8 posts tagged “iphone”
It certainly seems that as I distance myself from my early 20s, technology has decided to go and make it hard on me. It's made me reconsider the reasons why our older generations don't quite understand e-mail and the internet. Maybe my dad doesn't use his cell phone very much not because of a lack of understanding it, but because it has detected his age and decided not to work properly.
Closing on 48 hours of ownership, here are my initial impressions of the new iPhone 3G. Bear in mind that I haven't had extensive experience with its predecessor, so comparisons (beyond the aesthetic -- plastic is so much better!) are difficult.
I won't say it was a painless and quick process, but we are now in possession of two iPhone 3G phones and a hefty new two-year contract. We bought them at an Apple Store, and for some reason, I feel better about that than the rather unfriendly employees at AT&T. Porting Cyndi's number over proved more difficult than it should have been, but we eventually got it.
Later, I'll give my impressions of the phone itself and the App Store. My initial ones are very good. But now, I'm exhausted and done with lines. At least until the Dark Knight comes out...
So I waited in line this morning for an iPhone (and no, after barely creeping up three bays of stores over the course of an hour and a half hour, we left, sans iPhone). At one point, when our point in the line coincided with the entrance to Starbucks, which also had a line out on to the street, humor happened. At least to me.
After settling the inevitable confusion over which line was which, a gentleman asked us, "Is this the line for that iPhone?" We answered him "yes." Then, with much derision, he said to no on in particular, "Unbelievable!" What I found interesting about the matter was that he was standing in an abnormally long line for coffee! Different scales, same silliness.
It got me thinking about lines and our willingness to stand in them. My coworkers likened DC to Soviet Russia in our line-standing habits, but I suspect that it's not a localized practice. We stand everywhere. The grocery store. The movie theater (oh sweet Jesus, the Regal Cinema in Chinatown on a Friday night is CRAZY!). For the elevator in the morning!
Side note: when we were standing in line to get our Wii way back when, a guy got in line behind us, stood there for about 15 minutes, and THEN asked what the line was for. So apparently, people will stand in line just to stand in line!
I'm not sure what my call-to-action is for this post. Don't stand in lines so that I don't have to? I'm not sure. In any case, I'm about to go get in line for frozen yogurt. Hope everyone has a good weekend!
Yesterday, Cyndi and I popped into the AT&T in midtown to take care of the credit check step of the process. While the sales rep there was extremely discouraging of coming into the "zoo" that would be his store tomorrow morning, he did bring up some interesting things about the rate plan that I didn't know.
I know some of you are pondering an iPhone 3G (less than two weeks away!), so this may be of interest. AT&T has released its set plans for the faster iPhone. No included text in any of the plans (you can add on 200 texts for $5, 1500 for $15, and unlimited for $20 on individual plans; family plans only offer an unlimited plan for a staggering $30 a month). Individual plans start at $69.99 for 450 minutes; family plans at $129.99 for 700 minutes. Click that link if you want more details; there are charts.
With WWDC in full swing and Jobsy's keynote out of the way, you knew it was coming. I'll keep it short and sweet since I can count the number of people that care on one hand.
According to Engadget,
the rumored "iPhone" (an Apple-branded phone) could be released as
early as this month! I have heard this rumor bandied about so much that
I'm not even excited anymore. Granted, I most likely will be once it's finally announced, but who knows when that'll be?
According to the internet,
Apple is running out of time with this thing. Competing manufacturers
are jumping on the cell-phone-as-music-player bandwagon with phones
such as LG's Chocolate and Sony Ericsson's Walkman phones. If they don't act now, they could miss out.
I'm still a little puzzled by my own fascination with the music
playing cell phone. I mean, I have a nano, it's small, it holds as many
songs as I want. Why do I even care whether my phone can play songs or
not? And yet, when researching the Chocolate phone, I found myself
googling "Chocolate" and "itunes." (FYI - There's no support between
the two and the Verizon version of Chocolate doesn't recogonize AAC
files.)
Anyway, for those of you that still care, "iPhone" may make its
surprising debut this month, or next year. Don't think I'll be holding
my breath on this one.
