back to article No PAYG 3G iPhone in UK until Christmas

The Carphone Warehouse has announced that pay-as-you-go 3G iPhones will be available "in time for Christmas" - a rather longer wait than hopeful buyers were anticipating. O2_PAYG_iPhone Carphone Warehouse has trumped O2’s PAYG 3G iPhone launch CW released a bland statement today letting punters know that it’s started …

COMMENTS

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  1. Richard Tobin

    Lost customers

    I can see quite a lot of people buying a shiny new iPhone for 300 pounds. But not so many buying last-summer's half-way-to-obsolete iPhone for that price.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Why the iPhone Mania?

    Around that time comes the Xperia X1, which appears to be a vastly better phone. In a smaller package than the iPhone, too.

    aGPS, HSDPA, HSUPA, higher resolution screen, hardware keyboard, touchscreen (single-touch only, unfortunately), etc etc etc. Comes out before the iPhone 3G, outclasses it at every technical hurdle except the UI one. And even then it's outclassing the majority of its competition- want to send a text message? click the "messages" icon on the front screen, or go to start -> messaging. Phone call? Hit the green "phone" button on the front. Hardly rocket science compared to the iPhone's novelty interface.

    It's not even like Apple's a hugely nice company- they're as monopolistic and arsey as "M$" but no-one seems to call them on it...

    The iPhone is just a brand and a nice UI wrapped around 2006's cutting-edge tech.

  3. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)

    @AC

    Yes but... Windows Mobile...

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    <sigh>

    Any people wonder why there are so many "grey" goods in the UK.

    Better go order my Blackberry now then.

  5. James Robertson

    cos its a nice UI

    I dont have an iPhone cos I dont need one, I have a very cheep and nasty mobile PAYG. But I do have an iTouch, and if I needed a mobile I would get an iPhone as the UI is easy, and nice, and I cant be bothered with texting on a number pad. So its not for me, but I can see why so many people want one.

  6. Webster Phreaky
    Thumb Down

    Re: Why the iPhone Mania?

    "[Xperia X1] In a smaller package than the iPhone, too."

    Er.. No... The width and height of the X1 are a few mm less, but the larger depth makes the overall volume considerably greater than the iPhone 3G. And the X1 is heavier...

    "Comes out before the iPhone 3G"

    Er...No (again). Perhaps you missed it, but the iPhone 3G is out on Friday. That's 4 days away. When's the X1 out again?

    "want to send a text message? click the "messages" icon on the front screen, or go to start -> messaging. Phone call? Hit the green "phone" button on the front."

    Hmm... sounds remarkably like the iPhone, or any other icon-driven UI on any number of phones. That's hardly something to be touting as a feature!

    "iPhone's novelty interface."

    The same 'novelty' interface that you also say the X1 "doesn't" outclass the iPhone with? And the same interface every other phone manufacturer is trying (in vain) to emulate.

    The X1 hardware specs look good, but it's flawed due to it being wrapped around (the bug-ridden) Windows Mobile with some iPhone-inspired graphics slapped over the top.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Horns

    @Anonymous Coward

    The Xperia X1? Are you serious? The X1's user interface hasn't even been demoed in its final form yet (let alone made available to the public), and whilst it may be excellent there are too many unknowns at this stage to make a final judgment. And it has Windows Mobile underneath (ugh for various geeky technical reasons).

    The iPhone's user interface may have its flaws but it still does a lot of things extremely well and intuitively.

  8. Chris Thomas
    Alert

    @Why the iPhone Mania?

    "which appears to be a vastly better phone"...... "single-touch only, unfortunately".... "outclasses it at every technical hurdle except the UI one"....

    so basically, it's vastly better at nothing, since the major pulling points for the iphone are the multitouch (allows true speed typing) and the ui which is easy on the hands and eye.

    basically, you just ruined your own arguement, you're not an investor for the Xperia X1 are you?

    Also, do not overplay the significance of branding, apple got and gets where it is, off it's name alone, lots of people know it, understand it and are envious of it.

    You see a technically superior product come to market and watch it get trashed REGARDLESS.

    Unfortunately your dad and mine too, hardly buys this stuff because of it's technical ability, they buy because it's a) cool, b) easy to use c) nice to look at d) nice to use.

    You could run quake3 raytraced on the Xperia X1 and you'll STILL see less phones, I know what you're trying to say, but it's just not going to win over anyone who's see the apple iphone and when it does come out, the next iphone will come and trash it anyway, why buy into a phone which in a couple of months, will be yesterdays news.

    /me off to buy a 1st generation iphone!! LULZ

  9. Craig

    The way the iphone price tumbles

    ...imagine how cheap it'll be at Christmas!

  10. yeah, right.

    iPhone?

    I want one because it is the first device (Crackberries included) that does everything on my rather lengthy requirements list. No other phone that I've seen so far does that, even the ones I saw on my last trip to Japan.

    Will I get one? No, because at the moment I live in Canada, a technologically backwards nation with a small cartel of mobile phone companies that have conveniently carved up the country between them, and thus have absolutely no incentive to compete. Rogers, the GSM monopoly provider (who was recently allowed to buy out its only competition - how nice), only offers the iPhone WITHOUT unlimited data. $60/month for 400MB (yes, MEGAbyte) or $150/month for 4GB. That's in ADDITION to your actual phone plan. In other words, here it costs minimum $3500 over 3 years to own an iPhone. That's with the Canadian $$ at par with the US$.

    And you thought you were getting ripped off in the UK? HA! This 3rd world colony has you well beat in that department. Unfortunately.

  11. iSuff44

    eerrrmmm

    Judging by the comments on here, it won't put many people off waiting, true it is not the best phone out there, not nearly but it does have the best UI and that is what will sell it. The hurdles put in the way ie. 02 and cost are just that hurdles as with the 1st gen people can't get enough short of killing their public Apple are onto a winner and they know it.

  12. sam
    Thumb Up

    @Chris Thomas

    I totally agree however some iPhone imitators (windows mobile) are doing rather well. Look at the HTC Touch Diamond for a fantastic device with similar funtionality.

    /me spies another irc user...

  13. Rolf Howarth

    @Craig

    I've no idea how cheap the iPhone will be at Christmas but I suspect not that much (name me one piece of consumer electronic equipment which hasn't got cheaper over time?)

    What will be interesting to see is what the market for second hand iPhones (2G or 3G) looks like in a year or so's time. I've had loads of cheap phones from Nokia or Motorola in the past, most of which have stopped working after 18 months or 2 years and even if they were still working were completely useless and worthless at that point, but an iPod of that age is still perfectly usable. I imagine an 18 month old iPhone which you can then jailbreak and stick any old SIM in would still have quite a reasonable resale value.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Most people here don't get it

    The vast majority of people buying iPhones (or any phone, for that matter) couldn't care less about the technical details.

    The UI and design sell the phone, and rightly so. That's what the competitors need to grasp. Don't stuff your phone full of TLA's, make it something punters actively want to get their hands on.

    And making something of 'similar functionality' to the iPhone won't cut it either. Make something better.

    Paris, because she knows the value of having a user-friendly front end.

  15. Richard

    O2 are money grabbing ....

    Its pure greed ... oops I mean pure marketing! They are milking the early adopters (for iphone 2.0) by restricting access to cheap(ish) and unlockable iphones.

    So as I don't need one but only wanted one and certainly not on O2 then I'm going to pass and use my Three 3G modem on an Acer Aspire One instead until O2 or Apple come to their senses and offer reasonable handset prices which can be unlocked (somehow anyhow!).

    O2 are a good carrier for voice but their 3G network is apparently minimal ... tried their 2.5G/GPRS a few times but the handset sucked so gave up and just use it for voice/text. "Three" on the other hand are excellent and their 3G broadband just works for me and is CHEAP (although not unlimited but in reality you don't need that much data when mobile!) and so I would love to use an iphone on Three even if it means using a TurboSIM approach.

  16. Scott Mckenzie

    @Sam

    HTC Touch Diamond is not an alternative to the iPhone, similar functionality is also not to be mistaken for "as good"

    It's a quite different device and probably the best Windows Mobile unit out there, but the UI is as clunky as hell by comparison.... it tries hard but doesn't quite deliver in the same way the iPhone does. That said it's an excellent phone.....

    /Scott who's just sold an HTC Touch Diamond for £380 to buy an iPhone (the iPhone is the expensive one here.... despite me ending up with change aswell as twice the memory etc)

  17. Jared Earle
    Heart

    Top Trumps?

    While the iPhone doesn't win at feature-for-feature Top Trumps, it does happen to urinate upon the other available devices from a superior elevation for usability.

    Seeing as we spend time using our phones instead of waving features at each other, this is a very important aspect to get right.

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