Roland Tanglao's Weblog

After the 2.01 firmware upgrade, AirMe never locks on with the GPS and finds my location even if I am outside in locations where it used to work with the old firmware. Yay for bugs (Yes my GPS is enabled). Do I have to do some sort of funky GPS reset dance to make it work again?

Got the 16GB iPhone yesterday. Stream of consciousness notes so far:

1. Just like the original iPhone, ithe iPhone 3G still camera s*cks and not having video also s*cks! A slow, 2 megapixel camera doesn't cut it in 2008!
   
2. Does seem a bit lighter and battery is faster
   
3. 3G doesn't seem that much faster than EDGE
4. Browser crashes more often
5. Google Reader is noticeably faster 
6. ShoZu doesn't geo-tag and only posts one photo at a time and only at 640x480 (yes i know shozu is working on it! go ShoZu go!)
7. AirMe is better but only does 1024x768 and rquires bogus userid registration (complete with bogus personal questions)
8. Apps are great; I have already thought of some that would satisfy Apple's p*ranoia :-) and might be fun to develop and might even make money! Apps are great both because of Apple's p*ranoia and also despite it! A "mass market, mobile GPS with decent connectivity and bandwidth" platform is what the iPhone is; the first ever. Sorry Nokia you don't have such a platform (S60 isn't it, Maemo isn't it, S60 Python isn't it, Widsets isn't it, Flash Lite isn't, etc,, time to focus Nokia!) yet. Vive la competition; I trust Nokia has something in the works; it's been a year and either the Nokia cupboard is bare or they are going to launch something truly great soon.
9. I am waiting for Qik (aka live video streaming) and Nokia Sports Tracker
10. I like Tap Tap whatever it's called even though it's dumbed down from the unofficial SDK version

Now all I need is a North American 3G phone to confirm 100% that my 3G plan is not locked to my iPhone.

Like Richard, I just added the $30/month 3G data plan to my existing Fido plan. So it should be cheaper (and faster) than  the $50/month I pay  for my current grandfathered unlimited EDGE data plan. If the SIM isn't locked, I am  thinking about buying an unlocked N95 8G NAM  because the camera on the iPhone s*cks (but the 3G lifestyle (it's great! thanks to iPhone 3G I can now tell people about ShoZu and other apps I have been enjoying with my "2.5G" lifestyle and how you can create multimedia content in real time, post it immediately to the internet and get feedback in real-time) of always-on geo-enabled consumption and creation, usability and ecosystem of iPhone apps is far superior to what Nokia and others have done! Nokia, you blew it, this could have and should have been been your market to run away with). Luckily it's early and not too late to win in mobile in the long term but unless S60 usability is improved it's not going to happen!.

And for the record, Rogers still s*cks and so does Fido:

1. Their website is inaccurate; existing Fido customers should just call 611  to get an iPhone 3G
2. The hiring of MS&L digital was a waste of money (despite their blog practice, BlogWorks, MS&L did the non social media aware thing of emailing people and didn't blog, twitter, flickr, facebook or in any way engage social media)
3. 3 year contracts s*ck; in 2010 I bet I could easily go over 6GB/month. There's no reason other than short term economic gain which in the long run hurts the entire Canadian economy by hampering innovation and experimentation and reducing productivity.
4. Giving priority to new Fido customers over old faithful Fido customers like myself who have been paying $100/month since July 2004  is unacceptable. Why should I have to wait for my iPhone unlike new customers? Why can't I go to the Fido store like new customers  and order it there rather than being forced to order over the phone?

There are far more important issues to deal with than the Rogers iPhone rates (e.g. the ridiculousness of Bill C-61, global warming, etc) but I was forced to comment after I received the exact same email from MS&L Digital (Rogers' American PR firm) that Tris Hussey received: (my current plan is to invoke the "Ian Bell option", i.e. import a unlocked 3G iPhone from France and buy a r*poff 1GB/month data plan from Rogers which gets around the 3 year contract!)

QUOTE (from Tris' blog which he received permission to post, the email I received is identical, anybody else get the exact same email?)

Hello,

My name is Nicole Burguess and I’m writing on behalf of Rogers to give you some additional information about the Rogers rate plans available for the iPhone.

The iPhone 3G bundles released June 27 are not the only price plans available to customers, they are the high value plans that allow Rogers customers to use the device to its fullest and offer considerable savings over separate voice and data plans that exist in market today.

That said, Rogers customers have more choices available to them and can use their existing voice and smartphone data plans if they wish. For example, they can select from the new data pricing (ranging from $30 for 300MB to $100 for 6GB or $50 Flex Rate plan) and add a voice plan, or they can choose a combined voice and data plan to best suit their individual needs.

Customers are not required to take the value packs, and can order most other features a la carte, such as $7 for Caller ID.

Existing customers can keep their existing voice service plan and pick a separate data plan (not in the iPhone 3G bundle) to meet their needs. They will need to check their upgrade eligibility, but any customer with a monthly service fee that is over $30 can upgrade to an iPhone 3G at $199 (for the 8GB model). Other options outside the iPhone bundle may be available depending on the customer’s individual information.

If you have any questions, please let me know and I will do my best to help you.

Sincerely,

Nicole Burguess

Account Executive | MS&L Digital

END QUOTE

Here's my response:

Hi Nicole:

Thank-you for your email but it does not respond to the concerns that many people including myself have namely:

1. Why are the contracts 3 years for the iPhone rather than 2 years or 1 year like they are elsewhere in the world?

2. Why is data so much more expensive for the iPhone than AT&T plans? Why is there no unlimited option? I can guess at reasons but this is something that Rogers in my opinion needs to make clear. I have been using a Fido "grandfathered data plan" for unlimited EDGE data for $50 a month. Until Rogers communicates clearly why an unlimited 3G data plan at a price of $100/month or less is nonviable, the lack of an affordable unlimited data plan is indefensible.

3. The lack of reasonably priced data plans is hindering Canada business which in the end hinders Rogers.

I'll be blogging the above and your response (unless you ask me otherwise) at rolandtanglao.com.

Cheers!

...Roland Tanglao +1 604 729 7924

p.s. Canadian idealists (of which I am not one) would be outraged that Rogers is reaching out to Canadian bloggers using an American PR firm (I realize you have a satellite office in Toronto but your headquarters are in the USA). I "googled" your firm and was encourage to find out that you have a social media practise and that you were behind the GM FastLane blog; hopefully you will influence Rogers to engage in social media and to clearly communicate in a timely fashion; something they have been incapable of in the past.

So the questions start:

1. Is there a bandwidth cap?
2. Are 3rd party applications like ShoZu and Qik (if ShoZu and Qik don't port to the iPhone others will) allowed?

IF

ShoZu-like and Qik-like applications appear on the iPhone 3G and they work well and Rogers allows them with a reasonable bandwidth cap (reasonable to my multi-media creation needs is 2GB YMMV :-) !!!),

THEN (it's not a r*poff, hurrah!) AND I'll get a 3G iPhone (since net-net, it's only about $10 a month more to pay than my current $50 per month grandfathered EDGE Fido plan).

The only thing that still gives me pause is the 3 year contract but I can live with it if the apps are there!

So I guess I don't buy one on my birthday but wait to see if the 3rd party apps that I want appear and if Rogers allows them.

From Wirelessnorth.ca » Blog Archive » Rogers iPhone pricing plans revealed: 3years $3440:

QUOTE

$199 + 36months x $90 = $3440 and that’s if you buy the cheap one. Don’t forget the GST/PST.

However, you’ll probably realize you are likely to spend at least that much on cellphone service in the next three years, no matter what your plan.

END QUOTE

My guess for the iPhone in Canada plan from Rogers: $75 a month plus taxes and b*gus system access fee will include 1 GB of data (2GB would be much better but it's Rogers we are talking about and we can't expect them to be innovative :-( ), unlimited incoming and outgoing text and 300 minutes of voice calls to anywhere in Canada and USA. This plan will not include voice, SMS and data roaming to the USA. Roaming will still be billed at the current Rogers r*poff rates.

What's your guess (I am assuming all will be revealed tomorrow at 10a.m. after Jobs keynote!)????

I'll treat the commenter with the closest guess to a tasty beverage the next time they are in Vancouver!