cybertraveler

Hi,

DH and I will be spending 2 glorious weeks in Italy this summer, leaving our two children at home with their wonderful aunts & uncles.

I would like to be able to email them daily or visit via Skype, but I'd rather not use the Internet cafes. I have used the cafes on previous trips, but I'd like to try using an iPhone this time.

I haven't bought the iPhone yet, but it seems like it would be a great travel resource. I think that I could use it to store photos from the trip as a backup to my camera card, and send the photos as email attachments to my children.

Also, I thought that it would be great to download a couple of movies for watching on the plane (The Italian Job? Under the Tuscan Sun?)

It is a fairly expensive item, and I'd love advice from anyone out there on this.
Is it easy to locate free wifi hotspots in these areas?
Is it possible to use it as a phone in Europe without paying huge roaming fees?
Is this a good way to store photos and then transfer them to my computer at home?
Would it be wiser to buy the iPod Touch (which is less expensive)?

I really want a good excuse to buy this iPhone, but if it's really not practical for the trip I'd rather wait and get it afterwards so I'll have more money to spend in Italy!

Thanks in advance for any help.

AP6380

Romor has it that the 2nd generation of iphones will be released this summer, I believe theyw ill surf the net 40x faster... or something like that. I would hold out for that. Also think that it may be incredibly expensive to use the iphone internationally.... but am not 100% sure.

cybertraveler

Thanks for the tip. When I was in the Apple store last night, I did learn that they have opened the iPhone to third party developers, so look for lots of new software to come on the market after June 1. I think I'll wait and see...

ComfyShoes

cybertraveler,

Browe http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35107201. MichaelT has posted excellent advice in it that answer most of your questions.

I will tell you that while it has all sorts of stuff, iPhone does not exactly have a great camera. For an overseas trip, you would want something far superior. However, if you take'em, transferring photos from iPhone to a computer is a piece of cake.

So, whether or not to buy it? It is the coolest, one of the most useful gadgets (specially if you work....) I have EVER bought. And I am no longer in my 20s or 30s so I have lived a few years and bought all sorts of gadgets So far as travel, I find it immensely handy on planes/airports because you can watch previously downloaded podcasts for hours.

Third party software? There already is plenty of it (see http://www.apple.com/webapps/) and that list is growing very rapidly.

cybertraveler

Comfyshoes, Thanks for the information. It's good to hear from someone who's used the iPhone, and that thread has a wealth of information.

I'm planning to bring a Canon camera, and I'd like to upload the pictures to the iPhone from the camera card. Do you happen to know if that's possible, or can I do it with the camera cable?

ComfyShoes

cybertraveler, I know you can download pictures from a digital camera to an iPod using its USB drive. I have never tried it on the iPhone. Hopefully, someone else will respond.

rcasper73

Look into the At&T Tilt. While I do admit the Iphone has a very slick browser and nice scrolling action, the Tilt blows it away in features and expandability. This is especially true being that iphone does not even have 3G internet. This means that any web browsing through your data plan and not in hotspots is horribly slow. The Tilt uses a MicroSD card that will expand to 32GB. Plus, it has a built in GPS. (not cell signal driven watered down GPS) I have all of the US , Central and Western Europe on my storage card including all of my Points of Interest stored and ready for my trip in September. Trust me look past the Hype, its just that...hype..You'll be glad you did.

ComfyShoes

Hmm... rcasper, obviously you are not referring to my post. As far as I am concerned, while I like my little gadget a lot (I don't know anyone who has it and doesn't love it although I am sure there are people who don't), cybertraveler can buy an iPhone, a Tilt, a tilted iPhone, an iTilt, or even a string with cans at either end But your point is a good one and everyone should obviously research what they buy. May be cyber has already done so.

rcasper73

Hey Comfy, you are correct. Not really responding to your post. Just kinda giving my input. I am not saying I hate the iphone at all. I can certainly appreciate what went into creating it. More R&D than most products they rush to market. It's easy to use and looks pretty. My suggestion has more to do with the fact that regardless of what the good folks at apple say, you should compare all the features and form an educated opinion on just how flexible the iphone really is. I am one of those people that like to research all of my electronics purchases in an effort to avoid choosing a product that may end up becoming an expensive paperweight much sooner than more expandable and upgradable products. I do have a 160gb ipod, so I am definitely not just against Apple products. Just offering my geekish opinion to help folks get the most bang for their buck.

cybertraveler

Great discussion! Thanks to both of you. Actually, I do know a little bit about the iPhone. My son and my brother both have one and they love it, although my son does say that the AT&T phone service tends to lose the signal more than Verizon (which he used before).

I am a dedicated Mac user, so I've been wanting to get an iPhone since they came out last summer. Unfortunately, I was stuck in a 2 yr. contract with Verizon, so I decided to wait to make a switch until the contract ran out.

I've got to admit it was love at first sight with the iPhone, so I haven't really checked out the competition. It probably would be a good idea.

Have any fodorites out there used their iPhones to store photos while on a trip? How about using Skype on the iPhone?

Thanks again for all the great advice.

ComfyShoes

rcasper, right on. I gotta tell ya that I am almost addicted to it.

cyber, You are asking questions I haven't thought of Never had to worry about skype w/iPhone (my employer pays for cell use).

cybertraveler

Comfy, you're one of the lucky ones--my son & brother both have the same deal.

There's no way it makes sense financially to buy an iPhone, but it doesn't matter...it's such a great little piece of technology!

By the way, check out the web apps for iPhone on the Apple website. One is TripIt, which I'm using to plan my trip. Very nice: it keeps track of all the details of your itinerary! Here's the link again:
http://www.apple.com/webapps/

ComfyShoes

cyber, I think you are breaking some rule here. You can't ask questions as an OP and then start giving advice What do you think this is?!

Just kidding. I will check it out, thanks.

Robin4

I would wait until the new model comes out. I took my iPhone with me to Spain and France a few months ago.

For photos I took my Cannon with several cards. But, I also used my iPhone and took about 800 pictures with my iPhone. You cannot change cards with your iPhone. You can download all your pictures into your computer when you get home. You do this automatically when you sync it. What I loved about my iPhone pictures was that you could review all of them in a large and detailed screen, you could zoom in and out and see your entire album. The clarity was just as good as those taken with my Cannon.

Wifi was not available as much as I needed. You could use Edge but it is way too expensive. I paid a dear price for using the data roaming. I had signed up for an international package of $24.99/mo. It was still too expensive. I had a medical emergency so in my case, I was so grateful I had it with me.

What worked well for me: It stored music, several books, podcasts (Rick Steves, etc). I wished I had downloaded a movie.

Photos

Text messaging cost $50 cent per message (additional service $5.99/mo) great when my family joined me.

I used the phone within Europe to make reservations, etc. No special codes were needed. It seemed to be able to pick up the fact I was in France and it would dial it as if it were a local number.

The reason I would wait, I'm sure it will have more memory, GPS (their map program by Google was still very helpful). I believe the new model will have even more bells and whistles.

SRS

Cybertraveler,

We brought my iPhone to Europe in Feb/March.

We landed in Zurich and the wi fi worked everywhere.

When we got to Sicily (and over the next 12 days), it worked very infrequently. I tried it at each hotel and often in restaurants and it was really spotty. And to be fair it was pretty slow. I was only trying to update the weather and check yahoo.

So we ended up going to an internet cafe to check email.

The photos were okay, but I don't think the quality is what you would want for vacation photos. They looked good on the iPhone screen, but then when we got home and loaded them onto the Mac, the resolution was pretty bad.

So I would say, if you are not too committed to checking email everyday and you don't mind the wait / chance it will or won't work, then go for it. But we didn't find it to be as good as I had hoped.

Of course, we were in Sicily and in rather rural locations, so if you are in Florence and Venice, proper you might be okay (here in NYC it works really well and my friend in London says he gets great service there). In Venice, it did work at our hotel but we had to get a password from them.

We didn't use it as a phone as we have a cell we use in Europe and we made sure we had the data roaming off - so we wouldn't get a huge data bill.

Have a fun trip!
Sally

scrb

1. International roaming through AT&T is very expensive. If they offer international data roaming, it's probably even more expensive.

2. I've seen unprotected hotspots in apartment buildings in Europe but never in hotels. Hotels either charge you for Internet access or they partner with cell phone companies which charge you.

Some hotels include Internet, which is one of the amenities I look for because I usually take a laptop.

3. Few if any phones take good pictures. Some have higher resolutions 5 megapixels or more. But the optics just don't compare to a dedicated camera.

4. There used to be some peripherals for the iPod which let you slide in an SD card and copy the contents to the iPod. But if you take high res. photos, you could quickly fill up the 8GB storage on iPhones.

5. Some people opt to unlock or "jail-break" their iPhones so that they can use it on other services and also install some applications. You run the risk however that you can't install future software updates from Apple which will enable more features or give you access to 3rd-party apps.

For instance, lot of Americans opt to buy prepaid SIMs in whichever country they visit, to make calls at much lower rates than international roaming charges through an American carrier.

6. As for other phones, yeah there are always those with better hardware specs. But there's no substitute for usability. For example, I have a Nokia E61i which has Wifi and UTMS. But it's a pain to switch from Wifi hotspot to another Wifi hotspot. You have to go through several screens. iPhone is pretty seamless, will show you which hotspots it detects and let you connect assuming you know the pasword.

That said, I wouldn't expect too many free Wifi hotspots unless the place you're staying at has one or is in range of a neighbor's one (where you would technically be stealing his bandwidth).

cybertraveler

Wow! Thanks to everyone for taking the time to give such detailed advice. I'll need to study this a bit, but I definitely think I'll hold out a while to see if they introduce the new model.

Comfy-lol on the advice thing!

However...I have done a little bit of research on this site:
http://www.jiwire.com/search-hotspot-locations.htm

and I found one free hotspot in Piazza della Signoria. Ironically, it's Michael Collins Irish pub. Seems like I could sit in a cafe nearby and use the hotspot without breaking any rules. Otherwise, DH could enjoy a beer while I email the kids!

cybertraveler

Just a little update on the iPhone...
I found this on the web. If anyone else is considering a purchase, you might want to wait for this AT&T rebate.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/...icleId=9081305

Robin4

I get the distinct impression that you've already made up your mind and are hoping someone might talk you out of it. If so, I'm sorry I can't do it, I love my iPhone. Still, waiting a few more weeks might be wise.

rcasper73

I agree with Robin4 about waiting. The new one should be out in early to mid June. Last I heard was that the new 3G version will be available in an 8 or 16gb versions and it is not yet confirmed that they will have a 32gb available. Not too clear on any other "bells and whistles" other than it being a bit thinner and supposedly will have more apps available by the end of the year. For me, there is still the non-removable battery and lack of ability to switch to a local SIM card that deters me from getting one myself. With my unlocked tilt, it is really handy and cost effective to use local SIMs rather than deal with an overpriced international plan.