From iPhone to iBrick – is the hype worth it?
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This is a guest post by Salman Munir, who is an international recruiter at RadicalHire. He is also part of the team behind ShopHive.
From Iphone to Ibrick
In January 2007, Apple made two important announcements of its entry into a very competitive Mobile phone market and a name change from Apple Computers to Apple Inc. Though the latter only signified their departure from “computers†only category, Iphone has been defined as a revolutionary device, which will bring Apple to foray of new exciting categories. The amount of information on technology sites, blogs and rumor mill has been astounding. The hype it has created is amazing and a lot of people who wouldn’t dare care about Apple Inc., somehow became fascinated with the Apple product line.
June 07, Iphone hits the market in US with AT&T locked plan. Hackers and enthusiasts alike started working on making their iphones, SIM free. The Iphone reached the much enthusiastic Pakistani market in mid-September with reported starting selling price around 70K. Online sites started carrying it and now the whole country seems to be Iphoned! But is it worth the 50K price tag and does it live up to the title of a “revolutionary device�
Apple Inc. has designed & develop some of the most remarkable products in the tech market. Take Mac OS X as an example, one of the most stable and robust OS around. Or the mighty Ipod line-up. Year after year, Apple keeps on making this tiny gizmo more loveable and more attractive to a newer generation of buyers. Started of with Itunes powered music store, now the Ipod’s are capable of playing much about anything from TV Shows, Videos to complete movies – bought from Itunes (that’s the catch!). The Iphone doesn’t share the same gene pool though, I’m going to discuss it below.
I have used the Iphone, both the 4Gb and 8GB versions. The initial WOW factor checkup; the User Interface, the accelerometer, the true web experience and the most importantly the multi touch experience is just simply wonderful. The whole things work flawlessly without a simple jerk. But after the initial love affair, one tends to see things closely and then it becomes quite reasonable to ask yourself the question; Is this device something I can rely on for my normal usage?
Contacts:
Starting off, you’ll definitely need your contacts to start off – Iphone doesn’t pick the contacts from SIM, therefore it’s a must that you transfer all your contacts to your PC in outlook contacts. Syncing with your PC will bring all your contacts in Iphone. Checked with Outlook 2003, works like a charm.
Bluetooth:
Only Headset capability and that too Mono sound only. That means can’t sync Iphone to PC or Iphone to any other phone for that matter. Something, I guess an entry class phone provides this facility.
Files:
You can’t store files like your PDF or word files i.e., Disk Mode available on all ipods (minus ipod touch) is not available.
Video:
2 Mega pixel still pictures only for the time being.
Connectivity:
Iphone was easy to connect to Wifi and GPRS services of Warid, Mobilink, Telenor etc.
Updates:
Iphone becomes Ibrick. This is the tricky part. All the phones available in the local market are unlocked, meaning hacked. Once the user decides to update, the phone will be updated with original locking mechanism making it unusable, hence the term IBrick. Apple warned us all before the latest 1.1.1 update that it will punish us, but no one took heed to its word. Hacks would eventually come out for latest updated phones too, but it will be a Cat & Mouse ordeal until Apple decides to announce Unlocked Iphones itself, which it should!
I guess for America, IPhone is quite a refreshing device but unfortunately the phones we carry over here do so much more than where Apple Iphone stops. The Iphone 1.0, as it is called now is a very good demonstration of what future of multi touch, Apple innovation and a powerful OS can do. But I’ll wait for Iphone v2 to come out next summer.
5:15 pm
I want the iPhone. But the prices here in Pakistan for a hacked iPhone have yet to reflect the slashed prices – $399, compared to the original price of $599. That’s 12,000 rupees less than the original price … thus, I hope that the market here will at least cut down 10,000 rupees from the iPhone 4GB price.
3:14 pm
i want to purchase iphone but i dont know what is his price. plz you send me email . plz you mention the price in the email in pakistani rupees.
thanks best regards
11:34 pm
Dear Friend,
if you wants to purchase unlock iphone so call me on that # 03008216566