iphone advice

Tra77

My son has asked for an iphone for his 13th birthday next month (he also wanted one for his 12th birthday but didn't get it!). Am I correct in thinking that they are only available via contract? To be honest I don't really want to go down the 'contract' route and certainly won't be forking out £45/mth. I also have my concerns about him losing it or having it stolen.
Is it possible to buy last years version and if so what's the difference?
Alternatively is there a similar phone with similar features available on the market and if so at what price?

eljmayes

They are only available on a contract but may be out on pay as you go at the end of the year at £350-£400 plus data charges (at least £7.50 a month). The older models are available on Ebay but you still would have to stump up for data charges. Personally I would not buy a 13 year old an Iphone as it would make them a massive target for mugging. Similar alternatives are difficult to price as it's a unique product.

If your son wants a product with all the features of the Iphone then I'd suggest buying him an Ipod Touch (with is essentially an Iphone without the phone features) and an O2 Cocoon, which is probably the most feature loaded pay as you go mobile for £60.

McPete_2

Have you had a look on eBay? If I was you, I'd get a second hand 2G iPhone and then just put an O2 PAYG sim in it...

Tra77

eljmayes wrote: »

They are only available on a contract but may be out on pay as you go at the end of the year at £350-£400 plus data charges (at least £7.50 a month). The older models are available on Ebay but you still would have to stump up for data charges. Personally I would not buy a 13 year old an Iphone as it would make them a massive target for mugging. Similar alternatives are difficult to price as it's a unique product.

If your son wants a product with all the features of the Iphone then I'd suggest buying him an Ipod Touch (with is essentially an Iphone without the phone features) and an O2 Cocoon, which is probably the most feature loaded pay as you go mobile for £60.

Yes, I did have my concerns (and still do) with regards to the mugging thing. I will definitely check out the ipod touch & cocoon suggestion, so thanks for that!!!

Cavey

Tra77 wrote: »

My son has asked for an iphone for his 13th birthday next month (he also wanted one for his 12th birthday but didn't get it!). Am I correct in thinking that they are only available via contract?

Yes, the iPhone 3G is currently contract only. See the tariff details here -

http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone/paymonthly

They start at £30 per month, but that's a bit pathetic (75 minutes and 125 texts?) making the £35 tariff the real lowest option (600 mins, 500 texts).

O2 are meant to be making the iPhone available by PAYG in the future (prices are rumoured to be about £450), but it doesn't seem to have appeared yet and my guess is that it probably wont before November.

Tra77 wrote: »

Is it possible to buy last years version and if so what's the difference?

Last years version is only available second hand (or refurbished if you can find somewhere). They were going on eBay for £200, but prices seem to be climbing back to £250-ish at the moment.

The main difference is that it doesn't have 3G capabilities. The other difference is more subtle in the software that it runs. The 3G runs version 2. While you can update the software on old phones to v2, you run the risk of re-locking the phone.

Tra77 wrote: »

Alternatively is there a similar phone with similar features available on the market and if so at what price?

I would be quite wary about going to school (or spending large amount of time in any public place) with a contract phone. It's not that I am saying you should not trust your son, it's more that should a friend/acquaintance/bully/idiot get their mits on it, they can rack up a large bill by phoning some premium rate line or texting a short code even if your son doesn't notice it going temporarily missing.

As such I would provide them with a nice but cheap phone with a PAYG SIM that they could lose/break/whatever (in fact I'd expect it) and then treat them to an iPod touch, which, as eljmayes says, is an iPhone without the phone bits.

I actually have two phones now - one for general use and one for where I can't guarantee the handsets safety, so that I can leave it at home. I therefore take the spare to the gym, swimming pool, on cycle rides, gigs etc...

My spare is one of these. £45, admittedly b-grade (but was spotless) and requires re-configuring to get it working on O2, but it does almost everything including that it can support Opera Mini and record phone conversations, it just doesn't have WiFi

* Cavey previews post and looks at the list of replies....

Ok, I spent way to long writing that post.

Tra77

McPete wrote: »

Have you had a look on eBay? If I was you, I'd get a second hand 2G iPhone and then just put an O2 PAYG sim in it...

I did wonder about this but then someone put doubts in my mind with regards to buying such a product from ebay and concerns that the firmware may have been messed around with. Although it's possibly worth a look.

Tra77

Cavey wrote: »

Yes, the iPhone 3G is currently contract only. See the tariff details here -

http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone/paymonthly

They start at £30 per month, but that's a bit pathetic (75 minutes and 125 texts?) making the £35 tariff the real lowest option (600 mins, 500 texts).

O2 are meant to be making the iPhone available by PAYG in the future (prices are rumoured to be about £450), but it doesn't seem to have appeared yet and my guess is that it probably wont before November.



Last years version is only available second hand (or refurbished if you can find somewhere). They were going on eBay for £200, but prices seem to be climbing back to £250-ish at the moment.

The main difference is that it doesn't have 3G capabilities. The other difference is more subtle in the software that it runs. The 3G runs version 2. While you can update the software on old phones to v2, you run the risk of re-locking the phone.



I would be quite wary about going to school (or spending large amount of time in any public place) with a contract phone. It's not that I am saying you should not trust your son, it's more that should a friend/acquaintance/bully/idiot get their mits on it, they can rack up a large bill by phoning some premium rate line or texting a short code even if your son doesn't notice it going temporarily missing.

As such I would provide them with a nice but cheap phone with a PAYG SIM that they could lose/break/whatever (in fact I'd expect it) and then treat them to an iPod touch, which, as eljmayes says, is an iPhone without the phone bits.

I actually have two phones now - one for general use and one for where I can't guarantee the handsets safety, so that I can leave it at home. I therefore take the spare to the gym, swimming pool, on cycle rides, gigs etc...

My spare is one of these. £45, admittedly b-grade (but was spotless) and requires re-configuring to get it working on O2, but it does almost everything including that it can support Opera Mini and record phone conversations, it just doesn't have WiFi

* Cavey previews post and looks at the list of replies....

Ok, I spent way to long writing that post.

Thanks so much for that. . . I'm glad you spent the time, I really appreciate it!

Totally agree with all you say though it's such a shame when you can't give your kids the things they want because of ridiculous costs and society today (god I sound like my mum!) Think I'll have to have a chat with him tonight. Although saying that I really do think the ipod touch is looking like a better option - will be looking for the best place to buy/price for that now!!!

Many many thanks again!

eljmayes

Not sure if the Cocoon is still available from O2, however for the money (in my opinion) it is by far the best pay and go handset as it has a 2GB music player built in, which is handy as a back up player:).

x.x.x.

eljmayes wrote: »

Not sure if the Cocoon is still available from O2, however for the money (in my opinion) it is by far the best pay and go handset as it has a 2GB music player built in, which is handy as a back up player:).

i have a cocoon...
no,they discontinued it about 3 months ago (a few weeks into a 18mths contract---i wasnt happy)
it is a awful fone, i cant wait to get a new one....awful sound quality, espec on voice calls... also very very slow when txting etc, and can freeze every so often for about 30secs at a time....

Cavey

Tra77 wrote: »

Totally agree with all you say though it's such a shame when you can't give your kids the things they want because of ridiculous costs and society today (god I sound like my mum!) Think I'll have to have a chat with him tonight. Although saying that I really do think the ipod touch is looking like a better option - will be looking for the best place to buy/price for that now!!!

Many many thanks again!

Best price I could find for an iPod touch was Amazon (I have a look every now and then and tend to ignore smaller dealers), was something like £216 for the 16Gb... now £209 without the v2 software (the software update costs about £6 or $10 or something silly), £230 with the update (go figure). Problem is that wherever you go there is a push by Apple to stop the price being cut as a loss leader (O2 and Apple both stock the 16Gb version for £256).

Amazon market place have the 32Gb version for £250 +pnp.... tempting Damn you

And as for taking stuff to school, I used to have a walkman for use on the bus. Other than that, I didn't use it. Spent most of my time playing cricket etc... Come to think of it, I don't think anyone used their walkman during the day, and almost no-one brought a hand held game with them. I can understand a mobile as a more convenient replacement for a pile of 10ps, but I wouldn't have a "good" one.

eljmayes

x.x.x. wrote: »

i have a cocoon...
no,they discontinued it about 3 months ago (a few weeks into a 18mths contract---i wasnt happy)
it is a awful fone, i cant wait to get a new one....awful sound quality, espec on voice calls... also very very slow when txting etc, and can freeze every so often for about 30secs at a time....

I would have to disagree- I had one a few months ago and it worked like a dream. Plus it was 3g, which for the price was outstanding:).