I Phone in Canada
I had a chance to go to San Francisco two weeks ago and I brought back an iPhone. I think it was a clever move, especially since US and Canadian currency are pretty much the same. It cost me less than the price of the 16 GB version of iPod Touch in Canada.
The unlocking process was painless. All I did was search on Google about how to do it. I found step-by-step instructions, followed them, inserted my Rogers SIM card and there was Rogers appearing in the top left corner with full signal. I successfully made my first call with my unlocked iPhone and I don’t remember who I called, but does that really matter? I played around, synchronized with everything on my Macbook again without any troubles at all.
After that, I went to sleep.
The next day, I was back in Montreal. It’s still working here. I’m not going to talk about the iPhone, because you can get intel on that elsewhere. Instead, I’ll tell you about my experience in Montreal, a place where it’s unavailable.
Since there’s no iPhone here, people who see this little often confuse it for the iPod Touch. However, when I’m walking around with the white earphones on and speaking with an “iPod”, it makes me really crazy. On the other hand, I can hear the person I’m talking to with both my ears.
Something I really like about the iPhone is that it doesn’t look like phone. In fact, it doesn’t look like anything. For people who have never seen the iPod Touch or the iPhone, it might be a card holder, a wallet or some other container. Put that on the table in a bar and it could be confused for a shiny cigarette box.
Network Services
In Canada, phone calls with the iPhone are like with any other phone. Transferring data is a whole other story, because I really don’t want to use it. If I’m not careful, I could end up filling up bankruptcy forms. The good news is that I found an application called Services which allows me the turn EDGE, Bluetooth, Wifi and SSH on and off at will. The only thing I keep on all the time is Wifi. Who said that drains battery?
Google Maps
Google Maps can be installed on pretty every phone and it’s built in the iPhone, but it requires a lot of data usage. Since the costs are astronomical with Rogers, I preload and presearch maps using Wifi and this allows to navigate without needing any kind of connection at all. I tried it out while I was in the subway.
All in all, the iPhone is a fancy PDA with a phone. People have complained about EDGE being slow, but in Canada, the issue is that EDGE is a luxury even rich people can’t afford.
