Both have different advantages. I love O2, think I get great coverage everywhere and their customer service is fab. Only downside I've found is their data charges for surfing using the phone. I have a bolt-on to my current contract and pay £45 a month for unlimited web - you can chnage your 'free' bolt-on, I think it defaults to free O2 calls which isn't really what you want as you get wads of inclusive minutes anyway. Vodafone I think give free unlimited data as standard.

OMG your unlimited web bolt-on is more than the entire iPhone contract. I now pay £35/month for 600 mins, 500 texts, unlimited data. Though note that, as Andrew points out, you can't use the iPhone as a modem.

Note that the 8Gb N95 doesn't have a micro-SD slot. (Whereas it may be possible to stick a >8Gb micro-SD card in the original N95.)

Note also that you can get the Nokia E90 communicator on Vodafone for about thruppence ha'penny more than the N95.

I have no experience of O2 other than dire rumours, but two months in I'm very happy with the call quality on Vodafone (especially after T-Mobile).

The problem with the E90 is largely one of size - I'm not convinced it'll fit happily in a trouser pocket. Am I worrying overly?

Also, Vodafone only seem to have the E90 on their business tarrifs, which concerns me slightly. O2 have it on their standard ones though.

The size isn't a big problem: certainly if you had a mobile back in 1998 the E90 is a perfectly reasonable size. (On the other hand, I like carrying a brick ...)

I'm with O2 and been quite happy with them. While my voice usage is not high I opted for the SIM only deal at 15pcm and then the Web Bolt On (200MB fair usage) at 7.50 pcm and bought my own handset off Ebay. Have exceeded the 200MB often and never been charged

3G coverage city wise is excellent but patchy elsewhere.

We use Vodafone for work and I personally have had nothing but problems with them.

The only annoying thing about O2 is the inability get an automated note of your unused minutes/texts. You either have to make a call to the Helpdesk or go online. Their online billing viewer is quite good.

They also provide you with small bonuses each month they call O2 Treats. A few extra texts, cheaper call rate or such like.

OH and the N96 which is 16Gb is due out in May

Well that's that sorted! N96 it is!

There's always the 16GB iPhone of course... which is out now.

Doesn't do bluetooth keyboards. Can't act as a tether for a laptop. Therefore not useful to me.

Shame, as it's very neat.

also doesn't do 3G, or MP3 ringtones or MMS - Apple decided that none of these were important, also camera's nowhere as good as Nokia. I've been there and done the research...

I should point out that there is an easy hack to put mp3 ringtones on it (no jailbreak or unlocking or any dodgy stuff; you trim your mp3 to the right length and give it the right file extension and bob's your uncle).

There is an iPhone compatible bluetooth keyboard available for order now. I don't know if that is related to the 2.0 firmware feature set out now in beta or not.

You can use the modem on the iPhone via a SOCKS proxy although admittedly that's a bit rubbish. I wonder if they'll properly fix these things in final release of 2.0, they certainly seem to have nailed most of the other 'business' class features.

Also to say... one friend brought his shiny new N95 to a social gathering, and the other brought a iPod touch. Let me just say no one was impressed with the N95 at all.

I'd recommend trying them both out IRL before you buy.

I've played with both an iPod Touch and an iPhone. They are _very_ shiny.

But shininess impresses me for about 5 minutes.

As poisonduk says, above, it doesn't even do MMS!

Nor is there an LJ client for it.

Basically, in a couple of years, when they've opened it up properly, and there's a decent third-party market, I'll be tempted.

Until then I'm sticking to S60.

It has fewer features than other phones, but the ones it has are more accessible and easier to use. So that's a matter of personal preference. In the US, 70% of mobile web browsing is on iPhones, which should give you some indication of just how much more pleasant that experience is.

And why would you need an LJ client? You can, y'know, use LJ.

Not having MMS is clearly a failure to understand customer needs; but the other great thing about the iPhone is that the software gets upgraded, pretty much without you having to do anything about it. So it's already more functional than it was when I got it, and will get better yet.

Absolutely. Given a while for it to get MMS and a decent 3rd party market and I'll be very tempted :->

Interestingly, this month's PC Pro has a graph in it of the mobile devices visiting their site:
PSP: 23%
N95: 20%
HP iPAQ: 20%
Palm: 3.6%
iPhone: 3.4%

But then that's a very different market. And the graph is almost certainly a month old at this point too.

What do you mean by third party? Software?

There is also a fair chunk of software out there (that's just one repository, look for PXL and Installer.app). A lot more will be on the way now the official SDK is out.

MMS is available.

That MMS app - is it just receiving, or can it send as well?

And yeah - once the SDK allows for official apps to be made I'll be keeping an eye on things.

But frankly while the iPhone is pretty it doesn't have anything must-have for me, and has enough drawbacks that I'll stick with the N96 for the mo.

actually, I think the US graph was traffic on Google, so that's also skewed. So the real figure is surely somewhere between 3.4% and 70%! PC Pro isn't exactly the sort of site a lot of people will be browsing from mobile devices. BBC News would be a good test.

That's because teh US has lost of free wi fi..

NO 3G!
Forget it !

Yup. I went through all this remeber? it's N95 all the way..

I don't know which coverage is better. My experience of dealing with the O2 store is consistently good; my only complaint is that they tend to be rather busy. Vodafone; not so much.

O2 definitely seem to be winning so far. I'll almost certainly go with them.

But when I upgraded after my contract ran out I got my N95 for free - can't you too? I know it would mean sticking with orange, but hell, they're all crap.

I'll get a free phone whoever I go with...

I've had my N95 8GB on Vodafone for a while now, I'm on the £35/month mobile internet "special offer" which is 300 minutes, 250 texts and 120MB for an 18 month contract. Phone is free but the offer is hidden away.

I don't know why they don't list this price plan anywhere else on the site. My experience with Vodafone thus far is that they are certainly good at customer care when it comes to getting me signed up, as my PAC code failed but a very nice man in the UK who had a clue sorted me out in one ten minute phone call. And the 3.5G or HSDPA coverage seems to cover surprisingly large areas of London and bits of Edinburgh already and is lovely.