iphone 4 vs other smart phones (newbie)

mufcboy1999

similar threads have probably been started a few times before but im new to this whole smart phone generation, at the moment i have a good ol nokia button phone which is very basic.

im very tempted to sign up for 3's deal with the iphone 4 for free and 40 euro a month from there on, im just wondering though is there an iphone 5 coming out soon?

the last thing i want to do is sign a 2 year contract for an iphone4 only to turn around a few months later to see a iphone5 in the shops.

also what is the differnce between say androids,blackberrys etc compared to the iphone?

I dont know what to choose, iv got all my music on itunes so thats why im leaning towards the iphone but is there better out there?

srsly78

Incoming flamewar in 5....4....3....

You can not ask "which is better" because everyone will give you a different answer. I prefer Android and would recommend Nexus S, or Galaxy S II which is about to be released.

One thing is for sure tho, go to the 3 forum and read all the complaints about their network (doesn't matter which handset).

bigneacy

I was the same as yourself with my button nokia, about 3 weeks ago I got this deal myself.... now I absolutly love my iPhone.

AFAIK, there is an iPhone5 coming out soon, but thats the nature of the phone/technology business - no matter what you buy you are more than likely going to be out of date within a space of 2 or 3 months.

The HTC and Blackberry's are constantly updating to newer models also so you're no safer going with them. And remember - you are in a contract with 3 not with the iPhone - you can change the phone whenever you want!

As far as the 3 network itself goes - I have had no problems in terms of not being in coverage so far, whereas I was pulling my hair out with Meteor coverage for years. The 3G coverage can be hit and miss but my brother has a htc on vodafone and he says he has similar 3G outages. It doesn't affect me in a huge way at all...

mufcboy1999

srsly78 wrote: »

Incoming flamewar in 5....4....3....

You can not ask "which is better" because everyone will give you a different answer. I prefer Android and would recommend Nexus S, or Galaxy S II which is about to be released.

One thing is for sure tho, go to the 3 forum and read all the complaints about their network (doesn't matter which handset).

il pop on later and have a look, i was with 3 before and they drove me mad and i ended up going back to o2 but the lure of a free iphone is just too tempting, if its a thing that the network plays up on me the whole time and im not able to use the phone to its potential il just keep the iphone and get it unblocked and move to another network motherfu*k a contract

I was the same as yourself with my button nokia, about 3 weeks ago I got this deal myself.... now I absolutly love my iPhone.

AFAIK, there is an iPhone5 coming out soon, but thats the nature of the phone/technology business - no matter what you buy you are more than likely going to be out of date within a space of 2 or 3 months.

The HTC and Blackberry's are constantly updating to newer models also so you're no safer going with them. And remember - you are in a contract with 3 not with the iPhone - you can change the phone whenever you want!

As far as the 3 network itself goes - I have had no problems in terms of not being in coverage so far, whereas I was pulling my hair out with Meteor coverage for years. The 3G coverage can be hit and miss but my brother has a htc on vodafone and he says he has similar 3G outages. It doesn't affect me in a huge way at all...

when you say coverage is that just internet coverage or do you mean coverage as in call signal strength?

ye mate i think il have to sign up for it, as i said above the offer of a free iphone is just too tempting!

cookie1977

Test the three network before moving by getting a free payg sim from a store. Test the signal where you live work and play. If it's your first smart phone and you've no idea about them at all I'd recommend going with an iPhone. I personally have and love blackberry devices

bigneacy

mufcboy1999 wrote: »

when you say coverage is that just internet coverage or do you mean coverage as in call signal strength?

ye mate i think il have to sign up for it, as i said above the offer of a free iphone is just too tempting!

Call signal is 100% without fail for me.
3G signal - is good about 75% of the time - the other 25% of the time I am out of 3G coverage. As i said that doesn't affect me hugely so i'm more than happy!

mufcboy1999

bigneacy wrote: »

Call signal is 100% without fail for me.
3G signal - is good about 75% of the time - the other 25% of the time I am out of 3G coverage. As i said that doesn't affect me hugely so i'm more than happy!

ye that would do me to be honest, but im just waiting for the bank to send out a statement to my address to go in and sign up for it.

but the fela workin in there told me that they might have to take a 150 euro deposit of me if i dont meet the needs on my statement or some bullsh*t like that (he said id get it back in 6 months though) did you have to go through that bud?

AntiVirus

bigneacy wrote: »

Call signal is 100% without fail for me.
3G signal - is good about 75% of the time - the other 25% of the time I am out of 3G coverage. As i said that doesn't affect me hugely so i'm more than happy!

Thats pretty much the same for me with 3

yoyo83

mufcboy1999 wrote: »

similar threads have probably been started a few times before but im new to this whole smart phone generation, at the moment i have a good ol nokia button phone which is very basic.

im very tempted to sign up for 3's deal with the iphone 4 for free and 40 euro a month from there on, im just wondering though is there an iphone 5 coming out soon?

the last thing i want to do is sign a 2 year contract for an iphone4 only to turn around a few months later to see a iphone5 in the shops.

also what is the differnce between say androids,blackberrys etc compared to the iphone?

I dont know what to choose, iv got all my music on itunes so thats why im leaning towards the iphone but is there better out there?

dont buy the iphone4 now the new one is comin out in december and for that 3 package i heard its not recommened, u dont get much minutes on it! get an android way better!

srsly78

yoyo83 wrote: »

dont buy the iphone ever and for that 3 package i heard its not recommened, u dont get much minutes on it! get an android way better!

fixed

yoyo83

srsly78 wrote: »

fixed

fixed??

srsly78

yoyo83 wrote: »

fixed??

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fyp, first entry is what you are looking for. Welcome to teh internetz by the way.

yoyo83

u changed my comment!

srsly78

Yes I'm a right bollix, sorry bout that :pac:

baby and crumble

i got a sim free iphone4 from apple and am on PAYG with 3 and I have no problems with call signal, and I'd go so far as to say 90% 3g coverage- usually i only notice i'm out of it when i'm in a basement or something. Been with 3 for a few years now, never really had any major problems tbh...

yoyo83

lol its grand im jus a havin a blonde moment i had to read it twice lol:D ya im def gettin the android phone though but question is the blackberry an android phone??

srsly78

zoegh wrote: »

i got a sim free iphone4 from apple and am on PAYG with 3 and I have no problems with call signal, and I'd go so far as to say 90% 3g coverage- usually i only notice i'm out of it when i'm in a basement or something. Been with 3 for a few years now, never really had any major problems tbh...

Ah shure a quick reset and it's grand. Nothin wrong with 3 amirite?

C81

Got iphone4 3 wks ago.. Don't seem to have a problem so far..
Reception good enough.3 g is ok... I didnt have2 pay a deposit for iPhone. I met the criteria.. What that was. They weren't fit to tell me what the criteria was. Working cross border seems ok in the big towns.

yoyo83

C81 wrote: »

Got iphone4 3 wks ago.. Don't seem to have a problem so far..
Reception good enough.3 g is ok... I didnt have2 pay a deposit for iPhone. I met the criteria.. What that was. They weren't fit to tell me what the criteria was. Working cross border seems ok in the big towns.

i think the deposit is for the people who never have money in their account lol so they have the credit check hmmm my mind is tellin me to get a android and me heart is tellin me to get the iphone... i still dont know what to decide! lol

srsly78

Nop. My company had 10 grand in account and still failed credit check.

bd250110

I think the credit check is pretty basic. I don't think mobile phone networks in Ireland are allowed to have a look at your credit score/history like Uk networks can, or banks/credit card companies here. Even if they could look at your full credit history, they would not be able to see how much money is in a specific account. It's not the amount of money in the account, it is the history of paying in the past.

The credit check is all about risk and is caluclated taking past performance into account For example, if I had 90k and just moved to Ireland, I would have a much lower score than some one with 90 quid, but a good history of paying off debt. I have no "previous" so to speak.

PogMoThoin

bd250110 wrote: »

I think the credit check is pretty basic. I don't think mobile phone networks in Ireland are allowed to have a look at your credit score/history like Uk networks can, or banks/credit card companies here. Even if they could look at your full credit history, they would not be able to see how much money is in a specific account. It's not the amount of money in the account, it is the history of paying in the past.

The credit check is all about risk and is caluclated taking past performance into account For example, if I had 90k and just moved to Ireland, I would have a much lower score than some one with 90 quid, but a good history of paying off debt. I have no "previous" so to speak.

Of course they can check it, anybody can
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/personal_finance/loans_and_credit/irish_credit_bureau.html

yoyo83

srsly78 wrote: »

Nop. My company had 10 grand in account and still failed credit check.

what? how?

cookie1977

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Of course they can check it, anybody can
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/personal_finance/loans_and_credit/irish_credit_bureau.html

As far as I know only members of the ICB can get credit info on you and none of the mobile networks are members of the ICB:

http://www.icb.ie/membership.php

Kenny Logins

I'm sure they have their own scoring system based on the answers you give them on the forms.

zinzan

srsly78 wrote: »

One thing is for sure tho, go to the 3 forum and read all the complaints about their network (doesn't matter which handset).

In fairness, this doesn't really give an accurate view either as you're more likely to get people who have issues reporting them or complaining to Three about it than people who have good experiences logging on just to say so!

In my experience the network is generally good (Kildare-Dublin area) but signal drops if you are driving about the country.
I left O2 and then Vodafone to move to Three as I found texts were not being delivered but I was still being charged, and I haven't had that issue with Three.
their packages are pretty good value too - and the iPhone4 offer is pretty much unprecedented in the Irish market.

I will say their Mumbai-based customer service is ridiculously bad, but the Three Reps on Boards.ie are very helpful- if somewhat busy as they have to deal with the fallout from Mumbai.

srsly78

In fairness I have never seen a device on 3 working properly. And I'm qualified to talk about it (not a lay person, worked as engineer for major telco etc). Recently I worked in a company with hundreds of (mobile) engineers, and ALL OF THEM knew about the "3 problem". This was a year ago, so it really surprises me to see people reporting the same issue today.

cookie1977

srsly78 wrote: »

In fairness I have never seen a device on 3 working properly. And I'm qualified to talk about it (not a lay person, worked as engineer for major telco etc). Recently I worked in a company with hundreds of (mobile) engineers, and ALL OF THEM knew about the "3 problem". This was a year ago, so it really surprises me to see people reporting the same issue today.

A bit sweeping dont you think? I have a Blackberry 9700 I brought to Three from O2 and it's working perfectly. I've had zero problems since I moved. I can understand there are issues with some devices but certainly not all.

srsly78

Blackberry uses a completely different network system :rolleyes: I've seen the problem in question on palm+android+iphone.

cookie1977

What do you mean by a completely different network system?

srsly78

It's complicated, but blackberries are not the same as other devices. This is why some networks don't support Blackberry, it needs special infrastructure.

Your blackberries data is routed through special Blackberry servers (hosted by the ISP) to ensure encryption etc. Other devices don't use this routing. The problem in question is definitely something to do with routing after 2g->3g handover. Device thinks it's connected but no packets get routed.

cookie1977

It needs Blackberry servers in place but it certainly doesn't need different infrastructure in the way you talk about. They're GSM HSDPA devices like many other smart phones. I still dont follow what you're talking about. Can you explain a bit more?

srsly78

I edited my post to explain it a bit better. Yes all devices use HSDPA, but this is a software/routing problem. If your Blackberry works perfectly then this should give a BIG HINT to 3 engineers, but 3 refuse to acknowledge the issue at all.

cookie1977

The blackberry servers play no part in the handover between 2g and 3g so I still dont think you're correct in saying it affects all devices.

srsly78

You are missing the part where you are moving between vodafone and 3, so yes it makes a difference. Do you use vodafone BB server one minute and 3 the next? They likely have something special setup. Ask any engineer and they will tell you that the Blackberry is "different" from other devices.

I'm saying that it has affected all devices in my experience, I have not tried a Blackberry on 3 (lolblackberry).

cookie1977

Ok, but when I first tested 3 I didnt apply the BIS add-on so the phone wasn't routing any data through the Blackberry servers, it behaved just like any GSM/HSDPA phone with no routing. It had no problems switching between 2g and 3g (Vodafone-Three). I still think you're incorrect in your interpretation of the 2g-3g handover problem for some devices.

srsly78

I will grant you that my interpretation may be incorrect, but the end-result (airplane toggling frustration) is the same. As an engineer we would look at what is different between 3 (broken) and other networks (not broken), and 3 not having a 2g network is what's different.

Testing that was done to verify this problem on several handsets:
Use 3 simcard, notice internet needs to be reset very often.
Swap simcard to competitor, no problems.

cookie1977

True. There's certainly a huge problem for iPhone users. I actually wondered was the dropped call issue for iPhone on the vodafone network somehow related to the 2g-3g handover issue?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056213371

srsly78

The exact same problem manifests itself for android (known for over 2 years now). Note I'm only talking about internet here, 3 voice was always 100% for me. 3 seem to be actually trying to blame Apple for the network problem!!! I asked them if I should send my mates HTC Desire back to Apple for repair too

bd250110

It's not just the fruityPhone that has problems, the fandroids have some issues too - although we don't seem to hear so much about that. Symbian seems to deal with 3G->2G->3G fine, never had an issue with my N71 - couldnt get the thing off 3G - even in very rural/remote areas! I wonder if it has something to do with phones trying to keep an open data connection? I suspect that this is also a symptom of power management on the device and related to the iPhone antenna - which is not the greatest.

In fairness to 3, it has gotten better. From my usage (on iPhone 3Gs) two things seem to be happening. Once the phone goes over to 2G(Vodafone) it seems to 'cling' onto that signal more, But there is another issue on getting back onto 3G, which is not as seamless as it needs to be. Even though ther eis more than adequate 3G signal, the phone just sits on GPRS. I feel that this issue is quite complex and I suspect that there are several issues which have the same outcome -> Airplane Mode toggle.

zinzan

srsly78 wrote: »

Blackberry uses a completely different network system :rolleyes: I've seen the problem in question on palm+android+iphone.

The devices I've used on the Three network are Nokia s40, s60 and Symbian^3 and I've never had any issues with 2G/3G changeover, so it's not just Blackberry devices that don't suffer the issue, and Nokia don't use a "completely different network system"

srsly78

Dumbphones :rolleyes: We are only talking about modern devices here.

Problem is related to "always on" connection somehow.

zinzan

S60 and Symbian^3 dumbphones?!

Both are capable of maintaining an 'always on' data connection.

What's your definition of a smartphone so?

srsly78

Most people these days own iPhone or Android. Thus problem effects majority of devices. Saying some old Nokia works fine is irrelevant.

cookie1977

Most people?

srsly78

My mum has a Nokia, but I doubt she even knows it can use 3g.

edit: What are you guys trying to say? I never said this issue affected all models of devices, I said "I have never seen a device on 3 working properly". In truth I never bothered checking if a Nokia worked properly because who cares?

bd250110

IIRC the sales figures sugest that the N8 has outsold every Android device, period. Symbian is still a much larger platform around the world. Perhaps not as much in the foreground as Android or iOS, but by no means obscure. Branding the N8 "some old Nokia" is disingenuous at best, ignorant fanboyisim at worst.

I agree with zinzan, Symbian can deal with 3G->2G->3G without hiccups, maybe Apple and Google should borrow a few of the engineers from Nokia. Oftentimes one can lear a lot more by seeing what competitors do well and implement this, rather than deriding them. Ego has brought Nokia to it's knees and is currently doing the same at RIM.

srsly78

Symbian is only dominant in 3rd world countries. If you look at figures for UK or Ireland or America you will find android+iphone dominate.

Also, only Nokia call Symbian a "smartphone os".

Kenny Logins

cookie1977 wrote: »

Most people?

http://sociable.co/2011/02/09/mobile-ireland-2011-smartphone-usage-in-ireland-infographic/mindshare-mobile-ireland-2011/

Although that was November 2010, and out of a survey of 1007 people.. so pretty much useless stats.

srsly78

bd250110 wrote: »

IIRC the sales figures sugest that the N8 has outsold every Android device, period. Symbian is still a much larger platform around the world. Perhaps not as much in the foreground as Android or iOS, but by no means obscure. Branding the N8 "some old Nokia" is disingenuous at best, ignorant fanboyisim at worst.

I agree with zinzan, Symbian can deal with 3G->2G->3G without hiccups, maybe Apple and Google should borrow a few of the engineers from Nokia. Oftentimes one can lear a lot more by seeing what competitors do well and implement this, rather than deriding them. Ego has brought Nokia to it's knees and is currently doing the same at RIM.

Come on now, the problem only exists with 3. There is no problem with other networks. Do we really care who is at fault? We just want our phones to work

Kenny Logins

I suppose the phones just aren't designed to jump in and out of roaming as regularly as is required on Three...