thinking about upgrading to an iPhone - some questions

[itsnotatoy]

my current contract with 3 is up and as there is never any coverage in my house I want to change networks so see an opportunity....

I'm drawn towards an iPhone as I used to be a Mac devotee at work (so understand 'the Mac love'..)but have since gotten used to using pcs and all our home computers are PCs.

I'm more interested in taking and storing photos than music, but I think I'd use web access a lot if it was easy (not like current stuff on my oldish Nokia - groan)

I probably pay about £25 a month at the moment and use my phone mostly for texting and probably only use about 60 mins a month talk

So some questons:

• will the iPhone work ok with our PCs? Or would I be better off buying one of those others that I keep seeing reviewed as 'as good as an iPhone'?

• can I use the iPhone (Or anything else) to look at a few different email addresses or does it just pick up email from one account? (all are with virgin media but I use one for work, one for school stuff and one for everything else)

• will there be christmas deals if I hang on for a while, or better iPhone stuff once orange also on board

• Is there a big difference between the 3G 8GB and the 3GS 16GB?

sorry one last thing - am I wrong in assuming the iPhone has a good calendar (preferably for a few people at once a la dodo pad, and ways to have several 'to do' / shopping lists going at the same time - VITAL in my next phone!

Ooh, can I also add a question as I'm looking at this atm:

How many people find that 16GB is not enough space? The difference in price between the 16GB and the 32GB is a lot, so I'd really like to go for the 16GB.

blimey hadn't even spotted there was an even bigger one! I don't mind spending a bit of cash on this if bigger is worth it as it will be my christmas present to myself, but I'd also be interested to get it for less but tied into a contract if anyone know of any good deals about at them moment.

I registered with Orange (am on a contract with them atm) and they've just sent their tariffs through for existing customers. Don't know if they've published the tariff for new customers yet.

Interesting Flash...I too am an orange customer and have registered my interest in the iphone, but haven't had any information yet. Did you get it via email?

Yes email

Thank you...may I ask how long ago you received it? I have been checking my email quite a lot...but nothing yet.

I noticed there is now some information on plans for the iphone on the orange website
interest.orange.co.uk/?linkfrom=hp2&link=header_pushdown_pos_1_link_photo&article=091102x0830xbranda reaxiphonecomingsoonHere

I am not sure of the tarifs etc in UK but as to the other questions.

Generally I would go for the newer phone, the 3GS as it has some things that the 3G does not have. Definitely go for the 16GB or larger.

When I bought mine (3G 8GB) I meant to buy the 16GB but the salesperson made a mistake. I stupidly did not notice until much later. 8GB is not really enough, as I use it as a iPod so have 1230 songs on it. It is almost full.

You can use the iPhone to look up several email addresses, not a problem.

I use mine with a PC, no problems there.

The calender is ok but there are several applications that are better than the original iPhone calender.

This is the massive advantage that the iPhone has over other "like and iPhone phones, imo. The apps. There are so many apps for loads of different functions. I have Stanza (an eBook app) so that I can download and read books on mine. I also have a French/English dictionary, Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Grocery list, Internet radio, games for the DC and lots more.

The camera is not great tbh. Ok for quick snaps but there are other phones with much better cameras.

my 2p worth:

i doubt there'll be christmas deals, apple don't seem to do deals as a rule, the orange details are here and i think are cheaper than o2

16gb is fine for me, I don't have tons of music on there, quite a lot of photos

I'd definitely go with 3GS over 3G though - you get video and better performance etc

you can certainly have multiple email accounts, I'm not sure how virgin media email works, but i expect you can set them up

calendar is fine

lists - you would probably want to download an app for that - I use Zenbe (it's free), the notes app on the phone is a bit too basic

Be aware that Orange has been in the news for unreasonable restrictions in their Terms & Conditions for iPhone use. Might be worth going with O2 instead.

Go for the biggest memory that you can afford.

More and more websites have mobile versions so it is really good for surfing the net.

MN works better now since the kabuffle last weekend

They're not cheaper than O2, or not by much anyway - works out at about £4 saving over 24 months. But if you're ever going to stream anything using your iphone (spotify, skype, youtube, iplayer) then be aware that their T&Cs legally restrict you from doing that.

There's an app for that. But Orange won't let you use it

Guardian article: Want to use your Orange iPhone? There's a cap for that

MmeG - you mention better calendars than the iphone one - can you recommend one?

ooh i hadn't heard about that - defo go with o2 then, yes

I had my eye on the Pocket Informant one but it does not (yet) sync with Outlook so I am waiting for that to happen before I fork out the ?10 for it. It syncs with Google calender.

RubberDuck thanks for highlighting that. It seems very shortsighted of orange - I'll def stick with o2 in that case. I'm also keen to make sure if I have to sign an 18 month contract that it all has enough fexibility to let me do things online that aren't even around atm.

Hi I have had my iPhone for a year and lurrrvvvveee it

I use mine with a PC and it's totally fine no probs

I have just an 8 gb and find that's it's just starting to get a bit full but I suppose that depends how much music you have on it

I have been with Orange before and found their customer service shocking, I am now with O2 and they are great, I took out the insurance at £7 a month thought it was pricey at the time but since I am on my third handset now it's been well worth it! They collect your broken handset and give you the new one with 24 hours fantastic!!

dh looked at that Blackberry one and tbh it just didn't look anywhere near as good as the iphone

there's allsorts you can put on it too, I have facebook, ebay, rightmove, weightwatchers points finder, sports (for DH) loads of stuff

the only fault I can find is that the camera is pretty crap on it, and have no flash but hey I've got a digital camera anyway

"More and more websites have mobile versions so it is really good for surfing the net."

You can surf websites that don't have mobile versions too. You don't just have access to a cut down version of the web but pretty much the whole thing.

Sites that do make proper mobile versions are often easier but the iPhone/iPod Touch web browser is an excellent piece of software and makes most web sites very easy to use.

For some reason there was some poor formatting that made this site a bit of a handful, maybe I should see if it's changed....

Badgerspaws - I mn on the train every evening on my iphone - no problem!

itsnotatoy - The biggest difference between the G and the GS is battery power - dh has a G and he needs to recharge his a lot sooner (especially if he's been surfing) than my GS. I have the smaller size GS but I don't use it as an ipod so not bothered by that.
The wide range of apps is great, although I am still trying different ones to find the best for lists and to-dos (I'm still using the 'notes' and 'calendar' that are on the iphone when you get it which are ok to be honest).

Sorry, that was misleading. Of course normal websites can be used too, not just mobile ones.

I have Evernote for notes and it is ok. I would like one that does notes and tasks that sync with Outlook so if anyone has found one that does that, do let me know.

I have to say that I love love love my iPhone 3GS, 16Gb. There is absolutely an app for everything. I've got Facebook, Tweetie (for twitter), Skype on it. Ebay, Sky News, Shopping Lists, Wikipedia, Amazon, Radio Stations, Google Earth etc. I've also got a page of games for each of my DCs (6 & 3), and games for me. I could bore you to death about how much I love it.

My favourite app of all is Shazam - if you hear a song in a shop or on the radio, point your iphone at the speaker, and within about 10 seconds it'll tell you the name of the song, who sings it, which album it's from. Fantastic.

OK, you're bored now, I can tell.

Oh WOW I didn't know Shazam did that! Going to go download that right NOW!

lurve shazam. Just downloaded the barcode scanner onto mine and have been wandering round the house zapping things!

Off to bed to watch iplayer on it to wind down.

thanks for all the info guys- it's certainly making me lean more towards the iPhone as sounds like it can do all I want right now - why do you all need it to to synch with Outlook - is it for work things or do you all keep household diary type things on Outlook (wonders if I am missing something big here....).

whichwitchisthis out of interest how are you already on your third one? I'm thinking the insurance may well be worth it in this case!