Dec 26, 2011 10:21 PM
37732 Views
I have been using an iPhone 4 since a year and I am completely satisfied with it. I have the following points for all the iPhone buyer's 4 or 4s(or 5 when it is released)
If you are new to Apple products, you would realize that there is a huge cost difference between Apple and other similar products. The usual reason from an Apple buff would be that, that's the cost you pay for Quality. It is possibly also to make it a premium product. If you ask me, if its worth the money. Once you start using an Apple product, its very hard to move away to another product
In India, Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel, etc provides "locked" iPhone with specific rentals. I would advice you NOT to go for these. With the locked phone, you will be stuck up with the operator throughout the lifetime of the product. Even if you travel abroad, you will not be able to use a different SIM. It is wiser, if you buy the iPhone which is "Factory Unlocked", meaning you can use any SIM, anywhere. There is not much of a price difference between the locked and unlocked(Its a diff case in US, where the locked one is very cheap and you are tied to the operator for only 2 years). If you have contacts, try to get iPhone from HK, Canada or UK, where you would find considerable price difference with INR
In case you are buying from the grey market, ensure that the iPhone is genuine. Before the transaction, make the dealer connect the iPhone to iTunes(iTunes is a free download to connect iPhone to your computer). If iTunes recognizes your iPhone, it should be original, for additional check, you can click on the "Update Software", which will contact Apple Server and authenticate the genuineness of the iPhone
Once you get familiar with the device, you will find several shortcuts and it will be second nature to you. Some of the glitches that you may face using iPhone are
A) Bluetooth compatibility - iPhone will only connect through bluetooth to other Apple devices. You cannot connect or transfer files through bluetooth to Windows or Android devices
B) Transferring files between computer and your phone is not as simple as other phones. You have to use iTunes or apps such as Dropbox
C) Flash files will not play - however now Adobe has abandoned Flash for mobile devices, so even other phones will not have this capability in future
D) Battery power would last for 1 to 1.5 days with decent usage of voice and data - that is anyways for most other smartphones too
E) You cannot get delivery report for text messages
F) You need a Micro SIM for iPhone 4 onwards - This is a smaller size SIM than the regular ones we have. There are SIM cutters available in the market, which can cut your existing SIM(remove the unwanted plastic) to a micro SIM or just exchange it with your operator
On the whole, there are various ways to workaround on the above glitches and once you get a hang of it, you will be fine. The benefits far outweighs the cons
Some of the key features for Apple are
A) Software(iOS) update - Unlike Android where the releases has to be customized by your handset maker(eg. Samsung), Apple provides very regular s/w updates which you can directly download and install
B) iMessage - This is a cool service through which you can chat to any other Apple user across the globe through text, without being charged for SMS
C) FaceTime - This is a feature through which you can make a WiFi video call to any Apple user across the globe, free of cost(only internet charges for WiFi). It is neatly integrated in the phone
D) Apps - One gets loads and loads of Applications, one can download for free as well as for a price and one gets regular updates
E) Apart from hardware enhancement, iPhone 4s comes with'SIRI', which is a voice activated command system, which probably will be the future for mobile - human interaction
