The fanboy finally gives in
24 June 2009, 03:50 PM
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The fanboy finally gives in
Forgive me, for I was tempted and was weak and gave into the temptation. In other words, I've gone and got myself one of those "marmite" devices (you either love it or hate it 
) known as an iPhone, a black 32GB 3GS to be precise.
As many know, I didn't get a 3G due to various reasons, which I've mentioned before and so won't bore you with now.
There was a little bit of a hiccup getting the phone, stock was somewhat lacking on Saturday, so they had to order a phone in for me, and it turned up yesterday afternoon.
Amusingly the first call I received was from a friend needing support, so at least I got to see that call display was working and the phone side of things worked very well indeed, sound was very good indeed, far better than my Sony Ericsson w200a.
Being a sad bugger, my next test was to drop into the Maps app and click the location button and it happily located me correctly. I then popped it into the holder in the car which had been home to my 4th Generation iPod. I plugged in the car charger that I'd also used with the iPod and it worked without issue, lovely!
I left the map screen on and watched as it tracked my location, I know, all very basic stuff, but hey, it's nice to see something cool on your new toy.
Upon getting home I thought I'd check voicemail was working and alas it was not. I'd had a text to say "press 1 to dial voicemail, then enter your voicemail password" Problem was, it asked for my phone number and after entering it, it said it wasn't valid. Quick call to Rogers support who got me to turn it off and take out the sim card and read off the last four digits to check the sim was properly activated, it was. They then sent a reset message and told me to leave the phone off for 10 minutes and then try voicemail again and see if it works.
In the mean time I was trying to put the sim card back in, but it wouldn't go, hmm, might help if I wasn't trying to put it into the dock connector port, rather than the hole for the sim card!
Card back in, 5 minutes passed, phone on, use landline to call phone, send to VM, VM works as it should, lovely. Visual voicemail also working and rather funky too.
My friend pops online, I ask if he wants any out of hours testing done (He develops iPhone apps), he says "so you finally got one then
", I send him my device id and he sends over one of his apps for me to test with. At first it would not appear in iTunes, then dozy bugger here realized "Applications" was not enabled in iTunes. After enabling it I was able to drag and drop the app into iTunes and then I synced the phone, volia! my first third party iPhone app.
After that I had a play with various things, grabbed a trial version of iToner to create custom ringtones, synced my address book and safari bookmarks and added some music to the phone.
By this time I needed to pick up Rose from work, so off we go, iPod mode blaring away quite happily. Got to the station with some time to spare, so flicked into Safari and checked to see if there were any delays, whilst the iPod still blares on. This is where I find device integration to be rather handy, something as simple as just checking the delay status whilst you are waiting.
Rose doesn't notice the new device at first, but once she does she has a quick play and seems fairly impressed.
Once home a bit more surfing, downloading free apps from the store, and general playing about. I took a few snaps with the camera of Rose and Lily, quality isn't too bad, certainly more that good enough for the times when I'd need to use the phone to take a picture, if I was going to specifically take pictures of something I'd grab my FZ-8.
This morning I've been trying to copy over the contacts from my W200a to the iPhone, hmm, not an easy task, and it's not a failing of the iPhone or Mac OS X. I'm not sure if it's a lack of driver for XP, or just something else, but the SE PC Suite won't allow me to copy contacts from the phone. I could purchase an iSync plugin to do it, but to be honest, simply re-typing the information would be quicker and cheaper, I don't have that many contacts anyway.
So, any problems? Well, the keyboard takes some getting used to. I've growled a few times after hitting the wrong character, and I've not got fat fingers either, but I'm getting better with time.
A lack of a printed version of the iPhone User Guide is a bit of a pain, I have downloaded it, but am loathe to print out 200 odd pages of it, and to be honest, reading the mobile version on the iPhone won't really cut it, mainly as I would want to be able to follow the instructions in the guide on the phone, which would mean quitting safari, doing something, coming back to safari then taking the next step, etc... Apple really should have put the guide in the box, which, as with most Apple products is a work of art. It says something when the box the product comes in is as well designed as the product itself.
The other niggle is working out what the phone is using for internet access. I can see my signal bar, which tells me I have cell signal, I also see the wifi icon indicating wifi connection and strength, but I've no indication of wether it's actually using the wifi or not. I'm led to believe from the user guide that if it were using 3G then I'd see a little blue 3G (as well as or instead of?) in the menu, and if it's EDGE then I'll see a little E (anyone got any vera's? Lovely!), and something else if it's GPRS. I've got a 6GB per month limit, so I'm not overly worried about using 3G, but I'd like to know what the phone is using at any given time. Any advice on this one appreciated.
Plans for today? Looking for more apps (sniif, Skype isn't available in the Canada Store)and learning more of the functionality. If anyone has a list of decent apps, let me know.
So far I am pretty impressed with the little devil. Will I be unlocking it? No. Why not? There is no point. Rogers and Fido are the only GSM carriers here, and Fido is part of the Rogers group, so the pricing is the same. The competition may be 3G, but they are CDMA rather than GSM, so they are of no use. When/if I need to travel outside Canada I may consider an unlock, but probably not.
I may well Jailbreak it, if/when it's available, as adding third-party apps not supported on the store does appeal somewhat.
) known as an iPhone, a black 32GB 3GS to be precise.As many know, I didn't get a 3G due to various reasons, which I've mentioned before and so won't bore you with now.
There was a little bit of a hiccup getting the phone, stock was somewhat lacking on Saturday, so they had to order a phone in for me, and it turned up yesterday afternoon.
Amusingly the first call I received was from a friend needing support, so at least I got to see that call display was working and the phone side of things worked very well indeed, sound was very good indeed, far better than my Sony Ericsson w200a.
Being a sad bugger, my next test was to drop into the Maps app and click the location button and it happily located me correctly. I then popped it into the holder in the car which had been home to my 4th Generation iPod. I plugged in the car charger that I'd also used with the iPod and it worked without issue, lovely!
I left the map screen on and watched as it tracked my location, I know, all very basic stuff, but hey, it's nice to see something cool on your new toy.
Upon getting home I thought I'd check voicemail was working and alas it was not. I'd had a text to say "press 1 to dial voicemail, then enter your voicemail password" Problem was, it asked for my phone number and after entering it, it said it wasn't valid. Quick call to Rogers support who got me to turn it off and take out the sim card and read off the last four digits to check the sim was properly activated, it was. They then sent a reset message and told me to leave the phone off for 10 minutes and then try voicemail again and see if it works.
In the mean time I was trying to put the sim card back in, but it wouldn't go, hmm, might help if I wasn't trying to put it into the dock connector port, rather than the hole for the sim card!
Card back in, 5 minutes passed, phone on, use landline to call phone, send to VM, VM works as it should, lovely. Visual voicemail also working and rather funky too.
My friend pops online, I ask if he wants any out of hours testing done (He develops iPhone apps), he says "so you finally got one then
", I send him my device id and he sends over one of his apps for me to test with. At first it would not appear in iTunes, then dozy bugger here realized "Applications" was not enabled in iTunes. After enabling it I was able to drag and drop the app into iTunes and then I synced the phone, volia! my first third party iPhone app.After that I had a play with various things, grabbed a trial version of iToner to create custom ringtones, synced my address book and safari bookmarks and added some music to the phone.
By this time I needed to pick up Rose from work, so off we go, iPod mode blaring away quite happily. Got to the station with some time to spare, so flicked into Safari and checked to see if there were any delays, whilst the iPod still blares on. This is where I find device integration to be rather handy, something as simple as just checking the delay status whilst you are waiting.
Rose doesn't notice the new device at first, but once she does she has a quick play and seems fairly impressed.
Once home a bit more surfing, downloading free apps from the store, and general playing about. I took a few snaps with the camera of Rose and Lily, quality isn't too bad, certainly more that good enough for the times when I'd need to use the phone to take a picture, if I was going to specifically take pictures of something I'd grab my FZ-8.
This morning I've been trying to copy over the contacts from my W200a to the iPhone, hmm, not an easy task, and it's not a failing of the iPhone or Mac OS X. I'm not sure if it's a lack of driver for XP, or just something else, but the SE PC Suite won't allow me to copy contacts from the phone. I could purchase an iSync plugin to do it, but to be honest, simply re-typing the information would be quicker and cheaper, I don't have that many contacts anyway.
So, any problems? Well, the keyboard takes some getting used to. I've growled a few times after hitting the wrong character, and I've not got fat fingers either, but I'm getting better with time.
A lack of a printed version of the iPhone User Guide is a bit of a pain, I have downloaded it, but am loathe to print out 200 odd pages of it, and to be honest, reading the mobile version on the iPhone won't really cut it, mainly as I would want to be able to follow the instructions in the guide on the phone, which would mean quitting safari, doing something, coming back to safari then taking the next step, etc... Apple really should have put the guide in the box, which, as with most Apple products is a work of art. It says something when the box the product comes in is as well designed as the product itself.
The other niggle is working out what the phone is using for internet access. I can see my signal bar, which tells me I have cell signal, I also see the wifi icon indicating wifi connection and strength, but I've no indication of wether it's actually using the wifi or not. I'm led to believe from the user guide that if it were using 3G then I'd see a little blue 3G (as well as or instead of?) in the menu, and if it's EDGE then I'll see a little E (anyone got any vera's? Lovely!
), and something else if it's GPRS. I've got a 6GB per month limit, so I'm not overly worried about using 3G, but I'd like to know what the phone is using at any given time. Any advice on this one appreciated.Plans for today? Looking for more apps (sniif, Skype isn't available in the Canada Store)and learning more of the functionality. If anyone has a list of decent apps, let me know.
So far I am pretty impressed with the little devil. Will I be unlocking it? No. Why not? There is no point. Rogers and Fido are the only GSM carriers here, and Fido is part of the Rogers group, so the pricing is the same. The competition may be 3G, but they are CDMA rather than GSM, so they are of no use. When/if I need to travel outside Canada I may consider an unlock, but probably not.
I may well Jailbreak it, if/when it's available, as adding third-party apps not supported on the store does appeal somewhat.
24 June 2009, 04:02 PM
#2
Scooby Senior
Pleased you're liking it Marcus. For the connection it's as simple as it can be. If you see a wifi sign it's using wifi and if you see a 3G, E or a O - for GPRS - it's using one of them. If you want to test this then unplug your wireless router from the telephone line, connect to it and try to get a page up.
The keyboard will learn your mistakes as you get better so does it.
The keyboard will learn your mistakes as you get better so does it.
24 June 2009, 04:06 PM
#3
Knew you would eventually 
HAd to set up a few new 3GS's the other day for a client. God I was tempted to swap my 3g for one of the new ones and see if they noticed
Can you sync the W200a with a pc running Outlook ? And then sync the iphone with outlook to get the contacts only ?
Correct. Normal cell signal nothing to the right of it means no data access
Little circle means GPRS
Obviously radiating lines aka airport is wifi
and 3G in blue or black means...well 3G
Normally when in blue it is active and hunting indicated by a twirling data circle.
E is edge plain and simple
You can turn off what you use in General/network but only 3G or Wifi. If you want to disable other items like bluetooth etc and want more control then Bossprefs on a jailbroken iphone will give you that.
Wifi when active and on to a network is the default setting and you will only know when the pages load quicker You can of course flick to the right on your wifi network to see the ip settings to check it is getting the range correctly. Many a time I have seen the wifi symbol but it is stuck at the 169.XXX address
Hope you like it
HAd to set up a few new 3GS's the other day for a client. God I was tempted to swap my 3g for one of the new ones and see if they noticed
This morning I've been trying to copy over the contacts from my W200a to the iPhone, hmm, not an easy task, and it's not a failing of the iPhone or Mac OS X. I'm not sure if it's a lack of driver for XP, or just something else, but the SE PC Suite won't allow me to copy contacts from the phone. I could purchase an iSync plugin to do it, but to be honest, simply re-typing the information would be quicker and cheaper, I don't have that many contacts anyway.
he other niggle is working out what the phone is using for internet access. I can see my signal bar, which tells me I have cell signal, I also see the wifi icon indicating wifi connection and strength, but I've no indication of wether it's actually using the wifi or not. I'm led to believe from the user guide that if it were using 3G then I'd see a little blue 3G (as well as or instead of?) in the menu, and if it's EDGE then I'll see a little E (anyone got any vera's? Lovely! ), and something else if it's GPRS. I've got a 6GB per month limit, so I'm not overly worried about using 3G, but I'd like to know what the phone is using at any given time. Any advice on this one appreciated.
Little circle means GPRS
Obviously radiating lines aka airport is wifi
and 3G in blue or black means...well 3G
Normally when in blue it is active and hunting indicated by a twirling data circle.E is edge plain and simple
You can turn off what you use in General/network but only 3G or Wifi. If you want to disable other items like bluetooth etc and want more control then Bossprefs on a jailbroken iphone will give you that.
Wifi when active and on to a network is the default setting and you will only know when the pages load quicker
You can of course flick to the right on your wifi network to see the ip settings to check it is getting the range correctly. Many a time I have seen the wifi symbol but it is stuck at the 169.XXX addressHope you like it
24 June 2009, 04:06 PM
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This morning I've been trying to copy over the contacts from my W200a to the iPhone, hmm, not an easy task, and it's not a failing of the iPhone or Mac OS X. I'm not sure if it's a lack of driver for XP, or just something else, but the SE PC Suite won't allow me to copy contacts from the phone. I could purchase an iSync plugin to do it, but to be honest, simply re-typing the information would be quicker and cheaper, I don't have that many contacts anyway.
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24 June 2009, 05:51 PM
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I'll be waiting to get one for a while i'll stick with my 3G, as the new features don't really twist my arm enough to warrant buying my contract out.
Welcome markus , this will be one of the best phones youv'e had
Welcome markus , this will be one of the best phones youv'e had
24 June 2009, 05:57 PM
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I know what you mean Ant. If I had a 3G then unless Rogers gave some superb deal on the 3GS, which won't happen, then I'd stick with the 3G until it's free/minimal update time, and/or wait until this time next year when the iPhone 3G SGT is out
25 June 2009, 12:30 AM
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Congratulations! You should spend $99 on the developer kit and start writing some applications. I'm debating whether I want to get back into programming and use the iPhone as a play platform.
Steve
Steve
25 June 2009, 01:36 AM
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if I could write proper code then I'd seriously consider it. The SDK is a free download and I do have XCode installed, along with the 2.x iPhone SDK and I believe the 3.0 version is available for free now. I might teach myself how to code properly, plus a very good friend of mine develops iPhone apps for a living, and he'd probably give me the odd tip when needed.
25 June 2009, 08:46 AM
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Nice one Marcus
I'm using an Android phone and although I have no real interest in writing apps for phones, I've downloaded the SDK and have a few apps up and working already. Not very useful but keeps me amused.
Anyone remember the days when you couldn't even add new ringtones to a mobile phone?
Cheers
Ian
I'm using an Android phone and although I have no real interest in writing apps for phones, I've downloaded the SDK and have a few apps up and working already. Not very useful but keeps me amused.
Anyone remember the days when you couldn't even add new ringtones to a mobile phone?
Cheers
Ian
25 June 2009, 10:44 AM
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I'm loving my 3GS, the compass (and I did raise an eyebrow when I saw Apple were adding a compass) is fantastic, when you press the location button a second time in Google Maps and it activates the compass and re-orientates the map as you move is such a great feature.
My wife and I are now Apple converts, she now has her white 16GB 3GS and I have the black 16GB model.
I want a MacBook now.
My wife and I are now Apple converts, she now has her white 16GB 3GS and I have the black 16GB model.
I want a MacBook now.
Last edited by Hanley; 25 June 2009 at 10:45 AM.
25 June 2009, 01:00 PM
#20
Register an account where there is a Skype application available - you don't actually need a credit card. Then download Skype from this store. Once it's in your apps it will install. I actually have 3 accounts in 3 countries and mix and match music, movies and apps without any problems.
25 June 2009, 01:36 PM
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You are indeed correct, Ebeneezer Goode from Boss Drum (Why they don't have the full version on Boss Drum I don't know, must grab the full one at some point)
Ah cunning plan! I've got a UK iTunes account, and possibly a US one. I did wonder if this method would work so I'll give it a shot.
Register an account where there is a Skype application available - you don't actually need a credit card. Then download Skype from this store. Once it's in your apps it will install. I actually have 3 accounts in 3 countries and mix and match music, movies and apps without any problems.
25 June 2009, 01:45 PM
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Ok, I think I'll have to go with the UK account as trying to create a US account isn't going to work as it's asking for credit card details, and it won't let you register without this. Somewhat annoying when some of the Apps are free.
25 June 2009, 04:01 PM
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A little update on the iTunes Account issue. There does appear to be a workaround if you only want to use free applications. I cannot take credit for finding this as I found the information elsewhere.
You'll need two valid bits of information before you start, namely, a valid postal address for the country you are creating a store account for, and a valid email account.
What I did was to create a new gmail account purely for this, and I used our old US office address, as I was creating a US account. You could pick the full postal address of a hotel for example.
Here's what you need to do:
1) Launch iTunes and click iTunes Store, once at the store, make sure you are logged out of any existing iTunes Store account, then scroll to the bottom of the store window and select the store you want to setup an account for.
2) The 'iTunes STORE' list on the left should have an "App Store" item listed, if not, then the country doesn't have an app store yet, so there isn't much you can do. If it's listed, click it, then pick any free application and click the "Get App" button.
3) You will be asked to sign in or create an account, so pick the create account option. Fill out the apple id (use your email address), password and email address and click continue.
4) You will now be at the payment information page. Select the "None" option*, then put in the postal address you picked and click continue. An email will then be sent to the address for you to verify the account, this is why you need a valid email address, otherwise the account won't be activated.
*This is the option the normal sign-up process does not have, and it's why you need to explicitly add a free app before creating an account.
You'll need two valid bits of information before you start, namely, a valid postal address for the country you are creating a store account for, and a valid email account.
What I did was to create a new gmail account purely for this, and I used our old US office address, as I was creating a US account. You could pick the full postal address of a hotel for example.
Here's what you need to do:
1) Launch iTunes and click iTunes Store, once at the store, make sure you are logged out of any existing iTunes Store account, then scroll to the bottom of the store window and select the store you want to setup an account for.
2) The 'iTunes STORE' list on the left should have an "App Store" item listed, if not, then the country doesn't have an app store yet, so there isn't much you can do. If it's listed, click it, then pick any free application and click the "Get App" button.
3) You will be asked to sign in or create an account, so pick the create account option. Fill out the apple id (use your email address), password and email address and click continue.
4) You will now be at the payment information page. Select the "None" option*, then put in the postal address you picked and click continue. An email will then be sent to the address for you to verify the account, this is why you need a valid email address, otherwise the account won't be activated.
*This is the option the normal sign-up process does not have, and it's why you need to explicitly add a free app before creating an account.
25 June 2009, 05:18 PM
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25 June 2009, 06:26 PM
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I'm a bit annoyed that I can't get any embedded video to play in Safari as most sites seem to be using flash. Was going to watch the F1 qualifying on it at the weekend, but the computer says no 
25 June 2009, 06:39 PM
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Still no Flash? I guess Apple want to stop you using 3rd Party apps. via Flash.
Flash is coming to Android phones in October
Is there not a BeebPlayer app for the iPhone that you can use ?
Cheers
Ian
Flash is coming to Android phones in October
Is there not a BeebPlayer app for the iPhone that you can use ?
Cheers
Ian
25 June 2009, 08:42 PM
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I'm not sure if this is a 3GS or a 3.0 thing but I do have a YouTube app pre-installed, plus I can view a youtube file that is embedded on a site, and the iPhone simulator app wasn't doing that for me, but then it's not running 3.0.
It's true, no flash still, and you're right, Apple is worried about people writing apps in flash that would not have been allowed, for whatever reason, into the App Store.
Not sure if there is an alternative iPlayer thing, preferably not requiring a jailbreak as I cannot do that.
I did see some Official F1 Live Timing app, but it's not free, its some subscription thing, hmm, maxy moneybags at is again!
It's true, no flash still, and you're right, Apple is worried about people writing apps in flash that would not have been allowed, for whatever reason, into the App Store.
Not sure if there is an alternative iPlayer thing, preferably not requiring a jailbreak as I cannot do that.
I did see some Official F1 Live Timing app, but it's not free, its some subscription thing, hmm, maxy moneybags at is again!
