Iphones...

Headhuunter

....So the other half wants an iphone for his birthday. It doesn't have to be the latest 4S or whatever, he would be happy with an old iphone 3 or 3GS. I'm just wondering and whether it's best to sign up for some kind of cheap contract (which would probably be 2 years commitment) or buy a 2nd hand one on ebay or something... I think T Mobile were doing a deal for an iphone 3 for 15 quid per month, I shouldn't think you get much free data or minutes at that price so I'm sure the bill will top that, although he's pretty careful with his phone use. Or do I just buy a refurbished or 2nd hand iphone 3 and just stick his existing SIM in it?

Anyone got any thoughts? Anyone know a good place to buy a refurbed or 2nd hand iphone 3? I've got no idea, I've managed to avoid owning any kind of Apple i anything so far in my life....

pitchshifter

IPhone 3GS Owner. Bit sluggish with the new OS if I am honest. I would get the 4.

dhope

I have a 3GS for sale actually in very good nick that I've not gotten around to putting on eBay. Only selling as I got a 4S a month ago. Interested?

nicklouse

iPhone 3 and 4s. owner get the 4s on a cheap deal just for Siri.

veronese68

I got a 3GS in September and I'm more than happy with it. Some of my friends said to wait for the new one but I don't care about having the latest thing.It's vastly better than my old phone and to me it's a shiny new thing.
I got mine on a contract the phone was free and I'm paying about £20 a month with o2. I get some data with it, 500 somethingorothers and more free calls and texts than I use. I also get free calls and texts between me, the EPO and the boy. So, if they are ever out of credit they can still contact me. Assuming they have remembered to charge their phones.

DonDaddyD

I don't get the rationale behind the present.

Unless you have the £500 outlay a mobile phone is best bought via contract.

The best iPhone is the latest one, not because it's the latest one (4s) but because it has the most upttodate hardware and therefore gets the best from the OS (Operating System).

Why can't your other half get a phone contract?

I would understand this if it was the Ipad (2).

Personally get him either the iPhone 4 or 4s.

Headhuunter

DonDaddyD wrote:

I don't get the rationale behind the present.

Unless you have the £500 outlay a mobile phone is best bought via contract.

The best iPhone is the latest one, not because it's the latest one (4s) but because it has the most upttodate hardware and therefore gets the best from the OS (Operating System).

Why can't your other half get a phone contract?

I would understand this if it was the Ipad (2).

Personally get him either the iPhone 4 or 4s.

He just wants an iphone, I think he feels a need to join the 21st century! At the mo he's got an old Nokia thing. I don't think he wants me to go to the expense of a full on 4s with the associated expensive contract! Don't ask me about the rationale, I don't want one... It's his birthday so (within reason) he gets what he wants...

il_principe

Pick up whichever model you want 2nd hand, then sign up to a rolling monthly contract with 3 - by far the best value and no 2 year commitment.

Headhuunter

dhope wrote:

I have a 3GS for sale actually in very good nick that I've not gotten around to putting on eBay. Only selling as I got a 4S a month ago. Interested?

Yes... May be, I'll just send you a PM

dhope

DonDaddyD wrote:

I don't get the rationale behind the present.

Unless you have the £500 outlay a mobile phone is best bought via contract.

The best iPhone is the latest one, not because it's the latest one (4s) but because it has the most upttodate hardware and therefore gets the best from the OS (Operating System).

Why can't your other half get a phone contract?

I would understand this if it was the Ipad (2).

Personally get him either the iPhone 4 or 4s.

Disagree
Having upgraded from 3GS to 4S I'm not really sure it was worth it. 4S is quicker, display is lovely, Siri is amusing for 30 seconds, that's about it.
Could have stumped up the £500 for the handset but took Apple (=Barclays) 0% finance and then grabbed an £8pm contract. Still works out cheaper than a contract and I've gone off the idea of having a long contract.

Headhuunter

Il Principe wrote:

Pick up whichever model you want 2nd hand, then sign up to a rolling monthly contract with 3 - by far the best value and no 2 year commitment.

Yeah that's what I'm thinking...

gilesjuk

iPhone 4 minimum, the 3GS is a bit long in the tooth now.

As for contract etc, it's cheaper and more flexible to buy a phone SIM free then go on one of the PAYG deals. I'm on GiffGaff and for £10 a month I get 200 odd mins of calls, unlimited texts and unlimited data. You can vary the "goodybag" on a month by month basis, not to mention that if you help people on the forum you earn cash.

Tesco and others do similar deals on PAYG now.

kelsen

Il Principe wrote:

Pick up whichever model you want 2nd hand, then sign up to a rolling monthly contract with 3 - by far the best value and no 2 year commitment.

Check out GiffGaff as well. Operates on the O2 network. PAYG tariff. £10pm gives you 250mins, unlimited txt and data.

DrLex

Another happy GiffGaff-er here- also benefits from free calls to other giffgaff users, so ideal for families. Also there's a payback scheme if you "recruit" others to the network or assist in their fora.

spasypaddy

kelsen wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

Pick up whichever model you want 2nd hand, then sign up to a rolling monthly contract with 3 - by far the best value and no 2 year commitment.

Check out GiffGaff as well. Operates on the O2 network. PAYG tariff. £10pm gives you 250mins, unlimited txt and data.

giffgaff is probably the best month to month 'contract'

Clever Pun

Il Principe wrote:

Pick up whichever model you want 2nd hand, then sign up to a rolling monthly contract with 3 - by far the best value and no 2 year commitment.

giffgaff is much cheaper (uses O2 as a carrier)

http://giffgaff.com/

Edit: ^ and that's what I get for not reading the whole way through

gtvlusso

3gs is really slow with ios5.01 - Mine is jailbroken too. I have a spare 3gs, but I keep this as a 'just in case' - my wife's 4s 64gb is the business, I would get a contract one of those....Only reason I keep my 3gs is that it was free and I have a company sim in it!

Paul E

gtvlusso wrote:

3gs is really slow with ios5.01 - Mine is jailbroken too. I have a spare 3gs, but I keep this as a 'just in case' - my wife's 4s 64gb is the business, I would get a contract one of those....Only reason I keep my 3gs is that it was free and I have a company sim in it!

I wouldn't say it's really slow, yes it got slower but it's still very usable. Unless they bring out something completely mindblowing I am not going to change mine.

il_principe

Funnily enough I saw the GiffGaff founder speak at a conference last year, he obviously wasn't very good. I may give them a try. Assume they let you port your number?

roger_merriman

my wifes 3g is slow my 3gs is still reasonbly responsive, as ever milage varies and how you use it.

I use it as a phone so voice plus messaging
moblie web/email
GPS tracking ie strava
maps both google and openstreets handy for MTBing and the where am I question.
i also use it for calendering etc.

i'd quite like a 4s at some point but I'd get a ipad/new bike etc before that.

DrLex

Il Principe wrote:

Funnily enough I saw the GiffGaff founder speak at a conference last year, he obviously wasn't very good. I may give them a try. Assume they let you port your number?

Yup. Click here to order and get an extra £5 credit on activation. Also gives me a few points, so shameless self-promotion achieved...

prawny

IPhone contracts are bullshit. More expensive and less allowance than normal contracts. The best thing to do is go sim free and either giffgaff or some other random cheap contract. I've been doing some research and the beat bet is buying a cheap phone on contract from somewhere like mobiles.co.uk with all the freebies they give you, selling the phone and getting a sim free iPhone. This way a 64gb 4s works out to about £750 over 2 years rather than £1200 you've just got to have £500 cash handy to dump on a handset.

jamesco

Is his heart set on an iPhone and nothing else will do? What's your budget?

If it's an iPhone and only an iPhone, then ebay and gumtree are good places to look. But, for £200, you can get some great Android, Blackberry & Windows phones. Add in a Giffgaff SIM and it'll work out a lot cheaper for something brand-new and rather more modern.

dhope

jamesco wrote:

Is his heart set on an iPhone and nothing else will do? What's your budget?

If it's an iPhone and only an iPhone, then ebay and gumtree are good places to look. But, for £200, you can get some great Android, Blackberry & Windows phones. Add in a Giffgaff SIM and it'll work out a lot cheaper for something brand-new and rather more modern.

Blackberry? Modern? If Apple are just tweaking a 5yr old design then Blackberry are simply tweaking their 15 year old one. RIM are rudderless right now.
Windows looks promising after the dog's dinner that was Windows Mobile (I had two of those things, horrible phones). Too new for my liking and not yet enough of a community for me to switch. And not new and cool, because MS & Nokia do not a cool phone make. Yet
Certainly Android > iPhone if you like to tinker, but OP's OH is new to this tech malarky so maybe the idiot-proof iPhone would work (I say idiot-proof as an iPhone owning idiot too)

jamesco

dhope wrote:

Blackberry? Modern? If Apple are just tweaking a 5yr old design then Blackberry are simply tweaking their 15 year old one. RIM are rudderless right now.
Windows looks promising after the dog's dinner that was Windows Mobile (I had two of those things, horrible phones). Too new for my liking and not yet enough of a community for me to switch. And not new and cool, because MS & Nokia do not a cool phone make. Yet
Certainly Android > iPhone if you like to tinker, but OP's OH is new to this tech malarky so maybe the idiot-proof iPhone would work (I say idiot-proof as an iPhone owning idiot too)

Okay, you got me on the Blackberrys, I was just trying to be even-handed

An iPhone 3GS goes for about £200 on ebay. For that money one could also look at the WP7 Nokia Lumia 710 or, say, the Motorola Milestone among any number of Android phones.

Both of them are much faster & more modern than the 3GS. WP7 is buttery-smooth and both have much better screens among all the other specs. Android isn't any less idiot-proof than the iPhone, in my experience, and it's nice to have the option of tinkering. WP7 offers an original & coherent UI and the Nokia comes with free music & proper (offline) sat nav - a big plus to some.

My money would go on an Android or WP7 phone, but only if the HH's other half is open to it! A 3GS is better than no 3GS

roger_merriman

jamesco wrote:

dhope wrote:

Blackberry? Modern? If Apple are just tweaking a 5yr old design then Blackberry are simply tweaking their 15 year old one. RIM are rudderless right now.
Windows looks promising after the dog's dinner that was Windows Mobile (I had two of those things, horrible phones). Too new for my liking and not yet enough of a community for me to switch. And not new and cool, because MS & Nokia do not a cool phone make. Yet
Certainly Android > iPhone if you like to tinker, but OP's OH is new to this tech malarky so maybe the idiot-proof iPhone would work (I say idiot-proof as an iPhone owning idiot too)

Okay, you got me on the Blackberrys, I was just trying to be even-handed

An iPhone 3GS goes for about £200 on ebay. For that money one could also look at the WP7 Nokia Lumia 710 or, say, the Motorola Milestone among any number of Android phones.

Both of them are much faster & more modern than the 3GS. WP7 is buttery-smooth and both have much better screens among all the other specs. Android isn't any less idiot-proof than the iPhone, in my experience, and it's nice to have the option of tinkering. WP7 offers an original & coherent UI and the Nokia comes with free music & proper (offline) sat nav - a big plus to some.

My money would go on an Android or WP7 phone, but only if the HH's other half is open to it! A 3GS is better than no 3GS

would there not be a android phone with the latest OS? the nokia's on the most recent and as would a iphone 3GS

Headhuunter

Paul E wrote:

gtvlusso wrote:

3gs is really slow with ios5.01 - Mine is jailbroken too. I have a spare 3gs, but I keep this as a 'just in case' - my wife's 4s 64gb is the business, I would get a contract one of those....Only reason I keep my 3gs is that it was free and I have a company sim in it!

I wouldn't say it's really slow, yes it got slower but it's still very usable. Unless they bring out something completely mindblowing I am not going to change mine.

So Apple released some kind of OS upgrade and since then 3G or 3GS phones have got slower?! That doesn't sound like much of an upgrade!

Mr Sworld

Headhuunter wrote:

Paul E wrote:

gtvlusso wrote:

3gs is really slow with ios5.01 - Mine is jailbroken too. I have a spare 3gs, but I keep this as a 'just in case' - my wife's 4s 64gb is the business, I would get a contract one of those....Only reason I keep my 3gs is that it was free and I have a company sim in it!

I wouldn't say it's really slow, yes it got slower but it's still very usable. Unless they bring out something completely mindblowing I am not going to change mine.

So Apple released some kind of OS upgrade and since then 3G or 3GS phones have got slower?! That doesn't sound like much of an upgrade!

It's an upgrade for Apple not for the users of the older handsets. It means new handsets are bought, you didn't think Apple did it for the customers did you? :roll:

dhope

Mr Sworld wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

Paul E wrote:

gtvlusso wrote:

3gs is really slow with ios5.01 - Mine is jailbroken too. I have a spare 3gs, but I keep this as a 'just in case' - my wife's 4s 64gb is the business, I would get a contract one of those....Only reason I keep my 3gs is that it was free and I have a company sim in it!

I wouldn't say it's really slow, yes it got slower but it's still very usable. Unless they bring out something completely mindblowing I am not going to change mine.

So Apple released some kind of OS upgrade and since then 3G or 3GS phones have got slower?! That doesn't sound like much of an upgrade!

It's an upgrade for Apple not for the users of the older handsets. It means new handsets are bought, you didn't think Apple did it for the customers did you? :roll:

Sigh. I'm as cynical as the next person but all the 'Micro$haft Loosedoze' (sic) and Anti-Apple fanbois get so tiresome.
I don't care for Apple as a company, their holier than thou marketing grates something chronic and their constant patent trolling is poor for the industry as a whole.
But adding support for fast(ish) app switching and running tasks in the background in iOS 5.x is what's needed to keep the iPhone competitive with Android/Windows, and more features will inevitably require more resources. I'm pretty certain Android 4.0 doesn't run on the Motorola Droid or Google Nexus 1, and until the iPhone then the policy with most mobile providers tended to be 'old handset? f*ck off then, you get no firmware support' (from Sony Ericsson p900s, Nokia N95 and HTC Windows Mobile experience anyway)
Apple's no.1 concern is their bottom line. How does that vary from Google, MS, HTC, Samsung or any other successful company? It doesn't. Yawn

Mr Sworld

dhope wrote:

Apple's no.1 concern is their bottom line. How does that vary from Google, MS, HTC, Samsung or any other successful company? It doesn't. Yawn

Someones a bit tetchy this morning aren't they?

Did I say it was any different for any other company...

dhope

Mr Sworld wrote:

dhope wrote:

Apple's no.1 concern is their bottom line. How does that vary from Google, MS, HTC, Samsung or any other successful company? It doesn't. Yawn

Someones a bit tetchy this morning aren't they?

Did I say it was any different for any other company...

It's like Godwins law for mobile discussions