Should I buy an iPhone?

[sofakng]

So, I'm thinking about buying myself an iPhone. I've played with it for a while and I'm absolutely in love with the interface and the features it has.

However, I realize that the phone is NOT perfect and does have some real flaws:

1) EDGE network is 128 Kbps but is more realistically like 56 Kbps (suprisingly this was said by an AT&T rep)

2) 8 GB is small, but is enough to store your data. Sure the 16 GB is $100 extra, but it's damn hard to convince myself to spend $400 on the iPhone 8GB let alone $500 on the 16 GB. Either way (8GB vs 16GB) I need to limit what I can store on it and I figure that I have a laptop I use when I go on vacation, etc so I don't think I need the 16 GB.

3) No vibration feature. This doesn't seem to bother me because it's rare that I ever NEED my phone available but can't have the volume turned on.

I guess my biggest concern is the EDGE network speed and the AT&T store had their iPhone hooked up to WiFi so I couldn't get a sense of the true speed but I've heard (and know from the 1990s) that 56k is damn slow.

What is everybody's opinions?

How many people LOVE their iPhone?

How many people think it's a waste?

Thanks for any opinions!

 

[onlyCOpunk]

If Internet use is a main concern of yours then I would say go with a 3G network. But if you just like the iPhone then get that. But then again you are paying to use slow mobile Internet which doesn't appeal to me personally.

Another idea is for about the same price you could buy an iPod Touch, and a 3G smartphone or blackberry on a network that supports 3G. But then again you don't have everything in the same package.

I personally think $500 on a cell phone is a little much, but that is just me and the fact that I tire of using the same phone for more then 6 months.

 

[Wonderful Pork]

there is a vibrate feature on the iphone. There is a rocker switch on the left side that turns the ringer on/off. I think you can set it to always vibe in the settings menu. The vibration is very weak, but its there.

8GB has been enough for me since September, in fact I still have 3GB free. I just have an iphone playlist and sync that over, and rotate the music every so often. When I travel I fill the other 3GB up with movies and stuff, more than enough to last 4-6 hours on a plane. I think i was able to sync 3 movies and 3 tv shows for a total of ~10hrs. Not DVD quality of course, but excellent for viewing on the iPhone.

EDGE hasn't bothered me too much. Google Maps, Stocks, and Weather are fast loading on EDGE so you can use those wherever. I have several iPhone formatted sites I check out while surfing on EDGE, mostly text stuff. I don't really use the "full" internet because all the scripts and stuff take ages to load, even on WiFi.

Anyway, if you had to buy a phone in the next 3 days I'd get one, but if you can wait, atleast wait it out till the rumored Apple event at the end of this month. No sense in getting PO'd if they release the 3G or 32GB or whatever iPhone.

EDIT: I'll tell you what, my roommate has a Treo with 3G capabilities but he STILL asks to use my phone to browse something "real quick" when we're out at a bar or whatever, cause the UI is that much better. Just saying 3G is good and all, but so is the user experience/interface.

 

[pm]

I have a hacked iPhone and am using it on T-Mobile. I love it and just upgraded from 4GB to 8GB in the last couple of days now that the new hack came out. I love it and think it's one of the best gizmos that I've ever bought.

1) EDGE network is 128 Kbps but is more realistically like 56 Kbps (suprisingly this was said by an AT&T rep)

I'm on T-Mobile, not AT&T, but I think the throughput is higher than you think on both networks. I generally get more like 140kbps - not 56kpbs. There's a noticeable latency involved, but the throughput is not actually too bad. If you have doubts, I can take some photos, but ask anyone you know to do a throughput test on their iPhone. Unless they are less than 3 bars on their signal strength, EDGE should go faster than 80kbps.

2) 8 GB is small, but is enough to store your data. Sure the 16 GB is $100 extra, but it's damn hard to convince myself to spend $400 on the iPhone 8GB let alone $500 on the 16 GB. Either way (8GB vs 16GB) I need to limit what I can store on it and I figure that I have a laptop I use when I go on vacation, etc so I don't think I need the 16 GB.

I was on 4GB for the last 6 months and 8GB seems spacious. 4GB got me two movies, about 125 songs, several hundred photos, over 100 contacts and well over 500 calendar entries. 8GB seems massive.

3) No vibration feature. This doesn't seem to bother me because it's rare that I ever NEED my phone available but can't have the volume turned on.

There's a vibration feature - there's a button on the side of the phone just above the volume button that flips it on and off.

I guess my biggest concern is the EDGE network speed and the AT&T store had their iPhone hooked up to WiFi so I couldn't get a sense of the true speed but I've heard (and know from the 1990s) that 56k is damn slow.

Edge is slow... no doubt about it. Even if my iPhone running a throughput test tells me that I'm at 156kbps, it seems laggy and slow. But, that said, there's not many better options out there. About the only other service in the US that is widely deployed at this time is Verizon/Sprint and EVDO and it's faster but it's not that much faster... or at least it doesn't feel that way. From my perspective, unless you live in an area with AT&T 3G already, you might as well jump in and get a phone that you like. If you have 3G where you are, then I'd agree with Mr. Pork and would wait a couple of weeks and watch for whatever is planned.


At home right now, and I have all 5 bars. I just clicked on Google and it took 5 seconds to load http://www.google.com/m Then I clicked on http://www.yahoo.com and it took 16 seconds to load - although the text loaded in 8 seconds and the rest of the time was waiting for ads and photos to load.

http://iPhoneSpeedTest.com says I'm at 113kbps.
Using http://i.dslr.net/tinyspeedtest.html I get: 156kpbs with a latency of ~675ms.
They say that the average for iPhones for the last 24 hours on AT&T's EDGE is 143kbps with 719ms latency.

For what it's worth, I don't think the slightly better than average numbers are because T-Mobile's EDGE is faster than AT&T's EDGE - I think it's just that I have an above average signal strength where I am and that both networks are about the same.

 

[corkyg]

Go for it - you might be keeping us out of a recession!

 

[dnuggett]

Personally I don't believe that the vibration option is weak. It's one of the better one's out there. This is coming from someone who has used 3 different Treos, a Moto Q, a Tilt, BB 8700, 8300, SE 580i etc. I'd put the iPhones vibration up there with all of them. Probably because of surface area, but I haven't gotten scientific with it.

EDGE is only slow depending on what you want to browse. Think about the sites you will want to browse on it when away from your comp. I hit up a few forums, take in the Fox news iPhone page and Craigslist. I also email photos at full res. The photos are really the only time I am waiting too long. The bowser is the best out there right now, hands down. No other phone comes close. Also wifi adds fantastic speeds at home or a hotspot.

New apps will be coming when the SDK is loose. I am expecting some big things.

I am going to go out on a limb and say there will be no 3G at the next announcement. Steve just released a 16GB version. He isn't going to risk burning all those folks with yet another upgrade so soon. He's been down that road before with the price drops. I am guessing he will be announcing some new apps/partnerships prob corporate email/Microsoft Exchange compatibility.

 

[secretanchitman]

edge is slow...wayyyy slower than evdo. my bro and i did speedtest on our phones browsers (he has a hacked iphone on tmobile and i have a treo 700p on sprint), and evdo was significantly faster. but im sure you can find hundreds of wifi access points to use/leech off of though!

 

[imported_Mike]

I bought the 8gb for $600 and have to say it was my worst phone purchase. I have bought a lot of phones and some of them just as expensive, but none let me down as hard.

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: secretanchitman
edge is slow...wayyyy slower than evdo. my bro and i did speedtest on our phones browsers (he has a hacked iphone on tmobile and i have a treo 700p on sprint), and evdo was significantly faster. but im sure you can find hundreds of wifi access points to use/leech off of though!

Of course it is slower on a speed test. I am talking real life usage. If all anyone did was speedtests then your point is valid.


If I start to load AT on my iPhone and Tilt at the same time guess which one gets done first?

There is more to the browsing than the network.

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: Mike
I bought the 8gb for $600 and have to say it was my worst phone purchase. I have bought a lot of phones and some of them just as expensive, but none let me down as hard.

I'm curious, what was disapointing?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

EDGE is faster than 56k. I'd say the biggest problem about any mobile network is the response time (latency). You can get decent speeds on EDGE. I'd say at least 128kbps. When I used speedtest.net I scored about 220kbps. Not bad. You're going to spend more time waiting for the page to start loading than you will for it to load. I say EDGE is fine.

The network question was huge when I was deciding between SE's K850i and the Nokia N82. However, the fact that one was a smartphone complicated things even though it lacked US 3G Frequencies.

But honestly, there are many other better alternatives to the iPhone. Get a real phone.

 

[pm]

But honestly, there are many other better alternatives to the iPhone. Get a real phone.

Like what?