DigitalOutbox Special Edition – iPhone 3GS

A couple of questions/points:

1. What is the deal with just using a o2 Simplicity SIM only tariff with the iPhone and the eat-all-you-can data?

2. A colleague of mine is having some accuracy issues with the compass. The iPhone is aligned (on a notepad) to north (0 deg) and then moved through 180 deg to south but shows a reading of about 205 deg. This is the same for east and west (90/270 deg) with an error of about 10 deg. Are you seeing this too?

Keep up the good work chaps.

Interesting questions.

1) I'm on a contract to around about Christmas. The contract costs £35 a month and gives me 600 minutes, 500 texts, unlimited web and wi-fi and visual voicemail. I could stay on that contract indefinitely but I plan to move to the Simplicity deal, once the contract is finished, from O2 which is £19.58 a month and gives me 600 minutes, 1200 texts (online only) and unlimited web. I'll lose visual voicemail and unlimited wi-fi but I'm fine with that. It's also a contract I can cancel with thirty day's notice so I'm ideally placed for next years inevitable new iPhone and selling on the iPhone 3GS.

2) I'm seeing real randomness with the compass this afternoon. Set to magnetic North, the iPhone never seems to settle on a consistent North for me. It's either slightly borked or very sensitive to magnetic sources, more so than my compass which seems to be able to keep a consistent North with ease. I'm also seeing the same as you've described in the comment with slight error's as you rotate. Maybe it is more sensitive than I'm expecting. I'll try over the weekend outdoors to see if it makes a difference.

You did disregard my landscape mode for the search - but in the same breath also highlighted my reasons for being stumped as to why it isn't implemented... ease of typing. Even if I have to type and then change to portrait mode, this is still less frustrating that typing the wrong thing 5 times! Plus, why not just do it. It's not completely practical, but at least give me the option!

You mentioned the F1 app... and as I was at Silverstone I did make the decision to buy it. £5 for one race data. You can subscribe to the season for £20. Tonnes of money. My £5 was virtually wasted though as the O2 coverage at the track was incredibly bad - and with the shear number of iPhones I spotted through the weekend, no doubt also incredibly hammered. All this meant that for my £5, I got half a practice session on the Friday. Grrrr. The app itself though is pretty incredible! Live timings and also a visual representation of the track with the cars going by. You can rotate the map in 3D and you really got a sense of what was going on out of site. Oh well.

You said the email icon on your playback didn't seem to do anything? I pressed mine this end and it popped up an email with a link to the podcast I was listening to in iTunes. Perhaps it only works for iTunes purchased/downloaded content?

Also, on my audio files, I get the option to MMS the files and I'm only on 3G phone. Perhaps Shack should download the official version of the operating system??

Finally - queue jumping is surely not the proper decorum for a UK resident. You should be ashamed.

They should give you the option - totally agree but it's no biggie really. The F1 app does sound lovely but pricey for what it is and most useful when I've got a good connection i.e. at home on wi-fi when I'll be watching it on TV and times via laptop.

I've tried the e-mail icon now and it works fine on some podcasts and not others. Listening to Best of Today from Radio 4 and the e-mail button works fine. When I try Analysis also from Radio 4 the button is disabled. I thought it was maybe a size issue but then larger video podcasts have it enabled. Odd.

As for queue jumping I am ashamed...ashamed that people who moan about it could easily have logged into the Apple site and booked an appointment. Get with it!