Very tempted to get an iPhone, but is there any worthy competitor on the horizon?

John_Mc

Hi,

I have an N95 8GB and I love it. Its solid and reliable, has good connectivity and a great camera and mp3 player. I've just noticed that I could get the 16gb iPhone for free on O2 if I upgrade my plan to the 350 mins a month. It's a good deal and I'm very tempted to go with it.

Although I'm very interested in the Nexus one due out in January, I wont be paying a lot of cash upfront to get it out of contract.

Is there any phone due out soon that would make me regret getting the iPhone? Having to use iTunes is off-putting, and I dont like the way Apple force you to do it their way but I think I could live with it.

Would appreciate your opinions

mwrf

Good Timing,

You sir need a Nokia n900, Just released.
http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/

http://wwww.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2055585686

John_Mc

stebishop wrote: »

Good Timing,

You sir need a Nokia n900, Just released.
http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/

http://wwww.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2055585686

Thanks for the reply, any Irish carriers going to be selling this?

Blazer

wouldn't even bother with the M900..it's getting crap reviews..

seclachi

Android, WebOS and Windows Mobile are the only real competition I can think of at the moment. I dont think any of them can really hold a candle to the swishness and amount of apps the iPhone has. On the other hand though I think they have more potential as apple are so tight with there apps. Windows mobile is flaky compared to the new kids, but very hackable, and you can get all sorts of emulators and games for it.

Tom Dunne

Berkut wrote: »

wouldn't even bother with the M900..it's getting crap reviews..

Whatever about the M900, what about the N900?

Seriously, I am thinking of getting one - can you link to a couple of bad reviews? Need to get the full picture before I spend the money.

Alanstrainor

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Whatever about the M900, what about the N900?

Seriously, I am thinking of getting one - can you link to a couple of bad reviews? Need to get the full picture before I spend the money.

+1. Seriously thinking about buying one of these, i've heard nothing but good reviews so far, there's a couple of small bugs here and there, but other than that the reports i've read so far have been very positive. I'm still wary about spending 500~ on a phone without having seen one in the flesh yet.

thirtythirty

Nexus One could be launched in January...

Blazer

It was just something I heard on the George Hook show..the tech guy was saying there was a few complaints on it..

regardless of what I think of the iphone it's still the only one really.
Even with my N96/N97 I really want the iphone but the O2 pricing is madness

eden_my_ass

stebishop wrote: »

Good Timing,

You sir need a Nokia n900, Just released.
http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/

http://wwww.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2055585686

Its worth stressing that the N900 is NOT strictly a phone, rather its an internet tablet (google N770, N800) which in its latest evolution includes cellular functionality. Its an approach from another direction, running an actual linux based OS and appears to be getting great reviews for what it is. I picked up a cheap N770 before and its a great gadget for what it does. The only reason I'm saying this is that I keep seeing comments elsewhere about the N900 being "too big for a phone", "missing basic contacts functionality", etc etc....yes...because its not primarily a phone.

On the plus side, it has a great developer community behind it so there is and will be loads of open source software available for it, and I expect the phone functionality will be added to from all angles

Tom Dunne

Berkut wrote: »

It was just something I heard on the George Hook show..the tech guy was saying there was a few complaints on it..

Ah now. Seriously?

Oafley Jones

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Ah now. Seriously?

Where do they find these guys? Yer man on Matt Cooper is equally bad, not to mention the awful tech supplements you get in newspapers. Anybody who reads engadget or gizmodo would be better than them.

jimmycrackcorm

/Quietly mentions HTC Hero before slipping away into the night./

00sully

android android android! a candle to iPhone?? more like a blowtorch in its face!

seriously, try an android device - new ones are equiped with snapdragon (1ghz giddyup!) processors and are slick also using HVGA resolution which is a must for web browsing!

the nexus one looks like the dogs alright, I got me an Acer Liquid and loving it!

if you need a carrier I'd wait till they get some android devices with specs like I've mentioned above - otherwise get in the game and get one sim free!

00sully

dang dang dang!! looks like i'll be upgrading mine sooner than I thought!

check out this beast!

http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/23/exclusive-nexus-one-full-specs-detailed-invite-only-retail-sal/

Icyseanfitz

from the research ive been doing for the last month the N900 is the way to go its like the opposite of the iphone everything is open source, same processor as iphone 3gs and a ton of neat functions like fm transmittor mozilla browser etc

Pete4779

eden_my_ass wrote: »

"missing basic contacts functionality", etc etc....yes...because its not primarily a phone.

Well it has everything that MS Outlook has for my contacts including addresses, postcodes, emails, multiple phone numbers and also integrated SKype so IM details for everything in one place for each contact. Basically, a big step up from what I have seen on Symbian, WIndows Mobile or iPhone. It will also pull in details rom Facebook and a other social networking services and update the proper contacts.

Better as a phone than Symbian was IMHO!

seclachi

Id also argue the iPhone isnt a pure phone, its an ipod with a cellphone built in, and a big one at that.

cnocbui

seclachi wrote: »

Id also argue the iPhone isnt a pure phone, its an ipod with a cellphone built in, and a big one at that.

Yes, but it has 35% less volume than the N900 brick, which is 18mm thick.

Elessar

The HTC HD2 is probably the best looking and most advanced phone on the market in terms of pure technology. Despite my JUST getting an iPhone 3Gs I am eyeing this up far too much....and HTCs "sense" user interface seems to iron out all of the horrible bits about windows mobile.

Here's a really good, unbiased review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tozt9pg0wZk

John_Mc

Would the HTC Hero be a good alternative to the iPhone? I like the open source nature of Android and would prefer it to the iPhone..

Thanks for all your answers so far

Bluefoam

IMO yes.

John_Mc wrote: »

Would the HTC Hero be a good alternative to the iPhone? I like the open source nature of Android and would prefer it to the iPhone..

Thanks for all your answers so far

GigaByte

Elessar wrote: »

The HTC HD2 is probably the best looking and most advanced phone on the market in terms of pure technology. Despite my JUST getting an iPhone 3Gs I am eyeing this up far too much....and HTCs "sense" user interface seems to iron out all of the horrible bits about windows mobile.

Here's a really good, unbiased review:

I'm loving my HD2, there is nothing the iphone can do that this beast can't do. I've installed fpsece 0.10 and can now play all my old PSX games!! and its free!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO5OTe6pwIo

and here's another great free app Morphgear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFaZvqK0Fkw