Right, let me start out by saying… ‘yes, i am a little bit of a mac fanatic atm, due to their nice design and ultra quiet kit’ but, and theirs always a but. The iPhone isnt something im rushing out to buy this evening, and looking by the massive centimeter queues at the three stores in Plymouth City center (2 of them across the street from each other) im guessing their not gonna be ‘chav gear’ either.

Few specs from my O2 shop experience, firstly as i walked through the open door i was pretty much acosted by an O2 sales dude whos job it seems for the evening had been to stand outside and give people a number as they walked in (still have no idea what this was for, i left mine on a counter somewhere because no-one even asked me for it once i actually made it inside)… I however found it quite humerous that after my encounter with the overzealous apple  number man, he decided to try it on with a 80 year old woman who at this point was standing ‘in’ the doorway (blocking my entrance), but looked utterly confused at where she was, let alone what in iPhone was and if she was buying one…

Once inside the store, which under normal circumstances (being an O2 customer for a year) is deserted of intellectual help, was packed with O2 busy bodies trying to pitch their sales technique… being a master of ‘duck’n'wieve’ i managed to evade them and head for an open demonstration table. I was only their for about 2 seconds when one of the O2 overlords spotted an interested buyer and pounced… Explaining the packages and features (which i already new lol).. After beating him off with a stick (luckily i remembered to take it with me), i continued to explore the features, which were pretty much identical to the iPod Touch, and even helped me with a little problem i was having on the location of VPN settings, which for some reason are hidden in “General” instead of “wireless” so ill be giving that a go as soon as i get back into uni on monday… hehe

As for the rest, the phone seemed all it claimed to be, touchie-feelie with all the same features as a JailBroken iPod Touch… The Phone application was very well made, with call logs and a full screen number pad which made typing in my premium rate 0871 number very easy (shy of hitting * every time i went to hit 7, strange), the collection of built in ring tones wasn’t that impressive, and the speaker wasn’t as loud as id want it, but i can understand for an office use its probably perfect ! The vibrate feature might as well not exist, i set it off several times while trying to find the option to turn it into a rabbid hamster, but alas all i was able to squeeze out of it was a low grumble which i doubt id ever feel though my pocket (maybe if i cracked it open and took the wires off the motor and connected them directly to the back of the case, that way when someone rang there would be a 12volt shock sent though it… kinda kinky… Cough Cough, someone mod this for me, im too lazy to do it myself)

As for SMS, dam i like that… the whole conversation window style is gorgeous and made me wanna touch it all day, wanna see it in real life action though… Me and a couple of my friends seem to have mammoth txt message conversations every now and then, i wanna see how well it handles 2 of them going on at once, or will it just give up and combine them all…

Input was just as accurate as the iPod, though a slap on the wrist for O2, i didn’t see one of their spunky employees demonstrating the ’tilt it sideways for bigger keys’ function, hency my 80 year old friend from the doorway was having some slight problems with shaky hands and constantly typing “www.022223″ think their may of been some arthritis there too, poor old deer…

Right, onto my main reason for not grabbing my VISA and spending more money i dont have;

1. Price… Ouch, £269 for the phone, then £35 upwards each month for the contract (minimum 18 Months, screw that). The O2 gubbins kept throwing sales crapola at me about the reason for such a high price was due to the large inclusive data package (which i wouldn’t want anyway, pha EDGE, get lost… its called wi-fi and cheaper and faster).

2. Size… Although the size isnt that big compared to my previous Windows SmartPhone (SVP M3100), i learned by lesson back then when it comes to mobile phones, the smaller the better… Nothing is more annoying than trying to put some cute blondes phone number into your phone on a touchscreen in the middle of a nightclub, while holding a pint of snakebite in one hand and still trying to look cool ! Not Happening… Despite that, their a bitch to get out of your pocket in situations like this, due to your ‘total fear’ that its gonna slip and drop to its doom (which happens quite a lot, and thanks to apples “nah, we dont replace screens” policy, you are therefore fooked)

3. O2… i quit this network 4 years ago due to their shit, yea i said it “S.H.I.T” customer service and extreme prices, i was on a tailored contract by a useless reject in an O2 store from Coventry which resulted in me getting bills in the range of £90 - £150 a month, and for a student… this aint good ! So after trying to cancel it over the phone 4 times, yea 4 (Four) and being assured every time that as soon as this months bill was through the post id be cut off and free to move to another network… My contract continued to live like the evil villan from a ‘I know what u did last summer’ movie… so the only option left, go and face the big end game boss face to face, took it into an O2 store and left it there… ORANGE ALL THE WAY ! 4 YEARS AND COUNTING AND FANTASTIC SERVICE…. APPLE, COME OVER HERE, SCREW FRANCE !

4. Actually i cant think of anything more of the top of my head, but their are all the standard things like. No 3G, No MMS, locked to O2, locked to EDGE, No Flash on Camera, no Memory card Slot, Low Memory in comparison to actual iPods (inc Touch), No Bluetooth (as yet, not sure if that chip discovered was real or not), i could go on.. but despite all this, its still a good phone, just a shame about the price (overpriced) and the chosen carrier for the UK (o2… Bla Bla Bla)…

Right thats about it, short of saying one additional thing, i was actually quite impressed with the quality of the camera, i took several pics of the O2 store, which was very well lit, and each of them looked very good on the small screen, would be interested in seeing a full size on thats been transfered (however thats done) onto a computer.

I may end up with one, when the prices drop, or if customers in France start exporting… hehe, bring it on people ! I had to laugh when asking (what can only be described as Nazi-O2 Sales lady) what the packages where, when i said “Oh, so can i buy the phone for £269 Sim-Free”, she replied “Oh no… no no no, we cant stress this enough, their is no way, no way at all that you can get this phone sim free, it comes with the O2 sim and will only work with that, im sorry but No…” me, at this point holding in the most amazing laugh, just smiled and said thankyou… For the love of god, i have no idea where the courage went to turn around and say “can i just check something on safari…” while typing in the web based jailbreak site… might of wiped the snobby look off her face when i stuck my orange sim in there eh !

Well i escaped, with my VISA card un-assaulted, i was planning to post all the packages for future reference (in case Apple decide to drop the price here by £100 like they did in America lol), but strangely enough their were no hand out brochures about the iPhone and its capabilities… Ce’la Ve !