It’s FACE TIME! Aka Apple’s version of video calling. It took a couple of attempts to get it working but in the end it was pretty cool. Picture quality was a lot better than what it looks like in this image though. Just a note to self, I need to look less mentally handicapped when taking screenshots.
The release of the plans for the iPhone 4 this morning from Telstra and Optus has certainly gotten twitter in a bit of a tizzy!
Currently, I’m an Optus customer. I joined with them when I got my 3G because their plans pretty much ate Telstra for breakfast. Optus recognised how customers would use the phone, and planned their offers around it. Telstra were caught napping a bit offering plans with expensive data, and a lost a lot of business as everyone jumped ship for Optus. While business was good for Optus, it was also bittersweet as it meant their networks became clogged with increase usage.
For me personally with Optus, I have had to take to switching off 3G most of the time. With 3G on, I found that I struggled to receive phone calls (particularly during lunch time) and I had a lot of dropped calls. It improved when I got the 3Gs (courtesy of Mat signing up for a plan and us promptly switching phones), but it still was pretty patchy at times. To say it was frustrating would be a major understatement.
To date, this is still my only gripe with Optus. Everytime I have had to deal with their customer service for any matter they have been absolutely brilliant. I have zero complaints about anything other than the reception. As pointed out earlier, it’s catch 22 for them. They need the business (thus offer great plans) but they are struggling under the network load. Without the $$ rolling in from the business, they can’t improve their network. I feel for them, I really do.
Then this morning Telstra finally came out with some kickass plans. Optus have still outdone them with some incredible data limits (2gb data on a $49 cap plan), but I only use just over 200mb a month. The Telstra $49 cap plan includes $750 value for calls/messages (there’s no way I will ever go over this) and with the extra data packs I can pay $20 to get another 500mb, making my total for the month 700mb. It brings the monthly cost up to $69 a month, with roughly the same offering as my current plan with optus, and $10 cheaper.
There’s no question that Telstra has an impressive network. In fact, it’s been described as one of the most compatible iPhone 4 networks in the world, so who wouldn’t want to take advantage of that? Given that the quality of reception is what has been my deciding factor in this debate in carriers, I think Telstra was always going to win this war for me. The only way they could have lost is with some outrageous plan, but it’s evident they have learned from their mistakes with the 3g.
So I guess I will see you at midnight on Thursday night. I’ll be outside the Telstra store waiting for my new phone.
Another screenshot but meh. I would like to point out that it’s only 7.7 degrees at 7.45am. I’m meant to live in a tropical climate – I was cold!
I first saw this article on twitter, courtesy of @oliyoung retweeting an original tweet by Dan Hon (@hondanhon). Basically, it’s an article written by The Telegraph in the UK, simply titled “10 reasons not to buy Apple’s new iPhone 4G”.
It is the biggest crock of shit I have ever read, pardon the language.
You can view the full article here, but here’s a couple of samples for you:
2) It’s anti-technology: When the iPhone launched it was cutting edge – now as other manufacturers announce, for instance, that you can use their phones as shareable wifi hot spots, Apple says no. Not because of some spurious “user experience” argument, but because of economics. When will they learn that it’s customers – supply and demand – that should dictate feature availability?
3) No Flash: The iPhone, the phone that promised to put the web into everybody’s pockets, can’t even show you most of it, because it can’t handle Flash graphics. Google Android can, in the latest version (OS 2.2), and it’s going to be available free on a lot of budget tariffs.
4) No multitasking: Tried instant messaging on an iPhone? Oh yes, you have to open the app to see if you’ve got a message. Genius. If Apple announces multitasking next it will be an improvement – but there’ll be no apology for the way it’s treated customers in the past, and no guarantee it won’t behave similarly shoddily in the future.
I could argue every point, especially the issue about Flash, but Steve Jobs did brilliantly answering the critics via the apple website. Instead of wasting my time (and yours) I will instead direct you to a brilliant parody of The Telegraph’s article, written by Dan Hon (mentioned earlier).
Extenuating Circumstances – 10 reasons not to buy Friday’s Telegraph
Have a read; you won’t regret it.
Frequent readers of this blog will know I’m crazy about my iPhone. The byephone challenge demonstrated I can live without it, but it’s really an unpleasant experience. I think you would find that’s the case with most people nowadays. We’re so reliant on our mobiles for almost everything. But what about those people where mobile technology is just downright confusing? Where even the most basic functions seem to be way out of their league? Or where mobile phones these days have been designed in such a way that makes it impossible to use.
Enter Australian technology, and enter the Doophone.