charge us extra for the Internet Tethering feature:
http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/internet.html

So even though the Pay Monthly contract already has unlimited internet usage on it, it looks like you need to pay again if it happens to be a laptop using that “unlimited usage”. Gits.

It will be interesting to see how they plan to enforce this. I think the iPhone must be telling them it is tethered during the call set up.

That needs fixing then… Maybe the people that brought us Jailbreak will have something to do about it.

I wonder if you can still get free WiFi ‘tethering’ if you dont buy the O2 bolt-on? Common sense would suggest so but reading there description of it its a but unclear.

That needs fixing then… Maybe the people that brought us Jailbreak will have something to do about it.

Dont they have somthing that allows that already?

It will be interesting to see how they plan to enforce this. I think the iPhone must be telling them it is tethered during the call set up.

They probably just look at how much data you’re using. If you’re using tons of data, then they’d look at what you’re doing on it, and see if it looks likely to be from a phone or not. It’d be easy enough to tell surely, things like web browser user agent strings would give it away (or maybe there is something in the routing information that does).

Joe

They probably just look at how much data you’re using

I do most of my surfing on my phone these days.

web browser user agent strings would give it away

Well they are easy to change 🙂

iPhone’s have a great UI, good game support, great web browser.

They are way too expensive however!! Locked to O2 if you want to do things by the book for the next couple of years at least.

When the battery gives out on your expensive investment, then what do you do?

A Nokia 5800 is a better phone because it’s costs far less, takes Micro SD cards, has an FM radio, has a replaceable battery, is available for any network, has a higher res. screen, can forward texts, can cut and paste, works with BBC iplayer, streams live bbc tv, works with youtube, works with Nokia’s free Sportstracker and other GPS apps such as Viewranger. Takes any 3.5mm headphone/earphone and has fantastic audio. The only limitation i can see is the limited number of IP radio stations in the realplayer format. The web browser is adequate, but not outstanding.

Nokia are a the biggest manufacturer of mobile phones, they dominate the market because they make solid, reliable products that work. The 5800 is their first touchscreen handset. A total winner!

Or be a fashion victim, have your wallet emptied and buy the limited iPhone!

Is the price drop for the 3G 8G going to be rolled out to the UK also?

Is the price drop for the 3G 8G going to be rolled out to the UK also?

not according to the 02 website…

A Nokia 5800 is a better phone

i disagree – the iphone has MUCH better build quality, and feels a much higher quality unit. The touchscreen and useability of the iphone is also in a completely different league to the 5800, which i found to be too clunky (virtually having to physically press down the screen to press buttons…). screen resolution isn’t really an issue (and i prefer the less-widescreeness of the iphone compared to the narrow one on the 5800)…

horses for courses, but i defo recommend trying a few out in a couple of shops before committing to anything!!!!!

Its a conservative shuffle forward rather than a step or jump. I think its a really disappointing upgrade. Cant really see the advantage.

The advantage over the ordinary 3G? They are listed above. If they don’t excite you, maybe it is just that the 3G itself is such an excellent piece of kit!

It’s still got a screen that will smash when you drop it, resulting in having to cough up another £450 for a new one because they can’t be repaired.

i disagree – the iphone has MUCH better build quality, and feels a much higher quality unit. The touchscreen and useability of the iphone is also in a completely different league to the 5800, which i found to be too clunky (virtually having to physically press down the screen to press buttons…). screen resolution isn’t really an issue (and i prefer the less-widescreeness of the iphone compared to the narrow one on the 5800)…

Yes, iPhone is a better tactile experience, but there is nothing wrong with the build quality of the 5800. It is up to Nokia’s usual high quality. The touch screen works really well and the widescreen format suits video material especially well.

If you consider that it’s half the price of an iPhone, it’s a no brainer. Yesterday a friend called me to ask what I thought about the Nokia. He has an iPhone which is nearing the end of it’s 18 month contract. He is looking to switch handsets because he doesn’t want to spend £35 a month on airtime. He’s now going for an 18 month contract with a free Nokia 5800 and will pay £15 a month. So he’ll have a brand new handset and will save £180 over the the iPhone upgrade. A no brainer IMHO.

Go ahead, get your new iPhone! The power of marketing!

Well, my brother-in-law has a Nokia 5800, and he is pretty green with envy looking at my sister’s iPhone. If you are happy with the limitations of the Nokia, lucky you – you can spend the extra money on beer, but other people put a different value on the usability, huge range of apps, integration with computer etc.

Okay…

The big question now is.. Does o2 network support 7.2mbps 3G?

Apart from being UP TO 2x faster processing (we all know what UP TO really means), this really is the only worthwhile update. iPhone 3G could always record video, as people who have jailbreaked phones had an app for the for ages.