Anyone know of any? I'm about to head to Indro now (because they aren't answering their phone lolz)...

I thought you were happy with your crappy phone and IPod touch? SELL OUT! :Þ! lol

I dunno about stock, but Optus' network is now widely known to be incredibly s***. They've totally overloaded the network without the infrastructure to handle it. iPhone didn't do them any good.

Whirlpool has numerous peolpe complaining their iPhone is dropping calls and going slow on the net when it actually turns out to be Optus' network. Its known to go as slow as dialup.

I'd def. do some research cause the iPhone with slow net is s***e. Needless to say I'm on Telstra and haven't had one problem with the network...

yeah optus 3g does suck quite a large hairy scrotum, that said I have a story behind my iphone purchase

the optus store on the queen street mall has them in stock all the time now, so i walked in and said i want to buy one outright

him: "sorry we only have stock for contract customers"
me: "... right, so what you're saying is you cant sell it to me unless I sign up for a contract?"
him: "right"
me: (did some math) "ok sign me up"
him: ok cool here you go a brand new 16gb black iphone
me: "cool, cancel my plan please"
him:
him: "ok that will be $x" (about $50 more than it was to buy it out right)
me: "here you go, thanks"

walked out with my unlocked, brand new iphone that i got outright for 50 bucks more than the minimum contract cost (like $650 total)
basically, they had this book which he was going to put me in, on page 3 or 4 mind you - so i would have been behind 200+ people waiting for an outright iphone

50 bucks well spent

dont get optus 3g still, it really blows chunks

bahah nice. so u got an iPhone for like 700 bucks? Awesome.

ah really, i might do that then :) i am with three
and if move to their iphone plan they will give me $300 credit :)

dont get optus 3g still, it really blows chunks

QFT

walked out with my unlocked, brand new iphone that i got outright for 50 bucks more than the minimum contract cost (like $650 total)

But you would then have to pay for your calls, SMS, etc - all those things that would have been included in the monthly contract cost.

I'm running on Optus and other than the problems they had for everyone on 3G it's been pretty good.

just went to optus shop at indro and got it. Now restoring if from an iPod Touch backup. totally stoked I can do this so I don't have to f*** around with the setting from the beginning again.

i love my optus 3g. cry more!

I walked into a virgin store in the city, walked out 30 mins later with mine on contract.

I haven't had any major issues with coverage, although I don't get 3G inside my house. Doesn't really bother me that much cause at home I have a PC... surprise surpise!


I did manage to f*** it up yesterday though, jailbroken using categories to store my "games" and "config" I dragged cydia and installer inside the config folder to keep the clutter down along with a bunch of other random settings s***.

I tried to install BOM radar the other day and it chucked an error and never appeared on the springboard. So I'm using categories adding stuff in and oh look theres like 5 copies of BOM to add... I deleted all but 1 and added it... big mistake.

Now the inside of the config folder was a duplication of everything on the main springboard screen... all my config tools are now in the iphone black hole... along with categories... f***!

going on a contract then canceling the contract dont you have to pay for the contract for the next 24months?

What? What part of "cancelling the contract" don't you get?

well i am on 24month for $49 month contract if i cancel it i i will have to pay $49 times what ever months are left

Its a little more complicated than that.

DONT DO IT BILLY! DONT DO IT! DONT- oh, you already did it.

But you would then have to pay for your calls, SMS, etc - all those things that would have been included in the monthly contract cost.

it was the optus $19/month contract (19*24 = $456) + handset cost when you cancel within the contract period, total was about $600-$650
and yes, I do have to then pay for the calls and s*** but I just went and got a prepaid sim, ported my number I've had for 10 years and now I pay for what I use

I never get a massive bill anymore, I still get 1gb+ of data and heaps of benefits etc - theres plenty of good prepaid plans out there

I really hate the idea of having to pay every month for a phone, I much prefer to buy s*** outright and pay for what I use
people were selling iphones on ebay unlocked for $1100 when I got mine for $650 so I think I did ok

Well I don't know how Telstra is doing it, but I only had an upfront cost and no mention of in-built mobile repayment costs. Every cent I pay each month is toward phone and data usage. Up front was only $289. Maybe they jacked the call rate up by 1c or something lol. Shrugs...

you're paying it off in your monthly minimum repayments, that and your upfront cost is like half the phones wholesale value

Yeah its just that Telstra doesn't mention the repayment cost whereas Optus etc explicitly say "2 bucks a month" etc.

When I have $40 plan and $29 browsing pack Telstra says $35 for calls etc. $5 for data and then the $29 browsing pack is separate. Meh.

Pretty sure Optus unlock the iPhone for free if you're on contract... I can remember reading it on their site last week when I was trying to work out where to get my iPhone. Kinda neat, cause if I really need more data usage I can get a prepaid sim from 3.

mmm

on the optus site
http://personal.optus.com.au/web/ocaportal.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Template_wRHS&FP=/personal/mobile/iphone3G/yesiphoneplans&site=personal

on the $19 plan it costs $25 a month for the 16gb
19
25*24=$600
19*24=$480
=$1080???

I'm on the $49 "cap" plan with Optus. $300 calls/text + 250meg data per month. Handset repayments are $13/month. Overall, $1488 over two years. I got them to credit me back the first two months of service charges though, so I get a ~$100 discount... in the end, $1388 for an iPhone for 2 years (provided I don't get raped by chargers if I use it more than I'm allowed to).

I went on the virgin 5 gig plan.. its pretty expensive and I'm not gonna go anywhere near 5gig...

I had no idea how much data I'd use and apparently you can drop down but not jump up.

Time to drop down to the 1 gig plan methinks.

lol as if you can even use 1gig with iPhone...

WTF? That sounds like the craziest mobile plan ever...down but not up? I think its generally up and down as much as you want but never below your original contracted spend.

I think the idea is to make you go oh well fine I'll get the 5 gig plan to start with.

Some interesting comments about the G1 vs iPhone here. My favourite comment I totally agree with:

Ok, not quite as slick as the iPhone, but I'm also not one of those people who will shell out an extra $X just to get a pretty PC case when all I want is functionality - I don't need my mobile device to be sexy in an artistic way, I want it to be sexy in a functional, useful and powerful way.

(emphasis mine)

I tried a few of the touch phones in stores and dont really like them for typing stuff. On the ipone I would constantly hit the wrong letters, im either unco or it takes getting used to. Also is this site true for the iphone? http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

My biggest (only?) disappointment about the iPhone so far is the f***ing slow arse load times to get into SMS or phone functions.

I tried a few of the touch phones in stores and dont really like them for typing stuff. On the ipone I would constantly hit the wrong letters, im either unco or it takes getting used to.

It's pretty normal, but you're meant to just let it happen and let the iPhone correct your typing. Works about 80% of the time, which unfortunately is not enough because it's such a hassle to edit text.

Billy - got the latest firmware? The one that ships with it sucks ass and they've made a bunch of improvements in that area.

In saying that though, it still is a bit slow for my liking but its a small con compared to the MASSIVE AMOUNT OF PROS.

According to iTunes I have the latest iPhone software (2.1). When you hit the SMS button, does it load the white screen, then sit there for about a second before it actually displays anything? My time isn't THAT precious, but I don't see why it isn't instant.

Gripe #2, menus and icons aren't 100% customisable. Eg, having come from using an iPod Touch, I had separate music and video buttons on my home screen. I hate that I can't add videos to my home screen, or playlists/albums for that matter. And I really like the double-click-home-button options on the iPhone, but why are we only limited to 2 options?!

Yep 2.1 is latest the delay is annoying.

Hadn't seen those things about the video/music on home screen - would be an awesome feature though.

According to iTunes I have the latest iPhone software (2.1). When you hit the SMS button, does it load the white screen, then sit there for about a second before it actually displays anything? My time isn't THAT precious, but I don't see why it isn't instant.

??? Did you not notice almost every app on the iPod Touch does this as well? I'm not sure if it's a bug; my first thought was its just because its relatively slow, so it does some fancy UI stuff to make you think it's loading quickly, but it actually takes 1-2 seconds to load the application.

Yeh I've learned to deal with it with most Apps, but coming from a Nokia which is lightning fast at pretty much everything it does, the phone functions are s*** slow.

Nokia's are hardly lightning fast though lol

f***in hell... I keep getting a call from my own mobile number, and it's some Optus thingo trying to set up my Voice Mail Box or some s***. It's happened 4 times now, and I called Optus and they said they'd turn it off, but it's happened since they called. Anyone else had to deal with this yet?

Also, what the f*** is up with the iPhone not always giving you the option to reject phone calls???

Press the top button twice, it'll reject the call. User Manual time for Billy!

But sometimes it has both "Accept" and "Reject" buttons on the screen, while other times it JUST has "slide to answer". Srsly stupid. That's gripe #3.

Decline a call

Do one of the following:
 Press the Sleep/Wake button twice quickly.
begin artwork description: The upper portion of iPhone with a close-up the Sleep/Wake button.
 Press and hold the mic button on the headset for about two seconds, then let go. When you let go, two low beeps confirm that the call was declined.
 Tap Decline. Decline appears only when you’re using iPhone.

oic

edit: lol

It's because "slide to answer" shows up when the phone is locked and "accept/decline" shows up when it's not locked.

Sounds like you need to jailbreak billy, theres a bunch of different springboard/button mods you can install.

Wow, iphone does not sound like it is worth the effort. I am hearing too many bugs.

Some interesting comments about the G1 vs iPhone here. My favourite comment I totally agree with:

Ok, not quite as slick as the iPhone, but I'm also not one of those people who will shell out an extra $X just to get a pretty PC case when all I want is functionality - I don't need my mobile device to be sexy in an artistic way, I want it to be sexy in a functional, useful and powerful way.

(emphasis mine)

If I could have an attractive phone that had a call and sms function and that was all, I would die happy. Unfortunately for me, the prettier they are, the more crap applications and functions they stuff in.

Well the thing about the iphone is you can choose what apps you want on there... that is a pretty good pro imo.

just wait for generation 2 should be alot better

Wow, iphone does not sound like it is worth the effort. I am hearing too many bugs.

I don't think I've hit one "bug" yet... just stupid s*** that is part of the design. iPhone is the 4th mobile I've owned, and it is such a huge leap up in terms of convenience. Unfortunately some of the phone functions don't work as I'd like, but, I get the added benefits of everything else it does as well. Having email at my fingertips where ever I go is aaaawesome (I just use gmail's mobile page instead of the native Apple app which is s***).

just wait for generation 2 should be alot better

You mean gen 3 right?

Is it really that much better than having a decent working phone plus your touch? From what I gather the iphone is just the touch plus less-than-ideal phone function.

Is it really that much better than having a decent working phone plus your touch? From what I gather the iphone is just the touch plus less-than-ideal phone function.

I would prrrrrrrrrrrrobably say yes just from the POV that a) you don't need two devices and b) you don't need two chargers, which is a pita when travelling (although if you're in one place for most of the time it's much less of a big deal).

Unfortunately for me, the prettier they are, the more crap applications and functions they stuff in.

People mistake what the touch screen does for the iPhone. Not only does it require no stylus (because its actually a very decent touch screen) but it also requires a lot of design to go into to making the interface easy to use with fingers (minimal clutter) and also smooth and responsive (which it is, minus the stupid few second pause when opening applications). The animation and response of the interface is light years ahead of my old Nokia E65 and 6500 Classic. I used to remember seeing the E65 painting the UI like it had no graphics driver or something.

If anything, the iPhone has much less bloat and functionality in its standard applications because you can't have things like big long Options menus or 200 configuration options for the camera and whatnot in a finger operated user interface.

Yeh I've learned to deal with it with most Apps, but coming from a Nokia which is lightning fast at pretty much everything it does, the phone functions are s*** slow.

This is my only true gripe with the iPhone. There are features which be convenient to have but the pause between the static application screenshot and actually using the application is just irritating and strange as they didn't have that problem before 2.0.

just wait for generation 2 should be alot better

Actually I highly doubt the iPhone OS will change for the next iPhone model considering A) the SDK is still in its infancy, B) there's thousands of applications released and in development for the current iPhone OS and C) even the phone itself is too immature for Apple to be reinventing it already.

There may be UI enhancements or non-breaking changes to the appearance of the UI graphics but don't expect anything revolutionary out of the next iPhone model.

Thanks for the Research Participation Billy :(

This is my only true gripe with the iPhone. There are features which be convenient to have but the pause between the static application screenshot and actually using the application is just irritating and strange as they didn't have that problem before 2.0.

usability is a small price to pay for shiny though

^ Hahahahaha :)

usability is a small price to pay for shiny though

True but my shiny, smoothly animated OpenGL interface sure as hell makes up for it. Besides the iPhone is designed for usability, not flexibility. The stupid pause when opening apps is the only problem with it. Why does every app take longer to initiaise now, Apple?! Fix please?!