Off to the iPhone campout…
While others may have chosen to camp overnight to get their hands on the new Apple iPhone, Jim (although eager to get one) chose to line up with the late crowd just hours before its release.
He left armed with a couple gallons of water (hey, it’s HOT in Phoenix), a Budweiser, a chair, a Sudoku book (he’s addicted), and of course, the American Express - those phones aren’t cheap!
He spent an hour at home trying to decide which chair to take with him. The photo below details this tough decision — do you choose for comfort, convenience, or necessity?
Y’all have to wait until later to find out which one he chose…
IF he is lucky enough to get an iPhone, we will have a detailed review complete with photos by the end of this weekend for all you Famous Agents out there.
UPDATE: We were able to get 2 iPhones. Yeah! The purchase experience was very interesting and different than anything we’ve experienced or even read about. More on that later…
We hoped to have a review done by now, but unfortunately are having issues with getting everything uploaded. The problem does not appear to be with the iPhone, but with connecting through Microsoft Windows (aka Microsucks!).
Jim has been on the phone with technical support to try to get everything resolved, so as soon as we can get it working, we can use & test the iPhone and give you a full review.
July 2nd, 2007 at 1:45 pmBy the way, the choice on the chairs???
It was tempting to bring the potty chair (lovingly re-named the iPotty for this event), but ultimately the convenient and collapsible camping chair won.
July 2nd, 2007 at 1:47 pmHere in Canada we are stil waiting for the Iphone. I hope it won’t be long before they release it here.
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:39 pmHi Raj,
I understand that Rogers Communications will be the exclusive provider for the iPhone in Canada. From what I have read so far the expected release is approximately six to eight months.
July 4th, 2007 at 9:02 amHow do you like your iphones?
I am hoping to have more time this weekend to fiddle around with mine some more….
About the only hassle I’ve experienced is with my wireless network and the wep encryption at the office.
Other than that, The activation here was a piece of cake. Plugged it in to my mac and activated both phones in about 15 minutes!
Funny thing though, I’ve been playing with the browser (turning it sideways, then upright…
) and setting up contacts when I have time so I haven’t even attempted a phone call yet.
July 6th, 2007 at 10:56 amHi Ed,
We love our iPhones. We are working on a complete review w/pictures. Hopefully, we will have the time this weekend to finish it.
We have not had any difficulties with either connecting to Edge or our wireless network. It’s been reliable thus far.
July 6th, 2007 at 11:38 amLOL. I would have went with the camo chair too, it helps you blend in when in line. I’ll have to check out your review.
July 6th, 2007 at 9:08 pmSo when is the review coming? The phone almost seems to do to many things, makes me wonder what the real battery life is.
July 19th, 2007 at 9:33 amBTW, it would have been priceless to see Jim on the “iPotty” waiting in line. It would have been great link bait.
July 19th, 2007 at 9:37 amJim only brought “a beer”?
July 19th, 2007 at 11:17 amThink a 12 pack would have been in order. That way when it was time to pay that much for a phone it wouldn’t have hurt so much
.
July 19th, 2007 at 12:37 pmKen - I tend to agree with you that it would have been a real funny picture of Jim sitting on the Ipotty waiting in line. Probably would have made some of the big time sites or maybe the evening news!
July 22nd, 2007 at 4:39 amDo have a question for those folks with an I-Phone, other than the set-up frustrations and playing with the browser - have you used it for phone calls?
July 22nd, 2007 at 4:45 amBetter yet. A picture of Jim on the Ipotty with a iMac on his lap.
July 22nd, 2007 at 2:34 pmGlenn,
I use mine for phone calls. The sound is pretty good, dialing a number is easy. the sound, to me, is better than my TREO 700w., and it works well with my Jawbone.
July 23rd, 2007 at 4:11 amCharles - tend to agree with you, but wondering if Jim would do such a thing. LOL
July 23rd, 2007 at 5:24 amEdward - thank you for giving your observations regarding the I-phone as a phone. Are you using the other features of the phone? What are your observations - good and bad?
July 23rd, 2007 at 5:26 amGood and Bad…
I like the keyboard. Never been much of a text message guy, but have started using it more now. The auto spell check can be annoying, I am still learning, but still end up sending messages to my wife JeM not Jen. What is really disconcerting is the response from Ken….
Web browsing is really cool. The two finger zoom thing and rotating screen is sweet. I could keep up with the Tour online at daily peloton yesterday while at church and not miss one bit of action up Plateau de Beille!
I like the YouTube feature but, I can’t watch my own youtube movies because there is no flash plugin (yet).
Google Maps plugin is excellent. Easy to use and will provide directions.
The stock ticker I only looked at briefly, yet I did realize that I should have purchased Apple stock back in February.
The calendar and contacts sections are well done and easy to use as well.
I have some music on the phone, but haven’t played with it, except to do the flip through album cover thing…
The speaker leaves something to be desired for sure. Seems ok for the phone, but for YouTube or Ipod music, it distorts easily. There may be settings for this, but I haven’t looked for them as of yet.
More memory would be nice, but that would be so I could just sync my entire music, video, and podcast collection without having to scale back to fit the 8 gig drive on the phone. Do I need everything from my ipod on my iphone, probably not, but it sure would make flipping through the album cover art more fun.
All in all, the iphone is really, really cool. Much more useful to me than my crackberry or TREO 700w ever was. Besides, when you go into Starbucks or Barnes and Nobles and someone sees you with it, they immediately add 50 points to your I.Q. and cool-ness factor.
July 23rd, 2007 at 6:36 amSo how long is the real battery life when you use the functions that make the phone so cool?
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:12 amFor us, the phone quality is superior to that of our Verizon phones. Neither of our Verizon phones work at our house. The iPhone averages between 4-5 bars.
My mother lives just a few blocks away and her Blackberry, which is also with AT&T, does not work at her house. However, her iPhone works perfectly.
The battery life on the iPhone has been more than adequate for me. As an experiment, I played music on it for four hours straight to see how much battery life it would drain. It used about 45%; I still had plenty left to finish the day.
So far, I only charge the iPhone once per day. I did buy the car charger, but have yet had the need to use it.
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:55 amThat is way better then I would have pictured the battery life to be.
July 23rd, 2007 at 10:00 amBy the way, we are still working on the review for you guys. It’s just been difficult to find a time slot to fit it in. It’s good to be busy!
July 23rd, 2007 at 10:38 amHaha, very funny! The image of you bringing the potty chair is enough to make you laugh for minutes! On a side note, the iPhone campaign has to be the greatest marketing campaign in history.
I can’t wait to see how Apples share on the phone market will turn out a year from now.
July 24th, 2007 at 3:25 amEdward - Thank you for sharing your observations with us. Sounds like you are happy with the I-Phone. I thought there was an upgrade to get more memory for the phone. It there such an option or upgrade available?
July 24th, 2007 at 9:16 amJim - I am truly amazed at the battery life! Do you think if you surfing the net or using it for talking that the battery life would be shorter? Have you experimented with that aspect?
Looking forward to your review.
July 24th, 2007 at 9:17 amHi Glenn,
I use it for talking and surfing the net.
My usage is as follows:
1. Web Surfing - Maps, Weather, Stocks, You Tube, & General browsing - About 2 hrs per day total
2. Email - Any time I am away from the office
3. Phone - Same as above
4. Music/Video - 1 hour per day on average
5. Calendar & Alarms - about 4 a day on average
6. Camera/Photos - Daily
7. SMS (text messaging) - a couple times per week
Favorite feature: Maps
July 24th, 2007 at 12:34 pmI hear a trend from y’all about battery life…
Just get a car charger and don’t worry about it.
July 24th, 2007 at 12:35 pmExactly. Buy a couple car charges and keep one in each car.
July 31st, 2007 at 12:26 am