Cheapest iPhone discussion

jevsy

I've just been offered iphone 3GS free on Tmobile at £35 per month for 600 mins, unlimited texts, unlimited internet access, 24 months. Works out at £840 for the period in total.
If I read it right, that's a little better than vodaphone 24 months as there is a cap on internet, however on Three it seems that the cost would only be £749 and would get 500 mins, 5000 texts and 1GB internet. In fact I could get the iphone 4 on Three for £819 which is still cheaper than the deal Tmobile are offering me for the 3GS!! Deliberations are at hand

Squish_21

Anyone got any good deals on the iphone 3GS recently with O2?

I am a current O2 customer (been with them 6yrs), eligible for upgrade, ideally i'd like a free 3GS and remain on my current £25 per month contract?

Anyone blagged anything similar to this or better?

Blade3

gjchester wrote: »

Nothing to do with the phone all to do with the contract.

However all networks are now limiting the amount of data you can download per month, if you plan on streaming data and using Skype then you should read the contract carefully, go over the monthly limit and you'll be charged for extra data useage.

Yes agree its more to do with the contract than the actual phone, i tend to over analyse & over research on things , sorry bad habit of mine , with regards the data saw a report (think Guardian online?) it was only 0.01% of users who may go over the limiting amounts set apparently, as ill be new to smartphones i doubt ill be in that minority , streaming data and Skype be nice to haves but think it would be fantastic to speak Globally using the iphone



For the most part any smartphone will do all you wish apart from the two above.
If you want iTunes connectivity you really need an iPhone, if you want MS Office you need a Windows Mobile phone, they are pretty much exclusive to each platform.

There are apps that will let you do a similar job but not really the same as the orignal software. Some non apple phones can integrate into Itunes, but as you have an Apple Laptop and you probably have a decent sized itunes library then the iPhone is probably the best bet. The Palm Pre could use iTunes but Apple changed iTunes so it would not work with the Pre, even money says that they'll do it again if any other vendor does the same for a new phone.

I also spoke to Carphone Warehouse chap today saying the same thing , iphone will just 'handshake' much better with my Apple Laptop as well as with contacts, address book , diary etc etc so I dont know why I'm making such a fuss on this when the answer is pretty much staring me in my face!:j. This guy did seem to love the HTC Desire and as im on tmobile I could get one free or cheaply with a contract

Sneaky too of Apple to make it more difficult for other non apple products to work well with their products so you buy theirs!

That said you really need to go into a store and play with the phones, there is no substitute for that, what looks good on paper may just not feel right to you.

Yes that is right and think I will just do that to actually handle the smartphones pyshically to see which feels most right to me

Once agains thanks very much for your insight :T

Blade3

Oscar_The_Grouch wrote: »

I have a Windows Phone.

The mobile version of Excel is useless for what I need, as it cannot cope with complicated macros and VBA. In addition, trying to view a large spreadsheet on a phone is never going to work.

Overall not keen on a Windows platform as since I moved to Apple Macs in 2005 i dont think i could use anything else now. I can imagine the advanced Excel functions you mention would be a nightmare and impossible on a smartphone

The version of Word is also cut down to real basics and may as well just be a text editor with .doc readability. If you are looking to get something that you can type on as well as carry about, get an iPad.

In the 18 months I've had my phone and the 6 years prior to that when I used an HP iPaq, I never once needed to use the Powerpoint programme.

So my suggestion to you would be to forget requirement number 9; it sounds like a nice idea but in reality, the experience sucks.

Word and Powerpoint as you say its a nice idea and think I was just thinking of being over enthusiastic to be so fantastically equipped with everything I could possibly want in one unit :eek: Overall 9. would be great but not the end of the world and as you say iPad be much better

Once again thanks for your advice and opinion, much appreciated:T

Blade3

jicms wrote: »

I’ve got my phone from the store but can’t do much with it without a SIM. They couldn’t set it up for me as I didn’t take out a contract.

Search youtube , setting up looks easy and videos on there once you have your sim of course!
I may be in same boat depending on the Tmobs

I phoned T-Mobile to get my PAC and they said to wait till Friday when the micro-SIMs would be available. I can then transfer my number onto it without paying a cancellation charge. However I’m not really convinced as I checked in the T-Mobile store and they hadn’t had any notification of them being available in the near future.

I was also told that iphones and micro sims will be available by the 4.8.10 ie as when my contract ends with them. Hold on getting the PAC until you've decided on best provider as it has 30 day life and expires etc so its all about timing. I may just try get best sim only deal with Tmob as im a loyal customer , been with them 10 yrs etc
Was thinking can always just move to a month only deal after 4.8.10 so can still be flexible and not tied for another 12 mths & so still shop around meantime.

Not sure whether to wait or just go for the 3 micro-SIM and port my number and leave T-Mobile. Is there any official info on when these SIMs will be released?

I wouldnt ever move to 3 as its worse than Tmob imo , nothing official as yet they just said shortly, but like you its hard to believe Tmob can offer iphone4 or microsims by end July as theyve stated to me - i hope to eat my words or even my shorts on that!!

hope this helps!

Blade3

jevsy wrote: »

I've just been offered iphone 3GS free on Tmobile at £35 per month for 600 mins, unlimited texts, unlimited internet access, 24 months. Works out at £840 for the period in total.
If I read it right, that's a little better than vodaphone 24 months as there is a cap on internet, however on Three it seems that the cost would only be £749 and would get 500 mins, 5000 texts and 1GB internet. In fact I could get the iphone 4 on Three for £819 which is still cheaper than the deal Tmobile are offering me for the 3GS!! Deliberations are at hand

For that price and maybe a little more I'd just get the iPhone4 , if youve been a customer of Tmob then haggle with them too as sure you'd get a better 4 than 3GS , you may just get frustrated and be stuck as you cant do nought for another 2 years if that makes sense..I just wouldnt ever move to 3 but that just imo..you could get better o2 sim only deals or even o2 iphone4 contract deals , worth giving them or even all providers a call imo
hope this helps !:)

jonthedog

Blade3 wrote: »

I wouldnt ever move to 3 as its worse than Tmob imo

Just to add balance, I've been with 3 mobile for the last 3 years and 'imo' I've had consistiently better reception than any of my friends on other networks. In the unlikely event you can't get 3 reception it uses Orange's network, so you get the best of both.
But why listen to opinions, when the Ofcom study in the cheap iphones article that links to this thread states that Three mobile have the best 3G coverage? I guess that makes it a 'fact'.

nickynackynoo1971

Ive been offered a 24month deal with O2 for an 8GB 3GS iPhone with free handset, 800 minutes, unlimited texts and weekend calls, unlimited wifi and 500mg download. Apparently my average usage is around 600mins with heavy texting but small usage on downloads on my current phone (blackberry) they're offering this package at £35/pm (strangely last night though is was £29/pm but they said that was a mistake) the other option is the Blackberry Bold 2 with same deal but unlimited downloads for £25/PM. I am really tempted to get an iPhone not too worried about the fact its an 8GB as got a 32GB touch which i'll keep my vids/pics and music on but can somebody advise if this is a worthwhile deal and if theres any downside to it before I jump into 2yrs. Hope this is post has gone onto the right place as this is my first one but here goes! Thanks

Oscar_The_Grouch

Hi Nicky

£35 with Three would get you twice the download and 900 minutes and if you were willing to pay £99 up front, they'd give you an iPhone 4. If you want to stay with O2 (I personally think their customer service is worth paying a little more for) I'd be tempted to either ask them for a 16GB 3GS (new) or 32GB (recon) or say that you'd be willing to pay the extra for the iPhone 4.

nickynackynoo1971

Thanks for the advice Oscar appreciate it, O2 did offer the Iphone 4 16gb at i think £109 and 32gb at £209 or 16gb 3gs at £89 or 32gb at £189 and the guy i spoke to suggested that if I was thinking of any of these then i would be better of for the extra 30quid or so going for the 4. The only downside is that with the additional memory they push the contract price upto £40/pm which puts me off somewhat. I do agree with you on the customer service bit, I was previously with Orange and at the time they were a nightmare to deal with so if theres not much in it would rather stick with O2