iPhone vs Nokia 6220 or N96

Don't get caught up in the megapixel myth, which is not as much a determining factor of photo quality as many people are led to believe.

With a small fixed camera lens as included with cell phones, I doubt you will be able to tell much if any difference between the photo quality with a 5MP camera and a 2MP camera, except for the size of each captured photo.

http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/CameraNitty_Gritty-part3.php

The reason I decided to purchase an iPhone is because it combines an iPod with a phone, and also included is the "internet in your pocket".

Prior to purchasing an iPhone, I was forced to go through various workarounds to sync contact information between the Address Book on my Mac and my phone, which didn't always work well if at all and forget about syncing my calendar events. The iPhone was my first smart phone, which syncs my contact information with the Address Book, my calendar events with iCal, and my bookmarks with Safari. I access a MobileMe account and a business POP account with my iPhone which is also a plus.

Prior to purchasing an iPhone when traveling via air, I would usually carry my laptop, my iPod, and my cell phone. Now unless I need to do serious work that requires my computer, I take a single device that combines all three - cell phone, email account and internet access, and an iPod, which fits in my shirt pocket. It has lightened my load considerably most of the time now when traveling via air.

If you regularly exchange MMS, or need the ability to create or edit word or excel documents, I wouldn't consider the iPhone since this is not supported - at the present time anyway.

I agree with what Allan said regarding the camera.

The N96 is a bulkier phone with a lower res screen. The N96 is 240x320 vs. 480x320 on the iPhone. The best way to decide is write down what features are essential to you and then see which phone has the features you want. Next go to the shops and play with the demo phones and the revisit your list.

For me, the iPhone is perfect. It gives me access to the internet/email/iPod when I'm out of the office without having to lug multiple devices with me.

Does the n96 sync with the Mac?

Can I sync my contacts and calendars?

Read through the manual, that may help show you the possibilities.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/iPhone_UserGuide.pdf

The biggest complaints that I have seen on this forum.

Bluetooth is for headset and handsfree telephone functions, no file transfer, no streaming music.

No MMS - although you can e-mail pics to and from other cell phones.

You can only sync to one itunes library at a time.

No copy and paste.

No text Forwarding.

No video recording.

No Flash Player.

I'm sure that I missed some of them.

I don't miss any of these functions, and have been very happy. I would advise doing enough research that you understand what the iphone will and will not do, before you buy.

I am not surprised, particularly on a Mac forum the bias is leaning towards the iPhone.

These Mac forums are provided by Apple primarily for technical support issues and questions only between fellow users. For the most part, there are nothing but problems reported here along with many posts asking questions such as does the iPhone include MMS capability or does it support bluetooth file transfer (the answer is no to both), and/or I can't believe it doesn't include this or that. So you can find plenty of complaints here and non-bias towards the iPhone if you look.

I provided the reasons why I purchased an iPhone along with if you regularly exchange MMS or this is something you need or want and the same for needing to edit word or excel documents, you should consider a different phone.

I believe Tamara provided the best advice.

The best way to decide is write down what features are essential to you and then see which phone has the features you want. Next go to the shops and play with the demo phones and the revisit your list.

The iPhone can read the following file types - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, Apple Pages, Numbers, and Keynote documents, but from within a received email message only.

I never did view it as a replacement to my ipod Photo 40GB, but 3 devices (phone/music/photos), plus much more, does look appealing.

The iPhone was originally introduced as a phone, an iPod, and an internet device, so the iPod portion is one of the big three.

I think it is a big plus with all three combined. If you are listening to music when a call is received, the volume of the music is reduced with an option to accept to deny the call. If you accept the call - which can be done with the included earbuds that includes a microphone and the microphone portion includes a clicker to pause a song or forward to the next song. I'm sure other phones that include a music player provides the same, but not an iPod. And the video quality when watching a movie or television show is very good - and the same when viewing photos. I get more wows when showing people the video quality than anything else.

The negatives depends on what you need or want with the following features not supported at the present time anyway and may never be supported, such as MMS, bluetooth data transfer, cut/copy/paste (this reportedly is on Apple list of features to add, but when is unknown), viewing flash content - there is no flash plugin that is iPhone compatible - at least not a version that meets Apple's approval, no turn by turn audio feature with GPS - but this may be coming as well at some point, no SMS forwarding, no ability to address an email or SMS to an address book group - when addressing an email or MMS to multiple recipients, each recipient must be selected one at a time, the iPhone does not support disk mode - but there are 3rd party applications available that can accomplish the same or similar, no video recording, no built-in flash included with the camera, and no removable battery.

Pretty long list of what are considered negatives by many. Only a handful of these do I want/need, or really care about which are cut/copy/paste, the ability to address an email or SMS to a Group, and SMS forwarding.

Hello Mr Peebly,

I have no specific experience of the Nokia devices that you mention but I do have experience of comparing the iPhone to several other devices that do support many of the features listed as being absent from the iPhone. Maybe you will find my conclusions useful.

The SMS application is truly woeful but IMHO the email application more than compensates for it. Plenty of scope to circulate jokes there 😉 As the popularity of smart phones increases, I think email will get more popular than SMS although it will take a long time.

Global search and copy/paste have been irritatingly absent for such a capable device but in a month of using it I can honestly say that it only mattered twice. Even then it only wasted a minute of my time.

Regarding the camera, I've had entirely positive feedback from everyone who has seen photos taken with it. Sure it could do with a flash and a host of other features but honestly, if you want more decent pictures than the iPhone will take, use a proper camera on the occasions where you need it. I use phone, iPod, email and web more than I do camera. I'd rather Apple focussed their development effort elsewhere for now.

I've found the call quality to be noticeably better than previous phones I've owned. I haven't suffered any of the call drops widely reported here but I think that is because O2's 3G network is probably a little more mature than AT&T's and we have a smaller country.

Safari still frequently crashes but when it works, the quality of the browser is just stunning. I'm amazed that I can properly surf on such a small screen. Flash being absent isn't really a big deal. I only notice it on the BBC news site. BBC iPlayer content works fine as it's quicktime anyway.

As an email device I find it far easier to use than my BlackBerry. The BlackBerry is more feature rich but feels so clunky to use by comparison to the iPhone. The touch screen keyboard took me quite a bit of time to get used to due to the lack of physical feedback but now I prefer it to the buttons.

Any smart handheld device is going to be a compromise between different areas of functionality no matter who makes it. What's amazing about the iPhone is the way in which all the applications are so elegantly combined even if it is not the best at some of them. That elegant combination is the thing that compensates for minor shortcomings in any given application.

For me the iPhone crosses the threshold of acceptable functionality in every important area and has opened up new possibilities for me via the App Store. Sure I get slightly irritated that I can't forward a text message now and again but I'm confident that this will be fixed soon enough. I also get nowhere near as irritated by the absence of any individual feature as I do by the general clunkiness of the software on other devices and I used to experience that every single time I used them. The others I've used are just pants by comparison.

That's my 2 cents but as the others have said, we are all different and for you the iPhone might not be the right device. Only you can answer that by playing with the alternatives for a while. That ought to convince ya! 😉

Good luck with whatever you choose.

Regards

Ian

"No SMS forwarding! Wow, you can't forward jokes? "

I consider this a superior feature of the iPhone.

deggie wrote:
"No SMS forwarding! Wow, you can't forward jokes? "

I consider this a superior feature of the iPhone.

I do too 🙂.

One other major thing to consider is the Apps store. There's a ton of apps on there that really enhance the functions of the iphone.

Swap my iphone 3g with N96, anyone.