I'm thinking the same. All the rumours have nothing big backing them up, just analysts making things up left right and centre.

I've been looking for a new phone in the very near future as my contract is up. I severely want the iphone but was looking for options - I love options - and I am now looking at the Sony Ericsson w980i or the nokia N78. However, they're not releasing for another few months.
Do you think that there might be some pro industry spies telling them to hold off until the release of the iphone to compete head-to-head and keep some market share?

The strongest indication for the 3G iPhone coming in June!

"Walt Mossberg Says iPhone To Get 3G In 60 Days"

I would take his words far more than any 'analyst'. He is close with Jobs/Apple and had previously been the first journalist to get an iPhone well in advance before it was announced.

PS: I love when he calls American Broadband "crap" He should visit Australia if he thinks the US has it bad :P

I think that's game over as far as the speculation goes.

Good video.. worth the view.

Yeah, this does appear to be absolute and confirmed now. Will the release of a 3G iPhone impact if they come to Australia though..? Maybe not.

Nope, because they'd want to launch in markets without iPhones before the iPhone itself comes out. Though smartphones have apparently experienced a 'halo' effect from the iPhone too. The average person on the street, seeing an iPhone, thinks "Phones do *that* now?"

(When I see an iPhone on the street, I'm usually thinking 'you lucky bastard!')

I wish 3G was a lock on an Australian release of an iPhone, it isn't. If it doesn't launch around June I'll probably order from overseas.

With that video, if only Walt discussed broadband in Australia...wonder what he would say!

I doubt it very much. The iphone has had a phenomenal market impact no matter what you think of it, why on earth would you want to hold off building up market share and want to go head to head with it?

It was a good video, he says it with such certainty, and with all the rumours and actual signs pointing to an immenent release, it's looking good.

I ended up with a Imate 8502. At the moment its been tipped as the best PDA phone on the market.

i-mate Ultimate 8502: Reviews - Hardware - Mobiles and PDAs - ZDNet Australia

I got tired of waiting for the 3G iphone, and also wasn't sure whether it would have decent sat nav so I figured I get a free decent phone on a contract and buy a new iphone later if its any good. It syncs fine with leopard using missing sync

who knows... you might have to sooner than you think...

I got an iMate JasJam on a 24 month NextG contract last year in January. When I first started using the phone I was excited to say the least and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread...

... how my opinion has since changed. This is probably the single most unreliable mobile phone I have ever owned. Here a bullet list why I think this iMate phone really sucks:

- Backlight on slide out keyboard died within 6 months (wasn't important to me at the time)
- Windows Mobile 6 was released but iMate is saying it's up to the mobile operator to provide an upgrade path (had a hacked version running but i got tired of trailing the web for fixes)
- Slide out keyboard died within 12 months just out of warranty (I guess I should have put it into repair after the backlight died)
- The phone regularly drops calls (I have done cross test with other NextG phones so it's definitely the phone)
- Batter live is pretty bad. After about an hour of talk time I will have to the phone on a charger. That's with Wifi and Bluetooth turned off.
- Windows Internet Explorer is pretty useless (more of a Microsoft issue)
- Reading emails is ok but since my keyboard died typing emails with the stylus is a pain in the ass.
- When I tried to hand the phone into repair the Telstra people said rental phones are pretty hard to get hold off because they have had some many problems with this phone model. The result would be a 3 week wait without phone while the phone is in repair... FYI, I am on a business plan... The sales staff in the Sydney flagship store even went as far as offering me to convert my contract over to a new Palm phone as an alternative to getting the phone repaired. If I wasn't waiting for that illusive 3G iphone I probably would a done the deal.

All the best with your iMate... for me, I'll never by another HTC (or iMate) phone again... ever!!!

While I don't the think Apple's phone would be miles better report on the web so far would suggest that it certainly is more reliable than any of the iMate phones.

I had the jamin before this so I am well aware of the issues with the windows phone, its one of the reasons I avoided the slide out keyboards (i know of people who had issues with this type of keyboard) and went for a treo style keyboard because I know its a problem area. I wanted GPS for Sat Nav, and I couldn't guarantee the iphone would have that and 3G is a major issue for me due to the cost of bandwidth on GPRS at the moment. The 8502 also has HDPA so I get the high speed combined with GPS so for the moment it will do the job. There are plenty of windows freaks so if i have to palm it off to someone for an iphone on ebay it won't be an issue.

I have a friend in the states trying to buy me another phone and both the apple store in New york and La have NO phones they state 10 days wait but who knows. I suspect something is going on for phones to dry up like this

i just palmed off my Dopod 838 pro (jasjam)
i found most of those things as well. i didnt have warranty to start with. but my keyboard started dying, WIFI NEVER worked! (ok.... well once or twice)
and that was after using a few hacked versions of WM6 and then the official one as well...... go figure.... i started off thinking it was wonderful as well.

I can actually second that as well.

What has worked well until recently is Bluetooth. I have bluetooth in my BMW and it worked really well for about 5 months... then i suddenly started having problems... dropped calls, phone picks up call but doesn't switch audio to in-car stereo... etc. etc. . Usually restarting bluetooth or resetting the phone fixes the problem.

I just had a play around with the Nokia N95... nice phone, responsive, and seems to be quite functional but on the other hand it has a million and one buttons and for some of the advanced feature I can already see you would need to seriously consult the manual.

MissionMan, Telstra now seems to deploy a technology similar to the way Apple currently handles location based maps. I recently tried out their Sensis Whereis search and it accurately located me by triangulating the cell information. Not bad for what it is... still not quite the same as having a proper GPS module...

I do think however that the next version iPhone (iPhone Pro?) might have a GPS receiver in addition to 3G support.

Spotted in DSE Yesterday in Marion, SA



Make of it what you will.