Apple license Exchange Activesync - the iPhone gets true push e-mail!

[Guest Boinng]

I'm quite bored of hearing about the iphone, to be honest. Particularly the UI.

You know what? The thing about the UI is, it's just a UI. You use it to get the job done. Some UI's are more intuitive than others, and when you first come across something quite slick and thought out like the iphone it's impressive, but after that it's just the thing you do to make a function happen, and that's the end of it. So when you're done playing with it, and you know how to do everything, it's no different to the average WM device. Except it is different, because the chances are it does less.

So they're going to get Exchange support some time in June - well whoopee, but the thing is, my Kaiser's had that since October when I bought it. And because WM isn't a bad UI, despite being not as certifiably amazing as the Iphone's, I'm quite capable of using it. I can also surf at broadband speeds pretty much anywhere, use Tom Tom in the car, send a picture message, copy and paste, expand my memory, edit documents, use a real keyboard, handwrite, take video, delete a single SMS, etc etc... the full list of extra functionality is really quite staggering when you go over it. And yet we keep being fed this mantra that phones were nothing before the iphone...

It all has a touch of the Emperor's new phone to me.

[Guest Sonicr360]

I'm quite bored of hearing about the iphone, to be honest. Particularly the UI.

You know what? The thing about the UI is, it's just a UI. You use it to get the job done. Some UI's are more intuitive than others, and when you first come across something quite slick and thought out like the iphone it's impressive, but after that it's just the thing you do to make a function happen, and that's the end of it. So when you're done playing with it, and you know how to do everything, it's no different to the average WM device. Except it is different, because the chances are it does less.

So they're going to get Exchange support some time in June - well whoopee, but the thing is, my Kaiser's had that since October when I bought it. And because WM isn't a bad UI, despite being not as certifiably amazing as the Iphone's, I'm quite capable of using it. I can also surf at broadband speeds pretty much anywhere, use Tom Tom in the car, send a picture message, copy and paste, expand my memory, edit documents, use a real keyboard, handwrite, take video, delete a single SMS, etc etc... the full list of extra functionality is really quite staggering when you go over it. And yet we keep being fed this mantra that phones were nothing before the iphone...

It all has a touch of the Emperor's new phone to me.

AGREED ! :D To me the iphone is a boring device... however to some its a "great" device. 2 camps on either side.... take aim .... FIRE :(

Nah .. seriously each to their own! But I dont say the WM is great, but it does what it says on the tin (for me!) and I guess that is what matters. whether you are into Music on the go, or watching films on a train, or doing business activities on a WM, you have 2 tools to choose from.

[Guest Sonicr360]

I agree.

In 5 years time the iPhone might be worth a look :D

Double agree! For me its not that interesting.... maybe in a few years time, a new device may be on the Horizon .... google phone perhaps :(

[Guest markdotpeters5]

I was VERY disappointed with the Kaiser. It really needs a better res screen, 320x240 is not enough for web surfing, no matter how smart the browser.

Add on a fiddly keyboard, lack of 3d hardware, and the speed (didn't think it was very fast at all tbh). Plus, 3.2mp camera? Don't make me laugh.

My iPhone takes better pictures than my mate's Kaiser! (the iPhone camera is actually pretty good considering it has no AF / Flash)

Didn't try the video recording, but if it's anything like other winmo phones, that's not saying a lot.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not Winmo bashing, I would LOVE a kaiser with a 640x480 screen, decent cam with video capture, would be amazing :D

Just frustrated with the lack of progress. Let's hope Sony Ericsson change that later in the year :(

[Guest Boinng]

I think the screen and display driver issues are the only thing you can really pick on the Kaiser for - and nobody ever claimed it was any more than a QVGA device. Video is something the Iphone does better, but that's just one thing, and not a priority for everyone.

I'm very happy with the speed generally - I think it's a very snappy device. Of course your mileage may vary, depending on the ROM you're using (mine's the stock HTC), and everyone needs to install the "slow scrolling" fix for PIE which shouldn't be the case, but in general it's fast.

The camera - well the viewfinder has issues in low light, but it's actually a very good cam in my experience. It's 3.2mp, it has autofocus, and that all makes a difference. The Iphone pictures I've seen don't impress me much, but then there's no reason why they should, it's a simple snapper and works as such; the Kaiser's camera is actually capable of much better pictures, with a little extra care.

The keyboard? Well what can I say, the Kaiser has one! Like most reduced-size qwertys on phone-sized form factors it's only as fiddly as you are inexperienced with it - after you become accustomed, it works well, and is infinitely more comfortable and satisfying to use than a virtual keypad on a non-responsive surface. IME, anyway.

Any phone, not least the Iphone, is a compromise. While the Kaiser owner may have to put up with reduced quality video, it's worth remembering all that they get in return:

• Mobile broadband
  
• GPS
  
• Exchange support from the outset
  
• Video recording (it's not great, but it's there)
  
• Choice of input (physical keyboard, handwriting, any number of on-screen keypads)
  
• Mature SMS support (eg individual deleting, forwarding, etc)
  
• Full picture messaging support
  
• Copy and paste (SO useful, so taken for granted in any established UI)
  
• Document editing, PDF viewing etc all in the box
  
• Expandable memory (up to 32GB shortly)
  
• A wealth of software already established, an app for every occasion
  

All of this and more is frequently swept aside as somehow irrelevant in the face of the all conquering iphone, but it really isn't - these are real features that people really use, even if they don't yet come with the Apple seal of approval.

[Guest Metoo]

I've got to admit, that after years of switching between PalmOS, WM and Symbian, and still hating all the iPhone hype and Jobs' dictatorial control, I've succumbed to buying an iPhone.

Why?

1. Because the reasons I stuck with PalmOS so long, and spent countless hours tweaking WM, trying every flavour of device, front end and gizmo to improve the experience, is that there was always something getting in the way of it just doing the job. Like tiny buttons. stylii, endless fiddly menus, slow responses & freeze-ups. Either the screen either too small, or the case too big. Fonts either far too small to read or wasting screen space from being too big with nothing in between (e.g. RealVGA vs. QVGA idiocy).

2. The iPhone is a complete breathe of fresh air. Tap an icon, and it just works. You can do everything with one need a finger (or two). No silly bits of plastic or d-pad required. For reading mail, ebooks or web pages it's out of this world. Move around the page with your finger - no silly scroll bars here. Text too small or to big? Instantly expand/compress continuously scalable zoom with two finger "pinch". Want a wider view? Flip it on its side for automatic landscape. Email is fully rendered HTML, not some psuedo corrupted fascimile. IMAP management is easy, with full one-finger drag and drop amongst folders.

3. Sure. it has no 3G, but as a result the battery life is superb - even with WiFi on. Switching between GSM and WLAN is seamless. If I need big downloads, I have the choice of all Cloud and Fon hotspots.

4. Little things like the screen automatically using the right brightness for its surroundings, Visual Voicemail, and Bluetooth automatically going into discoverable mode when you open its setting menu, fullbackup and restore even after a hardware reset.

4. Application loading and switching is fast. Like the old days of Palm, touch an icon and it's there (because it uses state saves and resumes instead of trying to keep everything running all at onces). No spinning icons,, no lockups, no memory full errors or silly task managers.

5. I've spent too long with WM, PalmOS and S60 and as a gadget freak I'm bored of the way they work. Sure, there are new front ends like Touch and Mobile Shell, but they're just superficial kludges with the same old stuff underneath. Even with the top end devices, there's no real "buzz" like you got with your first PDA - the user experience is just the same as your last one. The iPhone is new, ground up, so is exciting for an early adopter. Jaibreaking and unlocking is one click away. It's a hacker's challenge so is attracting a large 3rd party development community (I've never seen any other platform with so much genuinly useful freeware so soon).

6. YouTube and BBC iPlayer.

7. Now that O2 have upped the allowances (600 minutes + 500 texts + unlimited data for £35), it's actually good value (e.g. against Flext/WnW 450 minutes OR 900 texts + data for £32.50). Forget the "£899" nay-sayers - presumably that means they get their network time for free? The iPhone itself costs no more than a SIM free mid-range WM PDA/Smartphone, but it's _so_ much more fun to use. The release of v2.0, App Shop and the SDK should make the future even more exciting. Irrespective of the platform, if we didn't get a kick out of that, we wouldn't be hanging around here, would we?

Edited March 11, 2008 by Metoo

[Guest jimbouk]

I tired out bbc's iplayer on my daughter's ipod touch over the weekend. Awesome.

I am happy with my Kaiser but I am going to get the wife an iphone for her birthday.

Don't tell her though!

[Guest paholman]

"Horses for courses" I couldn't agree more

I'm also with the previous poster "metoo" on this one, except I'm on 02 Simplicity, I pay £15 a month for 200 Texts and 200 Minutes, and I can cancel at anytime with only 30 days notice. Add £7.50 bolt on for unlimited (200M) EDGE/GRPS.

My SIM works in both my iPhone and 02 XDA, but I rarely use the XDA now.

You can buy an iphone from an O2 shop for £269 (8GB version), take it home, no signing of contracts at all.

You then need to activate it, via Itunes they say to setup a contract, wrong. Google for Ziphone which is free

Forget the expensive contract, Ziphone can jailbreak, unlock and activate an iPhone in minutes for use with any SIM so all those knocking the iPhone for it's expensive contract, take note. Once Ziphone'd you can install all those freebie 3rd party applications, which include an MMS application "SwirlyMMS" 0.3 (send and receive MMS now), and a simple Video Recorder "ShowTime" (although only 4 seconds, early days until Drunknbass releases his version).

Apologies if I break any forum rules regarding encouraging the hacking of phones, but knocking the iPhone device itself just because money hungry network providers want a hefty contract is unfair.

The iPhone has a 600Mhz processor, 8GB of built in storage, a great touchscreen interface, web experience, and iPod.

It also has Video-out capabilities so watching movies, youtube or BBC iplayer on your TV is simple with the right cables

£270 is about the right price for something that lacks 3G or GPS, but delivers something different from anything else out there.

"Don't knock it til you've tried it".

I was sceptical, tried one in an O2 shop, and wanted one.

Edited March 11, 2008 by paholman

[Guest Sonicr360]

"Horses for courses" I couldn't agree more

I'm also with the previous poster "metoo" on this one, except I'm on 02 Simplicity, I pay £15 a month for 200 Texts and 200 Minutes, and I can cancel at anytime with only 30 days notice. Add £7.50 bolt on for unlimited (200M) EDGE/GRPS.

My SIM works in both my iPhone and 02 XDA, but I rarely use the XDA now.

You can buy an iphone from an O2 shop for £269 (8GB version), take it home, no signing of contracts at all.

You then need to activate it, via Itunes they say to setup a contract, wrong. Google for Ziphone which is free

Forget the expensive contract, Ziphone can jailbreak, unlock and activate an iPhone in minutes for use with any SIM so all those knocking the iPhone for it's expensive contract, take note. Once Ziphone'd you can install all those freebie 3rd party applications, which include an MMS application "SwirlyMMS" 0.3 (send and receive MMS now), and a simple Video Recorder "ShowTime" (although only 4 seconds, early days until Drunknbass releases his version).

Apologies if I break any forum rules regarding encouraging the hacking of phones, but knocking the iPhone device itself just because money hungry network providers want a hefty contract is unfair.

The iPhone has a 600Mhz processor, 8GB of built in storage, a great touchscreen interface, web experience, and iPod.

It also has Video-out capabilities so watching movies, youtube or BBC iplayer on your TV is simple with the right cables

£270 is about the right price for something that lacks 3G or GPS, but delivers something different from anything else out there.

"Don't knock it til you've tried it".

I was sceptical, tried one in an O2 shop, and wanted one.

Errr.... but I did try one.... and I hated it! And as you said.... £270 for something that lacks 3G and GPS.... hmmmmm think I would have held off and waited for a revised model or the Google Phone which is going to give the iPhone a good run for its money. I have someone here and all I see now as I look over his shoulder is a ton of grease marks on the screen... and LOL as I write this he is just using his shirt to clean it :(

But each to their own.... I am not sure comments about hacking and making "public" use of tools to hack an iPhone (or any other phone) outside its legal contract is a good comment. People may take a dim view on this matter. :D

Paul the owner of Modaco or the forum moderator(s) may be able to answer this!

[Guest Metoo]

And as you said.... £270 for something that lacks 3G and GPS....

I've just looked on eXpansys for something with 3G and GPS for £270 and failed, so don't see how that makes the iPhone poor value? You can bet that, like WM devices, the 3g iPhone will be much more expensive!

Edited March 11, 2008 by Metoo

[Guest jimbouk]

Errr.... but I did try one.... and I hated it! And as you said.... £270 for something that lacks 3G and GPS.... hmmmmm think I would have held off and waited for a revised model or the Google Phone which is going to give the iPhone a good run for its money. I have someone here and all I see now as I look over his shoulder is a ton of grease marks on the screen... and LOL as I write this he is just using his shirt to clean it :(

But each to their own.... I am not sure comments about hacking and making "public" use of tools to hack an iPhone (or any other phone) outside its legal contract is a good comment. People may take a dim view on this matter. :D

Paul the owner of Modaco or the forum moderator(s) may be able to answer this!

I will be amazed if Modaco take a dim view of discussing hacking iphones... I will be even more amazed if the "google phone" gives the iphone a run for tis money.

The "google phone" is an OS - not a finished complete project. The android OS will rely heavily upon hardware manufacturers to give the iphone even a glancing blow.

[Guest Boinng]

I've just looked on eXpansys for something with 3G and GPS for £270 and failed, so don't see how that makes the iPhone poor value? You can bet that, like WM devices, the 3g iPhone will be much more expensive!

The obvious difference is that the networks will do you any number of 3G/GPS phones for peanuts, whereas with the Iphone you have to pay a high up front price and sign up to a steep 18 month contract.

My Kaiser cost me £50 on a 12 month, £20pm contract - show me an Iphone deal that beats that.

[Guest Sonicr360]

IT may be - but with the 3G connectivity, it may persuade people to move over.

I just feel (personally) that the iPhone is well over hyped. Hell it could be cause the UK get a poorer and slower deal compared to the US.

There again, I think the US are bonkers for queueing day after day outside an apple store to get one LOL Whats that all about!

To be "im the first in the US to have an iPhone" ? LOL get real :D

[Guest Sonicr360]

The obvious difference is that the networks will do you any number of 3G/GPS phones for peanuts, whereas with the Iphone you have to pay a high up front price and sign up to a steep 18 month contract.

My Kaiser cost me £50 on a 12 month, £20pm contract - show me an Iphone deal that beats that.

Dont forget its an 18 Month 02 contract (legal of course!) :D

[Guest Sonicr360]

Nice video of the "so called" Google phone (or if you are JIMBOUK) we will call it Android :D

Only time will tell just how well it will do ..... of course the US will get it first :(

[Guest markdotpeters5]

Well my iPhone was free with a 12 month contract :D

Got an N95, sold it for £200 which was what the iPhone cost me.

Now of course, that was the good old days when the yanks would sell them to cash wielding brits!

Anyway, you can still pick them up here for £269 and unlock them yourself.

[Guest paholman]

The obvious difference is that the networks will do you any number of 3G/GPS phones for peanuts, whereas with the Iphone you have to pay a high up front price and sign up to a steep 18 month contract.

My Kaiser cost me £50 on a 12 month, £20pm contract - show me an Iphone deal that beats that.

OK, here's a possible deal that will beat it.:-

Sign up to a Kaiser, N95 or high priced handset contract for 12 months, pay perhaps £50 for the phone (if it's not free)

Sell it on eBay for £300 +

With the cash buy an iphone, and unlock it for free and use your existing SIM contract

You'll still have cash left in your pocket....

So there's little point in still slating the iphone because of the so called "required" expensive 18 month contract, because it's not the only way to get one. Out of the tens (perhaps hundreds) of thousands of iphone owners in the UK out there, I wonder how many of them are actually using it on the official o2 iphone tariff. The O2 iphone tariff is overpriced, I completely agree, but in my opinion the £270 for the actual iphone itself is not.

It is, like we've all said and as with any device, down to personal preference and what features you do and don't need on a device.

You either love it or hate it, but I can forsee a number of great applications on it's way because it's new, and many software companies want to develop for the iphone, and it's slick interface.

Edited March 11, 2008 by paholman

[Guest Sonicr360]

paholman,

You will be pleased to hear that I hate it. I mean, I simply cannot see the point of it - but as I have continully said, if your into music/videos on the go, and really need to store 8000 songs on a device, then please blow yourself away and do it :D But for me personally, after seeing and using my colleague's phone I am not really impressed. He is ... in fact he went to the London Apple store to get one.

I called him an idiot for queuing, because I knew full well the "hype" was simply OVER HYPE!!

Wait... give it a few more years.... few more decent apps, and then maybe, just maybe the iPhone can compete in all areas that Palm, Nokia and WM aim for.

Thats not to say WM/Palm/Nokia is any better, because I am not a big fan of them either! And I do own a Tytn II device, and for my business and work on the go, I cannot ask for much more.

Well.... its either that or my laptop. So for convenience, I use the Tytn II.

Nuff said on the subject :( But hey, if your happy .... stay happy and cool :( :( :(

Simon

[Guest gommie1979]

Having used WinMo since the first SPV back in 2002 I have to say that the iPhone can only be a good thing for all of us. The progress that WinMo devices have seen over these 6 years are to be frank worrisome. Maybe it would be forgivable to accept such an unintuitive user interface if it was the first iteration of the software, but with 6 years development time the current user experience is very poor. The iPhone should provide the kick up the rear that Microsoft needed to actually produce a less buggy, more user friendly platform.

And just to illustrate this point, my non technical friend just bought a Touch Dual instead of the iPhone as the later doesn't have push email. After me spending a day with him getting the user interface to something he felt comfortable with (installing 3rd party calender, home screen apps etc) he still has the large learning curve of using a Windows Mobile device. Compare this to the iPhone, where after 5 minutes of playing with it I felt I knew everything about it, in fact being the tinkerer I am, I was bored and handed it back to the owner unimpressed. Having played with a jailbroken iPhone since, I can truly see the possibilities of the platform you get almost all the functionality without the frustration.

When I informed my friend of the fact that the iPhone will soon have push email his face clearly dropped, I'm sure when it arrives his Touch Dual will be on ebay.

Lets hope Microsoft can close the gap with the release of WinMo 7, and by 2009 Apple doesn't already have an unassailable lead.

[Guest Metoo]

The O2 iphone tariff is overpriced, I completely agree, but in my opinion the £270 for the actual iphone itself is not.

Like I said,

Flex-T/WnW: 450 minutes OR 900 texts - £32.50

O2: 600 minutes AND 500 texts - £35

OK there's no "low user" tarriff, but to somebody who needs that kind of airtime, how is O2 overpriced?

[Guest paholman]

Like I said,

Flex-T/WnW: 450 minutes OR 900 texts - £32.50

O2: 600 minutes AND 500 texts - £35

OK there's no "low user" tarriff, but to somebody who needs that kind of airtime, how is O2 overpriced?

I didn't specifically say "O2 was overpriced", just the "O2 iPhone tariff".

It's overpriced in the sense of it's a tariff only price, with no free handset.

Other networks offer free handsets with similar tariffs, so I think you get better value for money going for one of those, with a decent handset, selling the handset, buying the iphone with the cash, and unlocking it to use that tariff. That way you've not paid the extra money for the Iphone.

Edited March 12, 2008 by paholman

[Guest Mr.Clark]

I've been anti iPhone from the beginning, but I did cut down my "essentials" list to 3 things:

Full Exchange integration

3G (and having used it, HSDPA)

Built-in GPS

I gave up on it after I was confidently assured by my new Head of IT a few months ago that Apple would never go to Microsoft and ask for a licence for Exchange.

Now my hopes are raised, and if it ever gets HSDPA and GPS, I'll get one, jailbreak it, and use it on my T-Mob contract...

Well apparently, someone listened... http://www.apple.com/uk/iphone/ reckons that the new version has all 3 of those... are the days of my Vario III numbered? :D