AT&T Pre-order: They need an Staples Easy button

[mcs328]

I just pre-ordered the iPhone for myself as an exchange and one for my wife. Got to the AT&T store and got in line around 8am. I was third in line. Around 9:15AM, the manager comes out and makes sure everyone is eligible. The guy in front of me is eligible but he has an outstanding balance of $200 that he needs to take care of first. So he's out. The next two guys are pumped and then another employee comes out and says they only accept credit cards. No cash or debit cards. One guy drop out and goes to Apple hoping they take cash. The last guy in front of me throws a tantrum. He goes back and forth with the manager saying he should have a sign but he stays in line anyways. 9:45am and the line is about 2 dozen deep. Another employee comes out and reminds everyone of credit card only and they only carry it in black. Then a few more leave the line.

10am. Made it inside and we get to ordering. Of course the system crashes. 30 minutes later they go the paper booklet route. Half the employees are clueless. 1 hour later I'm still there and they call in my AMEX. Denied. Called AMEX and they have no request for approval. 15 minutes go by as AMEX and AT&T hash it out. Soon I get everything squared away and then at the moment the system is back up.

Whew.

[Prngr44]

I don't think I'd ever wait in line that long for a phone!

I don't think I'd wait in a line period!

[mcs328]

I've waited longer for The Running of the Brides. Either 12 or 8 hours.

[Jeffbx]

Srsly, give it a few weeks & then order it up. It's going to take that long for the initial shipments to get out anyway.

My wife just got a new iPhone for work but she didn't want to wait for the new one, so she got the 3GS... as a tech geek, a little piece of me died inside because of that.

[Cubsfan]

Preordered mine for delivery ont he 24th. I waited in line a couple of years ago for one. While a fun experience, not one that I'm eager to repeat...

[mcs328]

I switched from Sprint to AT&T just because it's cheaper to do a Family plan just before the data plan changes. I have 30 days to exchange my Palm Pre Plus for the new iPhone. Hence why I have to do it at the B&M and get it the day it's released.

The Pre isn't that bad actually. I'd keep it if it had more apps for one and a software keyboard second. It also ported over all my apps when I tried it out on the Verizon network. No need to sync with iTunes. Hopefully HP and Palm get their crap together and I'll ditch the iPhone.

[Butch]

I don't get why people bothered going to the stores . . . what a waste!

I ordered mine yesterday evening from the Apple Store online . . . have my confirmation for June 24th delivery.

I'm almost annoyed that I ordered the phone, though. I'm about ready to throw my current iPhone against a wall, and I was really tempted to switch to an Android phone when my contract is up at the end of August, but I really want to be able to tether this summer so I can do work in the park, etc.

Oh well. Guess I'm stuck with AT&T for a couple more years. However, I don't have it too bad - I generally get decent reception and not too many dropped calls. I end up getting more frustrated when I need to reset the data connection.

[Chgoman]

It will be interesting to see if the antenna redesign fixes the dropped call problem. I know my reception on my Iphone 3GS is not as good as my wifes basic phone and as everyone experiences it drops calls quite a bit even when there is full coverage.

[clutchy]

I don't get why people bothered going to the stores . . . what a waste!

I ordered mine yesterday evening from the Apple Store online . . . have my confirmation for June 24th delivery.

I'm almost annoyed that I ordered the phone, though. I'm about ready to throw my current iPhone against a wall, and I was really tempted to switch to an Android phone when my contract is up at the end of August, but I really want to be able to tether this summer so I can do work in the park, etc.

Oh well. Guess I'm stuck with AT&T for a couple more years. However, I don't have it too bad - I generally get decent reception and not too many dropped calls. I end up getting more frustrated when I need to reset the data connection.

i feel like i shouldn't have to tell you this but, get the new iphone

sell on ebay.

buy nexus one and tether for free...


i got $360 for my unlocked 3g like 2 months ago... i got the new iphone 4 coming and i expect to net atleast $300 from it's sale.

i currently use the nexus one and once this sale goes through the phone will have been completely free...


have i mentioned the awesome docks for alarm and gps? the turn by turn is amazing and i really couldn't ask for a better phone.

i considered using the new iphone for a little while before selling it, but the thought of having to jump through apple's hoops... itunes and not being able to move my own music around gets blood boiling.

good luck with your decision.

[Devhux]

I should do that with one of the unlocked phones up here - yes, in Canada we can grab a carrier-unlocked phone from Apple.

[cruelpupet]

I switched from Sprint to AT&T just because it's cheaper to do a Family plan just before the data plan changes. I have 30 days to exchange my Palm Pre Plus for the new iPhone. Hence why I have to do it at the B&M and get it the day it's released.

The Pre isn't that bad actually. I'd keep it if it had more apps for one and a software keyboard second. It also ported over all my apps when I tried it out on the Verizon network. No need to sync with iTunes. Hopefully HP and Palm get their crap together and I'll ditch the iPhone.


im not a fan of software keyboards but installing preware is easy and should take care of all of that (more access to apps, can customize=ze stuff you didnt think you wanted to customize, and an on screen keyboard.

[Jeffbx]

I should do that with one of the unlocked phones up here - yes, in Canada we can grab a carrier-unlocked phone from Apple.


Yes, you should. Now that AT&T jacked up the ETF for the iPhones, it's not as lucrative to buy one here for resale. If you can get one quickly, you can probably sell it for a ridiculous price on ebay to someone in the states.

[Butch]

i feel like i shouldn't have to tell you this but, get the new iphone

sell on ebay.

buy nexus one and tether for free...


i got $360 for my unlocked 3g like 2 months ago... i got the new iphone 4 coming and i expect to net atleast $300 from it's sale.

i currently use the nexus one and once this sale goes through the phone will have been completely free...


have i mentioned the awesome docks for alarm and gps? the turn by turn is amazing and i really couldn't ask for a better phone.

i considered using the new iphone for a little while before selling it, but the thought of having to jump through apple's hoops... itunes and not being able to move my own music around gets blood boiling.

good luck with your decision.

I considered selling it when I saw they were going for $700+ on eBay yesterday. However, I don't think that price will sustain. Plus, I don't have any eBay feedback (never buy or sell anything on there), so mine would likely not command whatever the "market" price is, and then once the ETF is factored in, I don't think I would be seeing enough of a profit to justify the hassle.

Further, I'm not really a fan of any of the current Android phones, though I like where they're going. I'm more annoyed that I'll be locked in for two years, when there are likely phones coming later this year that will be really interesting.

Oh well, I might consider unlocking my old 3G and seeing if that can sell.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[mcs328]

im not a fan of software keyboards but installing preware is easy and should take care of all of that (more access to apps, can customize=ze stuff you didnt think you wanted to customize, and an on screen keyboard.

I like the option of an on screen keyboard especially in landscape mode. Hmm...I'll have to install preware. I found something called Classic but all the apps I had when I had a Handspring Edge are either gone or cost money now. If there are more useful free apps through preware and a soft keyboard then I'd just might cancel my iPhone.

[clutchy]

I considered selling it when I saw they were going for $700+ on eBay yesterday. However, I don't think that price will sustain. Plus, I don't have any eBay feedback (never buy or sell anything on there), so mine would likely not command whatever the "market" price is, and then once the ETF is factored in, I don't think I would be seeing enough of a profit to justify the hassle.

Further, I'm not really a fan of any of the current Android phones, though I like where they're going. I'm more annoyed that I'll be locked in for two years, when there are likely phones coming later this year that will be really interesting.

Oh well, I might consider unlocking my old 3G and seeing if that can sell.

Thanks for the suggestion.

just something to consider. Good luck w/ your decision.

the new evo is pretty amazing. 3 of them just showed up at my office...

that now brings the tally from 3 iphones 0 android to...

7 android phones and 1 iphone left which is my bosses... lol

[Butch]

iPhone was delivered today. It's definitely a heck of a lot snappier than my old one, the screen is pretty darn gorgeous, and the tethering works like a charm.

I'm quite content. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll get to sell my 3G, as it seems it is turning in to a hand-me-down for my mom. Oh well.

[clutchy]

^very cool, hope you enjoy it!

[Devhux]

iPhone was delivered today. It's definitely a heck of a lot snappier than my old one, the screen is pretty darn gorgeous, and the tethering works like a charm.

I'm quite content. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll get to sell my 3G, as it seems it is turning in to a hand-me-down for my mom. Oh well.

Hopefully you aren't encountering the screen yellowing issues that some are reporting. :(

[mcs328]

My wife got hers and she goes from full bars to no service when holding the phone. I'll have to ask her later is she sees the yellow spot.

I have my iphone also but I couldn't activate it online. I went to the mall today and it was 200 people deep at one entrance. They were only letting in 10 people at a time from all entrances.

I just wanted to go to the AT&T store and not the Apple store but I still had to wait in line. WTF. So I just left and went to work. I'll just come back later in the day.

[Chgoman]

They are saying the yellowing is some dye's not drying because they're getting them from the factory to the customers so fast and it should go away as the dye dries within a week or so. It will be interseting to see if that works out or not.

The other interersting one is the loss of reception if you touch the metal antenna on the sides of the phone. From what I read their fix for it will be something physical you can cover the antennas with or clamp to the phone to cover the antennas. Kinda defeats the purpose of putting the antenna on the outside of the phone for better reception. Hmm...

[Jeffbx]

Yeah, once everyone puts their cases on that problem should go away.

[mcs328]

I've been playing with the new iPhone for a few hours last night. Here's my initial review based on my comparison with the Palm Pre Plus:

Pros:
Feels Solid.
Web and Apps start up and run faster.
Folders are nice for grouping apps.
Call quality is good
Larger screen and resolution is excellent
Software keyboard
Battery life is fantastic
Tons of Apps

Cons:
'Multitasking' is not...well...multitasking. Thanks WebOS for spoiling me.
Signal bar goes from full to zero is seconds.
3 steps to turn Wifi or BT on.
The square design is not ergo in the hands.
The back button is better on WebOS. That whole multifuction LED button would be insanely useful on an iPhone.
How do you kill 'open' apps?
The highest volume setting is not loud enough for my tastes.

[Devhux]

To kill open apps, double-tap the Home button to bring up the App switcher. From there, hold down your finger on one of the apps until you see a red minus sign above the icons - then press it.

[mcs328]

To kill open apps, double-tap the Home button to bring up the App switcher. From there, hold down your finger on one of the apps until you see a red minus sign above the icons - then press it.

Ahhhhhhhhhh... :thumbup:

[mcs328]

Doh.

+1 goes to WebOS when it comes to Youtube. I didn't know that videos are terrible on 3G and crystal on Wifi with the iPhone. When I had the Pre, it was crystal clear regardless.

Am I that stupid? Or this is misleading marketing?