Replacement cost of a lost iPhone
When I upgraded to my new iPhone last week I was warned by the O2 sales rep about not taking out any insurance. “If you lose your phone, that’s it. You can’t buy a new one, at least not until the PAYG version is released at Christmas”. It turns out of course, you can.
CPW’s iPhone FAQ states:
If you don’t have Lifeline insurance, you’ll need to get a replacement phone and SIM card:
To replace your SIM, contact O2.
If you want to buy a replacement iPhone contact our Direct sales team on 0800 049 0049, option 2. (You must have a Crime or Lost Reference number to buy a replacement SIM free handset. The 16GB model costs £410, the 8Gb model £352).
So if you’re with CPW, then you can at least get a (costly) replacement. No news yet on whether O2 will permit this as well. It’s also an indicator of the minimum amount that PAYG iPhone are likely to be when they finally launch.
Obligatory 3G iPhone speculation (software)
Not long to go now – at 6pm UK time on Monday the new iPhone(s) will be revealed. I’ve already wondered about the hardware, but what lies ahead for the new software? Much functionality will be added through third party applications, but what can only Apple add, in the core of OS X iPhone?
What do we already know?
Leaks of the development builds have already shown that OS X iPhone 2.0 will include:
- Exchange support (inc. ActiveSync & remote wipe)
- geo-tagging of photos
- email mass delete
- full-screen Safari (effectively a widget platform)
- Bonjour (zero-configuration networking)
- playing of embedded YouTube video in web pages
- saving web images to the phone
…and probably some more bits that I’ve missed. This is all great. From a consumer perspective, there are a few important items that I would also like to see Apple nail in the new firmware.
Obligatory 3G iPhone speculation (hardware)
The lack of any iPhones for sale by Apple or its carrier partners, along with the daily torrent of press releases and rumours, all point to a new iPhone being announced at Steve’s Job’s keynote speech at WWDC on June 9th. Apple was panned by many for releasing a device whose hardware didn’t match up compared to other top-flight smartphones, and are sure to address some of these deficiencies. So what sort of phone are we likely to see there?
Without a doubt, 3G
With every other manufacturer having 3G phones on the market in June 2007, I never bought Job’s statement that it was “battery life” keeping 3G out of the first iPhone. This lack of connectivity speed is sure to be rectified. But, carrier annoucements indicate that Apple are moving from exclusive agreements, and vastly increasing the number of markets they will be selling into (including Japan and South Korea).
So they’re going for a worldwide release, but will they support more than just UMTS and HSDPA/HSUPA? Or Will Apple release multiple, localised versions of the iPhone? Maybe, but this doesn’t seem to me to fit with Apple’s way of doing things. Yet the alternative is to either only support certain types of 3G, or try and squeeze more radio hardware into the iPhone’s already large form factor. My guess is that – in keeping with Apple’s design philosophy – less is more, and that only UMTS/HSPA will be supported.