A comparison of super-phones

foodpoison

foodpoison

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Sean
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Edit: The point of this post was to try and examine the ridiculous pricing of the iPhone in comparison to its competitors, not to try and justify the purchase of one or work out how much it would cost me, just to clarify. It's all a bit tongue in cheek, which doesn't come across well so here's the disclaimer :p

To start off, I'm not running my own business, I don't rely on my phone for work, and I use my phone purely for recreational purposes - i.e. ringing home/mates/texting/browsing/music/photos

Now I'm on Orange, I'm not moving, it's my only option - I'm using my Dad's business account, we're happy with the service and pricing. I have, realistically, £30 a month to spend, but the price of the phone isn't too important, preferably under £100.
Oh, and I like touch screens. Much more than buttons. But I hate the Blackberry Storm.

I've been looking at the phone tariffs, and I've got my eye on 2 phones - the 2 main competitors.

Apple iPhone 3GS 16gb
HTC Hero

HTC Hero

HTC_Hero_5-728-75.jpg


Tech Radar gave it 4.5/5 and CNET gave it 9/10

24 Month Contract @ £29 p/m
900 Minutes
3000 (unlimited) texts
500mb p/m browsing allowance
Free Phone

Apple iPhone 3GS 16gb

iPhone_3GS_2-728-75.jpg


Tech Radar gave it 4.5/5 and CNET gave it 9.3/10

24 Month Contract @ £29 p/m
150 Minutes
250 texts
750mb p/m browsing allowance
Phone costs £125

_______________

Now, I know one phone does one thing that the other doesn't, but the differences are minimal, really.

iPhone - slightly bigger screen, flatter, fantastic and tried-and-tested interface
Hero - scroll ball, bluetooth, more MP camera

However, let's do a bit of maths shall we.

We'll match the iPhone tariff up to the hero tariff.

First we'll do it based on minutes:

Monthly Tariff: a
Cost of phone: b
Number of minutes per month: c
Cost per minute = d
b + (a x 12) ÷ c = d

iPhone
a = 29
b = 125
c = 150
so 125 (29 x 348) ÷ 150 = £3.14 per minute

HTC Hero
a = 29
b = 0
c = 900
(29x12) = 348
348 ÷ 900 = £0.38 per minute

Now texts

Monthly Tariff: a
Cost of phone: b
Number of texts per month: c
Cost per text = d
b + (a x 12) ÷ c = d

iPhone

a = 29
b = 125
c = 250

(125 + 348) ÷ 250 = £1.80 per text

HTC Hero

a = 29
b = 0
c = 3000

348 ÷ 3000 = £0.11 per text

Now internet usage

Monthly Tariff: a
Cost of phone: b
Number of mb per month: c
Cost per mb = d
b + (a x 12) ÷ c = d

iPhone

a = 29
b = 125
c = 750

(125 + 348) ÷ 750 = £0.60 per mb

HTC Hero

a = 29
b = 0
c = 500

348 ÷ 500 = £0.69 per mb

______________________

Sorry if that was a little messy, I was adjusting the equations as I went.

Here's the number crunch
iPhone cost per minute = £3.14
iPhone cost per text = £1.80
iPhone cost per megabyte = 60p
Combined price = £5.54

Hero cost per minute = 38p
Hero cost per text = 11p
Hero cost per megabyte = 69p
Combined price = £1.18

Theoretically, on pricing alone the iPhone should be 4.69x a better phone. But then, it's not according to CNET (iPhone = 9.3, Hero = 9.0) - It's only 1.03x a better phone...

It seems the HTC Hero trumps the iPhone cost over texts and minutes, but not so much mb allowance. But then what about the actual quality of the phone? How much more bang for buck are you getting for the extra money you're spending on the iphone?

I know this isn't much of a test, and my maths is probably seriously flawed somewhere but seriously, is the iphone worth that much more money?
I somehow doubt it...

Cue discussion :popcorn:
 
How many minutes of calls do you use a month? How many texts do you send? How much browsing do you do?

If you use the phone more than the iphone contract allows then it's going to cost you a lot more than £29/month. If not then the monthly cost isn't going to be an issue.

I've never even heard of the Hero phone but if it does pretty much the same thing but gives you a much better value contract then go for it.
 
-Rob- said:
How many minutes of calls do you use a month? How many texts do you send? How much browsing do you do?

If you use the phone more than the iphone contract allows then it's going to cost you a lot more than £29/month. If not then the monthly cost isn't going to be an issue.

I've never even heard of the Hero phone but if it does pretty much the same thing but gives you a much better value contract then go for it.
Click to expand...

I got a bit carried away :p

But I use around 200 minutes and easily 2500 texts, but only about 300mb p/m.
 
The big thing about the maths is, your assuming you will use the max free allowance.
what you need to work out is your current monthly average, then do the math based on that.
 
Have a look at the Motorolla Dext on Orange Sean. I've just got one and so far I'm impressed with it for the money. It'll work out a lot cheaper than the other two you've mentioned.
 
-Rob- said:
How do you find time to do anything else.

Assuming you sleep about 7 hours a night (and don't text in your sleep) that's a text every 5 minutes all day, every day for a month.

I send about 1 or 2 a day.
Click to expand...

Sometimes I send out a lot of texts at once to people on my course/in my halls/back at home/family.

And also most of my texts are about 2/3 texts long, i.e. more than 160 characters.
 
Kev M said:
Have a look at the Motorolla Dext on Orange Sean. I've just got one and so far I'm impressed with it for the money. It'll work out a lot cheaper than the other two you've mentioned.
Click to expand...

The interesting thing about it is that it's actually not any cheaper!

I haven't used the Dext yet, but I might have to give it a go.
 
foodpoison said:
Edit: The point of this post was to try and examine the ridiculous pricing of the iPhone in comparison to its competitors, not to try and justify the purchase of one or work out how much it would cost me, just to clarify. It's all a bit tongue in cheek, which doesn't come across well so here's the disclaimer :p
Click to expand...

Hope this helps the post make more sense (y)
 
The Hero may be a very good phone (I've got one) but its not got quite the iphone wow factor.

However, my Hero cost £ 100 on a new 18m contract at £ 25/m and to get an iphone on T-Mobile (o2 coverage poor where I live and work, Orange not much better) would cost a lot and involve jailbreaking.
 
£29 a month iPhone contract is widely recognised as known as a poor deal in iPhone circles and beyond.

The £35 will yield a better comparison, but I realise why you've selected that particular tariff (direct comparison).

ads
 
I'm surprised at that Sean, I got my phone for free, 18 month contract, £29/month which includes, 300 minutes, 400 texts, free landline calls, unlimited data (750MB) and a free USB dongle with 500MB allowance.
 
On a 24 month contract it would cost £29 p/m including 900 minutes, unlimited (3000) texts, 500mb data.
Not really worried about landlines as I rarely call them, and 400 texts would not be enough. Unfortunately my Dad is useless at haggling but as it's his account I can't be on the phone to orange trying to get a better deal!
 
What about looking at the iPhone 3G, rather than the 3Gs?
 
I have been tempted by the iphone - but it inability to do some fairly basic stuff well put me right off. Multitasking being one of those things.
 
What you've proven is the iPhone package is not suitable for your useage profile. I have a £35 package on a 3G iPhone and never go over any of the pre-paid limits. I get a free iPod included and lots of free fun / informative applications. It is good value for me.
 
foodpoison said:
On a 24 month contract it would cost £29 p/m including 900 minutes, unlimited (3000) texts, 500mb data.
Not really worried about landlines as I rarely call them, and 400 texts would not be enough. Unfortunately my Dad is useless at haggling but as it's his account I can't be on the phone to orange trying to get a better deal!
Click to expand...

you can you just have to pretend to be him, we do it all the time at home its just a matter of grabbing hte nearest girl to pretend to be my sis (now have own contract as was PITA when went away without them)



I've found the ui on my friends Iphone to be nicer than on my htc touch hd, but I don't know how it tethers? I use tethering all the time on many diff machines and my htc installs itself as a modem and just works (xp vista and 7 tried so far) whereas a blackberry I used needed special software on the pc. Dunno where the iphone falls but it would be an important consideration for me.
 
I've never wanted to do anything other then make/receive calls and texts on a mobile, but I must admit the iPhone is tempting. Maybe I'm entitled to one "cool" gadget!

I'm waiting to see what Vodafone offer. It's the only network that usually works where I live. O2 works about 50% of the time, and the rest just don't work at all.
 
Get the HTC HD2.....it's an iPhone killer.
 
Kev M said:
I'm surprised at that Sean, I got my phone for free, 18 month contract, £29/month which includes, 300 minutes, 400 texts, free landline calls, unlimited data (750MB) and a free USB dongle with 500MB allowance.
Click to expand...

foodpoison said:
On a 24 month contract it would cost £29 p/m including 900 minutes, unlimited (3000) texts, 500mb data.
Not really worried about landlines as I rarely call them, and 400 texts would not be enough. Unfortunately my Dad is useless at haggling but as it's his account I can't be on the phone to orange trying to get a better deal!
Click to expand...

I love the way people can use the marketing speak of "unlimited" this that and the other but still know there are limits there!
 
All my colleagues know that- as they have iphones and can't stand them... one has just got the HTC- and likes it much more than his old iphone.
 
I knew that, and it doesn't bother me. I've never had a phone that could multitask, but the lack of a 'home' screen on the iphone DOES bother me.

Just loads of apps. I'd prefer to have a background picture with widgets followed by an app screen, similar to the Tocco I have now.
 
I've got the iPhone 3gs and I had a HTC Hero, the Hero is nice and I love android but the phone itself is just not man enough to make it an enjoyable user experience. It's too slugish, the 3gs is lightning quick in everything it does. The only Android phone at the moment I'd consider getting is the Motorola Droid and that hasn't got a UK release date yet. My 2p :)
 
I've got both the phones you're looking at. I use the Hero for work, because I have to and I use the iphone because I want to. The larger screen size of the iphone is subtle, but it's enough to make it a joy to use compared to the Hero. I also found the only way to sync my outlook calendar, on my work PC, with the Hero was to open a google account and sync my outlook with that, which is a pain, as I've now got double entries everywhere! Whereas my iphone syncs with Outlook as well as ical.
 
The two key words you need to bare in mind when you debate this topic are... "App" and.... "Store".
 
icecavern said:
Which the iPhone does.
Click to expand...

Not when using spotify though :( My point stands, it does nothing in the background.

App Store? You mean the only place your allowed to install apps from? Geez, no thanks- I want to download the apps I want, from whoever I want (including any I may want to write).

But hey, its a phone, its personal to you, and what your needs are :)
 
aligibbs said:
Not when using spotify though :( My point stands, it does nothing in the background.

App Store? You mean the only place your allowed to install apps from? Geez, no thanks- I want to download the apps I want, from whoever I want (including any I may want to write).

But hey, its a phone, its personal to you, and what your needs are :)
Click to expand...

Presumably the 100,000+ apps don't cover your needs then...
 
.... i can see this thread going nasty :D nikon vs canon,... iphone vs.. the rest of the world... i'd like to remind everyone that there will be no winners in the end.. just a big mess.
 
jontucker said:
Presumably the 100,000+ apps don't cover your needs then...
Click to expand...

Apart from the fact that about 80,000 apps are copies (eg. baseball app, for every team, football app for every team, etc etc), no basically. I want to be able to choose my apps- and not have apple choose them for me. If I want skype over 3g- then why can't I have that? If I pay for my internet access? I could cite hundreds of examples :)
 
aligibbs said:
Apart from the fact that about 80,000 apps are copies (eg. baseball app, for every team, football app for every team, etc etc), no basically. I want to be able to choose my apps- and not have apple choose them for me. If I want skype over 3g- then why can't I have that? If I pay for my internet access? I could cite hundreds of examples :)
Click to expand...

and that particular one has got less to do with Apple than with the carriers not wanting you to do that.

You're more than welcome to choose which phone/apps you want aren't you? Who said you have to use an iPhone? This culture of people thinking they have rights to anything they want just amazes me, not to mention that they want it for nothing.
 
James Pardon said:
I've got the iPhone 3gs and I had a HTC Hero, the Hero is nice and I love android but the phone itself is just not man enough to make it an enjoyable user experience. It's too slugish, the 3gs is lightning quick in everything it does. The only Android phone at the moment I'd consider getting is the Motorola Droid and that hasn't got a UK release date yet. My 2p :)
Click to expand...

But, relating back to my original point, is it THAT much quicker in comparison to what I'll be paying for it? I don't think it is. Admittedly it is very quick, but then the Tocco isn't exactly fast and so I think I'll be impressed by the Hero.

treeman said:
I've got both the phones you're looking at. I use the Hero for work, because I have to and I use the iphone because I want to. The larger screen size of the iphone is subtle, but it's enough to make it a joy to use compared to the Hero. I also found the only way to sync my outlook calendar, on my work PC, with the Hero was to open a google account and sync my outlook with that, which is a pain, as I've now got double entries everywhere! Whereas my iphone syncs with Outlook as well as ical.
Click to expand...

I have to admit I am a little disappointed with the Hero's screen size in comparison to the iPhone's, I'd have thought that's something they would be focussing on, but nevermind.

icecavern said:
And why exactly do you need your phone to be mulitasking?
Click to expand...

More and more people are using their phone like a much more portable computer. I want to be able to 'minimize' the web browser, write a text, put on a bit of music and then come back to the web browser where I left off.

I don't know if you can or cannot do that but it's what I would like.

jontucker said:
The two key words you need to bare in mind when you debate this topic are... "App" and.... "Store".
Click to expand...

jontucker said:
Presumably the 100,000+ apps don't cover your needs then...
Click to expand...

Yeah, that is a big selling point for the iPhone.
I like that with Android it's open source, but I just don't think it has the backing.


jontucker said:
and that particular one has got less to do with Apple than with the carriers not wanting you to do that.

You're more than welcome to choose which phone/apps you want aren't you? Who said you have to use an iPhone? This culture of people thinking they have rights to anything they want just amazes me, not to mention that they want it for nothing.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's a culture of people thinking they have rights to anything they want. I think there are certain things where that is true, but when paying a lot of money for a product, it's a bit disappointing when it doesn't have a feature you really want.

Some people take that a step too far by throwing a tantrum. Others get over it and buy a more suitable product.
 
If you can find a 2nd hand iPhone from somewhere you can sign up for O2's 'Simplicity' tariff which is a very good deal. My missus is on it, I can't remember exactly but it's something like 1600 mins, 3000 texts and unlimited data, for £20 a month. I gave her my 3G when I upgraded to the 3Gs.
 
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