So I’m up for upgrade. Except, now I’m in the position of getting a new phone and have hit a lovely brick wall of what to get.
As a Mac user, the obvious choice would be an iPhone, but Vodacom don’t seem to have stock, know when they’re getting stock, nor even seem to care to be honest. The other iPhone option would be to move to MTN, but after 6 years with Vodacom, I’m very happy with the services they offer. I’m also a FNB customer and FNB and Vodacom work very well together. And the way I see it, MTN’s AnyTime deal is pretty damn expensive compared to my current contract. The final option would be to purchase overseas (UK or France) which offers it at a much better price than here, except I have to pay cash, which isn’t ideal.
So this leaves me at the brick wall. I either go iPhone, with some difficulty, or I go with something else. And then again, it’s a choice of hardware and OS.
It’s been two years of having a Samsung. 16GB of space. Slide form. 8MP camera. Great video quality. And running the reliable Symbian OS. Sure, it’s been great. But it hasn’t. I had to write my own iSync plugin to try sync up the contacts and the calendar as Symbian and Mac don’t gel. After much fighting, only the contacts actually synced up. And not without replacing my entire Address Book too. So that rules out Symbian and therefore, Nokia.
Then there’s Android. The next generation OS. The iOS killer. Blah blah blah. Sure, it’s got Google behind it, but like all open source dev, there are downfalls. There are millions of phones that it can run on, but certain devices will have issues and it’s like choosing a new laptop and making sure all the peripherals are compatible with the current Linux version. It’s a big cock up. But if I had to, it would have to be one of the big players: HTC, Samsung or Sony Ericsson.
And before you go on and suggest a Blackberry, stop. They’re not smartphones. They don’t offer what I want. And no, I won’t argue about it.
In this day and age, your mobile device is your laptop in your pocket. Where you can do anything you need to when all your have is the expensive chunk of plastic and circuitry in your hand.
So, I’m in two minds about what to do next. Wait and see what Vodacom do, move to MTN and pay like a muppet, or get a non Mac happy phone.
Which phone to choose?! Opinions welcome…
Well as someone that is dreaming of an iPhone as well I would say wait a little longer.
I also heard (and am very open to being wrong) that there is a new version coming out next year so maybe there is stock coming.
What I can say is that if Virgin mobile offer it when they go to a 3G network next year, DON’T MOVE!
I have experienced nothing but pain and suffering with them for the last three months. The only reason I have not left is I can’t afford to pay off the phone to end my contract.
I take it that you wouldn’t chill over the festive season with your current phone, then enquire again about an iPhone 4?
@Rory – I’ll only move to MTN. And that’s still a big if.
@Chris – Yeah, I’ll wait. But I’ve been waiting for 6 weeks already, so when does the waiting end.
@BlindCripple – Nah, totally bro, I’m on your side for this one, just figured that the festive season would race by and if you don’t _need_ a new phone immediately, then it might be worth waiting on the new year, Vodacom MUST be making plans, they’ll be losing a LOT of business by not having the devices.
Yeah. Yesterday, my current phone wouldn’t turn on for an hour. No reason why, then booted itself up. It’s getting to the stage where I do need a new phone. Heard a rumour that there’s a 13,000 unit backlog on the iPhones with Vodacom.
Ye, they’re having big problems with shipments apparently. Arg, frustrating! Go buy a R200 backup phone 🙂
Guess it boils down to how badly you want an iPhone 4 hey. I’ve got one, but it’s locked thanks to my baseband version and it’s still going to be a couple months until I can crack it 🙁
Go iPhone4. Go now. And stay with Vodacom. There will always be “something better just over the horizon” and if you keep waiting, you’ll be waiting for many horizons.
my 2c 🙂
@Chris – Surely there’s a crack available already?
@Gio – I would happily go iPhone now, except Vodacom don’t have stock, so I have to wait!
Ha. You KNEW I wouldn’t be able to resist getting my 50 cents in, eh? 🙂
This whole thing becomes simpler when you finally grok that your phone doesn’t HAVE to be an extension of your Mac. That’s just what Apple wants you to think. Once you have THAT waxed, then the Android/Mac combo just SCREAMS for you to take a look at it.
Stop trying to keep sync’d copies of your addressbook on different toys. The Android/GMail/Facebook/Twitter contact-list-mashup is too sexy for it’s shirt, seri-jus.
You would LOVE a Galaxy S. Actually, you’d love a Nexus S even more. Yeah, me too… 🙂
@Andre – I realise that I could get by without the awesome sync. Without the iTunes togetherness. And even without the awesome iStore. But the fact of the matter is I’ve been using Apple since I was 10. I’ve owned one since I was 14. And I know they work, and work well. Apple know their shit. And THAT’s the reason I’d stay Apple.
Look at all the people moving to Apple because they got an iPhone. It’s cos it’s awesome and works. You don’t see people running for Linux boxes after a bit of Android use. I’m not just going Apple for the brand whoreness. I’m one of the pioneers 😛 , and I’m loyal like that. 🙂