iPhone 3GS UK Info

3GS coming to UK on 19th JUNE but UK users need to pay to end their contracts to upgrade...eek...see O2's Twitter http://twitter.com/o2

A PAYG version is expected the same day..no prices yet http://02.co.uk/iphone and http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone?mco=NjcxMTk1Nw for more details. US owners can order already :-(

Great thread on Mac Rumours re UK iPhones http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=713541

Pricing

O2 Monthly Pricing http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/paymonth.html
PAYG Pricing http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/paygo.html

They are even charging for Tethering....

3.0 Software

iPhone 3.0 free for all on 17 June

Oh and I am just downloading the Gold Master of the 3.0 update as devs get it today :-)

3.0GM seems fine much like Beta 5 but I noticed it didn't loose the position of all my apps when I upgraded but remembered where I had put them which was great!

Tom Tom

See the pics and info at http://iphone.tomtom.com/

No prices/dates yet!

Upgrade from 3G to 3GS on contract

The only sensible way to upgrade for existing iPhone 3G owners (well sensible people would probably wait until the end of the contract!) is:

(a) Sell iPhone 3G on eBay for approx £200

(b) Buy iPhone 3GS 32Gb on PAYG for £ - net cost is around £338 but then on a new 18 month £44 contract it is £175!!

(c) Put Pay Monthly SIM in PAYG phone

This way least you can probably upgrade to the 4th gen iPhone on launch!

18 month contracts and 12 month products cycles are a recipie for tears!!

Rise of the BNP

It got worse...the obnoxious Nick Griffin "leader" of the BNP winning in the North West. The guy who won in Yorkshire used to be leader of the National Front.

Now some of the people who have voted this way are just racist bigots but I think both Labour and the Tories have much to answer for here.

Labour promised much to the North and delivered little, only seeming interested at election time. Policies jarred with many life long Labour supporters and economically things didn't get better in many areas. Labour seemed more interested in marginal Midlands and Southern areas and its love affair with City bankers and doing the USA's bidding in wars abroad.

The Tories slammed the BNP at the count in Manchester but they are as much to blame as Labour. One of the reasons for the high BNP vote is many people cannot bring themselves to vote for the Tories after what happened under Thatcher. For those of use who lived near by when the Miner's strike was on, watching the Met Police shipped up and literally wave their wage slips under the noses of miners who could hardly feed their families voting Tory is never going to happen. And in any case what would Cameron and his friends do for Rotherham and Barnsley??

This kind of political vacuum is what extreme parties pray for. Put on the suits, don't mention race....