Hamarana

I don’t think I had previously blogged that I bought a new iPhone back in July. Its the 3G[S] (“S” apparently stands for “speed”, making it much faster than the previous 3G iphone, which I never owned. Its much faster than my 2G). But the phone isn’t what I want to post about. Its about GPS applications.

I’ve done a kind of roundup of the available apps in Australia, and posted that at Mactalk forums, so I am not going to repost here.

I will be posting about the relative performances of Some of the apps from time to time, though, and in the spotlight are the Tomtom and Sygic applications, both of which have had major overhauls this week

Tomtom:
Major upgrade with latest maps, text to speech, improved accuracy, updated IQ routes, the latest safety camera database, and audible over-speed warnings. The audio warnings are now customisable, but notably absent is the ability to warn for particular other POIs, as is standard in the Tomtom dedicated devices.

There is also an additional menu item called “Help Me” which addresses security and safety, by placing you on a map and giving two button options, one to phone for help and one to drive to help Phone for help gives all nearby Police, doctor, hospital, roadside assistance (NRMA in Australia) and at the top of the list, Emergency services which is 000 in Australia, 911 in the US and whatever in other countries. These values are automatically added according to your location. Its a nice touch.

Sygic
Major upgrade to latest maps, improved safety camera database and separation of redlight cameras from speed cameras. As always all POIs can be warned for, as well as cameras etc, and overspeed warnings.

Damn, I am in such a quandary. iPhone 2.0 gives me access to the Apple appstore but the new firmware is so lagged and buggy that I am unsure of whether I really want to keep it.

The only thing that prevents an immediate downgrade is the complexity of the task and the time it will take. And the fact that I actually like some of the new apps. Like this WordPress app which makes a blog post easy.

Decisions, decisions!

At this stage, we know that Telstra, Vodafone and Optus are going to be selling the iPhone from July 11. Optus sent an email to those of us who registered interest on their site, and provided links to the suggested pricing structure. It looks pretty good initially until you start considering what you are really getting. Call costs don’t seem to differ vastly from standard optus plans, but there are much larger data allowances. Then, you look at the T&C, and you find the following clause:

The ‘yes’ iPhone Cap Plans also includes a specified amount of included data value per month to access services on Optus iZoo, as well as browsing the Internet from your mobile, depending upon which rate plan you choose. If you exceed your plan’s included monthly data allowance, excess usage charges will be charged at $0.35 per MB or part thereof. Any unused data allowance cannot be rolled over. Your data allowance does not include services such as Voice calls, Voice Mail, International SMS, premium and Third Party SMS, Optus iZoo and Third Party content and applications, 1300, 1900 and VPN data usage. If you are able to access such services, your use of such services will be charged at prevailing rates.

The first bolded section seems to suggest you can do whatever you want with it. The second bolded section is basically saying “dont bother trying to do Skype or other VoIP” and in fact dont bother doing anything outside Optus Zoo. IF you do, you are going to be hit with a massive charge.. 35c per Mb or part thereof. The potential here for Optus to make a killing and send people broke in very short order, is huge.

Since Optus Zoo is probably one of the most useless sites I have ever had the misfortune to access (alongside Vodafone Live and Virgin’s in-house effort) this is not really a massive inducement for me to switch from my current Telstra prepaid and Browseplus pack, with which, at least, I can do whatever I want.

So, basically, until or unless the apparent conflict is resolved, I will not be getting a 3G iPhone from Optus. I’ll make do with what I have already. I’ll also be recommending to friends not to get it either at this stage.

Well well well, I don’t quite know how this has happened, but Zibri has managed to get a hold of one of the new iPhones and commenced work on patching and unlocking the baseband. Which, it seemed, he managed to get done in record time. This means that V2 of the firmware *and* the new iPhone will be unlockable.

What this means in real terms I am not sure. Perhaps the phone will be usable on any network. On the other hand if the phone is not available except on contract, the only use for an unlock will be to get at 3rd party applications not available on the App Store. And I know a lot of the devs are stopping free software now and starting to charge for it, so there might not be that much available at first.

However: If you can get a prepaid iPhone 3G, its probably going to be only marginally more expensive than a contracted one (expect under $300… if its more, its gouging) and then you can unlock it… well… all I can say is… OH YESSS PLEASE!

[edit] On the other hand, Vodafone Italy is going to be selling it as a prepaid and the prices they are quoting are huge. 499 euros for the 8G which equates roughly to $AU817 on todays exchange rate. That is too much. But perhaps Voda australia and Optus won’t charge that much (yes, they will be doing it as a prepaid as well). maybe?

Well, its looking like Apple has managed to close the loophole which allowed most of us to acquire our iPhones in the past. When this version is released, at least in the USA, it is going to be mandatory for the account with the provider to be activated in the store. So, no more “home activation” and no more online purchases which would have allowed a lot of fiddling.

I don’t know how it will be dealt with in Australia, but I imagine the same kind of thing will occur.

So, there we have it. I won’t be owning a 3G iPhone until/unless it ends up on a prepaid service I can or will use.

Well, Aussies and others can now get the iPhone with warranty within their own country. I dont know what deals Aple has cooked up in other lands, but here, it seems the iPhone will only be available via Optus and Vodafone (Voda doesnt seem to have any option to preorder, its not even mentioned on site yet). Its advertised in the Apple store but any effort to buy online is redirected to a page which tells you to go to Optus and Voda.

The phone is supposed to be sold worldwide for $199 (8G version, in USD) so that means it will be less than half the price I paid for my first gen iPhone last August. It will be released on July 11.

Am I going to get one? probably not. I wouldn’t mind having it but not at the cost of having to go on a contract. If its available outright I will reconsider and only if the hackers have managed to do their work on the firmware, because I refuse to be locked into any one network, and most certainly not for 2 years at a time. I am a dedicated prepaid user who moves from one network to another according to my calling patterns and usage at any given time. Currently I am on Telstra, because its prepaid suits my current habits.

iPhone is a darn good phone, and a hellishly entertaining toy. If you are already contracted to Optus or Vodafone and don’t mind being there for longer, and are in need of a new phone, you might want to give the iPhone some consideration. It is 3G, and it has a lot more going for it than the old one. And, well, its cheap.

Features in brief:
3G, A-GPS, Microsoft Exchange Activesync, the App Store, push email, push calendar, integration is crossplatform (OSX and Windows anyway) with MobileMe (the dotMac replacement) and your desktop and/or laptop. Other features are similar to old iPhone. Go read if you want to know.

Knock yerselves out.

Official press releases from both Vodafone and Singtel have revealed that not only will the iPhone be released in Australia soon, but that it will not be tied to any one network, as it has been in the USA. Additionally, cNet is reporting that Telstra will be the Third carrier. So that about ties it up for Oz.

Apparently those who have had the opportunity to play about with the verson 2 firmware SDK are also reporting finding indications in there that a 3G iPhone is just round the corner. Read more at Engadget

Anyone wanna buy a used and loved 2G iPhone? Going cheap