Worth getting an iPhone? Also 3G vs. 3GS?

[Vonhelmet]

So, I picked up an iPod touch the other day, and so far I'm really impressed with it. I was always hesitant about getting an iPhone, due to the cost, claims of poor battery life and so on, but I'm seriously tempted now.

I don't want one on contract, as my current deal is fine and I'd prefer a one off spend and lower monthly costs, so I'm looking at a second hand iPhone, either from eBay or somewhere like cex.

Good idea? Bad idea?

Other questions...

1) just how bad is battery life on either the 3G or 3GS?
2) how bad is the 3G if you update to ios 4?
3) is the 3GS worth the huge price hike over the 3G? Whichever I get I'll only be after an 8gb model as I'll have the touch for all my music and any other heavy lifting.

Ta all.

 

[Vonhelmet]

In terms of battery life and smart phones, I'm currently using a Nokia E71, which has a huge battery. I generally get at least 2 days out of it unless I'm doing loads of GPS with it. I guess I don't have things like push notificatons to contend with, but even so.

The other thing I love on the E71 is the full QWERTY physical keyboard. I'm getting better with the touchscreen on the touch, but it's nowhere near as good as a physical one. Maybe it'll come with practise.

However, I'm also tempted towards the iphone just for convergence and consistency - having all my calendar and contacts synced across my devices is very desirable. I could use something like Missingsync on the E71, but it seems hacky compared to everything being done in the same systems.

 

[Vonhelmet]

Right, so the 3GS sounds like it's worth the money. Looking on ebay, I can get an 8Gb for £200-£250 if I get lucky, which is fine. Time to start selling a few bits and bobs to get some funds together...

One last question - a lot of the phones on ebay are locked to a particular network. How hard is it to unlock an iphone these days? I'm not in a hurry to "jailbreak" it if that's going to mean faffing around every time Apple release new software for it. Is it possible to unlock it easily?

 

[Vonhelmet]

O2 will unlock it for you for free or a few quid (I think it's like £10 or something), it takes a few days but then it's fully unlocked.

Don't know about other networks however.

Sounds fair enough - £10 is definitely worth it considering the premium that unlocked phones go for on ebay.

I'm on O2 anyway, so that should be fine.

 

[Vonhelmet]

Well, I'm currently in the process of selling any old tat I can find around the house to finance picking up an iPhone. CeX have the 8GB model for anywhere between £280 and £350 depending on how good the condition is, while on ebay they seem to crop up around the £250-£300 region, though obviously there's no warranty there and you take more of a chance. I've seen 16GB models ending up at less than £300, so I guess once I've got the cash I'll just bid on whatever is ending soon and see what happens.

 

[Vonhelmet]

If cost wasn't an issue I'd recommend the i4 as I've found the transition from the 3G to it absolutely remarkable.

However, between the 3G and 3GS definitely go for the S.

Unfortunately, there's about £200 of difference at least, so it's fairly prohibitive.

Aesthetically, I prefer the 3GS anyway. I don't like the squared off sides of the i4.

 

[Vonhelmet]

3. As above, if you play your cards right you can get a 16Gb 3GS for £250-300 which IMO is a bargain.

Well, having raised funds by selling an old guitar, some Technic Lego, my old iPod dock and a briefcase, I've just managed to buy a 16Gb black 3GS on O2 for £258 inc, which seems a fairly good deal.

Slightly apprehensive as the guy I bought it off only has 4 feedback, but he's got no bad stuff and it looks like he just doesn't use ebay much. I've e-mailed him about upping the postage from RMRD to RMSD (don't want it getting clunked in the mail with inadequate insurance), so if his reply seems off kilter or I smell a rat I'll pull out.

The back of the phone looks a bit scratched, but I'll be putting it in a heavy duty case anyway (I've dropped my touch twice in a week and just ordered a case for that...) so I won't see it anyway. It seems funny that the back of an iPod is so prized so everyone sticks a case on it, but then you don't see the damn thing anyway.

I was looking at paying more than that for an 8Gb model, so it leaves me a bit of cash to spare if the battery needs replacing or anything like that.

Also slightly nervous that I'm massively duplicating functionality by having both an iPhone and an iPod touch, but I have over 30Gb of music, and a 32Gb iPhone is already hilariously expensive, so I figure it's worth having both, as it'll be the touch that gets filled with the media and the iPhone that does the other stuff, not to mention that only the iPhone is any use for anything requiring an Internet connection once I'm away from a Wi-Fi network.

Now I just need to ride out my wife's sneers after I got all sour grapes about the iPhone being a waste of money when I couldn't afford one.

 

[Vonhelmet]

Woo, it made it. All working fine, though the back is quite scratched. I think the glass may have been replaced, as there is a tiny mark in the upper middle of the screen that I can't scrape off, but I'm not too fussed.

When I put in my SIM it told me that I'm not on an iPhone tariff, but I have unlimited data on my £20/month contract, so I assume that won't be an issue.