I'm Going With IPhone

[Strong Eagle]

Lots of net research. Lots of hands on playing around. And I conclude that my next phone will be an IPhone.

The key reason is the proper implementation of a touch screen, built into the OS from the ground up. Multi-touch means that zoom and pan operations are great and that the keyboard is intelligent. On the 3GS the operations have no lag, and with fully integrated maps, compass, GPS, and reference lists the kinds of augmented reality available are great.

I seriously considered the Samsung HD. It's screen is great but the Symbian OS really ruins a great piece of hardware. Always a slight lag in drag operations. Clunky method of handling icons. Single touch only. THe experience just doesn't compare.

I predict that unless Symbian very quickly does something about the OS, you'll soon see high end Nokia, Siemens, and Samsumg products using an altogether different OS.

[durain]

how about the samsung jet (http://jet.samsungmobile.com). was told it is super fast. also check out www.gsmarena.com for their review of just about all mobile fones!

[taxico]

iphone'd be good for pictures, music and internet browsing.

it's not for me because i couldn't live without a qwerty keyboard or swappable batteries.

if it was more affordable, i would consider it, but it has to be a lot more affordable than whatever it's costing people now.

[Strong Eagle]

how about the samsung jet (http://jet.samsungmobile.com). was told it is super fast. also check out www.gsmarena.com for their review of just about all mobile fones!

I've spent months at gsmarena and others. Jet is resistive display - not nearly as responsive... and single touch only which forces Samsung to 'feature' "single touch zoom" a hokey workaround to not being able to spread 2 fingers.

And, it's another Symbian phone... with the added non-responsiveness of a resistive touch screen.

[taxico]

okay, i remember now what's i couldn't recall earlier.

what about android?

[Strong Eagle]

iphone'd be good for pictures, music and internet browsing.

it's not for me because i couldn't live without a qwerty keyboard or swappable batteries.

if it was more affordable, i would consider it, but it has to be a lot more affordable than whatever it's costing people now.

It has a qwerty keyboard... on the screen and it works very well... including word recognition.

As to price... $208 to me because I have an expired contract with Singtel... that's for the 32Gb model. Then, I get $100 trade in on my E65 and I have a $100 voucher from Singtel because I spend lots of money each month... so my IPhone will cost me $8.

Another reason the Samsung Omnia HD doesn't make it... cost.

But truly... if you haven't actually played with the IPhone you really cannot understand how much better the interface is than anything else out there... hands down... and this coming from an anti Apple guy.

[Strong Eagle]

okay, i remember now what's i couldn't recall earlier.

what about android?

Yah... it's a start... and missing about 10,000,000 features. Reviews are very mixed... my judgment is that non techno-geeks would be pissed... but there are articles that suggest that as Nokia and Samsung abandon the Symbian OS, they are using the Android platform to develop their next generation IPhone killer... I think they are on the right track.

Why? Symbian is hierarchical in operation... Windoze mobile even more so. Apple does a great job of cutting out the push down into menu after menu and Android has that potential.

[taxico]

i've not explored the latest iphone, nor have i used it past typing out short messages, applications (usually the amusing ones), surfing little bits of the internet, looking at pictures taken (which kinda works the way the internet does) and listening to music.

all that takes place regularly at work because i have many colleagues with iphones (the 2nd to latest ones), hence the thumbs up for ui, music, graphics and internet.

but i can't get used to the non-tactile keyboard and i had plenty of typos which i'm sure will be cut down with practice (the suggestions were a good help but i'm used to backspacing).

where i'm at, iphones are about 650 bucks even after contract and trade in and what not... yet even at the price you got it for (200) i would not buy it because of the missing keyboard, lack of pushmail and battery situation.

i'm not saying the iphone sucks, just saying i place importance on those 3 things so it's not for me. in fact my colleagues all liked theirs plenty, and i can see why the iphone is an attractive option for many who don't have more email-oriented requirements.

but if apple fixes those issues and integrates real pushmail, i dare say i'd jump on one.

[Addadude]

I've had my humble 8GB iPhone for over a year now and I love it to bits. I haven't looked at another phone since - which is unusual for me. However i believe that the waiting list with SingTel for the iPhone these days is interminable.

[Strong Eagle]

I've had my humble 8GB iPhone for over a year now and I love it to bits. I haven't looked at another phone since - which is unusual for me. However i believe that the waiting list with SingTel for the iPhone these days is interminable.

Six week wait for the 32 gig model in black. Singtel won't tell you that but some of the independent shops will.

[durain]

dare i say palm pre?

[ukdesigner]

I too have have the iphone. Not much out there I reckon to beat it. I am a die-hard apple fan so that does help but the way it works, built in wireless and all the apps make it superb. Plus word, excel, pdf viewing built in really helps. If you also get a dot me account you can also get the remote wipe service plus a host of other things but that costs about S$130 bucks (a guess from memory) or so per year. Great for me with storage / ftp type systems but not good for those who don't need it.

Now it also has exchange in OS 3.1 so that will help the corporate issue too. Push mail only applies to specific email suppliers like Apples Mail, Gmail etc etc. Not sure about hotmail et all as don't use them as they're so dire and so slow...

I'd highly recommend the iphone and I too change my phone at a whim but not this time. My next phone will be an iphone with a bigger hard drive as I only got the 8GB one and I've got over 20GB of music on my laptop so I have to keep rotating it around which is very annoying.

Personally for me it was the email, internet and ipod in one that did. 1 item in my back pocket instead of 2 or 3 which makes it much better. Less baggage is always handy.

[Strong Eagle]

dare i say palm pre?

Sure... dare I say 'has been'?

The front runner lost its edge and while trying to find its way back, missed the boat with the Palm Pre. Why? Cramped keyboard... I have a hard time using the wider keyboard of earlier models. Bad battery life. Limited bands... not a world phone.

I think it falls into the same class as the Samsung Omnia HD... a very nice smartphone with quite a few capabilities, but on the whole, the IPhone is a superior package in multiple respects, and continues to set the bar (way) above anything else that is out there right now.

[tancg17]

I've got the first batch of Iphone 2g 8gb courtesy from a friend in US.

Before the Iphone, i'd be changing phones every half yearly and longest was 1year. Each time I visit a handphone shop, i get itch and would wanna buy one of the latest model, preferably a nokia.

After getting this Iphone coming 2 years now, I've never had that feeling of 'itch' again. Its jailbroken and its like a new phone each time I change the themes, add applications, add games or use it for Terminal (ssh and others).

My wife who like me.. can't resist buying new phones (for design mostly) is also stuck with her iphone now. She's no Techie nor geek and i'm quite surprised she hasn't bugged me for a new phone ever since.

For the 'typing' issue, you'll have to trust the Iphone auto edit when you key in wrongly, it'll most probably give you an option of the right word. For example, if you type hrllp, the iphone will automatically give you 'hello'. U just have to trust its intuition. Before long (half an hour for me) you'll be so used to the keyboard u'll be wondering how u could hv settled with symbian or others..

Go for it.

[sillingw]

Just changed my phone. I looked closely at the iPhone and spent a couple of days looking at other options as well - I know it's each to their own, but I ended up going for the HTC Hero. I have been using for just over a week now and the more I use, the more I like it. As with all modern handsets, It's going to take me a year to really get used to all the features, let alone the 5000+ android applications that are available. Having said that, the traditional phone with phonebook works perfect for me, The Music went on easy (Just drag and drop from windows explorer), but not as good as the Nokia Music application. The photos/video is pretty good, I display on a 50" HD Plasma so this was one of the shortcomings on the iPhone. I really like the very customizable interface of the Hero. I am not in any way being detrimental to the Apple product, just went with the HTC and I get the feeling that I will become just as attached - then it's hard to move.