iPhone 3G S in the UK: what you need to know

O2 are taking the piss...

...cannot be denied. Scandalous, with $1 being worth approx 62p. When the iPhone 3G was initially released, the rates were more favourable (approx 50p to the dollar, don't forget that you have to allow for sales tax in the US). So £60 for a 'new' 8Gb 3G would have been fairer. As for the tethering, the phone isn't a fucking 3G dongle O2. STOP TAKING THE PISS. I understand the fair use idea. I get that you don't want people to abuse the facility, £15 is taking the piss. The data allowance on the contract is good - I've never had a problem with it. How many are stupid enough to think that there aren't caveats to "unlimited" services? I mean really? more than 0.5GB is a lot on a mobile device.

@the 'tard who reckons that the HTC Touch is a bargain for free. They'd have to PAY ME to have one of those, especially on the sorry excuse that is Orange. How much data comes with that contract? That'll be NONE. I was an Orange "customer" (gluton for punishment more like) for 10 years, supposedly a Premier one. I had numerous HTC handset, which were ALL replaced AT LEAST once over 18 month contracts. They. Are. Shit.

Feature wise Nokia and WinMo tick all the boxes, but the features are so badly implemented, it's comical. A Focus RS ticks all the boxes of a high performance sports car - more than and Aston Martin, does that make the RS *better* than the Aston? No.

@Joey

No, it's full GPS, not tower triangulation. It's drops back to tower triangulation if it can't get a GPS signal (which is pretty useful), but the 2nd gen iPhone has a GPS chip.

@@ International ? By Anonymous Coward

Basiocally, buy a good nokia. Almost anything from the E series.

But get to from Nokia direct and then it is unlatched.

Therefore you will not be paying sill roaming priices as you will be able to drop a local sim in whereever you habppen to be.

This is always the best option.

Thenm you can get a good mp3 to boot which you will be able to use on the 'plane......

P.

Disappointed

Disappointed at the high cost of the 3GS.

Disappointed that Apple did not announce a smaller iPhone (Palm Pre/Vodafone Magic sizes are much better).

Disappointed that the tariffs are still poor value compared to O2 standard tariffs. 500 text allowance on all tariffs - it'll take 4 text messages to send an MMS!

Was going to....

I have had a 16Gb Iphone 3G with 7 months left on my contract.

I was going to go straight out and get the new one as soon as it was available, but won't now due to the disgusting pricing policy from O2.

Why do we pay twice that of the Americans, and then have to pay extra for tethering, THEN have to pay to buy out of the existing contract!! No Way O2!!!

They have definately shot themselves in the foot with this one. I had the original IPhone, was expecting a decent upgrade path to the 3G, didn't get it! thought they might reward loyal customers? No way, we end up paying more because of the contracxt buy-out.

F*** EM!! They'll not be getting any cash out of me this time, OR in January, when my contract is up. By then + 6 months, the next nextgen IPhone will be due for release!!! and hopefully by then O2 will have lost their exclusivity and competition will bring the price down.

O2 = Scum-sucking leeches!!

Buy out

If you buy out your existing O2 contract, what happens to all the inclusive minutes/data which you would be paying for? Do you lose it, or does it get tacked onto the end of the new contract they make you buy?

Anyway, i think the new pricing is ridiculous, but people will line up and flood the stores in the first week anyway... When the previous 2 models came out they were out of stock for weeks and with long queues trailing out of the stores. Perhaps they are planning to handle the initial flood of demand - higher price will reduce demand and increase the margins from those who do sign up... Maybe they will drop the prices significantly after a couple of months?

I already have the iphone 3g, and won't be buying the 3gs at these prices... I might consider it when the current contract expires, if they offer a decent deal on it by then.

The tethering pricing is stupid too, you can use third party tethering apps with the current models if you jailbreak and they work fine...

SatNav feature pointless

If you have £800 to spend on a iphone, you certainly should have a car with either built in GPS or just a straight forward TomTom One which you leave in the car. (glove box etc).

Personally my girlfriend would just think I was a complete tosser if I took an iphone out and mounted on the dash board to use as a GPS. The Tomtom GPS add-on for in car navigation is really not a must have.

Any family car journey I've been on - the last place you want to put your iphone is on a mount on the windscreen, generally the owner is looking up facts to correct any sweeping statements about the current state of the economy / Gordon Brown, or usefully finding a good recommended restaurant via the web, for somewhere to stop and eat. Other than that - surely the kid in the back wouldn't let it be mounted on your dashboard - they would be playing some game on it.

If you getting a cheap phone (nokia 6300 etc) to pair with itouch - there are lots of better contracts than paying £35 a month, I'm sorry to justify the price by combining the two is total rubbish. This thing is overpriced and really not worth it. O2 you need to thing again on your pricing, yeh - and improve your 3G coverage before this thing becomes 'mainstream'

Buy out your contract?

I spoke to O2 this morning and to buy out my contract will cost me the same as keeping it going; just under £35/month for the next seven months in one hit.

Yes, that means if I want to get a phone next Friday, I need to slap down £514 for the 32GB and start a new contract.

It's the exact same cost as buying a new phone/contract and keeping my current contract running and giving the old phone with the new SIM with its seven months of free minutes and SMSes to the missus until January.

As a guaranteed customer, I'm now thinking I'll wait for the v4 next summer as if I sit out my contract, it'll be next year when I can get a new one.

18 month contract and 12 month product cycle. Retarded.

Gutted - Cos I know I'll still buy one

Gutted about the price hike - may be it has something to do with the s**t exchange rate - yet something else to blame this useless government on.

Will probably still buy one when my t-mobile contract is up (2 months) nothing else comes close to the usability of my ipod touch. Year sure other phones tick all the boxes that is apart from the one that's labelled 'is it possible to do all these things this without throwing the dam thing on the floor and smashing it up' - A bit like the fate of a certain N95 I once had!!!!

@Ian Ferguson

This is my current train of though. I bought a 8GB 2G in March '08, and will be eligible for an upgrade in August.

Now, since the 2G cost me £350 from the apple store, it's probably fair to assume I never received a handset subsidy, as I opted not to the take the 3G early upgrade "incentive" of buying out my existing contract.

So, surely as a "valued customer" or whatever they'll refer to me as, surely I am entitled to a larger discount on the 3GS, as they have yet to give me a handset discount at all?

If all else fails, I'll just ask them to unlock my out-of-contract phone, which, IIRC, they are required to do, and piss off to another network. I can live without visual voicemail.

Paris, because she's as clueless as O2

warranty

Talking to O2 today, it would seem that the warranty on the iPhone is only for 12 months, even though the contracts are 18-24 months. Apparently one may take out an extended warranty for around £10 per month (but only when initially taking out the contract).

So if you don't take the extended warranty option (at around £240 extra for say 2 years), then you could end up with an broken phone after 12 months, that you would still have to pay another 6-12 months of rental for!

I won;t be upgrading

As far as I'm concerend this is a rip-off. You're meant to value customers not treat them like rubbish.

And as for the £15 /month for tethering... No Comment!!!

I still want to know ...

... how will they know whether your data use is stand-alone or tethered? Will the new OS monitor data pass through and lock it down if there's an ACK/NAK fail from the carrier network over whether you've paid your bill?

This would explain how comes AT&T are taking the same stance in the US over using the iPhone 3G/3GS as a modem. Bend over and spread 'em ...

I was willing to put with no tethering knowing it would be coming in an OS release, but these charges for tethered data are now making me reconsider my iPhone and think about the Palm Pre or a Nokia.

Bad O2, bad.

Everyone here seems to miss a trick...

Belgium and France both are required by law to offer unlocked phones... Go to Belgium or France, buy an unlocked phone and it's all yours to use as you wish.

And, what is likely going to happen is that the Euro providers will make the cuts as Apple wishes, and it'll lower your TCO...

Oi el Reg

I wanted to rate this article (top marks natch) but no "rate this article" ???

O2 are pushing it

I bought my iPhone on launch day (on the 35 quid tariff). Yeah I paid a premium but it's done sterling service.

I was going to replace it with a new one but I'm having second thoughts now. Especially as I'd have to buy out my contract when the new OLED-screened model comes out.

Nice one O2, you've pushed it too far. It's not like their service is worth the premium they charge.

Of course, all this will change in a month when the uptake is lower than expected and they have to slash prices.

But it's a iPhone!!!!

The 3GS iPhone looks nice, has flashy adverts with a very populated app store ("Need to divide a restaurant bill by 2, there's an App for that").

I fail to understand the hype for a new device that offers what Windows mobile has had available for over 3 years. It’s as if the main stream media can’t be bothered to read the manual……

HTC/WinMo handsets have had tethering, MMS, sync with Outlook, emails, web browsing, YouTube, and multi codecs for audio & video, but get so minimal mainstream press coverage by comparison. (New iPhone on all National papers' websites front pages) My TyTn II is still running strong, and still gets mistaken for an iPhone (until the keyboard slides out).

Apple launch a v3 OS, and don’t/can’t make features like MMS, video & tethering backwards compatible. And still no multi-tasking - come on - no wonder the device is fast, it’s not having to do any work!

On the carrier front, T-Mobile Web’n’walk offers virtually unlimited browsing, and their £1 a day limit option for non WnW use is excellent for regular tethering away from home (One month I used £150 "worth" of data - Actual charge £27.50)

My wife’s BB Bold has MMS, video and multi tasking and tethering - again included, no tariff surplus. (Currently in use, Thanks Virgin Media).

How O2 cannot offer MMS immediately, and charge so much for tethering - I’ll never understand. I’m quite amazed how both O2 and Apple can get away with it !

@miss a trick

will be interesting to see what the italian/french/belgium sim unlocked 3gs prices are like on ebay. typically the factory unlocked 3g's were between 450 and 600 from the non rip off merchants.

however given that apple (illegally i suspect) dont offer a pan eu warrantee its a risky business

hahah

You bunch of whining cheapskates on welfare!

None of this whining will stop the iPhone 3GS from decimating the handset market while you all squirm in misery!

N97??? lol

Narrow-minded blinkered ignorami every one of you.

CARRY ON!!

@iphone coming to vodafone

i smell cow faeces. not in the uk at least in the short term certainly not something a call center muppet would know.

vodafone uk's buyers have their head so far up their backsides that they couldnt recognise a good (mainstream consumer) smartphone if it came up and bit them.

missing both the iphone and the pre - for the storm and the magic - both screaming NICHE. can i have some of what they are on?

Why Not Pay As You Go?

Hmm - what part of 18 month "contract" don't people understand?

Surprised no one has mentioned the £440ish upfront Pay As You Go deal, which compared with an 18 month light user contract starts to make sense. You get a bunch of free texts when you top up £10 a month, that £10 takes care of light calling requirements, and you still get the all you can eat data for the first 12 months. After that, it's £10 a month.

New iPhone out after 12 months that you simply must have - just sell this one. In good nick I'd be amazed if it's worth less than £100-£150.

I reckon the logic of this is that the typical prepay punter is incapable of controlling their phone use - and so O2 are counting on excessive use driving their profits. In my case, they'll be wrong.

Incidentally, can anyone point at evidence of a 500mb monthly data limit? Sure, these are common on lesser "smart" phones, but I thought Apple fairly adamant that it must be properly unmetered. Just light use of iPlayer and the odd Podcast download would easily blow that limit out of the water.

Tethering? No Thanks!

Taking it as a given that O2 were always going to shaft its iPhone customer for tethering (the alternative being to shaft its own business model - as if) I'd like to make a couple of observations. I have an iPhone. The signal quality is renowned. Its not the best. Working away from home, my regular hotel is not, according to my iPhone, within range of a 3G tower. However my O2 USB 3G modem is. And its six inches from my iPhone. So here are my two thoughts:

One. I wouldn't use tethering unless it was free because most of the time I know full well I'm not going to get 3G data speeds. The phone just isn't capable. End of story. The most you can do is email and web browsing. No downloads, no streaming, no VPN (unless you like your VPN sssslllllooooooooowwwww).

Two. It is only slightly more expensive to sign up to O2's mobile broadband with a separate 3G USB modem - and the modem is much better at finding and using a 3G signal. Oh, and you get free access to The Cloud with those too. And I can make calls while I VPN, stream and download.

As far as the mobile broadband market goes O2 are no worse than any of the others... and if you don't take up tethering you might actually be able to beat O2 into a deal, or walk and go to Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile... you do have a choice.

I'm off now to download Safari 4 for my Mac. Using my 3G modem. While I phone home. Looking forward to Snow Leopard and iPhone 3.0

How will they know whether you are tethering?

It's probably simpler than you think; my bet is that the tethering will be hardcoded by the operators to use a different access point. In that case, it's very very easy for them to now if you're tethering.

I'm amazed that not one of you guys even thought of that.

You guys are just a big bunch of whiners

Take a trip to Hong Kong or ask a mate to get you one from there when it releases. Apple sell it in the store for HKD7000. then continue using whatever feck contract you are on...

Remember this is 2009, not 1989 and air travel has eroded international boundaries.

Can i remind EVERYBODY!!!!

That Apple are the ones who dictate the terms of the contract for the service providers, and those terms include the cost of the handset to be a set amount and to receive a proportion of the line rental costs (the ONLY hardware manufacturers to do this).

So while O2 seem to be "ripping off" britain, they are the only ones to have agreed to the terms. Without that, the iPhone would not be available from any service provider and would be a grey import with no support.

Unlimited data on the iPhone is NOT the same as unlimited 3G data on a Laptop, as anyone who uses their lappy for watching downloaded movies can tell. the cost of the data is the same as having a 3G dongle. I dont see the point in not offering a discount, but i bet you could ask for a discount if you were out of contract.

I agree with the sentiments regarding lobotomies and such, but let's not go off half cocked, eh!

And, YES i do work for O2, but would never buy an iPhone, so am not just spouting the party line about our products (except for Broadband, which is fantastic (yes, that is aimed at all you orange fanbois, all 3 of you)).

My prediction

After initial pathetic sales results and when Apple realises that O2 have screwed up so bad with their pricing that a Razr is outselling the new toy in town, they will pick up their brand new 3GS and will give Vodafone a quick call to let the doors wide open for them just like they have in other countries. Vodafone will subsidize aggressively and O2 will have to retaliate so the final result will turn into a fair deal in place coming from one form or another. Btw, is not wishful thinking but just a fact of life.

O2 SIM only charges

An O2 12 month SIM only contract with unlimited web browsing and roughly equivalent minutes/texts as the Iphone tariffs comes to just under £20 per month.

Presumably, therefore around £20 per month of my £35 per month iphone tariff is call/data charges leaving around £15 per month on the phone itself.

Why, therefore, is the cancellation amount worked out on the full monthly tariff ?

iHateOverPricedProducts

I would love to own some apple devices, they are pretty solid from what I am told and seen of them, however you are f**kin taking the piss if you think I will ever give this company any of my money because basically APPLE = RIP OFF THIEVE MERCHANTS and ROBBERS! I don't mind paying for quality but come on, be f**king real for a second who has a grand lieing around to spend on a mac book never mind a phone when you can get the same functionality in either device for less than a third of the price that APPLE want.

O2 pricing on IPhone

Put quite simply $199 converted at todays rate is £122.

Were this the price then I would not hesitate but O2 are adding 50%

DEAL or NO DEAL? - - - -- - - - - NO DEAL !!!!!

I used to like Apple...

I've been using their products since my old Apple IIsi ... but now their popularity has gone to their heads and they've started to take the piss. They deserve to go down in the minds of the people with M$ for this.

free upgrade?

Why should iPhone users get free early upgrades?

Does a Nokia customer get a free early upgrade to the latest and greatest nokia offer? No, they have to wait to upgrade like EVERYONE else. just because your iPhone has an apple logo, it doesn't mean you should be allowed a new one free every time they release one.

And yes, things are expensive in the country, always, not just iPhones.

You were allowed to upgrade to the 3G iphone when it was released, because the original iPhones were not subsidised in price. The new ones are subsidised.

Give these a read

http://is.gd/V9mE

http://is.gd/XpKH

iPhone 3G S coming to Orange!

You may be interested to know that the iPhone is going to be sold on contract by Orange. It should be on sale around August to October this year. (It has been confirmed by someone who works for Orange.) This is not a joke.

That might cheer some of you up!