Iphone

[RoobLaw]

Here's a very informative article in today's «Ò¹¿ÃÒ¹«ÔÊâ¡ Chronicle at

Touch-screen cell phones

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/05/BU7IT5LGA.DTL

Talks about the good and bad of the iPhone as well as a link to the full Cnet review. The article also evaluates other Touch-screen mobile phone models.

[zeusbheld]

If its even half as much grief as the iPod I just bought it then you can keep it...!

Beast.

jeez poor you, imagine what would happen if you got something that was actually complicated to use...

I had one of them once..I believe it was called a 'woman' or something like that..no instructions but no matter what buttons were pressed different things happened every time...some times it would turn off with no warning..sometimes couldnt switch on but most of the time was loud. Occasionally the device required maintenance but strangely no matter how much money was spent on it..it never seemed to work properly..

jeez maybe you're just cursed when it comes to hi-tech luxury items?

my woman works fine...

well, i'll admit i have a tendency to upgrade every couple of years though...

Dont buy a woman..

will consider a rental when i stop getting 'em for free.

The iPod issue is in the small part sussed..the software was corrupt so wouldnt work properly. Reloaded itunes and downloaded fresh iPod software and touch wood its ok now.

ah. d'oh. didn't think of that. it's always worth a try; that and whatever disk repair utilities you run. it didn't seem like itunes should have been that difficult to get the result you wanted.

[RoobLaw]

Okay, I finally got the inside scoop.

Apple iPhone is not officially out here.

The phones are operating illegally as the phones are "unlocked" iPhones. Since Apple does not discount it's products, the phone must be acquired for $399, then brought here, then unlocked, and resold. $399 = 13,370 Baht

After unlocking, loading software, and reseling the phone, they range anywhere from 19,500 to 25,000 on the Thai black market.

Apple is officially licensed to work on the AT&T mobile network and the unlocking issue has been a concern regarding terms everwhere.

The downside of using the iPod Touch is the lack of availability of free wi-fi spots around BKK and beyond.

[CiaranM]

I bought a Nokia N72 only last week - are you telling me it's out of date already?

it's out of date 6 months (or more) ago !!!

I still can't send an mms on the damn thing.

u need ur service provider to activate some-thingy-mebob to allow u to send and receive MMS !!! i just went to nearesr AIS branch and it was done in 2 minutes !!

[robbie36]

I have bought both the iphone and the itouch (for personal reasons that are too boring to mention).

For Thailand use I would recommend the iphone over the itouch...

You obviously pay a premium (about Bt7000 for the equivalent 8gb models)

BUT..

(1) Iphone obviously has a phone and edge data services. These are relatively cheap on unlocked iphones using DTAC/AIS etc...

(2) Iphone has speakers. Pretty puny admittedly but quite useful nonetheless.

(3) I cant seem to get some apps on the itouch that I get on the iphone - such as a mail app. (May change over time).

(4) Iphone has a marginally better screen.

(5) Nothing about the Itouch is better ....hmmm.... apart from the fact that it is thinner...

Finally for me the really BIG thing I like about the iphone is that I dont have to keep two products - a phone and an ipod - with me. That to me is the beauty of the phone.

(Comments particularly apply to Thailand where the price between using an iphone (inc. operating costs) and an itouch is I suspect lower than any other country.)

[zeusbheld]

I bought a Nokia N72 only last week - are you telling me it's out of date already?

it's out of date 6 months (or more) ago !!!

I still can't send an mms on the damn thing.

u need ur service provider to activate some-thingy-mebob to allow u to send and receive MMS !!! i just went to nearesr AIS branch and it was done in 2 minutes !!

I went to DTAC today and they set it up for me mate. I'm now free to send my naked phone pics to all and sundry.

(And I gotta tell you the birds in DTAC were damn hot. I mean DAMN hot!)

you are sooooo six months ago. but on the dtac hiring hotties thing i have to agree, even as squaresville as you are, daddy-o.

[BeeJay]

I got mine in MBK last friday, works perfectly both in LOS and Europe

the unlocked are sold officially in GER for EUR 999, thats 50.000 Baht

so I bought mine unlocked for 20.000 in MBK .

great device I love it

wolk in the house, or anywhere else wheres theres wifi and can read emails , otherwise use edge.

[CiaranM]

I bought a Nokia N72 only last week - are you telling me it's out of date already?

it's out of date 6 months (or more) ago !!!

I still can't send an mms on the damn thing.

u need ur service provider to activate some-thingy-mebob to allow u to send and receive MMS !!! i just went to nearesr AIS branch and it was done in 2 minutes !!

I went to DTAC today and they set it up for me mate. I'm now free to send my naked phone pics to all and sundry.

why the f**k did i tell him what to do ?????

[stegee]

I got mine in MBK last friday, works perfectly both in LOS and Europe

the unlocked are sold officially in GER for EUR 999, thats 50.000 Baht

so I bought mine unlocked for 20.000 in MBK .

great device I love it

wolk in the house, or anywhere else wheres theres wifi and can read emails , otherwise use edge.

what's with all the abbreviating place names and why didn't you abbreviate europe?? :?: :?:

[Bruce551]

China copy iPhone, 7000 baht

http://www.iphoneworld.ca/news/2007/12/07/high-quality-apple-iphone-copies-in-china-for-19653/

The official name of this iPhone ripoff is ?High quality copy UNLOCKED IPHONE AV-P688 SIMILAR STYPLE IPOD GSM CELL PHONE WITH MP3 MP4 FUNCTION?

This iPhone clone has a 262,144 colors screen with 176*220 pixel resolution. It features mp3 music playback, mp4 videos playback, 2MP camera, a huge 1MB (Yes, you read it right! At least that?s what the official description states.) of memory (of course allowing use of memory cards), and unlike the real iPhone it obviously comes unlocked, so you could use it on any network. Dimensions are 103×48×16.5mm with 75 gram weight.

MBK should have soon

[Bruce551]

This might be good because it does not modify the iPhone operating system.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONICSIM-CARD-Iphone-1-1-2-otb-unlock-Ships-Daily_W0QQitemZ200184983505QQihZ010QQcategoryZ48501QQcmdZViewItem

The video is cool. Reminds me of "Neromancer" by William Gibbson.

:wink:

[R.Win]

EVERYBODY don't be fooled by chinese copies.

It looks real cute and all but and it probably has some very happy software running on it but no matter how you put it.

IT"S CHINESE , it's not Japanese, not Korean, not Taiwanese, not Thai. I mean although they can work hard like no other when it comes to finese and quality they just don't deliver... not on the illegal copy side of things anyway.

Talk to thai people anywhere here and ask them about chinese phones, if they're honest they wil all tell you the same... cheap but very very low quality.

If the iPhone is too expensive buy a Nokia or that Prada thingie or wait, save some more money and buy the renewed model half way next year which will definately have more memory and other features.

[zeusbheld]

IT"S CHINESE , it's not Japanese, not Korean, not Taiwanese, not Thai. I mean although they can work hard like no other when it comes to finese and quality they just don't deliver... not on the illegal copy side of things anyway.

good thing you put the "illegal copy" disclaimer. chances are the legit, official iphone is manufactured in china, if the ipod and apple laptops are anything to go by.

as to the illegal copy side of things, chinese illegal copies tend to be far better than thai illegal copies if DVDs are any indication. however, key word is 'illegal copy'. if you're making an illegal copy of something, chances are the margins on the original are not so fat that you can make a profit without cutting a lot of corners. so naturally the illegal copy will be shitty compared to the original.

[R.Win]

Glad we agree! And the dvd's here they can't get any worse, half of them are just shot in the cinema so aren't even copies. I also saw some where they just cut out half the footage so tehy'd fit on a regular cd.

Lately i looks more like you're screwing yourself big time if you buy illegal copies and maybe that's a good thing too.

[R.Win]

Oh BTW

Apple products are mostly ASSEMBLED in China but the parts aren't they come from everywhere. And yes they are worth going for, true they are DISGRACEFULL expensive but they do run faster and more reliable. Some pc magazines even refealed that the fastest VISTA machine is a MAC whilst you can run VISTA or XP just on the side, they're originally produced for MAC OSX which is better in every way anyway.

[Damnam1]

In Germany it is available since two months with Telekom company only. It doesnt work 100 % with other providers, so not all functions work properly if Telekom is not your partner.

As Apple demands 30 % of the calls made from Telekom this makes IPhone an expensive pleasure as there are special rates..

The demand for it here in Germany is not very high. Therefore Telekom is heavily soliciting the Iphone. Too expensive, lots of problems and few users -all that doesnt make it an Apple product we love. I thought about it but will stick to my second N 95.

[zeusbheld]

Oh BTW

Apple products are mostly ASSEMBLED in China but the parts aren't they come from everywhere. And yes they are worth going for, true they are DISGRACEFULL expensive but they do run faster and more reliable. Some pc magazines even refealed that the fastest VISTA machine is a MAC whilst you can run VISTA or XP just on the side, they're originally produced for MAC OSX which is better in every way anyway.

the parts come from everywhere---but a lot of the circuit boards etc are made in china too. why? most cost-effective, and chinese workers tend to do good work if you expect it of them. the difficult thing in china is keeping your workers from selling the design of your products to someone who will make cheap copies. don't let's get into whether the wages border on slave labor...

also don't let's get started on whether macs are overpriced, or the mac vs windows thing (it's pointless as most people are deeply entrenched in whatever they use and becomes irrational very quickly). but i did price a dell with the same features when i bought my macbook pro a year ago, and the dell cost US$200 more.

[zeusbheld]

In Germany it is available since two months with Telekom company only. It doesnt work 100 % with other providers, so not all functions work properly if Telekom is not your partner.

As Apple demands 30 % of the calls made from Telekom this makes IPhone an expensive pleasure as there are special rates..

The demand for it here in Germany is not very high. Therefore Telekom is heavily soliciting the Iphone. Too expensive, lots of problems and few users -all that doesnt make it an Apple product we love. I thought about it but will stick to my second N 95.

are they GSM phones or CDMA? if htey're GSM, it sounds like they're locked. i don't like this strategy on apple's part. in the US it makes more sense as it's all CDMA and many other manufacturers also sell their handset only through one provider, so the customer is used to getting screwed in that particular way.

i'd imagine that official iphones in asia would have to be unlocked GSM, given the nature of mobile phone service here...

[R.Win]

The Logic boards are Taiwanese

[zeusbheld]

The Logic boards are Taiwanese

logic boards for which? if you mean macbook pros, it isn't consistent. granted this was about 3 years ago but i've taken apart about half a dozen 12" macbook pro g4s and some were chinese motherboards. maybe different with intel.

they used to assemble the mac laptops in taiwan but now they're doing them in china. i dont' know if they are still doing some in taiwan though. i'm not going to check on my motherboard as i might slightly void the warranty if they figure out i've opened the case, so best to let *them* open it as necessary.