Iphone 3gs Launched Today

[motoyen]

Any idea what an unlocked 3GS iPhone will cost in Bangkok? I'm in Germany right now and I've heard that Italy sells fully unlocked phones so I might pick it up here depending on how much they cost in BKK.

[MJo]

You don't buy an iPhone because of its feature - you buy it for the user experience. I've had a Nokias and Samsung before and despite the camera they had, I've never really took pictures with the phones because it wasn't an easy painless experience to do so. Taking the pictures off the phone was often complicated or not intuitive (required a bunch of key presses to get where I wanted). I'm sure it has improved a lot since 2006 though.

The iPhone executes browsing, mail, address book better than my old Nokia and Samsung phones. I've got tons of apps that I find useful and the experience of finding the app I want is painless, quick and easy.

I believe that the iPhone is all about user experience, nothing else.

Fully agree, actually both are all about user experience just the case of which way you prefer.

Nowdays in Nokia phone it's one button press to open camera and one more press to take photo. one press more and you can choose from multiple web services where you can download it direct from the "camera". So much easier than before, however it might be different for low end phones.

I would claim both, high end Nokia and Iphone are in par what comes to usability. Biggest divider between users propably is keypad vs touch screen and the smart business look of Nokia vs IPhone shiny accessory design.

Edit: forgot to add that connectivity with your pc is much better nowdays as they revamped the pcsuite software. Just install the software connect your phone via USB, Bluetooth, infra red (still in some models). You can also choose data storage mode so that your phone and SDmicro card show as thumb drive and it is easy to copy paste your photos to your pc.

Edited June 10, 2009 by MJo

[cobra]

... Feature A on the iPhone is a bit different in that it works amazingly well and you end up using it every day, in fact, you find yourself using your phone for things you never dreamed possible (*). I use the iPod, and nearly all other iPhone apps on a regular basis - they add value to the day, rather than being tech demos ...

Exactly, it's the varied countless apps that make the iPhone (and iTouch) basically an electronic Swiss Army Knife.

With the built in accelerometer and other, there's an app where you can check your bp just by putting it up to your neck, or using it as a mechanics level, or compass, and many more, these are tools you can and will use everyday, oh yeah, you can also make a call with it,

[MJo]

... Feature A on the iPhone is a bit different in that it works amazingly well and you end up using it every day, in fact, you find yourself using your phone for things you never dreamed possible (*). I use the iPod, and nearly all other iPhone apps on a regular basis - they add value to the day, rather than being tech demos ...

Exactly, it's the varied countless apps that make the iPhone (and iTouch) basically an electronic Swiss Army Knife.

With the built in accelerometer and other, there's an app where you can check your bp just by putting it up to your neck, or using it as a mechanics level, or compass, and many more, these are tools you can and will use everyday, oh yeah, you can also make a call with it,

I liked the good old "lie detector" that was available for S60 series few year ago. I'm sure it has been converted to iphone as well

[PurpleNote]

Any idea what an unlocked 3GS iPhone will cost in Bangkok? I'm in Germany right now and I've heard that Italy sells fully unlocked phones so I might pick it up here depending on how much they cost in BKK.

Not sure what it will set you back price-wise but I just bought a 3G at MBK about 2 months ago and all the instruction manuals and such were in Italian. I asked for a Hong Kong unlocked and when I saw the manuals I asked the guy about it and he said it was same-same since both countries have to sell them unlocked. So, no matter how you look at it, I'm pretty sure buying it in Italy is going to be much cheaper than having someone send one from Italy to Bangkok with who know's how many middle-men making a small cut.

As for the side debate going on about whether or not the phone is as good as other phones . . . I agree that it comes down to interface and ease of use. Personally I rarely use a phone for taking pictures unless absolutely necessary. I'm not going to be snapping off photos of a friend's wedding on any phone. I have a dSLR or 7MP point and shoot for that kind of stuff. Everything else on the iPhone though seems to be on par with other phones (I also don't use MMS so that's not even a consideration).

And as someone else said, I now use my phone far more often than I ever used any other phone. I never played a game on my Nokia or Blackberry other than something simple like Tetris. Before my iPhone I hated SMS because I had to triple or quadruple click keys on my other phone (except, of course, my Blackberry). I've gotten so used to the keyboard I can crank out emails just as quickly as I used to on my Blackberry and I almost never find myself leaving home without my digital leash.

In other words, I not only get more utility out of the iPhone than I have out of other phones but I use it more often which makes me more (and sometimes less) productive. So for me the iPhone is a win. Others who want a high-quality camera or other features that iPhone doesn't excel at might not feel the same way but it works for me.

That is the same way it was for me when I first purchased a Mac. I had been either a Windows or Linux user for many, many years. But when I went to go buy a new laptop I ended up forking out the extra cash for a Mac just to give OS X a try (I had worked on previous versions of the Mac OS and was not impressed). Two years later when I found that my MacBook wasn't fast enough anymore I went with a MacBook Pro rather than a PC. Again, same as the iPhone it just seems so much more intuitive. Especially the *nix foundation as I've been around Unix and Linux for years.

I'm not one of those people who gets into religious wars between Mac and PC but I have to say that since I've started using Apple products I do find the interface to my technology to be much more simple. And once I got over the hurdle of wanting to control the machine instead of using it for the task at hand I have been much happier.

Some people will love the iPhone. Some will hate it. I'm no fan-boy of any platform but for the day to day stuff in my life, Apple got this product just right.

[Fun2Fun]

If you compare the new Iphone 3GS to the new Samsung OMNIA HD i8910 , the Iphone comes off as quite archaic.

[saintofsilence]

today I spoke to one of the shops in mbk and was told that they are expecting the 3GS unlocked version sometime in july no price details yet

[TheLaughingMan]

If you compare the new Iphone 3GS to the new Samsung OMNIA HD i8910 , the Iphone comes off as quite archaic.

Right but will the OMNIA be as smooth? That was my biggest problem with all other phones outside the Iphone, things just moved way to slow and sluggishly. Iphone is fast smooth and beautiful, I dont have time for all kinds of features I can barely use, I want features that instantly respond.

[nikster]

I believe that the iPhone is all about user experience, nothing else.

Yeah exactly. Feature lists don't do it justice. Once you get used to the iPhone, you can't go back.

BTW I like the 1100 because it's a dumbphone that works great - just like any other Nokia dumbphone. I don't like Nokia smartphones because they don't work very well. Shoulda made that more clear.

One funny thing I noticed recently was a Nokia advert for a new email feature phone. Email is the big thing with this phone, and there's a big advertisement, just enter your email account information and off you go! Well. That's great. But on the iPhone, I don't enter any email account information. I just click those accounts I want to have on the phone, and it gets all this info from my computer - the user name, servers, passwords, all that stuff. It's such an obvious idea - yet, before the iPhone nobody did it. And even now, Nokias don't do it, even on their featured email phone.

[elibangkok]

The genius of the Iphone is not in it's out of the box features, but in the apps being developed for it.

What Apple has done is financially motivated (tens of) thousands of developers to work on new features for their device. Sure, some of them will be or are available on other devices, but some of them aren't or won't be.

[saintofsilence]

not sure what the price for 32GB will be here in thailand but vodaphone have it unlocked for $1040 aud approx 27000 baht

[nikster]

not sure what the price for 32GB will be here in thailand but vodaphone have it unlocked for $1040 aud approx 27000 baht

Nice - are all Aussie operators now offering the iPhone unlocked and without contract?

[Fun2Fun]

If you compare the new Iphone 3GS to the new Samsung OMNIA HD i8910 , the Iphone comes off as quite archaic.

Right but will the OMNIA be as smooth? That was my biggest problem with all other phones outside the Iphone, things just moved way to slow and sluggishly. Iphone is fast smooth and beautiful, I dont have time for all kinds of features I can barely use, I want features that instantly respond.

As fast if not faster...

Review and video can be found here...

Price for the Samsung will be about the same as an unlocked Iphone 3GS in Thailand, around 27.000 THB.

Edited June 26, 2009 by Fun2Fun

[TheLaughingMan]

You must not own an iphone, I watched the videos of that phone, it was unresponsive, slow and sluggish. Exactly what I would avoid. I got excited at first because it has an 8 megapixel camera with video, but sure enough buddy started trying to swipe the screen and open applications and it was slow and stupid, like all symbian phones.

Yup just watched yet another video, it really is sluggish. Trying to swipe things to the side and the finger leads the item by a significant amount, then when the item does move it does it in bumps and jumps not a smooth transition, real ugly. Then the guy has to tap things 4 or 5 times to get it to respond, would be funny if he wasn't trying to advocate the phone.

Edited June 26, 2009 by TheLaughingMan

[saintofsilence]

not sure what the price for 32GB will be here in thailand but vodaphone have it unlocked for $1040 aud approx 27000 baht

Nice - are all Aussie operators now offering the iPhone unlocked and without contract?

not sure I think only vodaphone at the moment

[john11f]

any updates when the new iPhone 3Gs will be launched in Thailand?

or anyone know how much they're selling them unlocked in MBK?

[bubba]

Most of you confirm that True's iphone is unlocked.. As many of you will know, the new 3Gs is out.. It looks attractive but not worth the price it's going to sell for when you can just get the current 3g and just update the software. My question to anyone who can help me is...

1. If i get the iphone 3g that is unlocked by True, will it 'relock' itself once i do the 3.0 software update or restore the phone, or reset etc.??

2. How do i know if its 100% factory unlocked?

Any help would be much appreicated

Thanks again

Pim

1. Legal "factory unlocked" iPhones are permanently unlocked. Since True is an authorised distributor, their unlocked phones are truly unlocked. I have a factory unlocked phone and have been through Apple firmware updates (including the new 3.0) and also jailbreaks, and it remains unlocked. No worries there.

2. If you buy it from an Apple authorised distributor (True or some of the Apple shops, such as MacCafe, who are a lot easier to deal with than True), you can rest assured it is factory unlocked.

Here is a link for MacCafe just in case:

http://www.maccafethai.com/

[Lazy Sod]

Most of you confirm that True's iphone is unlocked.. As many of you will know, the new 3Gs is out.. It looks attractive but not worth the price it's going to sell for when you can just get the current 3g and just update the software. My question to anyone who can help me is...

1. If i get the iphone 3g that is unlocked by True, will it 'relock' itself once i do the 3.0 software update or restore the phone, or reset etc.??

2. How do i know if its 100% factory unlocked?

Any help would be much appreicated

Thanks again

Pim

1. Legal "factory unlocked" iPhones are permanently unlocked. Since True is an authorised distributor, their unlocked phones are truly unlocked. I have a factory unlocked phone and have been through Apple firmware updates (including the new 3.0) and also jailbreaks, and it remains unlocked. No worries there.

2. If you buy it from an Apple authorised distributor (True or some of the Apple shops, such as MacCafe, who are a lot easier to deal with than True), you can rest assured it is factory unlocked.

Here is a link for MacCafe just in case:

http://www.maccafethai.com/

Excuse my ignorance but if I buy an oficially unlocked iPhone 3GS from outside of Thailand, and then bring it to Thailand and insert my AIS SIM card, then it will work no problem and allow firmware updates etc.? Exactly the same as when you purchase an unlocked one from True? I worry that they are unlocked only for the country in which they are bought (use with SIM card from that country). You never know with Apple.

[bubba]

Most of you confirm that True's iphone is unlocked.. As many of you will know, the new 3Gs is out.. It looks attractive but not worth the price it's going to sell for when you can just get the current 3g and just update the software. My question to anyone who can help me is...

1. If i get the iphone 3g that is unlocked by True, will it 'relock' itself once i do the 3.0 software update or restore the phone, or reset etc.??

2. How do i know if its 100% factory unlocked?

Any help would be much appreicated

Thanks again

Pim

1. Legal "factory unlocked" iPhones are permanently unlocked. Since True is an authorised distributor, their unlocked phones are truly unlocked. I have a factory unlocked phone and have been through Apple firmware updates (including the new 3.0) and also jailbreaks, and it remains unlocked. No worries there.

2. If you buy it from an Apple authorised distributor (True or some of the Apple shops, such as MacCafe, who are a lot easier to deal with than True), you can rest assured it is factory unlocked.

Here is a link for MacCafe just in case:

http://www.maccafethai.com/

Excuse my ignorance but if I buy an oficially unlocked iPhone 3GS from outside of Thailand, and then bring it to Thailand and insert my AIS SIM card, then it will work no problem and allow firmware updates etc.? Exactly the same as when you purchase an unlocked one from True? I worry that they are unlocked only for the country in which they are bought (use with SIM card from that country). You never know with Apple.

Hey no worries, no question is ignorant when you are new to all this stuff! I actually have an officially unlocked iPhone that I bought in Hong Kong, and then I activated it when I was in the Philippines with a Thai AIS SIM card...no problems there, and all the firmware updates have worked without a problem, and they will always work in the future. With that combination of variables, I think any problems are ruled out. You always get a truly and permanently unlocked phone when you buy it that way from an Apple authorised shop.

[ben2talk]

[quote I will give Microsoft credit for one thing though, their mice are far better than Apple's. So they have that going for them.

Why do you give credit for a 40 year old mouse design to Microsoft? I don't use Microsoft, my mouse is from HP and I don't use Microsoft.

Just give Apple credit for creating a stupid mouse and forcing it's users to use a crippled Operating System that doesn't allow them to change it to function the way they would like - every other operating system will allow support for multi-button mouse, mousewheels, and it wouldn't be too hard to code new libraries to cope with new kinds of hardware. This is just something Apple just don't think you should want.

[karenmw460]

For those of you who bought the unlocked phones from True, and used an AIS (or some other carrier) Sim card, don't you have to buy the monthly package from True? I thought that was compulsory? Don't really want to pay both True and AIS monthly packages.