The new IPhone ^-^

MercilessKiller

Hey.

For all those teccy people I'm sure you're aware of the new iPhone arriving on the 11th of July (excitement!)

It's going to be cheaper too! Good news.

Unfortunately I'm on an 18 month contract with vodafone, and about 12 months left

Now o2 will be offering a pay as you talk tarrif (i'm assuming still locked though). Though I've heard rumours it will be easier to unlock!

What advice can people give to me?

Leopard

Wait until 11 July and see what the situation is then.

MercilessKiller

I thought I'd hear that. I'm just impatient

Leopard

Well, it's less than three and a half weeks.

MercilessKiller

That's 24 days of craving an iphone

In all seriousness.. great news of the new model with lower prices!

Leopard

Depending on the data rates for PAYG, which have yet to be announced (so far as I am aware), PAYG on O2 could well be the best way to go for a lot of people (including me ).

Look at it this way. The iPhone is essentially a data device: effectively an iPod Touch on steroids.

So, use your Voda contract for voice calls, voicemail, etc., and run a nice camera 'phone on it: one with the features that the iPhone hasn't got - a 5MP camera, a radio, and so on.

Then just use your iPhone as a dedicated data device. It's got WiFi, so the only times you'd actually need to use the cellphone part of it is in places where there's no WiFi.

It really depends on how much of the time you'd want to use it you'll be somewhere where there is indeed no WiFi, but bear in mind that in many remote places there won't be a cellphone signal either. And even where there is one it may well not be 3G.

So, that is why I said wait and see what the PAYG deal will be. It's premature to be ruing the fact that you've got a Voda contract for your 'phone.

The part that's been intriguing me is that Steve Jobs promised that it will not cost more than $199 anywhere in the world. But that's only half the price of an iPod Touch: and the iPhone is an iPod Touch - one with a 'phone added to it. So, how does that one work? It doesn't. Which means that Apple won't be selling it as a standalone device for $199 anywhere in the world.

The way to look at it on a PAYG deal will be to deduct the cost of an iPod Touch from the PAYG price of the iPhone - and then see how much the data rates will cost on PAYG.

Even on a monthly contract, the same iPhone / iPod Touch reasoning applies.

Over the 18 months of an O2 monthly iPhone contract, the 8GB iPhone will cost £639 and the 16GB iPhone will cost £699.

If you deduct from those the cost of an 8GB iPod Touch (£199) or a 16GB iPod Touch (£269), you're getting the 'phone part of it, including airtime and data transfer, for £440 (8GB) and £430 (16GB) respectively.

This suggests that the handset price of an iPhone on PAYG from O2 will be about £400 for the 8GB and £460 for the 16GB. Deduct from those what it would cost you to buy the respective iPod Touch anyway, and the price for adding cellphone capability to it comes to about £200.

The bottom line, here, is that if it costs £400 (8GB) or £460 (16GB) on PAYG from O2, that will be about £200 more than an equivalent iPod Touch. So, if you're prepared to pay £200 to add a cellnet access facility to an iPod Touch and pay the data rates as and when you do actually need it, you could be best off to do that and keep your existing phone and its contract going.

The thing I'd really like would be for Apple to enable Bluetooth on an iPod Touch to use a 'phone (any 3g 'phone) as its modem, wirelessly. If Apple hadn't decided to go into the mobile 'phone business itself, it would probably have done that. But to do so now would be shooting itself in the pocket, so there's no way that's going to happen.

But if somebody ever (or has?) found a way to hack an iPod Touch... :money: :beer: :dance:

therealdessie

... Or get an unlocked iClone instead

Leopard

The huge attraction of it to those who own Macs is that the only handheld data devices that synchronise seamlessly, comprehensively and automatically with their networked Apple Macs at home or at work are the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

MercilessKiller

w00p. Great answer Leopard Will take that all into consideration!