iPhone

[untmdsprt]

Has anyone bought one in Japan? How is it? Is it worth the cancellation fees if you have service with another company?

[JonB]

more to the point from previous experience the vodafone/softbank 3G coverage sucks - so ask yourself do you want a phone that is difficult to use as a phone?

Sticking with my AU.

Don't get me wrong - I love my macbook and iPod and if they went with AU would seriously consider it.

I've also heard the contract is 80,000 yen over two years - sounds like a lot to me but not seen it broken down.

[untmdsprt]

80,000?!? Lot more than the original $199 for the 8GB and $299 for the 16GB (x current yen rate) How can they sell it for more than twice the quoted price? I certainly won't be getting one. I guess Softbank has decided to set their own price because of demand.

[JonB]

I think it is pretty much universal - the price is associated with the "mass market" package. Mobile phones are generally loss leaders and they make their money several fold in the rates.

Doesn't seem to be stopping them - 1million sold last weekend

[markystar]

i got mine.

the only complaint i have about it is, it's much easier to input text on a traditional keitai and the kanji conversion is a bit slow. that said, the web browsing is siiiiiiick. already installed tetris and air hockey on it.

also, everywhere i go people are like, "is that an iphone? can i see it." hehehehe. rock star keitai.

[プチクレア]

And the "rock star 携帯" effect doesn't die down... I've had mine for almost 8 months now, and I still get that answer.

And as since last friday I finally have japanese IME on it (thank you, firmware 2.0), I'm in heaven ! (and Korean, and Russian, and Chinese... Come on, Apple, how am I supposed to post on Arabicpod101 ?????)

I agree the kanji conversion is a bit slow. I liked the "old" ipod touch japanese IME better... and I find the kana keyboard confusing. But on the whole it's great.

Next thing I need : the capability to add new dictionary in WeDict (like in the old, Installer-version), and iFlash for Iphone to sync with my mac iFlash...

[markystar]

i'm hoping there will be copy & paste added soon, as well as japanese E文字.

might be nice to use ATOK kanji conversion instead of the pre-installed one.
and there's no place for a keitai strap, lol.

but i was watching perfume on youtube at lunch. pretty cool. hehehehehe

[JonB]

what about battery life - I heard that was quite poor.

Maybe a due to the 3G network - I use a 3G Blackberry and if it can't find the network the battery pretty much drains away. Switch to GPRS when out of the country and no problems at all

[untmdsprt]

My cousin, who works for Softbank in Kawasaki, said you get discounts on the monthly bill which brings the 80,000 円 down to the quoted figures. Seems fishy to me!!! So Marky, the question we're all dying to have an answer for is, can the new iPhone download the podcasts directly and can we read the PDFs without having to sync with the computer?

What about the wireless capability of both the iPhone and the iTouch? I rarely use my phone now except for the email. Are there a lot of hotspots around Tokyo/Yokohama?

[markystar]

the iphone is connected to the web at all times via the 3G network (i guess. not a tech guy). so the only time i've had problems connecting so far is on the subway... but it's in area again when you arrive at each station... so just like a regular keitai.

i've been able to stream the free audio and premium audio.
i was surprised that it didn't choke, so the bandwidth must be pretty good.
(as for downloading directly from the site, i'm not sure. somebody else may know the answer to that).
pdf's display beautifully.
video vocab didn't stream, but i'm sure if i downloaded it thru iTunes, the ipod part would play it just fine. but i didn't try that yet.

[untmdsprt]

Can you post a video to the forum showing us the new toy in action displaying JPod from iTunes and displaying the PDFs?

[MichaelMcDonald]

I really like Jpod on my iPhone, you can listen to the podcast from iTunes while viewing the PDF online. Scroll and zoom with one-two fingers, even take the quizzes, and then leave a comment (like I'm doing now).

The only problem is that the video vocab won't play. Anyone know why?

I'm also using the iPhone to study Kanji readings. I type in a reading and see if the correct Kanji comes up. I know you can do all that on any computer, but this is just more portable (and fun).

[markystar]

sorry about not posting a video. i lost my other keitai before i got the iphone, so... no way to shoot video. but the sight displays very smoothly, as Michael McDonald pointed out.

i also have eijiro bookmarked.

i'm hoping tango town makes an iphone compatible app, as their web service is one of the best 300yen you can spend a month.

[untmdsprt]

Where did you go to get the phone? Did you find someone that spoke English or was it all in Japanese?

[markystar]

i went to the omotesando hills shop at 5 am and waited in line. lol.

i had to do the whole transaction in japanese. it's a big shop, so i figure they had some english speaking staff, but i didn't see the need since the iphone plans are limited. so you can't do a lot of picking and choosing as with other phones.

that said, i'm sure the roppongi shop has english speaking staff as well.