iPhone out this week

ads said:
Can anyone provide an update on unlocking the iPhone 3G? Being forced to use Vodacom may be just too much of a hurdle. Isn't network locking illegal here anyway?

From what I've read, it may just be better to stick to the GSM version anyway. At least you can unlock it and use it anywhere, and there's a lot more coverage. Speed is not as different as people think, and the UMTS version eats power.
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iirc the operators signed a memorandum with ICASA not to network lock phones. http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/817.html
 
PRICE!????

What's up with the Ridiculous Pricing?... , the Iphone is £200 = less then R3000!.

With import duty and everything, it should'nt be more then R4000...

It's gonna come out here at nothing less then R6000 or so I've heard from vodacom!
 
bwana said:
iirc the operators signed a memorandum with ICASA not to network lock phones. http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/817.html
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Thanks for the link.

I bought my Nokia E71 from Makro (Vodacom prepaid) and I was told it is not SIM/network locked. The hardware and the firmware are both untouched (no signs of Vodafone Live! anywhere). I was told that if I decide to use another network, the second year of warranty coverage is forfeited (standard one year on the handset still applies). I have not put in an MTN SIM (for example) to test the unlocked theory, but I'm pretty confident that it is :cool:
 
fz1 said:
Thanks for the link.

I bought my Nokia E71 from Makro (Vodacom prepaid) and I was told it is not SIM/network locked. The hardware and the firmware are both untouched (no signs of Vodafone Live! anywhere). I was told that if I decide to use another network, the second year of warranty coverage is forfeited (standard one year on the handset still applies). I have not put in an MTN SIM (for example) to test the unlocked theory, but I'm pretty confident that it is :cool:
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You happy with your E71? I'm upgrading in November and I'm looking at the E71 or the E66.
 
iPhone 2.0???

Let's just clarify something here. It's NOT iPhone 2.0 that's being released but iPhone 3G. The 2.0 "software" has been available for some time now. All existing users in SA with an iPhone would have upgraded a while ago.

Also of interest to people who think the phone won't be a few thousand rand, think again. I saw an advert for the HTC diamond (I think) for a R1899 pay in on a TALK500 contract. That's insane! I can't see the iPhone being that well subsidised.
 
IAMZAIN said:
What's up with the Ridiculous Pricing?... , the Iphone is £200 = less then R3000!
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The 200 dollars is not buying the phone outright, they still have to sign a contract, pretty much the same as here.

I'm glad Vodacom delayed the launch, cause if they hadn't I would have stupidly gone with it.
 
at this rate, u'll sign the contract for the iPhone3G and still won't know what it's gonna cost u ;)
 
EtienneK said:
You happy with your E71? I'm upgrading in November and I'm looking at the E71 or the E66.
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Both excellent phones, in my opinion (the best of Nokia, and in my mind, therefore the best in the market ;)) I would say that the E66 and E71 are so evenly matched that the most important thing you need to ask yourself to decide which one you want is whether you need a keyboard or not.

Feature wise, the E66 has an accelerometer (E71 doesn't) which lets you rotate its screen easily, and perform gimmicks (like silencing an incoming call by picking up the phone and putting it back face-down). It (E66) also has fancy-looking (fade in) transitions when navigating from one screen to another (so there may be some minor software differences between the two).

I must warn you about a serious flaw with the E71, though (obviously, I only discovered this after I had started using the phone): the antenna is in the base of the phone, and is overly sensitive. If you hold the phone and cover that area (which is easy to do) signal strength will suffer (for example, if I cover the area with my hand, I go from 4 bars of 3G signal, to 5 bars of GSM only). This would normally be okay, but I find that this really causes problems and timeouts if you happen to be using a data connection (things will time out, the connection will be connected but appear dead, etc.) AND, the phone takes its sweet time to pick up a 3G signal again once you leave it alone. You can Google this to read up on the details. The bottom line is that I seriously considered returning the phone - until I looked up Makro's policy that they will not refund phones, they will send them to the manufacturer and leave it at their discretion. There IS hope that perhaps a firmware upgrade will alleviate the problem (especially since data connections become unusable where they should actually degrade gracefully), but I'm not holding my breath on that. I'm not sending a brand new phone to some clueless Nokia person that is going to take it apart, put it back together haphazardly (so it will never be the same again) and then tell me there is nothing wrong with it, all the while being without a phone...
 
I'm guessing the Vodacom deal will be:

* R2400 once-off pay-up/buy-in
* R800 per month
* 200 free 'talktime' minutes
* 500MB data

Or something like that.
 
I don't really care about what the price is... I just want one..
 
iPhone = iHype = iMminent
= crap = expensive = useless = i wanted one but waited to long = vodacom can suck on this!
 
bwana said:
Seriously get whatever phone you like but just buy yourself a decent point and shoot if you're at all interested in photography - they have better glass and superior sensors than any camera phone. :o
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Just a friendly reminder that as with everything in life exceptions do exist : Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
 
Rouxenator said:
Just a friendly reminder that as with everything in life exceptions do exist : Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
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They're nice snapshots but I'm not sure what the point is you're trying to make with them.

Point and shoots have better glass and have bigger sensors which camera phone manufacturers are willing to sacrifice for smaller form factors and instead rely upon heavy processing to remove noise.

Good snapshots might have been spectacular photographs had they been taken with the right gear.
 
fz1 said:
I must warn you about a serious flaw with the E71, though (obviously, I only discovered this after I had started using the phone): the antenna is in the base of the phone, and is overly sensitive. If you hold the phone and cover that area (which is easy to do) signal strength will suffer (for example, if I cover the area with my hand, I go from 4 bars of 3G signal, to 5 bars of GSM only).
Click to expand...
Strange, I couldnt get the signal to drop even one notch on my E71 when using both my hands to cover it's base.

Maybe I'm just more transparent then most.
 
One thing to remember is that the iPhone can't be used to watch movies or listen to music on airplanes as it is a "wireless device". Even Flight Mode is still illegal. Something to consider if you are a frequent traveller.
 
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