iPhone Tesco Tariffs

[Sheikah]

Hi everyone, apologies if this is in the wrong section.

 

I've been thinking about an iPhone since I'll be going to London in September and I'd like to keep in touch with quite a lot of people, and being able to use google map/nationalrail/internet on the go would be really good.

 

At Tesco (I work there part time on a Sunday) they're doing a 25% off deal for all staff members, plus they can get up to 4 other non-staff people on the deal too. Essentially, you can pay £33.75 a month for 2 years and you get the 16GB 3GS included with unlimited texts, calls and internet, as well as triple clubcard points for the cost of the contract. According to the guy there, I can take the deal out and it'll still be in effect when I quit Tesco to start my PhD. But the offer ends 30th June.

 

I know the Iphone 4 is out soon, but no doubt that'll cost a chunk and I'm not too fussed.

 

Does anyone highly recommend the phone? (Thought I'd ask in my own topic rather than the Apple topic since I'm sure the response would be very favourable there :p). Is internet browsing/flash video watching fluid on it? Is the tariff good for someone who would text/call a reasonable amount? Cheers.

[Shorty]

Dude, yes. Of course internet browsing is fluid on it, despite what many people say it's still the world's best selling smart phone. Google maps, apps and websites load fast and smoothly. The multitouch interface is still second to none. Flash video watching, don't follow tech news eh? The iPhone does not support Flash in any format. However it can play the H.264 videos as encoded on sites like YouTube without the use of the flash player.

 

The tarrif has unlimited texts and calls for only £3 over the price that I pay for an incredibly unreasonable 75min/125 texts so yes, for an iPhone contract that's a decent price. However if you could get ahold of an unlocked/uncontracted iPhone and go on O2 simplicity instead, you may find after some number crunching that it leads to a much better deal in the long run.

 

I have to say, I love my iPhone to bits. If I needed a new phone today though, it would be the HTC Desire.* In terms of hardware it is just completely superior, and has a much better camera. Especially for someone who hasn't already invested in Apple apps (such as yourself I imagine), it's may be worth considering.

 

* (However since I don't need a new phone today, I'll be waiting for the iPhone 4!)

[Sheikah]

The HTC Desire sounds pretty good. One thing I always thought, though, does the massive support in terms of there being plenty of apps put the iPhone at an advantage? And regarding the H.264 thing, does this apply to many less scrupulous flash sites besides youtube? Wouldn't mind watching some anime on the go...

[Ashley]

A lot of the apps are filler (i.e. crap) though and I'd imagine (although have no way of backing this up) that the more 'crucial' ones are on both. Plus a lot of apps have free versions, which mean (at a guess) 30-40% of the app numbers are actually duplicates.

[That Guy]

To be honest with Flash, I've not seen much of Flash running on phones but I have seen video of a phone running Flash and it was horribly choppy. I'm not sure I'd actually want it on a phone.

 

Personally the apps and Safari experience more than makes up for the lack of Flash.

I think sometimes people look at missing features and cry about them even though they wouldn't really use it much. I mean I've used MMS about 3 times since the update for it to work.

 

I read on Engadget about people saying the iPhone needs a bit processor bump to keep up with competition, but this is the wrong way to look at it. You need to look at hardware AS WELL as software. If the iPhone is as fast then it doesn't need a power hungry processor.

 

I do agree about the number if crappy apps. Man, I wouldn't mind if Apple put something about app quality in their 'rules'.

[McPhee]

A lot of the apps are filler (i.e. crap) though and I'd imagine (although have no way of backing this up) that the more 'crucial' ones are on both.

 

Pretty much true. The App Store is vastly over-rated. What is it now? 120,000 Apps? I'd wager that 110,000 of those (at least) are utter garbage. I only use a dozen or so on any regular basis and they are definitely all multi-platform.

 

The thing you have to accept with the iPhone is that a lot of the "great" apps that are really successful (for a short time) on the platform are designed to entertain stupid people. Not trying to be mean there, it's just simply true.

Edited May 15, 2010 by McPhee

[Cube]

The HTC Desire sounds pretty good. One thing I always thought, though, does the massive support in terms of there being plenty of apps put the iPhone at an advantage? And regarding the H.264 thing, does this apply to many less scrupulous flash sites besides youtube? Wouldn't mind watching some anime on the go...

 

The majority of current phones pretty much work just with YouTube. Apart from the iPhone, most of the others only do really simple flash programs (until Android 2.2, then it'll allow the more complicated games and videos on other sites).

 

So far, the best flash I've seen is Skyfire on the Nokia 5800 (which works better than the one on the HTC Hero).

 

Also, how limited is Tesco's unlimited internet (3's unlimited internet has a 1GB limit, Vodafone's unlimited internet has a 500MB limt, etc)?

[That Guy]

The majority of current phones pretty much work just with YouTube. Apart from the iPhone, most of the others only do really simple flash programs (until Android 2.2, then it'll allow the more complicated games and videos on other sites).

 

So far, the best flash I've seen is Skyfire on the Nokia 5800 (which works better than the one on the HTC Hero).

 

Also, how limited is Tesco's unlimited internet (3's unlimited internet has a 1GB limit, Vodafone's unlimited internet has a 500MB limt, etc)?

 

To be honest though I've had my iPhone about 19 months now and I've used 2.2GB of data, and I am regularly using apps and safari that use data. You would have to seriously push it to use up that much data.

[Sheikah]

Also, how limited is Tesco's unlimited internet (3's unlimited internet has a 1GB limit, Vodafone's unlimited internet has a 500MB limt, etc)?

I've spent a while checking various places, and it seems to be unlimited. It mentions no actual amount of data and simply mentions you must comply with fair use...but a few places say they've had no problems so far.

[Caris]

Wait for iPhone 4 if you can, it will blow pretty much all the other phones out the water if the leaks are true.

[Sheikah]

Yeah, but, I have no intention of blowing so much money on a phone. Never, ever.

 

To me, this deal seems pretty cheap in the long run considering I'll be getting unlimited everything.

[Caris]

The new iPhone might well be out before the offer ends, and you don't know how much it's going to be yet so I would just wait...

[Ten10]

At any rate I would consider the 3gs as it is future proof in terms of OS updates

[david.dakota]

Thats still expensive if you ask me. Admittedly, you'll always pay a premium for iPhone because of the hype (and I beleive Apple take a slice of the tariff). For £20 per month with Orange I got the Xperia 10 (a damned superb Android phone, worth £500) on an 18 month contract. Thats Unlimited texts, 200 minutes and £10 extra for unlimited data - I have no additional costs. Judging by my recent usage, I could safely opt to drop to a 500mbs (£5.00)

 

The HTC Desire is also worth a look - between the X10 and Desire you've got the best smartphones on the market.

 

I begrudge 18 month contracts, 24 months are rediculous.

 

There is no news on Apples iPhone 4. Judging by Apples past redesigns of the iPhone, i'm not expecting much (a new design with 4.0 grafted on, maybe OLED screen).

 

Take a look at Android phones; the Google apps mentioned are better integrated in the software, HTC and Sony's X10 have some great social network integration, both rock great cameras - the X10's is amazing, simply the best camera a smartphone (Apple should be absolutely ashamed of their joke of a camera), the X10 pulls images not only from the SD card, but also from facebook and Picasa for viewing in its Mediascape library - a lovely feature. It will soon have integrated streaming from Spotify too. Both have nice bright screens. Battery life is comparable between all three of these smart phones. Android phones are also more interesting to use.

 

My advice, see if you can have a play with all three in somewhere like Carphone Warehouse before making a purchase.

[Sheikah]

The new iPhone might well be out before the offer ends, and you don't know how much it's going to be yet so I would just wait...

By which point I'll have left Tesco and the offer will have ended. :p

 

I'm not sure whether to get this or the HTC Desire now. I'm having trouble finding HTC Desire deals that match up to this one here...

[Shorty]

The HTC Desire is also worth a look - between the X10 and Desire you've got the best smartphones on the market.

No, come on, you may have something against iPhones but you can't put the X10 above the iPhone 3GS. In fact I would say HTC's Legend and HD2 rank above the X10.

 

And what do you mean, no news on the iPhone 4? The press has found 2 and taken them to bits! Front facing camera, flash, physical camera button, higher res screen are just the things you could tell without being able to turn it on, and it will no doubt have a better processor than the current snapdragons found in the latest HTC. Plus iPhone OS4 beta is available and solves many issues people have had with it, such as multi-tasking, app folders and a unified email inbox.

 

I've been well and truly won over by my 3GS and can't wait for the iPhone 4

[Sheikah]

I've spent a while thinking about this now. The initial Tesco deal I mentioned has 2 cheaper options too;

 

£15 a month (staff only) for 250 mins, unlimited texts and data, but you have to pay £320 for the device,

£26.25 per month (staff) for 750 mins, unlimited texts and data but a device cost of £200.

 

They're still both the 3GS 16GB, and those two deals are both 12 month contracts and not 24. Bear in mind I also get 10% off the device cost as far as I know, since I have a staff card.

 

There's not much difference in overall cost (the cheaper £15 a month deal with the device cost considered would be £468 total for a year, while the second deal would be £495 total), but clearly I'd get 500 more minutes per month for the whole year. So I might go for the second deal, pay £180 up front and be on a cheaper, shorter contract and possibly switch to O2 simplicity after a year at £15 a month for unlimited texts and data but with 300 minutes.

 

In reality, 750 minutes a month would surely be enough for me and £33.75 for a whole 2 years does seem to be sticking out at me as something I really don't want to walk into. And I'd be scoring an iPod out of this (the biggest size MP3 player I've ever had up to this point is 2GB). All in all, I might have it within a week.

Edited May 15, 2010 by Sheikah

[Cube]

Wait for iPhone 4 if you can, it will blow pretty much all the other phones out the water if the leaks are true.

 

If the leaks are true then it would have some serious trouble if the HTC 4G EVO heads over here with Froyo. Not that it would harm Apple's sales in any way.

[Shorty]

Trufax. I have a sneaky suspicion that the iPhone 4 will be superceded by the iPhone 4G after a few months, annoying iPhone owners everywhere like the 3GS did to the 3G. But that's if we even get 4G in the UK this summer.

[McPhee]

Doubt Apple will bother with WiMax or LTE for a while yet, neither are very well established in the US, never mind the UK. Could easily be a generation or two before they see it as worthwhile. I'd rather nobody bothered personally, there's still vast improvements needing made to the existing 3G infrastructure after 8 years!

[Caris]

If the leaks are true then it would have some serious trouble if the HTC 4G EVO heads over here with Froyo. Not that it would harm Apple's sales in any way.

 

Contradiction much?

[Cube]

[/b]

 

Contradiction much?

 

Not really. I'm talking about power/features in the "serious trouble" bit. However, no matter how powerful and feature-packed other phones are, it won't affect the iPhone.

[That Guy]

Doubt Apple will bother with WiMax or LTE for a while yet, neither are very well established in the US, never mind the UK. Could easily be a generation or two before they see it as worthwhile. I'd rather nobody bothered personally, there's still vast improvements needing made to the existing 3G infrastructure after 8 years!

 

I would also rather Apple worked on improving the battery life than working on new technology that would be even more power hungry.

 

Not really. I'm talking about power/features in the "serious trouble" bit. However, no matter how powerful and feature-packed other phones are, it won't affect the iPhone.

 

That's because most people really don't care about loads and loads of features that they won't use. The iPhone is not sold on hype alone. I would say there are not many things that are. People bought the Wii because they thought what it could do was cool, and they enjoyed it. Not because someone told them it was amazing.

 

Also, you say power, but I would like to know why people are so obsessed with the specs of a device. If the iPhone works quickly and smoothly why does it need to have a faster processor that will use even more battery power? Just because another device does?

[david.dakota]

No, come on, you may have something against iPhones but you can't put the X10 above the iPhone 3GS. In fact I would say HTC's Legend and HD2 rank above the X10.

 

I don't think I do have a problem with iPhone - I just think its rather old now, and superceded by a number of phones. Just because its suddenly on Orange, it doesn't make it a new phone - its an old phone that O2 couldnt ship enough of. And I certainly do rank the X10 above iPhone 3GS; despite the outdated version of Android. The X10 has a bigger, higher res screen, it has superb camera features, second to none in the smartphone market. iPhone has, at best, a shit camera. Mediascape and Timescape widgets are wonderful experiences for media and social networking, iPhone still relies on apps.

 

iPhone has barely changed in two years - and even then, it was lacking in features - the original N95 was one high end phone that, still, the iPhone is overhadowed by - the original N95 blew the original iPhone out of the water, 3G out of the box, 5MP camera with video and flash (including a front facing camera for video chat), multitasking (yes, admittedly, running outdated OS but that phone lasted me a good 18 months no problems). iPhone has caught up in some areas, but I feel it still lacks features which smartphones have had for years now.

 

All that negativity said, iPhone is superbly designed, its strengths lie in its simplicity and iTunes integration; and i'm interested in what iPhone 4 has to offer (i've read nothing of iPhone 4 since the Gizmodo incident) - but even then, the HTC Evo is solid competition for it.