Comments on: Who bought a UK Apple iPhone?

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:58:14 +0000

Oh, GPRS is fairly slow, but usable, when Edge is not available…

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:57:36 +0000

I bought one on O2 and i agree that Edge is fine – much better than i expected considering all the negative hype. It doesn’t really seem much worse than my brother’s N95 3G. i’ve been using Edge / GPRS for most of my web activity over the last 2 weeks since Orange killed my broadband connection and haven’t grumbled once – it works fine, doesn’t crash, is a wonderful user interface and i’m impressed. Also, the batter lasts a fantastic amount compared to an Orange M3100 that was terrible over 3G

By: Ben Smith

Ben Smith — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:04:06 +0000

@HeavyLight: No one uses Symbian directly – it’s all via an ‘interface’ such as UIQ, S40 or S60, but I agree it doesn’t matter to normobs. My point was that your bile (which I agree with) needs to be directed at S60 (part of Nokia, although they license to other manufacturers) not Symbian.

By: James @ Nokia Creative

James @ Nokia Creative — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:45:21 +0000

One of the most pleading things about the iPhone experience is the whole feeling of completion you get when texting or mailing. Texting is a joy and mailing works just like it should. I also have to chime in accord with others comments here regarding the speed of browsing, yes even on GPRS! It’s slow, but it’s no deal breaker.

By: HeavyLight

HeavyLight — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:41:19 +0000

@Ben — How can a normob distinguish between S60 and Symbian?
All they’ll see when they visit Carphone Warehouse is a monolithic OS that’s not easy or comfortable to use and move onto the next phone on display.

@Ricky — my E65 has Access Point Groups but there doesn’t seem to be a way to make them the default connection. And many apps only list APs and not the groups.
Frequently I can’t connect using the group that includes my 3G connection but the phone connects fine once I select the dedicated 3G AP.

All well and good that Symbian recognise there’s a problem but when will it be fixed on my existing phone?
Probably never!

By: Ricky

Ricky — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:03:10 +0000

Symbian has noted that connectivity is an issue, and even has a feature on a few handsets (that’s sure to proliferate to others) that allows you to set access point priorities, and the phone will automatically pick whatever’s available, similar to the iPhone.

However, I completely agree that manually choosing the access point each time is a pain.

By: Ben Smith

Ben Smith — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 13:09:14 +0000

@HeavyLight: I think your complaints should probably be directed at S60 rather than Symbian generally and I’d score a ‘C- must try harder’ rather than ‘give up’, but I agree with the sentiments. Side-by-side my iPhone’s not appreciably slower than my E61 despite the EDGE / 3G speed difference.

By: Nseries WOM World » Blog Archive » Symbian needs to go?

Nseries WOM World » Blog Archive » Symbian needs to go? — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 13:01:46 +0000

[...] comments on a post about the iPhone over at SMS Text News have seen people saying it�s time for Symbian to give up as the iPhone interface is so amazing. [...]

By: AJ

AJ — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 10:42:09 +0000

Reply to Heavylight – wifi speeds were obviously impressive but I thought edge would be the weak link and switched wifi off manually to give it a go. It was not at all like I expected.

By: HeavyLight

HeavyLight — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 03:03:52 +0000

The iPhone starts downloading immediately, while the N95 has the Symbian bollocks of �Do you really want to download data? Now pick your access point, even though we know and you know there�s only one F**ker defined in the handset anyway�)

For me, that’s the biggest, ugliest sign that Symbian simply has to go!
(Closely followed by the lack of font control; two almost useless browers; and the completely inadequate task manager.)

Thanks for venting — it made me feel better too!

@AJ – Maybe you were connecting thru the shop’s wifi?
The three demo models I tried to play with in an O2 shop refused to go online at all.

By: Ben Smith

Ben Smith — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:34:13 +0000

Having registered with The Cloud finding myself magically on WiFi as I pass through every mainline station is pretty cool too…!

By: AJ

AJ — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:05:56 +0000

EDGE is not shabby at all – I tried some iphone browsing at the Regent Street store and it was much much faster than I expected. Maybe they have a booster on site to make it seem much better than it is.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:24:35 +0000

S60 Redux: Yes yes, I can set the N95 Safari to not ask for an access point. But then when I’m back in WiFi coverage, I have to (grits teeth) *manually* change to being able to use WiFi.

no no no NO!

er…and the iPhone just_knows_what_to_use and gets on with it. But previously undiscovered tribes deep in the heart of the Amazon jungle knew I was going to say that.

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:20:57 +0000

Despite myself I bought one, Soooo glad I did. Time will tell whether the data speed/coverage issues will take the gloss off. At the moment though I’m in love. It really does redefine what a personal handset should be.

By: jonmul

jonmul — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:06:08 +0000

Me too!. Must say that like Ben, I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by the speed of the the browser connection over EDGE.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:03:57 +0000

I’m impressed by GPRS on Orange (who wants to be an O2 customer? not me!). Loading SMSTextNews on the iPhone and the N95 in Safari, both from cold (i.e. no connection established) provides interesting results:

The iPhone starts downloading immediately, while the N95 has the Symbian bollocks of ‘Do you really want to download data? Now pick your access point, even though we know and you know there’s only one F**ker defined in the handset anyway’)

Then The N95 rips ahead, only to be knobbeled by the fact that Sir Ewan has some UAS-recognition optimised bollocks stripped-down pastiche on offer .It takes a few clicks more to actually get anywhere.

Meanwhile the iTortoise has patiently downloaded the_whole_page for me to then stab at directly.

Overall, the iPhone experience is no worse, and if you factor in the ‘not having to click twice to choose F**kin’ access point malarkey, it’s much nicer.

no, I won’t be downloading any multi-MB tunes or apps on GPRS. But as Dean Bubley points out recently, the actual *need* for mobile high-speed connectivity is an illusion.

�0.02 (and getting better value for our US readers by the day

Cheers,

Mike

By: Ben Smith

Ben Smith — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:49:56 +0000

I did. Actually surprised how fast EDGE is given low expectations, although it could just be the browser lay-up is quicker than my Nokia’s.