3G iPhone launch

[pm]

Today is "3G iPhone" day and you can walk over to an iPhone store and buy one as of this morning. The "AppStore" went live this morning too and the new iPhone 2.0 firmware (which includes a lot of really big updates including something akin to Enterprise business support) was released as well.

So here's the news so far.

First, the new release of the iPhone but more probably the new firmware release, took down Apple's activation servers. There are multiple levels of irony to this and I'll be chuckling about it all morning.
http://discussions.apple.com/t...eadID=1594632&tstart=0
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/11...pining-for-the-fjords/

The new AppStore went live - and there's a review of it here:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/0...tores-hits-and-misses/

One of the Apps that is pretty cool is the new "Remote" app. You can use your iPhone to play your entire iTunes library from anywhere with WiFi. If they'd made it work with 3G then I'd think it was really, awesome. But WiFi anywhere in the world is pretty neat.
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/11/first-look-remote/

And reviews of the new "3G iPhone" from the major newspapers are summarized here:
http://apple20.blogs.fortune.c...rst-iphone-3g-reviews/

Revision 2.0 of the iPod Touch firmware is "coming soon" and will cost $10 (if I was a Touch user, I think I'd find this fee very annoying).
http://www.macrumors.com/2008/...re-update-almost-live/


So? Did anyone buy one?

 

[Cobalt]

We successfully activated 2 iPhones in my store (AT&T corporate store), our demo at 6:30 am and the then very first person who was rung out. Everyone else has to activate at home but we keep getting calls because it won't work their either. The iTunes servers are so bogged down its pathetic, can't believe they let it happen.

 

[pm]

Originally posted by: cobalt
The iTunes servers are so bogged down its pathetic, can't believe they let it happen.

Don't be so hard on them, I mean it's not like they know accurate numbers for exactly how many iPhones they've sold, it's not like they've had plenty of time to prepare for this, it's not like they design servers for a living, and it's not like they advertise that they can set up a server for your business.



Apple gets so many things so right, I have to admit that I enjoy it a bit when they mess up.

 

[brikis98]

I've been keeping my eye on the iPhone 3g progress. Here are the more interesting things I noted in the 3 reviews published thus far:

* The third improvement is audio quality, which has taken a gigantic step forward. You sound crystal clear to your callers, and they sound crystal clear to you. In fact, few cellphones sound this good.
* Apple's claims that 3G speeds are twice as fast as Edge were confirmed by my own download tests. It generally took 10 to 30 seconds to load popular websites through 3G, a lot zippier than when I accessed the sites on Edge.
* IPhone 3G still lacks a physical keyboard, too... With practice, I've gotten pretty good at it. A big challenge is learning to trust it as it makes predictive auto-corrections on the fly. But it's not for everybody.
* There's no copy and paste function, no universal search, no instant messaging and no MMS for sending photos quickly between phones.
* There?s still no voice dialing, video recording, copy-and-paste, memory-card slot, Bluetooth stereo audio or phone-to-phone photo sending (MMS). And when the battery needs replacement after a couple of years, you?ll still have to pay Apple $86 for a replacement.
* More important, in daily use, I found the battery indicator on the new 3G model slipping below 20% by early afternoon or midafternoon on some days, and it entirely ran out of juice on one day... The iPhone 3G's battery life is comparable to, or better than, that of some other 3G competitors. But they have replaceable batteries. The iPhone doesn't.
* Unfortunately, there?s not much you can do with the G.P.S. According to Apple, the iPhone?s G.P.S. antenna is much too small to emulate the turn-by-turn navigation of a G.P.S. unit for a vehicle, for example.

Some of those - especially this relatively crappy GPS - are really disappointing. My co-worker should be getting one today and I'll play around with it next week, but I think the iPhone 3G is going to fall just short of what I want. Sigh.

 

[earthman]

How have we come to the situation that we need iTunes for our phones to work? What's going on here? By the way, Apple took the forum down, guess they can't take the heat.

 

[BassBomb]

rogers site went down (assuming because of the traffic during launch)

my boss is still not at work, im guessing hes still awiting or looking for the iphone

 

[BZeto]

Yep sitting here trying to activate my iphone using itunes and it isnt working. What a crock.

 

[uli2000]

I cant believe they still didnt include A2DP or MMS. As for the GPS, Im sure its no smaller than your usual cell phone gps antenna. I can do turn by turn with my mogul (some trouble in cities with lots of high rises around) without much trouble. I sure the iphone will be able to do it just as well. As for gps software, whats out there for the iphone except google maps? Google maps is nice, but its not full fledged nav software. Decent nav software makes all the diffrence.

 

[Muadib]

Apple & at&t, really dropped the ball with this launch. I'm so pissed, I might return mine.

 

[tuteja1986]

Screw you Apple :!

8GB iPhone 3G (Black)= $729AUD

16GB iPhone 3G (Black or White)= $849AUD

Err worst plunder than Sony PS3 in AUstralia :!

http://www.optusiphone.com.au/.../pre-paid-pricing.aspx

err.. IF alot tech corporation can sell electronic good at arround same price as they sell in US , then i don't get why you have to screw us 4x

 

[bigrash]

Originally posted by: Muadib
Apple & at&t, really dropped the ball with this launch. I'm so pissed, I might return mine.

Same thing happened in the last lauch. I had bought my original iphone on friday launch day last year and it wasn't activated unti early sunday morning because I was an existing AT&T customer.

I'm at work right now so I'm really not concerned about activating my phone right now (don't have itunes here anyways), but it'll be nice if their activation is working tonight. I won't hold my breath though. I've learned to be patient from last time, plus I have the original with 2.0 firmware so I can play around with that

 

[CKent]

So if it "just works", is difficult / impossible activation due to iBloat an intended feature? /snicker

 

[DivideBYZero]

No turn-by-turn GPS apps? Wow.

 

[Maximus96]

so normally, are we forced to activate the phone in the apple or at&t stores? or can we just buy the phone like before?

 

[Aimster]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
No turn-by-turn GPS apps? Wow.

Where did it say that?

I am sure Garmin will release an iphone application soon

I have turn-by-turn on my Nokia n82. I don't see how they can't have it on the Iphone.

I was going to buy one damn u Apple

 

[bigrash]

Originally posted by: Aimster

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
No turn-by-turn GPS apps? Wow.

Where did it say that?

I am sure Garmin will release an iphone application soon

I have turn-by-turn on my Nokia n82. I don't see how they can't have it on the Iphone.

I was going to buy one damn u Apple

TomTom has said they're coming out with one soon.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: Aimster

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
No turn-by-turn GPS apps? Wow.

Where did it say that?

I am sure Garmin will release an iphone application soon

I have turn-by-turn on my Nokia n82. I don't see how they can't have it on the Iphone.

I was going to buy one damn u Apple

It's in the OP:

* Unfortunately, there?s not much you can do with the G.P.S. According to Apple, the iPhone?s G.P.S. antenna is much too small to emulate the turn-by-turn navigation of a G.P.S. unit for a vehicle, for example.

Looks like Garmin would have to be godlike to get it to work well.

 

[BZeto]

Finally got it activated about an hour ago. Having never played with an iphone before, it's pretty badass.

 

[slightlyhuman]

they were sold out at my store.

apple = epic fail @ launch.

 

[Cobalt]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
No turn-by-turn GPS apps? Wow.

Thats what I use my BB Pearl for But as an AT&T employee I can't even buy one yet... Gotta wait atleast a week, the iPhone will be my toy.

 

[pm]

According to one of the websites that I read - no links, I don't have time right now to look - they are going to be getting a shipment a day for the next couple of days. So there will be more tomorrow.

I'm really surprised about the GPS not having turn-by-turn. That was one of the key features that I wanted in the new iPhone and I can't even see the point of the GPS if it doesn't do turn-by-turn.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

My Nokia N82 can piss on the original iPhone, but with 3G now.. hmm. Still, I say 5MP + Xenon flash + video takes the cake for me. Oh and Garmin Mobile XT =]

 

[Aimster]

Originally posted by: DLeRium
My Nokia N82 can piss on the original iPhone, but with 3G now.. hmm. Still, I say 5MP + Xenon flash + video takes the cake for me. Oh and Garmin Mobile XT =]

lol that's what I have with the Garmin too. So much better than the crap that Nokia put on the phone.

 

[2Xtreme21]

I don't know if I lucked out or what. I had a disappointing start to my day, but it ended very well.

Went out to the AT&T store that's 3 minutes from my house at 9:00am this morning-- was 24th in line. Stood in line until 10:00 when they cut us off 3 people in front of me. Drove down to the apple store about 15 minutes away and they were lining up around the block. I said to hell with it and I'd get it another day.

I ended up being in the area of the apple store today around 4:00pm because I had some errands to run and I figured why not go see what the line is like. There was no line out of the store (only inside) so I parked my car, and got in line. I asked the guy if he had any still left and he said that they had plenty (which surprised the heck out of me) but he said he hoped I didn't have big plans for the evening as people were averaging around 2 hours inside the store getting activated. I decided to stick around despite all of it.

My turn with an apple rep came 30 minutes later-- he tried to do his spiel on selling me mobileme and I said no, just please replace the iphone that's currently on my family plan with the new one. He put in my information, validated it all, charged me $218 for it (I only needed the 8gb), and walked me over to a macbook to begin the "lengthy activation process." Guy plugged my phone in, clicked "New Account" and within 2 seconds it was activated. He thought he had done something wrong so he started to panic "because it took the last guy he helped 45 minutes." He told me try to call someone on it, I did, it worked... I boxed it up, and walked out a very happy new iphone 3g customer. About 35 minutes in and out.

 

[cmdrdredd]

It's such a gimmick as well. They advertise $199 price, but that's only for NEW subscribers to AT&T. You can't be a current customer and just want to have the phone. Oh no, you pay $399 for the cheapest one. That's a ridiculous thing to do for your customers AT&T. The price point and hype machine of the ad campaign is all just a come on add to get people to sign up for service at $100+ a month for 2 years. They really don't care if you already have service, they got you and you're stuck.


That is unless you qualify for an "upgrade". Who tells me I don't qualify? I have money just like anyone else...well screw them Apple won't get my money nor will AT&T once my contract is up.