I have been looking at this and wondering if I can even afford it. Any one know how much they are going to be if you aren’t up for a replacement phone with AT&T? I guess I could google it, but it is 3am and I am being lazy. 
Out of interest, what are the rate plans in the US?
Here i’ll be getting something like:
- 750 ‘free’ minutes
- 1000 ‘free’ texts (remember we pay only to send not receive here in the UK)
- Unlimitied Data
For £30 a month (so about $60 - but don’t forget the dollar is shitty at the moment), on an 18 month contract.
Is that equivalent to the US package or is the US package better?
What chaps my hide is the lack for A2DP. (That’s geek speak for Bluetooth Headphones.) The phone has the hardware, and the capability to use 'em, but they’ve never released support for it. I’ve got a pair of headphones I’d love to use with the phone.
Wow, you learn something new everyday! I had no idea.
Ignorance fought - Thanks!
runs off to play with iPhone and figure out where the hell the Bluetooth settings are located
I think that package is better than what’s available in the US. Here’s the AT&T packages available. Basically, for $69, you get 450 prime time minutes (used for making and receiving calls), 5000 nights and weekends minutes, unlimited data, and it costs 20 cents to send or receive a text message unless you add $5 for a package of 200 texts.
Agreed, and it’s actually one of the reasons why I’m shying away from getting an iPhone. I’ve got a fairly nice set of bluetooth stereo headphones, and I’d like to use them.
I’m also a little annoyed at the lack of video capability- what do you mean, you can’t record video?
Have they fixed the inability to copy-n-paste?
Well, the two stores I went to today at 11:45 or so were sold out. 
Oh well.
I will have mine on Monday. 
I went to Square One mall today to get a haircut. The barber shop just happens to be next to a Rogers store. The Rogers store was moderately crowded around 2:15 or so, but there was no lineup or anything.
On the way out of the mall, I passed the Fido booth. There were about 20 people sitting around nearby on the mall’s funky seats. I have been a Fido customer since '97, and I asked whether I could upgrade to the iPhone. After a bit of poking around on the computer, the CSR said that, yes, I could upgrade to the iPhone, and also use my store of “Fido Dollars” (reward points) to offset the cost.
So when I come back from Montreal, I may do this. The $30/month 6-gig data plan add-on makes a big difference, though the Canadian plans are still much more expensive than the AT&T ones.
It turns out that most of the people sitting around were waiting for iPhones (the booth was out of stock). Also, they were having problems with the registration/activation system (no doubt because of the crush of customers worldwide all connecting to Apple’s systems). I did see a shrinkwrapped iPhone box from a distance; if that’s the entire phone rather than an accessory, it’s really small.
My brother got one today, after waiting something like 7 hours in line. It feels about the same size as the old one to me. It’s ever so slightly thicker, but tapers in. My brother says it feels slightly smaller. I say it feels slightly bigger, let’s call it a wash.
Anyhow, because of the Apple clusterfuck, he can’t use his old iPhone (they had to deactivate it apparently to activate the new one), and the new one is not properly activated, so he’s incommunicado for the moment. Nice paperweight he’s got there.
Well, we got ours yesterday, but just barely. We showed up at 6:30, and ten minutes later would have been too late. After getting in the store a little after 10:00, we got the last two they had. By that time, the activation system was fully broken, and after trying for a good hour, they sent us home with a couple of paperweights. We were finally able to activate at around 5 PM.
After all that, I should be pissed off. But the phone is so cool I just don’t care. That’s how Apple gets away with doing this to their customers. And FYI, I’m typing this post on my iPhone. 
Bastard! I was on the road all day Friday and planned to get mine today. From what I heard, they were all gone by noon yesterday.
Got mine yesterday after waiting around 4 hours in line (wasn’t too bad, I had good company and a book). I am upgrading from the cheapo free phone I got from Verizon three years ago so I think it’s completely awesome. I got the white one and have already christened it Eve from the white robot in Wall-e. Was a little surprised it’s more of a challenge to add songs to the phone (no drag and drop in itunes like an ipod) but I got it all figured out.
Now I just have to type in all my contacts, figure out ring tones and pictures for folks when they call (features I didn’t have in my phone before). I know exactly NOTHING about ringtones, anyone know where I can get the theme to Macguyver as a ringtone?
I’m also looking for a snazzy case. I picked up a Sena case at the store, but it was for the old iphone and the fit is a little snug for everyday. I want something that I can take the iphone out of quickly since I plan to use it a lot in my car to play music (I have one of those Belkin things for the car that plugs into the cigarette lighter).
You could very likely get one at your nearest Apple store. Each Apple store got far more inventory than any given AT&T store. And the deliverires to restock them are reportedly much more frequent than AT&T locations.
Well, my plan to go to the AT&T store after work busted. I drove by and there were signs taped to the windows “Sold Out.” After reading about the fiasco in the morning, I was sufficiently dissuaded from plunging in myself.
But as MacWorld reported that service was improving, my girlfriend and I went to Westfield in Century City. They had this system where when you show up, you have to walk to the other end of the outdoor mall shopping area where there was a security team present to put you down in a list. By showing up just after 4pm, I was number 598(!) They took people in groups of 15 at a time and it was about 7:30 before my number was up (there were still people arriving at that time and the numbers climbed into the 700’s). Our group was walked back over the Apple store to wait in line outside the store (they had a system that separated iPhone buyers from people who had the poor sense to visit the store to do anything else that day.) After enough iPhone purchasers left the store, our group was trickled in to stand in line inside the store. I got my phone in hand by 8pm for a total 4 hours waiting.
But at least it wasn’t waiting in line, by signing up for a number, we were free to walk around the mall, eat, window shop etc., just so long as we were back in line by the time they called our number. If we wern’t there… it’s would have been the end of the line for us.
By that time, the in-store registration went licketly split. I took it home to sync it and complete the registration with iTunes and that went off without a hitch as well.
Though I was in a crappy mood from having to stand in line next to a very excited guy who would not shut the hell up, by the time I started using the thing at home last night, my mood really brightened up. It is such a joy to use and the apps from the app store really expand it’s functionality.
I am in LOVE with the thing!
It’s kinda funny watching others finally starting to enjoy what some have already been accustomed to for nearly a year. I’ve had one since July 2007 and was tempted to go for the new model simply for the faster data speeds and GPS support, although I thought to contribute my [fairly critical and therefore minority] opinion as to why I won’t be. I never intended to buy the first-gen phone, but a few weeks after launch, I casually demoed one and decided to go for it. Being an AT&T customer, it wasn’t a difficult transition, and I’ve been fairly pleased with it over the last year. The prospect of this new upgrade was pretty appealing at only $200, although the adjustment in data plans cooled my jets pretty fast, as did the initial reviews of the device from various websites; in addition to the overall product launch being a bit of a disaster for many customers, two of the major selling points on the new phone have received criticism because (reality distortion field detected) they’re not as exactly as advertised by Mr. Jobs at the 2008 WWDC.
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3G network speeds are not quite the leap forward that many expected. While the WWDC demonstrated data transfer rates in excess of 2-3 times the speed of the EDGE network, actual real-world benchmarking in multiple locations has shown that it’s barely meeting EDGE speeds, and in some cases is actually slower. The 3G network support doesn’t appear to have met its potential yet. That’s not to say it won’t, but right now it is not firing on all cylinders for all people.
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GPS implementation needs improvement and integration with the Maps application. At this point, at least, it is far from being competitive against real GPS unit, and does not integrate with Google Maps to provide dynamic directions as an actual GPS does. Again, that’s not to say it can’t, but the launch software was over-promised and has under-delivered. Apple intentionally kept mum on details (or lack thereof) about this because they knew it was not competitive and still needs work.
These things aside, there really isn’t much new to see on this model. I’ve applied the 2.0 software update to my first-gen iPhone and can enjoy pretty much all the same software support that the new model has, including the new App store and Exchange Server mail support. Aside from a claimed marginal increase in battery life (which in my experience is a none-issue because even after a year, the first-gen’s battery life has exceeded my expectations at anywhere from 2 days under heavy use to nearly 4 days under light use), I really can’t make a business case for upgrading to the new model, as in the long run it is actually more expensive than the first-gen with a 3G data contract. I will wait to see how both the App support and 3G network support grows before reconsidering an upgrade. I have a feeling I may be waiting at least another year, however, to see what the next major redesign brings to the table. In traditional Apple fashion, every other generation is usually the big step forward.
And FWIW, I find the idea of spending more than a minute in line for a gallon of milk to be daft, much less five hours in line for a bloody phone. I really do like mine and all, but seriously, it’s just a phone, and it is not going to be suddenly unavailable after July 11. You might think I’m saying that only because I already have one, but even I got this one several weeks after its debut, and life did not cease to be simply because I didn’t get my grubby mitts on it at launch day. Just my two pence.
I know some people are having poor 3G performance. But I’m getting 600-700 kbps on 3G, while EDGE gives me speeds around 140 kpbs. So in my real world location, I’m getting over 4 times EDGE speed.
And your last comment sounds more critical of excited iPhone buyers than the phone itself. Of course I didn’t think my world would end if I didn’t get a new toy on launch day. But I was eager enough to think that taking some paid leave from work to sit in early-morning July sunshine for a few hours was worth it. No skin off my back.
I stopped by my local AT&T store at the end of the day yesterday and of course they were sold out but it is the highest volume store in the area by far so they told me that they would be getting a Sunday shipment. I got there this morning at 8:30 and was sixth in line. Sign up took less than five minutes.
This thing is amazing!
So I took the plunge yesterday and got myself the white 16gb iphone, and damn do I love it. I am amazed by how responsive the touchscreen is and how quickly everything works. I’ve already blown $30 on the app store, plus countless free downloads.
But is anyone else having trouble with Tetris crashing and booting you back to the desktop?