Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums banner

Rogers iPhone 3G Owners discussion and review thread

54K views 159 replies 57 participants last post by  canabiz 
#1 ·
Well it arrives July 11th and I know many of us would love to have one of these babies. I for one can't afford one but hope to someday!

If you have get one, please tell the Digital Forum members what you think and your review!

Thanks in advance

Signed,
Sad in Toronto

(Folks wishing to discuss whether they should buy one or pricing please post on other threads. This thread is strictly for the lucky ones that have one!)
 
#59 ·
movie format for iPhone

I purchased the movie 21 from itunes and one of the benefits of buying movies online is you get to sync it back to itunes and then either play it on apple tv or iphone.

Well 21 is wide and narrow on the iPhone and is really hard to watch (full width but only about 1/2 height in center of the screen so big black lines top and bottom) . I have not bothered to analyse resolution but you would assume if you pay $20 for a movie from apple to play on the apple iphone they could at least go to the trouble of reformating it (Pan scan... ) to the apple iphone screen.

FYI Picture this looks great / herbie has small lines. Maybe we need to create a list of what is formated to fit the iPhone screen
 
#60 ·
I've been playing around with converting my DVD's to h.264 and MPEG-4 movies for the iPhone. I have had some pretty inconsistent results.

Using one DVD to iPod converter I find that when it keeps the aspect ratio it limits to the vertical resolution ('y' x 320) but using Avex it limits to horizontal resolution ( 480 x 'z').

For example my family guy 4:3 episode was encoded as: 432 x 320 and 480x368 respectively

As far as I can tell both program encode the h.264 about the same but because Avex has a higher resolution you end up with about 6.32MB/min vs 4.44MB/min for the other DVD to iPod converter.

I know if you touch the screen while the movie is playing you will see the double arrow in the right hand side. Touching this makes the movie full screen (cutting off the sides of a wide screen movie or top and bottom of 4:3 full screen movie).

I couldn't tell the difference on the iPhone between Avex's higher resolution vs the other's, but for playback specific to the iPhone i would lean towards a smaller file size. I have not tried playing a movie through the TV out yet to see if there's a noticeable difference. I assume that the movies you buy from iTunes are HD quality (thus far higher resolution than you can use on the iPhone) since they are 1.5GB and a h.264 at iPhone resolution is only 500-700MB.

Cheers

Darren
 
#61 ·
After a month with the IPhone, I must say it's slightly overratted.

The reception is horrible compared to my old Telus phone. Syncing and Mobile Me is currently a disaster. I'm paying way to much per month. I was in the states on the weekend (Michigan, no roaming, all local calls) and no carrier was found. I changed it to manual and picked up at+t and the reception was less than acceptable.

I almost, (almost being relative) regret picking up this phone. Anyone have $400 bucks so I can cancel my contract!? Just kidding but if things don't improve, I might sell the phone to cover the cancellation fees and go back to telus with my cappy motorola i80 which never failed me.

When I get my first bill, I'll think about it. Anyone else down on this phone (p.s. I'm an apple junkie, buy a new system every few months (Imac and macbook combo) for the past few years.

Not to be a hater but I'm not all too impressed.
 
#62 ·
concerned about data

Hey guys,

Does anyone know how much data the iphone would use when streaming online radio or using a program like simplemedia whereby you can stream up to 30 peoples itunes libraries to your phone over the data network. i would want to use this as my primary ipod and phone but do not want to overuse on a 6b data plan. if anyone can give my their experiences with either of the programs and how data intensive they are that would be great. i know 6gb is a good amount of data but what about streaming and such, thanks.
 
#69 ·
Hey guys,

Does anyone know how much data the iphone would use when streaming online radio or using a program like simplemedia
Well 6GB would equal 200MB/day. An average quality 56kbps stream quality would eat 15MB/hour so you would have to listen for over 13 hours/ day every day.

But a god quality 128kpbs would take 55MB/hour or just less than 4 hours per day. So keep an eye on your usage meter.
 
#64 ·
Wow, sorry to hear that. You must have one of the 1-2% of phones having reception issue worldwide. According to the buzz, a couple of weeks worth of production might have had some units come off the line with lowered 3G reception. You should get a replacement from an Apple Store of through Rogers/Fido.

I have had mine since July 11, travelled pretty much across the country and in the northeastern US and have had a perfect experience all around.

Seriously, I think you have a bad unit. Get it replaced.

Stu
 
#66 ·
I would not offer that info if calling - unless in all honesty you think that might have caused the issues. (Although I don't think that is likely). Might avoid going in to an Apple Store though as one the the guys at the Genius Bar might give it a look and wonder.

Drops and scratched rarely cause dropped calls.

Stu
 
#70 ·
hello I am just curious, for those that upgraded to the iphone 3G 16GB, how much did you pay $299 or $349, my understanding was that the phone was $299. When I picked up the phone they charged me $349 but gave me a $50 hardware upgrade coupon but today I received a notice that the iphone does not qualify for a hardware rebate. What gives?
 
#71 ·
In most cases it has to do with the price of your voice plan. If your plan is over $30/month, then the price of the phone is (AFAIK) $349 - $50 credit. If your plan is $30 or less per month, the phone is $349.
 
#74 ·
So I called rogers today to complain about my horrible reception. They will send me a new phone on Friday. I guess I should buy a skin for this one!!

What kinds of skin are u folks using to protect your phone? I had a few leather cases but I look like a truck driver at best so I think I'll opt for a screen skin.
 
#75 ·
Love it

Sorry to hear that not everyone is happy with the iPhone. Mine has been great. The data plan is more than I need and I love the apps store. I've been a nokia user until now and I can't imagine owning another type of phone. Apple's got me for life. No problems with reception. Happy with the visual voicemail. Love the ease of the interface.

It rocks!
 
#76 ·
What kinds of skin are u folks using to protect your phone? I had a few leather cases but I look like a truck driver at best so I think I'll opt for a screen skin.
Ever since I was pointed to the Invisible Shield / GuardFilm / BestSkinsEver, type of products (all pretty much the same 3M material with different brand names), I can't imagine going any other direction.

Even before I bought my iPhone, I had purchased one of these for it. They're something of a pain to apply (wet the skin, then position it on the phone and squeegee out the excess moisture), but once on, they don't move, peel, yellow, fade, cloud up, scratch, or scuff. I accidently toss my keys in my pocket with my iPhone all the time and it still looks like new. The skins also are so thin, that you can still use any dock, case or accessory.

And if you do get tired of it, you can peel it off and it leaves behind absolutely no residue. They're available online for around $25 for the Invisible Shield brand (ZAGG is the company), while other brands are less than $10 (less packaging and promotion).

I put the stuff on all of my ipods, phones, etc., and each has taken slight tumbles and emerged just fine.
 
#77 ·
Corporate Users

Well, Rogers has released its corporate pricing for the iPhone - $399 for the 8 gig and $499 for the 16 gig. They really are nasty people you know. I am sure that Apple is upset with this differential between consumer and corporate rates. The pricing scheme hardly encourages corporate use. Then they figure that corporate users will just expense the phone!
 
#82 · (Edited)
Well, Rogers has released its corporate pricing for the iPhone - $399 for the 8 gig and $499 for the 16 gig. They really are nasty people you know. I am sure that Apple is upset with this differential between consumer and corporate rates. The pricing scheme hardly encourages corporate use. Then they figure that corporate users will just expense the phone!
Are you sure about this?

Up until about 1 hour ago I would have been firmly in your corner but I may have lucked out and just got off the phone with the only CSR that knows what's going on. After 5 store visits and 3 long phone calls with corporate reps. we determined the only way to fix my problems (getting an iPhone without getting gouged) would be to get the corporate flag removed from my account. So the last rep I get transferred to does the work to remove the flag from my account and seems puzzled as to why I want to do this (I have a great voice plan). I explain that I want the iphone, the promotional pricing ($299) on the 16GB iPhone and the 6GB/$30 deal but can't get anything close on the corporate account. She calmly tells me that everything I want should be possible because I'm 2 years into my contract and proceeds to process my order. On top of that she says I will be able to keep the same voice plan! She said there seems to be GREAT confusion around corporate plans and the iPhone. Thankfully she wasn't one of the confused people.

Apparently a new iphone should be here within 3-4 business days.

Update: I take it all back!!! I just got a call from Rogers Corporate and it seems they CANNOT process the order as submitted. I asked to speak to the rep that put in the order and I was told this is not possible. I guess I'll live out the last few remaining months on my contract and throw the last remaining of my Rogers services to the curb and be done with them FOREVER. Maybe one day I'll be able to get an iPhone and not have to deal with the incompetent fools at Rogers. Mr. Jobs, are you reading this?
 
#78 · (Edited)
Rogers iPhone - Which SIM card, Old or New?

Just got my black 16GB iPhone via a hardware upgrade, went to install my SIM card only to see one already in it. So which should I use, my old SIM or the new "red" (UICC) SIM card that came with it? I'm asking because I read somewhere that the older SIM cards could slow access to the 3G network some how.
Also... how to test my current 3G speed?

Answering part of my question... my new "red" SIM card is a "4000" SIM card... which I guess is required for visual voice mail?
 
#79 ·
regarding the sim card, people with old ones usually experience different behaviour. i've been using a 4 year old sim card for over a year with 3G phones and never had any problems. but i'd say safest thing to do is call up customer service and they can quickly change you over to the new sim card you have..

theres quite a few speedtest websites for testing speed.. cant remember any off the top of my head. quick google search should help
 
#83 ·
New iPhone user here! The girlfriend and I went and picked up 2 of them last Saturday, mine was a hardware upgrade and my Girlfriends was a new contract. So far we're both very satisfied. My one question is about the Bluetooth, I remember reading that the iPhone is equipped with the Bluetooth chipset however you can use any Bluetooth accessories with it. I've tried to find the BT settings on the phone but have not had any luck.
 
#85 ·
Oh, by the way, for those who are wanting a Call Log app, while it's not available at the ITAS (iTunes App Store), a new app called iLog has been released that is installable via the Cydia installer (for jailbroken iphones only, in other words).
(Why Apple chose not to include such a basic feature as "how long was that call" is a mystery.....very odd omission).

You'll need to have the iclarified.com source as one of your sources (click the MANAGE button on the bottom of the Cydia home screen. I think the address is www.cydia.iclarified.com.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top