N95 8gb or iPone Dilemma

[ez2remember]

I think once you've pass the "wow" factor like with many new gadgets and you're actually trying to do something productive but can't then you may start slinging it against the wall. lol ;)

[topgearuk]

I think once you've pass the "wow" factor like with many new gadgets and you're actually trying to do something productive but can't then you may start slinging it against the wall. lol ;)

You could very well be right, but I really cant pass up an offer like this.

What's funny is it came completely out of the blue and really does answer my very own dilemma question!!

This will not stop me from buying the N95 8gb as I run 2 phones anyway.

I have spent some time scouring the internet and unlocking and jailbreaking the UK iPhone and I think it is gonna be a lot harder then I 1st thought however I am still gonna take that chance for this price.

The worst way is i've got an 8gb iphone that's a itouch for £125!!

[ez2remember]

Yeah I wouldn't pass up on that kind of offer either even if it's an iPhone. ;) Your freind spends 1k on the contract+phone and sells it for £125? Is he insane?

A few generations down the line the iPhone could be a killer phone but not now...

I was just making a general comment that people who love the iPhone by playing around with for short time, such as in a shop will not know if they can really live with it's lovely features, NOT. :rolleyes: I wonder how long the "wow, it's so cool" factor will last?

[topgearuk]

Yeah I wouldn't pass up on that kind of offer either even if it's an iPhone. ;) Your freind spends 1k on the contract+phone and sells it for £125? Is he insane?

A few generations down the line the iPhone could be a killer phone but not now...

I was just making a general comment that people who love the iPhone by playing around with for short time, such as in a shop will not know if they can really live with it's lovely features, NOT. :rolleyes: I wonder how long the "wow, it's so cool" factor will last?

When you buy an iPhone you dont sign up on a contract you just purchase the phone for £269 then when you get home and sync with itunes you then sign up your contract if you choose.

However in this case I asked no questions!! ;)

[siksik6]

follow the guides at modmyifone.com, unlockingthe UK spec iPhone with 1.1.2 firmware is ridiculously easy. You don't even have to turn your computer on :)

Posted from my US iPhone that cost me 200 quid unlocked :)

[fab]

This i a bit like the apple Vs the pc... the apple is slick and user friendly, but can't do what a pc does.. same i guess interms in mobile phones.. no 3g, 2mgp camera, no HSDPA, no tv-out, gps, games, etc... there is no comparison

[siksik6]

Macs can't do what a PC does? Don't even get me started on that one!!!


It boils down to how important those features are to you personally. The experience on the iPhone is far better, and the screen is much higher res, but if you're just after the best spec, than go for the Nokia.

[topgearuk]

follow the guides at modmyifone.com, unlockingthe UK spec iPhone with 1.1.2 firmware is ridiculously easy. You don't even have to turn your computer on :)

Posted from my US iPhone that cost me 200 quid unlocked :)

Unfortunately it's Not.... But thanks for the site info! It's easy for those who have upgraded to 1.1.2 but it's a real pain for UK shipped phones with 1.1.2 already on.
It is doable but it's very long winded, hopefully within the next week or so an easy solution will appear

[fab]

Macs can't do what a PC does? Don't even get me started on that one!!!


It boils down to how important those features are to you personally. The experience on the iPhone is far better, and the screen is much higher res, but if you're just after the best spec, than go for the Nokia.


Hahahaaa... i knew that would raise a few eyebrows...

[Mithent]

I had a look at an iPhone in Carphone Warehouse briefly today. It's fairly swish, although I found the web browser a little slow to resize (unlike pictures, which are resized very efficiently) and it does take a moment to rotate the screen. The on-screen keyboard was smaller than I was expecting, somehow, and I found it hard to use - granted, I expect I'd get used to it more if I used it a lot. Ultimately, I wasn't blown away by it and felt I had to own one, though.. I didn't expect to be.

[topgearuk]

I have just been offered in the last 10mins an iPhone brand new UK spec from a good friend of mine for £125!!!!!!!

And for this price it's gonna be rude not too.. i'm gonna take a punt on it, wait for an unlock hopefully to appear soon. If not sell it on. And still get an 8gb N95 when it comes out on 3

Well I picked this up last night and after a few hours of playing around have managed to jailbreak it so far, will need an o2 sim to try it out. As anysim has not been cracked yet. So it's just a iTouch right now.

And although very nice it's not a patch on the N95 8gb!!! :rolleyes:

[fone-freak]

The reason I will never buy an iPhone is for the same reason I ditched my Windows-based touch screen phones...I want a phone I can use easily with one hand.

Initially, when touch-screen came out I was wowed like everyone else and the first one I got (a Qtek S100) was a very nice "clean" phone compared with what was around at the time. But as time went on, and I changed to a Mio A701 (with GPS) I got fed up with having to stop whatever it was I was doing to operate the phone - it also didn't help that as a phone o/s, windows sucks.

So now the iphone arrives (are Americans always late to the party?) and yes, the interface is very cool indeed...if you want to put your bag down and make a big song and dance by taking your phone out and sliding your fingers all over the screen. The battery life is good too compared to the original n95 (my one) but that's because they've cut out those power-hungry essentials that we've all come to expect (3G, GPS etc).

But, the point is here, my n95 is above all else a phone, and it is a better phone than the iphone. Regardless of the wealth of features that the n95 has over the iphone, I spend the vast majority of the time with the phone against my ear, not looking at the screen or playing with a funky interface.

As for that meaningless "It just works" - apart from being nothing but advertising speak for "we can't think of anything else to justify the huge fee we're charging the client" - like every other gadget that Apple have produced, it is just a rip-off of "It does what it says on the tin".

[siksik6]

My original two N95's sucked as a phone, constant hissing sound out of the earpiece. Was there on two of my workmate's phones too. Hope they've sorted that for the 8gb model.

[bavlondon]

Im having this same dilemma. I think ill end up with the iphone to be honest. The interface is out of this world and yes I will miss things like video capture but those will be added to the iphone via sofwtare updates anyway eventually and things like mms and no radio arnt exactly deal breakers. i used the iphone and was blown away, immediatley after I played with an N95 8GB in a P4U and it just felt like the same old S60 thing to me. Nothing new. Perhaps waiting for the N91 sucessor which will have FP2 is a better idea but to be honest as soon as Apple add 3g in the iphone sucessor it will be pretty hard even for Nokia to compete.

Iphone may lack a few things but for what it does it excels at.

[TonyHoyle]

I'm back to the N95 after using the iphone exclusively for a couple of months.

The iphone is pretty.. really it is, and the screen is twice as big (in dimensions, if not pixels) as the N95. It makes a great handheld browser. The method of input to the phone using the touchscreen is quite nice, actually. The email app is pretty good too. And it makes a good ipod (of course).

But sadly, there it ends. The camera is so embarrasingly bad I haven't even wanted to put any of the pictures on facebook. The SMS app can't handle multiple recipients, and randomly scrambles SMSs from some people (oh and you can't delete them individually, you can only delete *every* SMS from one person or nothing at all)... the battery life is grossly bad (I once pushed it to 12 hours standby by not using it. Playing music, browsing or anything like that and you're looking at 2-3 hours) and of course you can't even make up for it by carrying spare batteries.

There's other stuff that's important to me but probably not others, like it can't sync to google calendar, you can't connect a tomtom (or any device in fact, since the iphone bluetooth is limited to certain types of headphone only - no contacts, no data, no sync), no live streaming video so no BBC news reports, no Sky One, etc.

It's also tied to a computer, both by battery life and software. I just can't imagine taking the thing on holiday. That's a deal breaker too.

I tried with it, I really did. Almost convinced myself I could live with it.. but I came close to throwing the thing out of the car this evening. Before I start breaking expensive hardware I need to go back to a real phone.

[iani]

I'm back to the N95 after using the iphone exclusively for a couple of months.

The iphone is pretty.. really it is, and the screen is twice as big (in dimensions, if not pixels) as the N95. It makes a great handheld browser. The method of input to the phone using the touchscreen is quite nice, actually. The email app is pretty good too. And it makes a good ipod (of course).

But sadly, there it ends. The camera is so embarrasingly bad I haven't even wanted to put any of the pictures on facebook. The SMS app can't handle multiple recipients, and randomly scrambles SMSs from some people (oh and you can't delete them individually, you can only delete *every* SMS from one person or nothing at all)... the battery life is grossly bad (I once pushed it to 12 hours standby by not using it. Playing music, browsing or anything like that and you're looking at 2-3 hours) and of course you can't even make up for it by carrying spare batteries.

There's other stuff that's important to me but probably not others, like it can't sync to google calendar, you can't connect a tomtom (or any device in fact, since the iphone bluetooth is limited to certain types of headphone only - no contacts, no data, no sync), no live streaming video so no BBC news reports, no Sky One, etc.

It's also tied to a computer, both by battery life and software. I just can't imagine taking the thing on holiday. That's a deal breaker too.

I tried with it, I really did. Almost convinced myself I could live with it.. but I came close to throwing the thing out of the car this evening. Before I start breaking expensive hardware I need to go back to a real phone.

Interesting, I use my iPhone to listen to music 2 hours/day and still get a couple of days out of a charge so looks like your battery might be screwed. I can't get my N95 to last a working day without a charge, I have WLAN & BT turned off and it still lasts around 8 hours.

I delete individual SMS by means of a free download (yes, my phone is unlocked). I don't get why you say the iPhone is tied to a computer, I charge mine straight from the mains so no need for computer unless I want to sync, no problem with travelling, I have taken mine to Chicago/Houston/London with no trouble.

Ian

[TonyHoyle]

Interesting, I use my iPhone to listen to music 2 hours/day and still get a couple of days out of a charge so looks like your battery might be screwed. I can't get my N95 to last a working day without a charge, I have WLAN & BT turned off and it still lasts around 8 hours.


I suggest your N95 battery is screwed. The only time my N95 ever got that low even with the original battery was when I installed truphone and it hammered the wifi for 8 hours solid.

With wifi off you should be getting well over 24 hours minimum. With a high capacity battery I can get 2.5-3 days with both wifi and bluetooth enabled. With them disabled I can get 3.5 days+ (probably more if I played with it, but normally I never disable anything.. it's a waste of time having a smartphone if you're going to disable all its features).

I took my N95 on holiday last year. 2 batteries lasted me 6 days with a fair amount of SMS and some browsing. An iphone would have been dead after the first day and would have been useless for the next 5 days.. that's not useful to me.. so I was always going to need a proper phone for the holidays no matter what happened. Heck I couldn't even rely on an iphone if I went somewhere for the weekend!

I delete individual SMS by means of a free download (yes, my phone is unlocked).

So to perform a basic function of the phone you had to install a 3rd party hack and blow away the guarantee on an expensive new device, with the risk that the next update could leave you with an expensive brick.

Or you could get an ipod touch for browsing and get a phone with all the phone functionality as standard.

I'm not saying the N95 is perfect.. it's far from it.. but equally I'm not sure the perfect phone exists yet. I'm actually thinking of pairing a touch (or simless iphone) with a cheap payT phone (possibly from three so I get the streaming video) and with the addition of a bit of duck tape.. voila perfect phone :p

[bavlondon]

I'm back to the N95 after using the iphone exclusively for a couple of months.

The iphone is pretty.. really it is, and the screen is twice as big (in dimensions, if not pixels) as the N95. It makes a great handheld browser. The method of input to the phone using the touchscreen is quite nice, actually. The email app is pretty good too. And it makes a good ipod (of course).

But sadly, there it ends. The camera is so embarrasingly bad I haven't even wanted to put any of the pictures on facebook. The SMS app can't handle multiple recipients, and randomly scrambles SMSs from some people (oh and you can't delete them individually, you can only delete *every* SMS from one person or nothing at all)... the battery life is grossly bad (I once pushed it to 12 hours standby by not using it. Playing music, browsing or anything like that and you're looking at 2-3 hours) and of course you can't even make up for it by carrying spare batteries.

There's other stuff that's important to me but probably not others, like it can't sync to google calendar, you can't connect a tomtom (or any device in fact, since the iphone bluetooth is limited to certain types of headphone only - no contacts, no data, no sync), no live streaming video so no BBC news reports, no Sky One, etc.

It's also tied to a computer, both by battery life and software. I just can't imagine taking the thing on holiday. That's a deal breaker too.

I tried with it, I really did. Almost convinced myself I could live with it.. but I came close to throwing the thing out of the car this evening. Before I start breaking expensive hardware I need to go back to a real phone.

Are you sure about the sms deleting thing. I was able to. You just slide your fniger over the square part to the right around 3 cm and then the message block comes up red at which point you just tap it againm to delete at.

As for the pics yeah I know its only a basic 2mp cam but to be honest no camera phone is good enough for anything except viewing on the phone. I always carry my ixus with me anyway so thats not really a deal breaker.

Wait till JAn though you will see 2 new iphones announced then. One of which will have a better camera.

In regards to blowing your warranty on a 3rd party app why dont you just wait until Feb when they will be legal???

For me im sick of the regular s60 thing. I cant enjoy my music or videos without having to worry about whether the battery is going to last the rest of the day. Im done with those days. Iphone in its current form is lacking some things but be assured that a lot of these will be inputed via software updates.

[davy4475]

if i were to buy the iphone in america and bring it here and put an 02 p&g sim card into it would it work?

[iani]

if i were to buy the iphone in america and bring it here and put an 02 p&g sim card into it would it work?

Not without unlocking it

Ian

[davy4475]

if i bought an unlocked one, would it work then?

[iani]

if i bought an unlocked one, would it work then?

Depends how it was unlocked, I bought mine in the US and unlocked it myself, I wouldn't have bought an unknown quantity from someone else.

Ian

[davy4475]

is it hard to unlock or is it not worth the hassle

[iani]

is it hard to unlock or is it not worth the hassle

Hard no, procedural yes, if you're no good at following instructions then it isn't for you as you can brick the phone. Plenty of iPhone forums out there so have a search, I'm not bothering upgrading to 1.1.2 as it doesn't give much over 1.1.1, if you can buy a pre 1.1.2 phone then you can usually unlock it

Ian

[davy4475]

thanks for the info. i will look into it. by the way do u use an 02 p&g sim card on it?

[iani]

thanks for the info. i will look into it. by the way do u use an 02 p&g sim card on it?


No, I originally used my work Vodafone SIM and now I use a T-Mobile web&walk SIM

Ian

[Mithent]

A caveat with any unlocked iPhone, of course, is that you shouldn't guarantee that you'll be able to get updated firmware. Probably people will find a way, but who knows.

[topgearuk]

My uk iPhone is working perfectly well with a paygo O2 sim card running latest firmware 1.1.2.

Now time to sell it me thinks!!!

[Orson]

I have just had my first extensive play with an iPhone at the swanky new Carphone Warehouse* in town (*all wood, silver and glass - v.posh!).

Having been nonplussed by the iPod Touch - I thought the Nano had much more 'wow' factor - I wasn't expecting much from the iPhone... basically I was expecting a fat-Touch.

I also hadn't paid the iPhone any attention due to its many shortcomings in terms of hardware (e.g., not 3/3.5G, only 2M pixel etc.) and software (e.g., no MMS, inability to use YOUR music as a ringtone etc.). What really is there to get excited about?

So I was expecting to be unimpressed. But wasn't. In fact I think I can say that this is the single most desirable piece of technology I've ever had the pleasure (for that is the right word) to use. I thought it was awesome! All its shortcomings were blow away by the interface, which was lightning fast. It is like a gadget from a sci-fi movie! Scrolling through your music by flicking your finger to spin down faster, excellent! Pinching the screen to zoom in and out of Google maps, wow!

Why was I more impressed with this than the iPod Touch? For some reason it felt bigger & better, the weight was a good thing, it felt like quality!

So, is the iPhone style over substance? Yes, but in a very good way. Having owned an N95, and now a K800i, and have had on my list for a new phone the LG Viewty and the i-Mate Ultimate 9502, I will now by adding the iPhone to my list. I will however be waiting for the 2nd gen. version, hopefully with 3.5G and at least 16Gb memory (next year surely?).

Well, in reply to myself...

Today I set out to buy an iPod Touch (changed my mind from above!) but got drawn, once again, into the glittery shinneyness of the CW and had another extensive play with the iPhone... I came away knowing with 100% certainty what my next phone is going to be - an iPhone. The build quality is enough to make Nokia users cry, and the smoothness of the interface is just beautiful.

I do like the technological capabilities of Nokia phones, but they seem to have dropped the ball as far as touch screen phones go (as there is nothing on the event-horizon) and Nokia's build quality sucks big time, which frankly I just can't be doing with.

[siksik6]

I agree. The N82 is a cracking phone, but the iPhone trumps it for me.

iPhone ftw! :)

[fone-freak]

When I had a play with an iphone I found it Heavy, inconvenient (two hands always needed), lacking it functionality and I very quickly got bored with the splendid interface.

I suppose it's down to how you use it - I don't want to be fiddling with my phone all the time, I want it to do all the stuff I need, when I need it - and to be honest I don't really care how it does it, so the N95 wins hands-down for me.

[spartan73]

Well, in reply to myself...

Today I set out to buy an iPod Touch (changed my mind from above!) but got drawn, once again, into the glittery shinneyness of the CW and had another extensive play with the iPhone... I came away knowing with 100% certainty what my next phone is going to be - an iPhone. The build quality is enough to make Nokia users cry, and the smoothness of the interface is just beautiful.

I do like the technological capabilities of Nokia phones, but they seem to have dropped the ball as far as touch screen phones go (as there is nothing on the event-horizon) and Nokia's build quality sucks big time, which frankly I just can't be doing with.

do yourself a favor and just get the viewty, the iphone looses hands down every time to it. just get a larger memory card for it and your laughing at iphone users with your lightening fast internet and top notch camera. in the subject of build quality i can say the viewty is excellent.

[Graffen]

If you want a memory card bigger than 2gig and you want to send emails with decent attachment size or even wifi, then avoid the viewty.

I was looking at the viewty but was put of by the above.

[spartan73]

i've got my viewty working with 4gb card, if u get it on tmobile with the web and walk plan its basically having broadband everyware you go

[Graffen]

i've got my viewty working with 4gb card, if u get it on tmobile with the web and walk plan its basically having broadband everyware you go

Have your filled the memory card past 2 gig yet?

I had read that although it would work with 4/8 gig cards inserted, it would only use 2 gig.

[spartan73]

i did have a issue at first... all i did wasfill it to 35 on my comp with music then put it in and it played all the songs fine... after that i found that it would save video files and pics over the 2gb, not sure what problems other pople have had with storing just my personal experience

[pa49]

I can't believe that there are people who would actually choose the iPhone above the N95.
If you do then the iPhone is the perfect phone for you and you should'nt have been looking at the N95 in the first place. It's sales pitch has found it's punter!

[siksik6]

I can't believe that some people STILL cannot see that it's not that black and white. It depends what features you want! The iPhone has an infinitely better screen, better browser and iTunes integration, which makes it perfect for me. If you need or want gps / 3g and all the other things the iPhone lacks then go for the n95, easy really.

There is no such thing as the better phone, just depends which suits you the most :)

[pa49]

I can't believe that some people STILL cannot see that it's not that black and white. It depends what features you want! The iPhone has an infinitely better screen, better browser and iTunes integration, which makes it perfect for me. If you need or want gps / 3g and all the other things the iPhone lacks then go for the n95, easy really.

There is no such thing as the better phone, just depends which suits you the most :)

That's exactly what I meant and I am pleased for all those that choose the iPhone and are happy. (with the backward technology).

[siksik6]

not going to dignify that with a response. Make your own mind up people!!!

[werewolf121]

get the n95 better at everthing

good luck!!!

[siksik6]

...except screen size, browser, music playback, video playback, youtube...

Seriously though, with the amount of reviews of both phones out there, make your own mind up!!!!!