Posts tagged o2
iPhone 3G
8Yesterday, after months of waiting patiently, I finally upgraded to the iPhone 3G. The phone call to o2 took around 5 minutes – simply asking what iPhone I wanted, what tariff I wished to go on and confirming my phone number and personal details. I called them around 2pm yesterday and it arrived this lunchtime, less than 24 hours later. Did I mention I love o2?
I chose the 8GB model and the £35 per month tariff with 600 minutes, 500 texts, all of which of course come with Unlimited Data and Wi-Fi. The handset cost £99.
Shortly after the Apple Event on Tuesday I listed my iPod touch on Amazon Marketplace and sold it within 30 minutes. Since I got the new replacement a couple of weeks back it’s been pretty much redundant. I played games only occasionally and have never really used the iPod touch to listen to music. It seemed the primary uses were e-mail, social networking apps, calendar and general web browsing. I was starting to want much more from my device, much more than the iPod touch could give me.
I’ve read blog posts in the past about the iPhone 3G and quite often the author will say what everyone else seems to be saying: it’s amazing, it’s beautiful and wondering how they managed without it. If you were looking for me to say something different and unique then I can’t help you. The iPod touch, in my opinion, doesn’t even begin to come close to the iPhone…and I really didn’t expect that. Obviously not just talking about the features but the feel of it in your hand, the clarity of the screen, the everything.
When the iPhone was announced by o2 last year I was a little concerned about the tariff price, considering that I was on a £15 ‘all-you-can-eat’ tariff. I was firmly in the comfort zone. But, since the announcement of the 3G I have been much less concerned about the monthly cost considering that the handset itself is greatly reduced. £35 per month is fairly standard thesedays for a decent tariff on any phone and I consider the iPhone tariff to be exactly that. It has more than enough inclusive minutes and texts for me.
As yet I haven’t made a single phonecall but I have received a couple and it’s crystal clear, not the slightly tinny/echoey sound I used to get on my o2 XDA Mini S. I have sent out a few SMS, mostly just to gush about it as if I’m the only person in the world who has one. Now that I have the internet at my fingertips wherever I am, I just hope I don’t become one of these people walking around Sainsburys taking a photo of the Fish Finger aisle and posting it to Twitter to show where I am. But somehow I think I will 
The feature I was looking forward to the most, after the phone/text, is the camera. I don’t always take my camera out with me unless I’m going out specifically on a photo walk. It’s always during these camera-free times that I see something worth snapping. A beautiful sunset, perhaps. Since I’ll have my iPhone with me all the time when I’m out then I can capture any moment at any time. My XDA Mini S had a 1.3MP camera but was decidedly unhappy with storing more than a couple of full res photos – and they weren’t even all that, anyway.
So, just a few hours after unboxing the iPhone 3G I am totally smitten and have barely stopped looking at it. Now I realise just why my online contacts have been urging me, for so long, to buy one. All I can say is I am glad I finally did.
Here, take my money
15That line is directed towards o2. I have £159 happily sitting in my bank account ready to rub itself all over a black 16GB iPhone 3G…only they are in such short supply and I’m not even able to upgrade online or pick one up from a store near me. I’m sure that sounds familiar to a lot of people.
I have been going back and forth over the idea of buying an iPhone for weeks and I even put my head down a little last week when the 3G was released, keen not to get carried away and buy something just because there was a lot of talk about it. I’m sometimes sensible like that, much to my annoyance! Now since the iPhone talk has died down a little I have had time to think more now that it’s here and yes, I want one. One of the reasons (there are many, haha) is just being able to take one device out with me, rather than a phone and iPod. Plus, my current phone (a horribly bulky o2 XDA Mini S) is a couple of years old now so I’d be considering an upgrade to a sexier handset soon anyway, so I may aswell bring that forward. I’m on a £15 per month o2 SIMplicity contract with a 1 month duration, so I’m ready to rock when they get their stock 
Since the June 9th announcement of the iPhone 3G I have saved quite a bit of money. Sometimes intentionally, but mostly because there’s nothing else that I really need or want, so it’s just been mounting up waiting for something special. I’d like Apple TV at some stage but to be honest that can wait as right now I’m having way too much fun playing with the apps bought through iTunes on my iPod touch to even think about watching television 
The frustrating downside to this newfound “want one” is the lack of them in o2 stores or the online store itself. They have limited stock of the 8GB’s at a couple of o2 stores near me, but I’d much rather hold out for the 16GB as I can really go to town with my music library, videos, apps and info without worrying about the space being eaten up – and since it’s just £60 more for twice the capacity then it’s a no-brainer for me.
So, hopefully in the next few weeks there will be some good stock levels of the 16GB building up at the o2 online store. Their website states that they are expecting considerably more stock in their retail stores including a limited amount of 16GB’s from Friday 25th July (two days after my 35th birthday *shush*) and soon after that they will be opening up their online upgrade shop for existing and new customers.
One thing I am wondering about is this: I have bought around 4 games from the App Store in iTunes and installed them on my iPod touch, so when I get an iPhone does this mean I can simply install them on there or will I have to buy them again?
Made to make your mouth water
10Yesterday Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone 3G at the WWDC08 Keynote in San Francisco. For weeks there have been all kinds of rumours as to what would be announced during the event, but the more solid rumour was the new iPhone.
During the keynote which started at 6pm UK time, I was in an AIM/iChat with a few people from Twitter, including my favourite Apple Geeks. We decided to have a chatroom on the go as we suspected Twitter wouldn’t be able to cope with the extra traffic during that busy time as it’s been falling over for weeks without something as huge as the Stevenote bringing it to it’s knees. Most of us were also listening to the secret keynote audio stream through ustream.tv and getting deafened by the applause and whoops of delight, especially when the new $199 iPhone pricetag was announced! But, that was fun.
o2 were very quick to update their site with information about the iPhone 3G and how existing customers can get their hands on it come July 11th, with a list of the tariffs and prices. The other great news is the new iPhone will be available for business customers. This will please my other half as he is an o2 Business customer and late last year he held off upgrading his phone in the hope that come November/December he would be able to upgrade to the iPhone and slide across keeping his existing number. Sadly that wasn’t possible, and moving to the iPhone and changing his number isn’t an option. So, late December he begrudgingly upgraded his handset from an old and broken one and now won’t be eligible for an upgrade until Springtime next year, but I’m betting the iPhone will be his next phone.
The other exciting news, however, is o2 are going to offer Pay & Go customers the opportunity to get the iPhone without signing any lengthy contracts. I’m on a contract which I can leave at anytime as long as I give a month’s notice. I changed from my £14-99 a month contract last year to the £15 o2 SIMplicity contract which is just 1 month long, as long as I kept my existing handset. What I would like to do is buy the P&G iPhone and put my SIM into that. I have no idea whether that’s possible as there isn’t any details on the o2 website just yet, but I’ll most probably speak to someone soon at o2 about it to find out whether this is indeed a possibility. I really want the new iPhone and am fully prepared to pay up to £300 for the handset if Uncle Steve and o2 allow me to pop in my own SIM and keep going with my £15 a month tariff. My money is ready and waiting in the bank, just hope it gets to spend itself on the gadget of my choice I love o2, been a mobile phone customer for years aswell as an o2 Broadband customer since last November. I will love them even more if I can get in on the iPhone.
Then there’s something else I’ll be throwing my money at come July: MobileMe.
This replaces .Mac and current subscribers will be upgraded for free when the service launches mid-July…and what a fantastic service – well worth the £59 pricetag, in my opinion. Wherever you are, your iPhone, iPod touch, Mac (and/or PC) will always stay in sync via the “cloud”. You can watch the guided tour video here – well worth a look. I didn’t ever get tempted by the .Mac service, but MobileMe blows that out of the water.
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