Another great apple product. (Apple iPhone 3G 16 GB with contract)

Member Name: rachshikari

Product:	Apple iPhone 3G 16 GB with contract
Date:	12/05/09 (120 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Does almost everything

Disadvantages: didnt make my breakfast! expensive on payg

OOOOOh the iPhone, the phone that I have been excited about getting for months and I finally have it, here, next to me. Actually a little confession is I am still on my previous contract (2 months left I think, on orange, but I couldn't wait any longer), mainly because I lost my N95 and it wasn't insured so I was using my old Sony Eriksson which was doing my head in.

Anyway, so I went into carphone warehouse and decided to purchase this phone on contract. This of course meant that I had to be on o2 as that was the only network it is available on (sneaky!!) Though I had no problem with this.

So, the lovely sales person at carphone warehouse filled in all my details etc and went on to process my credit check, I was very worried about this as previously its had to run overnight (3 times!!), though this came through okay after about 3 minutes (Phew). He then went into the back and fetched out my new phone :)

The iPhone comes in a very smart box, its quite a small box and one the lid is lifted off, there it is in all its beauty. It originally had a screen protector on it, however I hate these as they get on my nerves and seem to collect air under them. Once lifted out it has a short instruction leaflet telling me the basics but I did find that or other things I did have to Google as it didn't have a proper booklet as I call them for everything which was a bit annoying as weirdly, I like to read them. Also in the box is a two in one wire, I say two in one as it connects to the computer by USB but also the USB fits into the plug provided, meaning it can be charged at the mains supply or through the computer (whilst syncing with iTunes).

The iPhone is a little weird to get started with, for instance, to set it up, it needs to be done through iTunes not through ringing o2 up. In fact everything is done through iTunes as it is all backed up on there; photos, music, applications etc. I thought that this was a very good idea.
Also, to get the sim card out, there is a small tool to use that is pressed into the phone, this needs to be kept in a safe place (I suggest the box). It's very fiddly to start with; I had to try for about 5 minutes before I got the hang of it, that is, once I found the damn thing. For your convenience, il tell you its attached to the little envelope thing in the box, it attached right at the top. Try not to lose this else getting the sim cards in and out will be a pain in the bum.
Another thing to remember regarding the sim card is to take the fake plastic one out first, and replace this with your o2 one, DO NOT place this in the phone as it will mess it up, make sure you use the proper device.

Once connected to iTunes (Mac or PC) you are all set. The first thing to do is register it and to put in card details for the applications (should you want any), this is needed for both free and payable ones and makes it easier for when you by them on the go, as all you need to do is put in your email and password as opposed to credit card details each time. ITunes will keep you up to date with how much you have spent by sending a daily email to let you now what applications you have purchased. This is handy should you lose your phone and someone randomly buys things in your name!

Applications :

These are really easy to set up, on the iPhone itself is an icon saying 'app store' press this once and it will come up with a variety of options, these being : featured, categories, top 25, search, updates.

This is what they mean:

Featured: From what I understand these change daiy and are popular ones or new apps to try, there is a mix of free and paid ones.

Categories: If you want something in particular but are not sure what, then have a browse through to see what takes your fancy, these are split up between; games, entertainment, utilities, social networking, music, productivity, lifestyle, reference, travel, sport, navigation, health and fitness, news, photography, finance, business, education, weather, books and medical. I occasionally like to browse through these and see if there's anything new i fancy playing with.

Top 25: Says it all really, this tells you the top25 apps of that time, this is split into two categories, top paid and top free. Both are quite interesting to look through.

Search: Self explanatory, this is used if you are looking for something in particular and do not want to look through all the categories.

Updates: This will tell you when an app needs updating.


The thing I like about iPhone apps is that they are fun and you can download as many as you like until the phone runs out of space. I currently have about 20.


IPod:

For those that don't know, the iPhone actually has an IPod built in, this has the ability to hold as many songs as your phone can. I currently have 500 odd tracks on mine and still have well over half the phones memory left on it.
Tracks are put on using iTunes; simply drag the songs you want into the iPhone icon. I also like that the iPhone doesn't require you to have strange earphone sockets (like Sony Erickson), any standard earphones can be used and plugged in, though apple do provide a set of earphones with the iPhone originally. These are simply just plugged into the top of the phone.


Texting:

It took me a couple of days to get used to this being a touch screen phone and I had a bit of trouble texting to start with. I did realise however, the less I tried to get the right letter, the better it worked. I was trying to pres the letter exactly with my nails, but figured out pressing it with my actual finger worked perfect, almost as if it knew what I wanted to type. I did have to removed the word suggestions however as they were doing my head in, changing words when i didn't want it too. This can be changed in the phone settings.
The thing I liked about the iPhone text structure was that it saved everyone's conversations. This is good as im very forgetful and always have to go back to see what I previously sent to the person. This way what i say is in green, and what they say is in white and I am able to scroll through the whole lot until I decide to delete it.
I am not sure how many texts the iPhone can hold but I've had it nearly a month and I haven't ran out of space yet.


Phone: Pretty straight forward to ring people, just press the phone symbol and select someone from your contacts, then press their number and it rings them. There is also a speakerphone function available.


Internet:

With the iPhone, o2 give you free unlimited internet access, his is very useful on the go as I like to check my emails etc and is good to keep in contact with people on social sites. It's also good to browse using Safari when I'm bored on the bus etc. It will ask you to use wireless networks when available, but runs on 3g when there is no wireless available. Wireless is better for you tube obviously (which automatically comes with the phone).


I really am glad that I bought this phone. I pay £35 a month for 600 mins and 500 texts and unlimited internet. I am quite a big texter and was told i could add a bolt on for £7.50 a month should I wish to have unlimited texts. I may do this if i struggle but with he free internet I tend to use this instead.

The iPhone looks good, but is quite heavy and this may annoy some people, though personally I like that it's heavy as at least I can feel it.
Id also advise getting some sort of case to prevent the back getting scratched, there are a lot of these available both online and in carphone warehouse/o2 stores.

There is a camera built in to this phone, some people knock this as its only 2mp, however the quality is really good and comes out better than my old nokia n95 which was a 5mp camera. I am not disappointed in the slightest. The only thing is it doesn't record, though I wouldn't use that anyway.

It's a really fun phone to have, best I've had so far and I have no plans to change it, until a new one comes out and I can upgrade it for £100 automatically should i wish. However I can't see what a new one would have better on it as software updates are out all the time improving things.

I should also mention here that the iPhone is also available on payg at a minimum of £350. Therefore it pays to go on contract.

If you want to know anything else, send me a message and il be happy to help you :)

Hope this comes of use.

Rach

Summary: great