Apple iPhone in the UK

This page contains information on Apple's iPhone, and specifically details of getting and using the phone in the UK.

We review the UK version of the iPhone, look at how to activate the iPhone, and answer your questions.

courtesy of Apple

At launch in 2007, there was a huge amount of hype about this phone - It's an iPod (audio, video, images and eBooks), it's a web browser, and it's a phone... all in one. It's also an Apple, and therefore likely to be an icon. The iPhone also supports a revolutionary touch user interface for faster navigation and browsing. Here's what the iPhone offers: Audio / Video / Images Web browsing Connectivity: Quad-band mobile phone, GPRS, Bluetooth and WLAN Wi-fi 2 megapixel camera Specs: Dimensions: 115 x 61 x 11.6mm (135 grams) Screen: Colour, 480 x 320 pixels Powered by Mac OS X Memory: 8 Gig

iPhone features:

iPhone is a revolutionary device that combines phone, iPod and connected device into one package. Here are the highlights:

Media player: iPhone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets you enjoy your content — including music, audiobooks, videos, TV shows — on a beautiful 3.5-inch display. It allows you to sync the content from the iTunes library on your PC or Mac and access it all with the touch of a finger. You can also buy songs wirelessly through the iTunes Wi-Fi Music store.

Surfing: iPhone features a rich HTML email client and Safari — the most advanced web browser ever on a portable device.

PC and Mac Sync: The iPhone automatically syncs all your contacts, calendar entries and Internet bookmarks with a PC, Mac, or Internet service.

Mapping: With Google Maps you can view maps and satellite images, or get directions and traffic information, all from iPhone's remarkable, easy- to-use multi-touch interface.

Apple iPhone Review

iPhone Audio Review: We got to grips with the Apple iPhone, in a 33 minute audio show. Listen to audio guide online, or download it to your MP3 player. Listen to our iPhone review | Latest Show | More Info

The iPhone launch has received a massive amount of press, and there are already stacks of iPhone reviews out there - so rather than replicate the many other reviews, we'll try to look at the iPhone from a slightly different angle.

First off, we're in the UK, and we're reviewing the standard out-of-box UK iPhone from o2. Secondly, just about all of us on the FileSaveAs team are not fans of Mac products - although we may just have been converted

Getting started: First off, the process of getting and activating the iPhone is different from buying just about any other mobile - no contract negotiation and credit checks instore or when buying online. We cover iPhone UK Activation further down this page.

First impressions

This is a slim, and very sexy phone - slimmer that you think, very curvaceous, and a very comfy hold. The screen is simply amazing - crystal-clear and so easy to navigate. Button-wise, there's "on", two controls for volume, and a menu button - the rest is all driven from the screen. The screen has the following icons: Text, Calendar, Photos, Camera, YouTube, Stocks, Maps, Weather, Clock, Calculator, Notes, Settings, iTunes, Phone, Mail, Safari and iPod

Everything about the user interface and navigation is faultless - if you've read the other countless reviews that are out there - you'll know about the seamless transitions, the screen-flip where rotating the device flips portrait/landscape, and the finger navigation. If you've not tried the screen for yourself, get down to an o2 shop or a branch of Carphone Warehouse and give it a go.

iPhone Web Browser

This is the feature we wanted to get to play with. The iPhone comes with the Safari web browser, and claims to be "The Internet on your mobile" - it does actually live up to that claim too - sites that don't work on our former favourites, the Nokia N95 and the XDA Orbit, just work, and the navigation is amazing. When you enter a web address, you get to see the full width of the page, and can drag the page around, choosing which part of the screen to zoom into.

Navigation, text entry and bookmarks are just perfect. Javascript works, and access to secure sites all seems to be there - we tested out a login to First Direct online banking, and it worked without a grumble. For us, this is the top feature of the iPhone - perfect browsing of the real Internet - none of this Mobile Internet / WAP nonsense..

Web Browsing on the UK iPhone

Of course, you're limited to the speed of your network. In the UK, we've had 3G data networks for a while, and this isn't a 3G phone, so it's not able to surf as fast as other phones out there, and this is not a 3G phone, so we're on the 2G system (GPRS and o2's faster EDGE network). Speed is acceptable, but not great. The good news though, is that on o2's iPhone tariffs, you get unlimited data transfer, so you don't have to worry about running up a huge bill whilst surfing on the move - great not to have to worry about data charges.

Of course, if you're able to connect using wi-fi, either at home, in the office or at a wi-fi hotspot, browsing is much faster, and the experience is so much better. Note that with the iPhone, you also get free access to all 7,000 of The Cloud's wifi hotspots, for free browsing. BT Broadband customers note that you get a monthly amount of free wi-fi at BTopenzone hotspots too.

We were also impressed with some of the web apps, particularly the Facebook app. If you're a Facebook user, you'll find that there's a special interface available for iPhone users that makes accessing your Facebook account on the move really easy. various other top sites also support custom iPhone versions, all adding to the online experience.

iPhone Media

Obviously, the iPhone is an iPod, so syncs seamlessly to your iTunes music store - Albums, Podcasts, Audiobooks, playlists, videos, TV shows - it's all there. Media playback is, as you'd expect, very simple and very powerful. This is where we hit the first couple of niggles though. First off, the headphone socket. As you can hopefully see from the photo below, the headphone socket is recessed into the case - this means that many standard headphones won't plug in. Our snazzy Shure E3C headphones don't plug in, meaning we've had to order an iPhone Headphone adapter, or stick with Apple's own headphones, which have a slimmer plug.

Second gripe relates to video playback. The iPhone supports the following two video playback formats - MPEG4 and H.264. Most of our collection of videoclips are in DivX, xVid or WMV, so won't playback. Some can be converted using iTunes, but the success rate wasn't good. We've been using iPod Video Converter to create video that can be viewed on the iPhone.

Rear of UK iPhone, showing camera, on-switch, SIM card slot and headphone socket

Other iPhone goodies

Messaging: Email on the iPhone works very well. When we first synced to the PC,we were prompted to sync our email accounts from Outlook to the iPhone - so our POP email account settings appeared on the iPhone. You can set the phone to poll for email at regular internals. The iPhone handles multiple email account, Yahoo Mail, Gmail, .Mac, AOL Mail as well as POP, IMAP and MSExchange accounts.

Text messages: Beautifully done. Your conversation is presented as a series of speech bubbles, so you can see the history. Oddly, there's no support for MMS picture messaging as standard, which for a cameraphone is a little annoying!

Maps: The iPhone comes with Google Maps as standard, so you can search for places, or plan routes. There's a map view or a satellite view. Pretty much what you get from maps.google.com, but on a mobile. Unlike the Nokia N95 and XDA Orbit, there's no onboard GPS to tell you where you are, and it doesn't support voice navigation.

Photos: Again, beautiful user interface, and very easy to view photos. Sync with photos on the PC was pretty seamless too. When we first connected, the iTunes software detected we had Photoshop Elements, and offered us the chance to sync albums, folders, or all images. Only minor niggle is that the iPhone doesn't seem to support subfolders, like our other favourite media player, the Creative Zen Vision M does... so syncing "My Pictures/Holidays" lumps all the subfolders into one view on the iPhone, whilst the Zen allows me to view "My Pictures/Holidays/Disney" and "My Pictures/Holidays/Vegas" separately.

YouTube: Nicely done. Search and video movie clips. Seems you get served lower-res movies if you're on a 2G connection, and better quality clips if you're on wi-fi. Again, a good implementation for the iPhone, if YouTube is your bag.

iPhone Review Summary

The FileSaveAs team have long been non-Apple people - we've used Windows Mobile or Symbian devices for PDA and mobile phone, and have steered clear of iPods in favour of Creative's MP3 players - as they're generally cheaper than Apple products and have more features (such as FM radio). It was with reluctance that we started playing with the iPhone - we didn't want to leap onto the hype bandwagon and be dazzled by the flashy touchscreen interface.

However, it has to be said that using the iPhone is a very sexy experience - it's been well designed, and beautifully executed - easy-to-use, and the best phone/media player/browser we've ever seen.

There's a lot that isn't supported on the iPhone that other devices do support - we'd love to have seen just one of the following: FM radio, faster browsing with 3G, a better camera (with a flash), or an unlocked version. It's also not overly cheap, although existing o2 customers are able to get out of their existing contracts if they go for an iPhone. It's also not a useful as a phone with built-in SatNav or a Windows Mobile that supports Excel and Word. That having been said - as an entertainment device with an amazing web browser - this is one heck of a sexy device. Right... off to play some more...

Supplied with?

The UK iPhone from o2 is supplied with the following: Headphones with inline mic, docking station, USB lead, mains adapter, screen cleaning cloth, and two very thin user guides.

UK iPhone box contents

Activating the iPhone in the UK

Once you've got your iPhone, the next thing to do is activate it.

Activation of the iPhone, and connection to the O2 network is different from any other device in the UK mobile market. You do it completely through iTunes on your computer. Getting a few things ready now means you'll be ready for iPhone when it arrives. To get ready for iPhone, you will need to:

• Ensure that you have a broadband connection and that your Mac or PC meets the minimum specification required for iTunes.
• Download and install the latest version of iTunes from www.apple.com/uk/itunes.
• Migrate your existing mobile contacts from your handset or SIM into Outlook, Outlook Express or Address Book on the Mac.
• Upload your music onto iTunes.

The Apple iPhone Compared

There was little doubt when the iPhone was first revealed, that it was going to be huge. But how special is the iPhone?

We compare the Apple iPhone to what some of the other leading high-spec mobile phones offer, to see how the iPhone shapes up.

The competition:

We selected two top phones, both of which are £300 cheaper than the iPhone

o2 XDA Orbit. Runs the Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system. Supports MS Word and Excel. Built-in GPS for SatNav using Co-Pilot or the excellent TomTom navigation software. With FM radio and Windows Media Player. Cost: £600 (£150, plus £25 x 18 months) O2 Nov 2007

Nokia N95. Runs the Symbian Operating System. Impressive 5megapixel camera with flash. Built-in SatNav. 3G for faster network access. Built-in SatNav (no extra software required). FM radio and media player. Cost £610 (£250, plus £30 x 12 months) - Vodafone.co.uk Nov 2007

iPhone F.A.Q

Latest software version?	To check the version number of your iPhone, go to Settings > General > About. The latest UK o2 Software / firmware version we're avare of, is below (as of 02 Mar 2008): Version: 1.1.4 (4A102) Model: MB213B Modem firmware: 04.04.05_G Know of a newer version? let us know
3G?	Is the iPhone 3G? Sadly no - it's a 2G phone - it uses o2's EDGE data network. 3G would've been nice, but battery life is cited as the reason for not using the faster 3G
Picture messaging	Can I send photos to other phones? Amazingly, the iPhone doesn't support sending or receiving MMS picture messages, even though the phone has a camera. Sending of photos by email is supported on the iPhone. Perhaps Apple will add support for this in a later software patch?
Memory Cards	Can I use memory cards? Nope - No slot. No expandable memory
iPhone Headphone Socket	How disappointing... the iPhone headphone socket takes standard 3.5mm headphones, but the socket only accepts very thin plugs - the standard iPod headphones fit perfectly, as the plug is slimline, but standard headphones with a right-angle or non-slimline plug won't fit. There is a way round though... you can buy an iPhone headphone socket adapter (pictured). These are available online from Carphone Warehouse in their Accessories section, for £9.99.
Case for your iPhone	Now you have yourself a shiny new iPhone - you need to keep it safe, so you'll be after a case. There's the standard leather case, or a nifty rubberised case. Not a fan of leather cases, our iPhone is protected by the Marware Sport Grip for iPhone, pictured here, which is available in clear or black. You can get cases, including the Marware, from amazon.co.uk , Dabs.com , AdvancedMP3players - and in the Carphone Warehouse accessories section.
GPS / Sat-Nav	Can you use SatNav or GPS positioning with an iPhone? Nope - not at this time. The iPhone doesn't have a built-in GPS receiver, and there's no way to install a third-party satnav solution such as TomTom Navigator.
Overseas?	Can I use my iPhone overseas? Yes, the iPhone is a quad-band mobile phone (Quad-band (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), so can be used in most parts of the world. To use the iPhone outside of the UK, you'll need to ask o2 to enable your mobile phone account for "International roaming". When roaming, check in Settings > Carrier to set which network you roam to. "Automatic" is an obvious choice. Also, be aware that surfing the 'Net while roaming in another country, won't be cheap. With an o2 iPhone in the UK, you get free data, but outside the UK, you'll be charged by the megabyte you use, and it won't be cheap. If you want to make sure you don't ncur costs for using dsata when roaming, go to Settings > General >Network, and set "Data Roaming" to "Off". For info on using the o2 iPhone outside of the UK, see our o2 Abroad FAQ.
Wi-fi?	Surfing with Wifi? Yes, the iPhone supports wi-fi, and in the UK, you can access more than 7,000 of The Cloud's hotspots for free.
US iPhone in the UK	If you've got an AT&T US iPhone, you'll be able to use it in the UK. Here are some things to note: The iPhone is quad-band, so a US iPhone will be able to connect to networks in the UK Data services: If you access data (browsing, email, Google, etc) using a US SIM card while in the UK, you'll be subject to some pretty hefty "roaming" charges for using data outside of your network's home country. You can enable / disable "Data roaming" from Settings > General > Network. Using an UK SIM in a US phone: From what we understand, US iPhones are "locked" to the AT&T network, so popping in a UK o2 SIM card won't work. Although the Apple iPhone hardware is the same for the UK and US releases, the serial number (IMEI) identifies the phone's country. Source: MacRumours forum. US phones can be "unlocked" from the AT&T network, so that they can work with a UK SIM card - something known as "Jailbreaking the iPhone", but that's not something we discuss on this page. If you want to unlock your phone from its current network (with the associated risks), try a Google search for sites that can help.
Need a UK SIM card?	Looking to get a UK o2 SIM card? UK residents can get up to four free o2 Pay-as-you-go SIM cards from freesimo2.o2.co.uk. You can get an o2 SIM card on contract direct from o2 online
More on the iPhone?	Looking for more? Try our iPhone special that our Podcasting team put together as the iPhone launched in the UK - Frequencycast's iPhone special.

Anything you'd like to know? Contact us...

Useful links:

• BBC iPlayer - Now available on the iPhone

Want to talk about the Apple iPhone? Please use our mobile phone forum, or leave a message on our Podcast Podline, 0208 133 4567

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