iPhone 3G Thoughts
Overview
I’m looking to change phones this year and have been eagle eyeing on new phones. I’m not in a hurry and thought I’d share my concerns on the latest iPhone 3G.
Background
I hardly spend over £20 a month which isn’t much. I’d love to start using data driven applications like email, web browsing and other web services. I currently surf the web occasionally but with pay as you go it’s a bit expensive. I need SMS which is pretty much standard. MMS is nice to have and I do receive one – two a year.
I use the camera on the phone constantly and would like to expand the mobile’s GPS functionality like I have been doing with the BlueNext. I don’t have a Wi-fi compatible phone but it would be a nice to have feature.
I believe touch screen is the future but not necessarily the end all be all way to interact with the phone.
In summary:
- Spend around £20 a month
- Use / Like to use data rich applications
- SMS is a must
- MMS not required but would be handy to have
- Must have camera
- GPS is nice to have
Functions
I will be basing everything on the 8GB iPhone. I have already decided the 16GB is not worth how much O2 is charging for it.
- Phone Cost – Ranges from £99 to free depending on the tariff. £99 and a £30 / £35 monthly plan is quite expensive. Only the £45 / £75 qualifies people for a free iPhone.
- Data Plan – All tariffs are 18 month contract. That’s a long time and would prefer a 12 month contract instead.
The amount of free minutes and texts for the £30 tariff is ridiculous. Even I get more free minutes from my pay as you go! I probably use more text than I do phone but it does change from time to time. The £35 tariff is more competitive in my opinion but forces people to upgrade.
It’s nice that you get free data and wi-fi with the contract.
- No MMS – No a deal breaker but really odd not to include the feature. I think it’s a simple software / fireware upgrade.
- No Camera Flash – Annoying but I have survived a while with my Motoroal Ming which doesn’t have a flash and it too sports a 2 Mega Pixel camera.
Mobile Me
Apple has finally made .Mac useful and more cross platform friendly-ish. It’s nothing new having a desktop application for a better experience when on a computer which is then sync’d to an online server which can be viewed using a web application. An example of a good use of this type of architecture is Foxmarks which syncs Firefox bookmarks to an online viewable browser.
All the information mentioned below takes into account the WWDC 2008 keynote and some post keynote rumours / news.
Mobiles Me seems like a good deal. 20GB storage with email, calendar, addressbook and photos online all for one price. It can sync with Mac applications and Outlook and Windows.
- Mac Suite & Outlook Only? – Is the Mobile Me tied to Outlook and Mail / iPhoto / Addressbook / iCalendar? I already have my Thunderbird / Lightning and Google Calendar solution and content on it. I don’t want to migrate it to Mobile Me. O.k this only works or mail and calendar but that was already a lot of work into getting them to talk to eachother and sync.
- Existing Email Accounts – It’s a hassle to move house and just like email you have to tell everyone your new address and somehow move the old email to the new one. Whilst it would have been a benefit if you started using .Mac in the first place not everyone will. Will the new service be able to pull from external accounts? Will the iPhone still keep IMAP and POP protocol compatibility?
- Push In Both Direction – Philip Schiller demonstrated pushing things from the web to the iPhone 3G however does it go the other way? He made it clear it would go from the web to the iPhone but did not show it going the other way.
Summary
The iPhone does look the business and with the up coming app store it makes it look like a good distribution model. The problem I have is if it uses the iTunes DRM. This would mean the software purchased would be tied to the iTunes install instance instead of the account. If something happened to iTunes / computer it was installed on then the purchased software would be lost and need to be re-purchased. Not everyone will know about backing up the iTunes database. Steam has used account model very successfully.
Mobile Me on the other hand has more questions than answer especially on it’s openness and how flexible it will be.
