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IPhone

Discussion in 'Lounge' started by SICK, Apr 3, 2010.

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  1. SICK

    SICK Lounge Moderator

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    my 2 year contract is up for another upgrade (i have a lg vu). the iphone 3g 8gb is available to me brand new for 99 bucks with a 2yr agreement (thats fine)

    Good idea i would think no? any hidden fees? packages? extras i would have to buy? or pay every month? or anyone know how i can get one cheaper? thanks.
     
  2. NaboCane

    NaboCane Banned

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    I don't know anyone who has the iPhone and doesn't love it; ATT's service is another matter.

    Look at the Droid; it is really the state of the art now. Also the Samsung Instinct from Sprint.

    Sprint is coming up hard on Verizon and ATT, and if both don't watch out they'll see Sprint take #1 within a couple years.

    I mean, ATT is struggling to provide even just adequate bandwidth for 3G, and here is Sprint already deploying 4G...and by all accounts, it works well.
     
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  3. NaboCane

    NaboCane Banned

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    The thing that irks me about ATT and Verizon is how smug they are, and how much they charge you as a result.

    I'm with ATT right now, my friend and I share a plan; we've been paying more than we could have with Sprint, for the same service (because in Seattle every carrier has full coverage).

    Our contract is up and we're going with Sprint and the Instinct. I'd love to get a Droid, but I'm not paying Verizon a ****ing premium for 2 years just so I can have the neatest toy - not when the instinct is a perfectly fine toy itself.

    Plus with Sprint, if I get to where I need a portable modem for business I can get one that works on 4G - bonus, since neither ATT nor Verizon offer that and won't for the foreseeable future. Not to mention that even if ATT offered 4G all of a sudden, it would be even less adequate than their 3g, which is bad enough.

    Back to phones: you can get a comprehensive plan with Sprint for $70; try getting that from ATT or Verizon.

    And the Instinct is a nice phone.
     
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  4. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    I agree with Nabo personally. I had Verizon for a while and it was great (in my experience) for coverage, but prices were pretty ridiculous and I even had like a 25% discount. If work had not switched everyone to ATT recently and we were still supposed to get our own phones I'd be with Sprint for sure.
     
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  5. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    The catch, of course, being that there are no LTE phones, and LTE isn't exactly nationwide.

    SICK, I would not buy an iPhone right now. If you're really interested in the thing, wait until June when the new model is announced. Early indications are that it's a huge upgrade well worth waiting for.

    As for AT&T, they still get a bad rap from the state their network was in a couple of years ago, but they've dramatically improved under the iPhone gun. Huge metropolitan areas like Noo Yawk and San Francisco are still spotty, but living in South Florida, I can tell you I've never had a problem with coverage or speed. YMMV.
     
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  6. SICK

    SICK Lounge Moderator

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    thats good but price is a factor
     
  7. Fin-Omenal

    Fin-Omenal Initiated

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    I have an instinct and its friggin great, $99 gets me unlimited everything so not sure if there are the dreaded "hidden charges"
     
  8. dolfan32323

    dolfan32323 ty xphinfanx

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    The service plans are expensive for the iPhone, but they are great. i would listen to Desides and wait if you can for the price drop. Also, go with whoever has the best coverage in your area. I have ATT which is great in SoFla, but here in SE Virginia it is awful.
     
  9. SICK

    SICK Lounge Moderator

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    att coverage has been fine (borederline great) for me in charlotte. so thats not an issue.
     
  10. NaboCane

    NaboCane Banned

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    You like the Instinct? Was the interface easy to get used to from what you were using?
     
  11. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Whenever Apple introduces new products, they maintain the current price but upgrade the hardware. So the iPhone HD (rumored codename) will cost $199 for, say, the 32GB version and $299 for the 64GB version, with the 3GS probably replacing the 3G at the $99 mark.

    Here's a writeup collecting the rumors about the iPhone HD. Most of the information comes from John Gruber, an Apple-centric blogger who has sources inside the company.
     
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  12. SICK

    SICK Lounge Moderator

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    cool so i should wait and could get the 16g 3gs at 99.

    cool good idea, thanks bro.
     
  13. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    I'd really try to budget out and get the $199 iPhone HD, but yeah, the 3GS will be a nice pickup.
     
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  14. Fin-Omenal

    Fin-Omenal Initiated

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    It was flippin chinese the first month, but now that i got it down I wouldnt trade it for any. JMO
     
  15. NaboCane

    NaboCane Banned

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    That's hot. And it runs on Android - bonus!
     
  16. Rocky Raccoon

    Rocky Raccoon Greasepaint Ghost Staff Member

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    My girlfriend has an IPhone, and it's pretty awesome. $99 is a great price for a brand new one. The only thing I don't like about it is the battery is terrible. She charges her phone and it literally needs to be charged again within 6 hours or so. Make sure you get a car charger so you're always prepared. They are also pretty durable. With everything you can do with it I would say it's a good investment. Especially for only $99.
     
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  17. eric

    eric New Member

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    i read something the other day saying something about the iphone being available on verizon soon.
     
  18. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    While they are all still running, at least 5 separate people who my fiance works (at a restaurant so not a ton of people work there) with has gotten a broken screen.
     
  19. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    There have been rumors for about 2 years now that a CDMA version of the iPhone has been in the works. If there is, it won't come out until next year: AT&T's iPhone exclusivity runs through the end of this year, IIRC.

    Well, I guess it could expire some time over this summer on the anniversary of the first iPhone's release, but that doesn't necessarily mean a CDMA version would instantly pop up. Apple's manufacturing M.O. is to have as few versions of a product as possible, preferably just one, that can be packaged and sold worldwide. Now, they clearly sell tiers of hardware--21.5'' iMac, 27'' iMac, etc--but they still just sell one basic iMac design.

    It'll probably happen at some point, but I wouldn't count on it as an impending purchase decision.
     
  20. Rocky Raccoon

    Rocky Raccoon Greasepaint Ghost Staff Member

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    Well I'm not saying they can't break, my gf has broken hers before, but with the amount of times it gets tossed around it holds up pretty well.
     
  21. High Definition

    High Definition No Smoke / No Drink 2011+

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    Wait for the 4G in July. Trust me. You'll feel pretty bad if you upgrade now and have to pay full price only a few months later; I did it going from 3G to 3GS. Just hold out... it's right around the corner.
     
  22. Jeff

    Jeff A.S.E. Mastur

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    I've been shopping for a new phone and possible service provider, I am currently with T-Mobile, and have never had a smart phone before. This Sprint phone you just supplied the link for looks pretty promising, I think I'm gonna wait for this one.
     
  23. Phinperor

    Phinperor formerly In_Flames Luxury Box

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    IPhones are the ghey
     
  24. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    He's referring to this article from the Wall Street Journal the other day...the article cuts off if you arent a subscriber...I had a customer show it to me the other day: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...154072784198614.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_LEFTTopNews
     
  25. Muck

    Muck Throwback Uniform Crusader Retired Administrator

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    And it's made by HTC, which means it'll have the wonderful Sense UI on top of it.

    I haven't researched it beyond that page, but it looks about like Hero 2.0 I guess you'd say. The Hero might have been the hands down, best Android phone on the market, only the processor isn't fast enough and the battery life isn't great. The EVO has the Snapdragon proc (double that of the Hero). Will be curious to see the battery life on that thing.

    We've been with Sprint for about 4 years. Has been very good for us. We've had the $99 unlimited voice/data plans on our business phones all along.
     
  26. Vengeful Odin

    Vengeful Odin Norse Mod

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    If you are set on the iPhone, as everyone has said, wait for the new model that will be announced in June/July.

    If you're not married to the iPhone, then I would go with something Android based. I recently purchased the Droid and love it. I went with it because 1) Verizon's coverage is the best in the area here and 2) I wanted an actual keypad. My sister has the iPhone and I can't use the virtual keyboard at all. With the Droid the keypad slides and works really well.

    Sticking with the Android theme, the only other phone I considered was Google's Nexus One. However, there wasn't anyplace that I could go to demo it so I ruled it out pretty quickly.

    I think I made the right choice with the Droid, even though I'm an Apple fanboy.
     
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  27. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    I know what he's referring to, but I'm pointing out that not only have rumors of a CDMA iPhone persisted for years, but that AT&T's exclusivity is still in effect.

    Basically, don't plan on a CDMA iPhone being available. If it happens, good. But don't plan on it.
     
  28. Muck

    Muck Throwback Uniform Crusader Retired Administrator

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    Another thing to consider....

    Google's Nexus One will have a bundle plan with Sprint soon. To this point, T-Mobile was the only one. Verizon is set to have one this spring as well.

    In short, the Nexus One is an unlocked phone. But it's like $529 by itself. With a bundle plan, it's $179 I think. Sprint/Verizon haven't announced pricing or dates yet.
     
  29. NaboCane

    NaboCane Banned

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    And that's a sweet handset. More reason to go Sprint, IMO.
     
  30. Lab3003

    Lab3003 Golden era

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    Iphone (vs) the Competition... If you're using your phone for google-centric products, like Gmail, that you absolutely must use to its full capacity quickly and easily, go with an Android phone. Their native Google Gmail and Google Voice applications are incredible and work with the desktop versions seamlessly. If your company/place of business uses Gmail for lots of interoffice correspondence or if you must use Google Calendar to its fullest capacity, including invitations, labeling, etc. than by all means, purchase an Android.

    If you're not 100% beholden to Google, then buy an iPhone. Its a better product than any of competition. If you use iTunes already or have an iPod, then go ahead a buy an iPhone so you can streamline both. I love being able to sync my podcasts then go to the gym with my iPhone both acting as my music source and phone. You can pair it to bluetooth headphones, which is more awesome than I though (NO MORE BOUNCING CORDS!!). While the Open Source OS Android may in some future time have equal quality apps EVENTUALLY, the 3rd party apps on the iPhone are much better. There's no Android equivalent for Tweetie (Twitter app) that can compare.

    The Google-made native apps on the Android are much better than the native apps on the iPhone. Google maps is the clearest example. The Android version has navigation features that make the Apple Google Maps app look inferior and insufficient. Google Voice, if you use it, isn't allowed on the iPhone because AT&T is afraid of it. Gmail on Android is much better than Gmail on the native iPhone email app. Much Much better. There's problems with labeling on the native iPhone email app that in order to overcome you must login on Safari and use Gmail there instead of the email app. The rendering of mail on Gmail on the Safari app makes your correspondence look wrong. The best way to read email on the iPhone is its native app but you then have to sacrifice some of Gmail's features.

    iPhone Calendar is fine enough, but not as nice as Google Calendar on Android. I have the same critique about the Calendar as I do the iPhone Email app.

    I'm just a student, not dependent on my Gmail 24/7 and I don't need to label my stuff on the spot. I can wait until the end of my time on the wards to do whatever I need to do with my Gmail acct. I need something that can receive my correspondence and let me read it how it was intended to be read, while also being able to forward/send new emails. I can also email pics if necessary. Calender just has to make sure I keep my appointments. My iPhone gives me only what I need and nothing else. Its native apps are Spartan almost.

    Whenever possible, I replace the native apps with 3rd-party apps. For example, I replaced the Google Maps app with GPS Motion X Drive, which has all the features I need and set me back $1.99. That's where the iPhone OS is vastly superior to the Android. The 3rd party support on the iPhone makes it the better phone. There's just so many apps that can do amazing stuff. If you have a particular need, there's probably an app for it that'll do what you need very well. I wanted something so I can read this forum on my iPhone, and Tapatalk is INCREDIBLE!!! I guarantee you, if you buy an Android, at some point you'll meet someone you know or at a bar/ballgame that has an app you'd want and you won't have it because Android doesn't have it. I believe the difference in # of apps is 80K iPhone apps to 10k Android apps. If I'm Eric Schmidt, I'd be super pissed that iPhone is dominating me in number and quality of third party apps, and despite the Open Source advantage my phone has!

    That's the difference from an OS standpoint; Android has better native apps, iPhone has infinitely better third party apps.

    From a technology standpoint...the hardware of new HTC phones of course is going to be better. The iPhone has been out for longer than the Nexus One so its going to have older/inferior tech. The iPhone cam isn't anything special and doesn't have flash. I have an iPhone 3G, so I have to use a third party app to have video (Qik Video). The hardware advantage is always going to go to the newest product, so I'm not as interested in the hardware debates. For me, I'm all about which has the best OS in my Smartphone. IMO, the Apple OS because of its library of cheap apps (the vast majority of apps I use are free, $0.99-4.99) is the better OS. I saw somewhere that the customer base for the iPhone is larger. I'm going to wager that unless iPhone HD totally sucks donkey nuts, its going to have a larger percentage of the market (vs) Android in perpetuity despite Android being on more phones. Here's a graph illustrating what I mean: Motorola Droid vs Android vs iPhone (US marketshare) | Clicky http://j.mp/5jcONF. Larger market share means more and more developers means more and more quality apps.

    Now with respect to cell phones carriers, its my understanding that AT&T's quality is dependent on where you live. NYC and SFO are pissed with AT&T's quality THERE, but I live and work in Miami, so I really have no complaints. Could 3G be faster on another carrier, maybe. Would I switch to Verizon if offered? If it was cheaper. I haven't had the horror stories of other people regarding network issues, so I'm not able to comment one way or another. When I was working fam med in Palm Springs Hospital, I used the Epocrates app the entire time in the consult room and didn't have any speed issues. If I want to use the Slingbox App on 3G, I don't have any slowdown issues. I like the app well enough to use it on 75-50% signal strength (i.e. missing 1-2 bars). As far as I know, Slingbox isn't available on Android. The Last.fm app streamed Bob Marley perfectly off of Tavernier key by Hens and Chickens reef two weeks ago. Again, these are my experiences, I don't know what your experience would be like. I'm excited for 4G and will upgrade when its released, but as for right now I'm set.

    Whether to get it now or to wait for the summer release...depends on your patience. I'd wait and buy the baddest phone possible. For $100-200 extra you're getting what promises to be an upgrade with more than that in value. Video conferencing, better GPS, more battery life, faster speeds...I'd pay an extra $100 for my iPhone to have all those features. Let's be honest, if money was REALLY factor, I'd be using Physician's Desk Ref instead of Epocrates while taking calls on my Metro PCS Nokia phone. Its way too expensive to have a smartphone in the first place. We all pay extra because we want those features and are willing to pay for them. This is a luxury item. A really functional, fun, awesome, work-enhancing, life-changing luxury item, but still a luxury item.

    So wait and buy the baddest iPhone you can afford when iPhone HD comes out (thanks to Desides for the link to AppleInsider.com, had no idea it was going to be called iPhone HD. I like that name alot).
     
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  31. NaboCane

    NaboCane Banned

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    That's a great write-up, Lab.

    The one and only problem I have with the iPhone isn't the phone itself, but being tied to ATT.

    In my market, ATT has service quality just below Verizon and T-Mobile (Because T-M has its headquarters here) and about equal to Sprint.

    But I don't like the idea of being tethered for another two years to a company that is always looking for new and better ways to charge you more, when I could go with Sprint, who is driving the market down for consumers.
     
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  32. Lab3003

    Lab3003 Golden era

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    Perfect example of that is internet tethering. IF you jailbreak the iPhone (ver 3.1.2) you get internet tethering. Trust me, it worked VERY well on Miami Beach. But because AT&T is run by tyrannical fascists, they want to restrict that feature on the iPhone so they can charge extra for it. The rest of the world gets tethering out of the box, but the USA has to wait until AT&T figures out how they can charge you for it (I've heard est. close to an extra $15/mo...f-u AT&T).

    Despite that, much like the Java-on-iPhone debate, I'm still buying the iPhone.
     
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  33. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    :hi5:

    Good post, Lab. I would submit one caveat, that iPhone OS 4.0 looks like a major revision, and your app-specific complaints could be nullified by that particular release. We already know that the Mail app is going to be revised with the addition of a universal inbox, for example. I'd expect GMail integration via the Mail app to improve as a result, though nothing will probably beat Google's own integration on Android. (That's sort of expected, however.)

    June 22 will be pretty important.
     
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  34. Jeff

    Jeff A.S.E. Mastur

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    [​IMG][​IMG]
    It's not real, yet.
     
  35. Lab3003

    Lab3003 Golden era

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    Yep. App stuff aside, things I can get somewhere else for free I will get for free. The iCade mockup did make me poop a little, then the novelty wore off. I wouldn't buy one.
     
  36. SICK

    SICK Lounge Moderator

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    i would love to be able to put songs from my itunes on my iphone and listen then press answer to take a phone call. iam a sucker for the little "cool" stuff. the voice message system, the gps, and the chance to buy some cool aps gets my pants tight. iam a dork for that kind've stuff, iam super excited for june/july to roll around and hopefully get the 3gs for 99 bucks, nice post lab. great stuff.
     
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  37. TiP54

    TiP54 Bad Reputation

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    Live from the Internet.
    Got it 3 weeks ago.
    Love it.
     
  38. Paul 13

    Paul 13 Chaotic Neutral & Unstable Genius Staff Member

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    Sick, I have a 3GS, got it last year when they came out (I got the 3G about 2 weeks before that, but was able to transfer the phone in), coolest greatest thing I've ever had. I would wait for the 4G release to see what the features ultimately are and take it from there.
     
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  39. GreenMonster

    GreenMonster New Member

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    I have a HTC Diamond with a custom rom with Sense UI and Windows Mobile 6.5.3 and it rocks but I have had it forever now. I will get the new Sprint EVO the day it comes out, its the best phone I have seen yet specs wise and its not really close.

    I too would wait a couple of months on Iphone, although I will admit Iphone is the best phone for 90% of people, it just works. I on the other hand crave more and all the newest goodies and Iphone does not cater to this crowd at all.

    Long live unlocked phones and custom roms..
     
  40. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    That's the first time I've seen man hands at work since Seinfeld.
     

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