Native Union Moshi Moshi 02 handset

The Moshi Moshi 02 is a traditional style telephone handset that connects to various devices providing a convenient way to chat using your iPad or iPhone. With an additional USB adapter the Moshi Moshi 02 can connect to your computer as well making it a versatile audio handset.

Created by the French designer David Turpin, the handset comes with a matching base making it look like a rather stylish house phone. That is until you pick it up and realise that there is just a single button. This allows you to answer and disconnect when connected to your iPad/iPhone.

The MM02 handset is available in either “luxurious black soft-touch or white high-gloss”. I am (obviously) reviewing the high gloss white one here.

Native Union Moshi Moshi 02 handset

Native Union Moshi Moshi 02 handset

The handset has a coiled cable that terminates in a 3.5mm jack. This can be plugged directly into your iPad or iPhone, or using a number of adapters available (at extra cost) into a wide variety of mobile phones. The phone base has a pair of 3.5mm sockets, one for the handset and one for a male/male cable that connects to your device/computer. The base to device cable is just over 30″ long and is pure white. The coiled handset cable is slightly off-white.

Native Union Moshi Moshi 02 handset

If you want to use the Moshi Moshi with a computer then you will need to get the USB adapter. This is sold separately and is a zero configuration device that plugs directly into a free USB port. The adapter is about 2″ long by 3/4″ wide a little bit bigger than a memory-stick. Because of it’s width it makes it a little tight to use both of my USB ports on my MacBook Pro as they are sized for normal USB connectors, not the wider USB devices. The USB adapter simply provides an audio interface allowing you to select the handset as input/output for all audio, or just for specific applications.

Native Union Moshi Moshi 02 handset

In use the handset works very well both with the base and on it’s own. I have used is as a handset for my iPhone over the cellular network, and with my iPad using Skype over WiFi and 3G. The quality of the speaker microphone combination works very well, with conversations being as good as or better than other headset/handset solutions. The good thing about this device is that you have what feels like a conventional telephone. One thing I did find a little confusing at first was that the handset button will stop and start the iPod on my iPhone/iPad, as well as answer/disconnect a call.

Native Union Moshi Moshi 02 handset

Of course if you have an iPhone 4 and you suffer from the dreaded signal drops you can use the MM02, with your phone in the pocket meaning that you get full signal strength.

Although the iPad does have a microphone and speaker it is not very elegant, or private to try and use it for Skype or VOIP the handset is a much more practical approach.

Using it on the Apple MacBook Pro I often found that the USB adapter had grabbed the audio output, and I was left scratching my head trying to work out why iTunes wasnt playing properly… Once I got over that I had no problems assigning Skype to the handset and letting iTunes play over my speakers.

Priced at $59.99 or £45.00 with the USB adapter costing an extra $20 or £15 there are certainly cheaper options on the market, but if what you are after is a bit of style to add to your desk then this is for you… My only real criticism is that the coiled handset cable is just enough off-white to mar the overall effect of the handset and base, strangely if they had made it the same colour as the base to device cable it would be perfect.

Native Union Moshi Moshi 02 handset

From a more practical side of things would I want to carry this handset around with me when I am out and about? I think not! The idea of having the iPad is to cut down weight and clutter. I would be better off with a bluetooth handsfree kit, or even the iPhone headset with built in microphone. But this is not what the handset is about…

Check out Native Union’s US website or the UK site for more details including stockists.

iPhone 4 launch day

Just before 8:00 a huge cheer went up round the corner at the front of the store…

We were still around the corner so had no idea what was happening, but shortly after 8 we started moving. There were 2 queues one for reserved devices and one for “pot-luck”. Fortunately we had reserved our devices and our queue was moving a lot faster.

Just after 9:30 we had moved onto Regent St and could see the Apple flag flying above the doors, and yet another queue to get in the store. 9:45 saw us in the door leaving the heat of the street behind, for the air conditioned interior.

Apple are selling both PAYG and contract iPhones as well as upgrades for existing users. Bearing in mind the length of the queues and the fact that they had not turned any of the pot-luck people away the chances are that they have plenty of stock.

This is not the case in other outlets as we are hearing of a lot of disappointed buyers at O2 and other outlets where stock has been as low as 25 iPhones. This was a scenario we were expecting and is why we pre-ordered ours.

We are now snaking around the glass staircase waiting our turn. Looks like we will not get them before midday. Apparently the reason for this is that the POS hand terminals keep crashing. About time they moved from Windows Mobile to iPod Touch devices like the US.

Apple iPhone iOS4 upgrade live

In a slightly unusual move Apple have released the iPhone OS update before the new devices hit the stores. Normally it is the other way round.

iTunes is offering Apple's iOS 4 for upgrade.

iOS 4 contains over 100 improvements, but the headliners are MultiTasking, Application Folders, Improved Mail App, and iBooks. Apps taking advantage of these new features started appearing in the Apple AppStore over the last few days, and now they will be eligible for downloading and installing onto your updated iPhone.

Vodafone iPhone 4 pricing confirmed

The iPhone 4 handset will cost £219 and there will be 18 and 24 month contracts. The 18 month contract will cost £30 per month with 75 minutes of calls, 250 text messages, and 1Gb of data. Although this works out at £10 more than the equivalent O2 contract with less calls and texts it does offer double the data. If you do go over the O2 500Mb limit just once then the Vodafone contract becomes cheaper.

Buying the iPhone on a 24 month contract does not change the handset price, but does drop the monthly charge to £25, making it cheaper than the O2 24 month iPhone 4 contract.

Click here to view the official UK Vodafone iPhone 4 pricing page.

FaceTime: Video Calls reborn

But that was way back in time, and things have changed since then. Video Calling which was the big selling point of upgrading to 3G died a death and was replaced by WAP and Mobile Internet. So why has Apple re-introduced video calling in the guise of Face Time?

Well some of the social media and new generation communications platforms have done very well with text, voice, and video messaging. So maybe it is time for mobile video calling to make a comeback. As far as bandwidth is concerned there shouldn’t be a problem (unless you are in San Francisco and your name is Steve Jobs at WWDC) and of course I think that is will be great for families and friends who are apart.

The restriction though is that you can only call iPhone 4 to iPhone 4. Why not iPhone 4 to Mac? Or iPhone to anything? Is restricting it to iPhone 4 going to cause it to fail? Does the fact that Apple has developed FaceTime mean that they will block the far more useful Skype from releasing video calling in their app? I certainly hope not, but even so the wireless carriers will be reluctant to allow this video calling over their networks as they will be struggling to provide the bandwidth that they have difficulty obtaining extra revenue from.

Maybe the recent withdrawal of “unlimited” data tariffs is more to do with gaining extra revenue from users wanting to use their devices in new and innovative ways, than punishing the tiny minority who have taken the networks at their word and “abuse” the “unlimited data”.

Lets face it with the cost of data fixed and falling the wireless carriers have to find a way to get the finances they need to invest in newer and faster networks. They have missed out badly on controlling what connects to their network so now they need to capitalise on the only “real” asset they have: the network and it’s airtime.

I am all for paying a fair price for a product to enable further development and innovation, and indeed for the company to make money, but being draconian and restrictive may very well stifle mobile innovation and effectively restrict what we can do with our mobile devices to static WiFi networks.

FaceTime: Video Calls reborn

iPhone 4 price comparisons

Each time Apple releases a new iPhone I ask myself is buying it on contract the wise thing to do? If you are in the USA you have no choice it is AT&T signing your life away for 2 years: End Of!

It used to be like that in the UK too, but with the iPhone 3GS PAYG was introduced and that changed the game. Still on O2 and the iPhone was locked to the O2 network. But then O2 lost its monopoly and other carriers got in on the act. The result is that with the launch of the iPhone 4 we will have 4 carriers available and the iPhone will be available both on contract and SIM free.

So with all these options available what is the best way to own an iPhone 4? Read on to find out…

Well firstly you have to make a decision about how long you want to own it! That may sound a bit silly, but if you are like me you will be wanting the iPhone 5 (or whatever) in 12 months time. This means that I will have to suffer a penalty for early upgrade (if they will allow it) or as I did last year take the hit and have another contract until the old one expires.

I have costed out the options below for the full term of the contract on the assumption that you will have to pay them. Ownership for more than one year will change the costings, but even so the SIM free option would still be just £679 with no ties for 18 months.

As you can see it gets complicated and there are quite a few decisions to be made. So lets start looking at a comparison of Contract and PAYG iPhones. I make the assumption that you will select the lowest voice tariff, as nobody buys an iPhone to make voice calls…

The table below is based on the 16Gb iPhone 4:

T-Mobile and 3 are yet to declare, but from the looks of things if you want an iPhone 5 then getting an iPhone 4 SIM FREE is the way to go.

In my case things are slightly more complicated.

I still have 6 months to go on my current O2 contract. I can get an early upgrade, but that will cost me £100 and I will then still have to pay £209 for the new phone on an 18 month contract. Then I have to pay for the airtime £540 total cost for me to upgrade to iPhone 4 is £849.

So what if I let my existing contract continue: SIM Free iPhone 4 £499, £30 a month for 12 months (with unlimited data as I am not changing the contract) Total cost £859 and I get to keep unlimited data and can upgrade to iPhone 5 for no penalty…

Or alternatively I can let my existing contract run out then switch to PAYG. SIM Free iPhone 4 £499, £30 a month for 6 months £180, £10 for 6 months £60 Total cost £739 and no ties.

Conclusion:
If you are looking to get an iPhone 5 next year and you dont talk a lot on the phone then which ever way you look at it PAYG works out best. If you have an existing iPhone 3GS contract with 6 months or more to go then things get more marginal. I suspect that I will be opting for the SIM Free and letting my contract run out.

iPhone 4 TCO Cheaper in the UK!

So if you want a new 16Gb iPhone 4 with no existing contract it will cost you £169 from Orange on a 24 month contract. From AT&T it will cost $199+tax = $211.94 (approx £143) so it is £26 or so cheaper in the USA. But here is the real cost… the airtime. For Orange the cheapest airtime contract is £30 a month ($44) from AT&T it is $70+tax = $74.55 (£50.32) a difference of $30 (£20.32) a month.

So adding all this up together it looks like it would cost $2,001 (£1,355) to own an iPhone 4 in the US for 2 years, and just £889 ($1,312) in the UK a saving of £466 or $689.

On the assumption that in 12 months time you will be wanting to upgrade to the latest iPhone 5 )or whatever) you have more options in the UK. Again with Orange you can get the same iPhone 4 on an 18 month contract costing £229 and £35 a month for a total of £859 or $1286 making an even bigger saving of £496 or $715.

When all the UK carriers have published their prices and tariffs we will be looking to find the cheapest way to own a new iPhone 4. In the USA it is simple you HAVE to use AT&T and you HAVE to sign up for a 24 month contract. In the UK things are much more open, we have 5 carriers offering iPhones plus you can buy them SIM free and use PAYG tariffs.

Orange 1st with iPhone 4 contract pricing

Starting at £169 and £30 a month for a 24 month contract and rising to £229 and £35 a month for a 18 month contract based on a 16Gb iPhone 4. This compares to $199 plus tax for a 24 month AT&T contract at $70 a month in the USA.

Extrapolating these figures out we are looking at an Orange iPhone 4 Total Cost of Ownership of £889 over 24 months compared to an AT&T one in the USA of $2000 or about £1350. For once we can say that we are not being overcharged compared to our US cousins.

Click here for the Orange cost/plan breakdowns.

AT&T iPhone 4 problems

One of our US readers attempting to upgrade sent us the following error he received:
There was a problem with your request.
P1015: We’re sorry, but we are experiencing a system error that prevents us from completing your request. For non iPhone related upgrades, please call Customer Care at 1-888-867-4384 and provide the error number at the beginning of this message.

With this occurring on top of the Apple Store being down for some time during the day, and the UK pre-order allocation being sold out Apple can’t know if they should laugh or cry. On the one hand despite the current economic climate they have once again proved how popular their products are, on the other they pride themselves on smooth running and today has not been as smooth as they would have liked.

iPhone 4 Sold Out

All is not lost though you can still get your new iPhone 4 by buying online and according to the Apple Store it will be delivered on the 24th. Unfortunately there are no white ones available.

iPhone 4 Sold Out

If the experience of previous years comes to pass there will be a number of iPhone 4s held in stock in the store for purchase on the day, but before you set out it is best to check that your local store will have stock. Of course there will be iPhone 4s available in the mobile phone stores, including O2 and the Carphone Warehouse, but they will be wanting to sell them with contracts rather than just PAYG versions.