[jwolf6589]

I plan on upgrading to the iPhone next month and have some questions.

1. Can I forward Visual VoiceMails as a text/email? Can they be saved on the phone or do they auto delete?

2. Can I set notification music for certain contacts when they call me?

3. Can I access the iPhone as a drive in the finder of Mac OSX and drag and drop files onto it?

4. Can I sync the iPhone with Mac Entourage/Outlook and Windows Outlook?


Thanks..

[ugahairydawgs]

No

Yes

No

Not sure, but I think yes

[palmless]

I plan on upgrading to the iPhone next month and have some questions.

1. Can I forward Visual VoiceMails as a text/email? Can they be saved on the phone or do they auto delete?

2. Can I set notification music for certain contacts when they call me?

3. Can I access the iPhone as a drive in the finder of Mac OSX and drag and drop files onto it?

4. Can I sync the iPhone with Mac Entourage/Outlook and Windows Outlook?


Thanks..

1. No but, far better to disable Visual Voicemail and use Google Voice. Does everything you ask. Part 2, Visual Voicemails are saved on the phone. But dump it for Google Voice, get texts or emails of your transcriptions. I've been using it on several phones for several years and love it.

2. Yes

3. No, no need. Use Dropbox if you want that functionality.

4. Yes but think of it more like your iPhone -AND- your Outlook are both peers accessing your mail/calendar/contacts on the same Exchange or other server.

In other words, not Server --> Outlook --> Phone, but rather Outlook --> Server <-- Phone

[Thor1972]

Eeehhmm....sorry....I think you entered the wrong door; forums.imore.com is at the other end off the hallway...

[jwolf6589]

1. No but, far better to disable Visual Voicemail and use Google Voice. Does everything you ask. Part 2, Visual Voicemails are saved on the phone. But dump it for Google Voice, get texts or emails of your transcriptions. I've been using it on several phones for several years and love it.

2. Yes

3. No, no need. Use Dropbox if you want that functionality.

4. Yes but think of it more like your iPhone -AND- your Outlook are both peers accessing your mail/calendar/contacts on the same Exchange or other server.

In other words, not Server --> Outlook --> Phone, but rather Outlook --> Server <-- Phone

Not really. Google Voice is no replacement for Sprint's VoiceMail. Google Voice has several imitations that make it more of an add on rather than a replacement. I do use Google Voice with another number, but my voicemail will always be with Sprint. If you had a bad experience with Sprint please do not tell me about it, because my experience since 1999 has been very good.

Overall it looks like I will miss some of the blackberry, but not enough to substantiate going to the Bold over the iPhone. No doubt I will keep my blackberry around encase I change my mind. But I doubt that as iPhone is OVERALL the better phone.

One more question

Can I create filters, and can I set the mail system to auto delete mails after 2 weeks and such?

[jwolf6589]

No

Yes

No

Not sure, but I think yes

Thanks. Looks like I will miss some features, but not enough to substantiate going to the Bold over the iPhone. The iPhone has 50 x more apps, can sync with iTunes, can play movies, has more internal disk space (except when compared to the new BB Bold), has a much better browser among other things.

But one more question. Can I create mail filters on the iPhone, and can I set the mail system to auto delete emails after 2 weeks? People tell me that the BB is better for email.

[palmless]

Not really. Google Voice is no replacement for Sprint's VoiceMail. Google Voice has several imitations that make it more of an add on rather than a replacement. I do use Google Voice with another number, but my voicemail will always be with Sprint. If you had a bad experience with Sprint please do not tell me about it, because my experience since 1999 has been very good.

Overall it looks like I will miss some of the blackberry, but not enough to substantiate going to the Bold over the iPhone. No doubt I will keep my blackberry around encase I change my mind. But I doubt that as iPhone is OVERALL the better phone.

One more question

Can I create filters, and can I set the mail system to auto delete mails after 2 weeks and such?

Sorry, thought you were talking about "Visual Voicemail" by Apple, not Sprint, which is the same on every iPhone regardless of carrier. Google Voice fully replaces it with no feature gaps whatsoever.

An added advantage of using Google Voice in this way is that multiple devices (several phones, tablet, notebook, etc.) can simultaneously have full voicemail functionality.

I have no bad Sprint experience to relate to you!

[jwolf6589]

Sorry, thought you were talking about "Visual Voicemail" by Apple, not Sprint, which is the same on every iPhone regardless of carrier. Google Voice fully replaces it with no feature gaps whatsoever.

An added advantage of using Google Voice in this way is that multiple devices (several phones, tablet, notebook, etc.) can simultaneously have full voicemail functionality.

I have no bad Sprint experience to relate to you!

No it does not fully replace Sprint VoiceMail! Here are some features missing in GV.

1. Callers are very very limited when dialing into the VoiceMail system via GV. Try dialing into the VM with Sprint and then try GV. There are so many many more things one can do when dialing into the system. For Sprint for example I can listen to old messages, fast forward and rewind, and send instant voicemails to other Sprint phones (note that this feature only works with standard non smart phone voicemail).

Having power over things when dialing into the system is very useful when I am in non sprint coverage areas and must use a landline to check voicemails. For example in my hometown which is in the mountains there is no sprint coverage. I could roam but roaming kills my battery so I just leave my phone on wifi only mode. In this mode one cannot get texts or calls (at least on the BB Curve 3G not sure about the iphone or newer BB's which I hear use WIFI calling when in non coverage zones).

2. If I remember correctly GV does not allow 4 minute voicemails like Sprint does.

3. There are some other features I forgot to mention or cant think of at the moment, but may come to me later.

On the BB Curve 3G Google Voice does not download the voicemail to my phone, but requires me to dial a number or use the app. The app is not as instant as it should be and so I sometimes have to dial the number to listen, as the app takes a few minutes to refresh. When I worked in a certain warehouse and got a poor data connection often, it was more useful to have the voicemails download to my phone, then to rely on a app such as Google Voice. For some reason the VoiceMails downloaded far quicker than me downloading a google voice voicemail via the web browser. So Sprint VoiceMail was better than Google Voice here.

Perhaps the iPhone all this may change.

[Cleveland]

Thanks. Looks like I will miss some features, but not enough to substantiate going to the Bold over the iPhone. The iPhone has 50 x more apps, can sync with iTunes, can play movies, has more internal disk space (except when compared to the new BB Bold), has a much better browser among other things.

But one more question. Can I create mail filters on the iPhone, and can I set the mail system to auto delete emails after 2 weeks? People tell me that the BB is better for email.

That's not true with a 64GB iPhone 4S available and I highly recommend AT LEAST getting a 32GB

[jwolf6589]

That's not true with a 64GB iPhone 4S available and I highly recommend AT LEAST getting a 32GB

Maybe I should pay $200 instead of $100 and get the iPhone 4S instead of the 4.

[palmless]

No it does not fully replace Sprint VoiceMail! Here are some features missing in GV.

1. Callers are very very limited when dialing into the VoiceMail system via GV. Try dialing into the VM with Sprint and then try GV. There are so many many more things one can do when dialing into the system. For Sprint for example I can listen to old messages, fast forward and rewind, and send instant voicemails to other Sprint phones (note that this feature only works with standard non smart phone voicemail).

Having power over things when dialing into the system is very useful when I am in non sprint coverage areas and must use a landline to check voicemails. For example in my hometown which is in the mountains there is no sprint coverage. I could roam but roaming kills my battery so I just leave my phone on wifi only mode. In this mode one cannot get texts or calls (at least on the BB Curve 3G not sure about the iphone or newer BB's which I hear use WIFI calling when in non coverage zones).

2. If I remember correctly GV does not allow 4 minute voicemails like Sprint does.

3. There are some other features I forgot to mention or cant think of at the moment, but may come to me later.

On the BB Curve 3G Google Voice does not download the voicemail to my phone, but requires me to dial a number or use the app. The app is not as instant as it should be and so I sometimes have to dial the number to listen, as the app takes a few minutes to refresh. When I worked in a certain warehouse and got a poor data connection often, it was more useful to have the voicemails download to my phone, then to rely on a app such as Google Voice. For some reason the VoiceMails downloaded far quicker than me downloading a google voice voicemail via the web browser. So Sprint VoiceMail was better than Google Voice here.

Perhaps the iPhone all this may change.

OK, again, I thought we were discussing Apple's Visual Voicemail, available on all iPhones since 2007. Did not realize you were referring to a Sprint service, which sounds ideal for your needs.

Just FYI, you would still receive Google Voice voicemails in wifi only mode, and would not need to use a landline to retrieve them.

And I would block anyone who regularly left voicemails over thirty seconds!

[TGR1]

Maybe I should pay $200 instead of $100 and get the iPhone 4S instead of the 4.

The 4S is faster and more powerful (better chip) if nothing else and of course has Siri. If you use primarily for calls and light browsing it doesn't matter but if you use more complex apps or games the extra performance can be nice. If you can, talk to your friends who have them and compare.

[xandermac]

Maybe I should pay $200 instead of $100 and get the iPhone 4S instead of the 4.

Yes. 4s is a lot faster. Dual core vs Single, much faster graphics etc...


Sent from my iPhone4s using Tapatalk

[ugahairydawgs]

Thanks. Looks like I will miss some features, but not enough to substantiate going to the Bold over the iPhone. The iPhone has 50 x more apps, can sync with iTunes, can play movies, has more internal disk space (except when compared to the new BB Bold), has a much better browser among other things.

But one more question. Can I create mail filters on the iPhone, and can I set the mail system to auto delete emails after 2 weeks? People tell me that the BB is better for email.

Not per se. You can setup your e-mail as Exchange and only have it push messages for the last day, three days, week, 2 weeks, month, or no limit.

Personally I like the iPhone better for mail. Company I work for uses Google Apps for mail and the lack of true 2 way syncing (among a host of other things) made BB mail seem old and clunky for my needs.

As far as that internal storage space goes....the new Bold only has 8GB of internal storage. Smallest 4S comes with 16GB. iPhone 4 is a fine phone, but unless you are in a cash crunch I wouldn't waste an upgrade on that. Plus with the size of apps increasing I really wouldn't want anything less than 32GB (I have the 64).