Greetings LCT iPhone users!

Now that all the hoopla seems to be dying down, I thought I'd start a new thread...

Who went out and purchased a new 3G iPhone? A little birdie tells me one LCT'r did! I'm sticking with my Gen 1 phone for the present.

The 2.0 software update took me 1.5 hours yesterday morning (grrrr) but updating P's phone yesterday evening was a breeze, only taking 20 minutes or so. The update is great (albeit a bit buggy which I am sure will be sorted out) and I love the new apps features.

Mobileme seems pretty cool too with lots of new upgrades and enhancements. To those with .mac accounts...will any of you be using @me.com as your e-mail address? I will not be as I like the sound of @mac.com much better.

Your experiences and opinions?

Also, if you have any questions, or are having difficulties and need help, do not hesitate to PM or e-mail me.

I don't have an iPhone, Robert, but I'm a new MAC user. Do you know anything about the iTouch? I'm basically intereted in a pda type device for calendar and address book. So far, (after 1 day's use), my Palm seems to be synching ok with the MAC but I'd prefer to move to all Apple products.

Thanks for any advice. I'm currently caught between the PC and MAC world (still need to use both for awhile) and it's driving me crazy!

Well, I completely messed myself up with my .mac account. I had gotten a new Amex card, and that was the one site I forgot to update (and forgot to check emails for the very important time span). So, I had to rejoin and now I'm wading around trying to figure out the new stuff. I prefer to keep mac.com, if I'm able to.

I'm keeping my original iphone, didn't try the update because I had read that the servers were going nuts yesterday. Sonja and her crew are out here, have been since yesterday, so I'll wait until things are a little less active.

We're planning on getting the new iPhone, but haven't had time to get to the store yet. Maybe tomorrow!

Hey Donna:

Don't know much about the iPod touch, to be honest. I'm happy to do a little research. At first blush, the iPod touch seems like an excellent replacement for a PDA. Looks to me to pretty much be an iPhone without the, er, phone.

Here's where I'm starting..

First, the obvious. Watch the videos.

Apples iTouch Page

Here's a mac centric site where I hang out. You will find lots of useful information there. Be wary of asking questions, tho - the members can be a little snarky.

Macrumors web page

Let's research together! I'll post back later.

Thanks, Robert. I've watched the videos already.

I'm off to a posture therapy class. See what happens after 50 :) . I'll check out the forum you suggested later this afternoon. I guess if my pda synchs with my MAC, I really don't need the iTouch. But, I want one :D .

If they were not on the AT&T service I would be interested, but for now we will stay with our present service and phone..

We don't have AT&T either which is why I'm looking at the iTouch rather than the iPhone. I just want everything to snych in my life...calendar, addressbook, husband ;) .

Guilty as charged ... ;)

Thanks, Robert. I'm sticking with my Gen 1, too. I haven't done the 2.0 software update yet. I start a new project tomorrow, so maybe that will be something I can do one night in the hotel. Going to Annapolis! Such a short flight compared to Tucson and LAX! I'll miss the 10k per week ff miles I was getting for almost a year. But, won't miss the 20 hours of travel per week!

I, too, will be keeping my gen 1 iPhone. Just don't see the need to upgrade.yet

Guess I am a Mac geek. Got home from CAVIAR last night. Hmmm, let's see: Up at 6am Greece time. Home 9pm NY time. Uneasy 3 hour or so nap on the flight.
Upgraded to 2.0 at about 10pm NY time.

Went rather easily. But took a bit given all the new writing of code.

Tried to update Andi's iPhone today on her PC.... Groan! Will have to try again tomorrow. Did not seem to work.

Donna & Alan: as you know, the iTouch is merely an iPhone without the phone. It should give you what you are looking for.

When we left for CAVIAR, we shut off the data service on our iPhones to avoid an ugly surprise bill. Had a bit of a task turning it back on. I;m guessing that it is related to the system problem Apple/ATT had with the 3g iPhone. They underestimated demand & crashed the system. That might explain delays some are having upgrading to 2.0.
If anyone is looking to get a new 3g iPhone, perhaps waiting a week would be a good idea.

BTW, just uploaded the Bloomberg app from the app store - if future apps are half as good as this is, I will be in heaven.

Doug

Here comes a really, really dumb question. Doug, when you say you turned off data service for your trip, does that mean you couldn't send/receive emails? I have my fingers crossed that it isn't what you meant.

If you turn off data service, Pam, it'll also affect your ability to get emails. Though if you hook up the Wi-Fi to the ship's Wi-Fi service, you'll still get access to your email that way.

Pam, that is exactly what I meant. The international data charges can add up rather quickly. So, we did it to avoid any surprises on our bill. Of course, we tried to turn the data back on during the iPhone 3g launch weekend. Let's just say that AT&T was a bit busy that weekend. But all is back to normal now.

Doug

Pam, Data Roaming is off by default. Here's a link I found helpful. http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/iphone-travel-tips.jsp

Kim

Thanks, y'all! Olivia and I were talking about using those (her iPod Touch and my iPhone) for emails during Roar2, instead of taking laptops. So, if I turn off data roaming, it basically just turns off the Edge part and I could still receive emails if I found wifi?

Karen has found an incredible looking little gadget (Nokia N810), but we can't seem to find one physically in a place that we can hold it and try it out before we buy it.

Pam - correct. :)

Great link, Kim - thanks!

Ditto Masaki, Pam.

Donna - I think the iPod touch would be an excellent replacement for your PDA. I think you will love it. Please let us know what you decide.

I received this note from the Mobile me Team this morning and thought it worthwhile passing along (that and a free month for .mac, er, me.com account holders):

We have recently completed the transition from .Mac to MobileMe. Unfortunately, it was a lot rockier than we had hoped.

Although core services such as Mail, iDisk, Sync, Back to My Mac, and Gallery went relatively smoothly, the new MobileMe web applications had lots of problems initially. Fortunately we have worked through those problems and the web apps are now up and running.

Another snag we have run into is our use of the word "push" in describing everything under the MobileMe umbrella. While all email, contact or calendar changes on the iPhone and the web apps are immediately synced to and from the MobileMe "cloud," changes made on a PC or Mac take up to 15 minutes to sync with the cloud and your other devices. So even though things are indeed instantly pushed to and from your iPhone and the web apps today, we are going to stop using the word "push" until it is near-instant on PCs and Macs, too.

We want to apologize to our loyal customers and express our appreciation for their patience by giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge. Your extension will be reflected in your account settings within the next few weeks.

We hope you enjoy your new suite of web applications at me.com, in addition to keeping your iPhone and iPod touch wirelessly in sync with these new web applications and your Mac or PC.

Thank you,

The MobileMe Team

Interesting ... so at least we're getting an extra 30 days for free. :)

"rockier than we had hoped".....indeed...

Robert, so far my Tungsten pda is working (sort of) with my Mac so I'll probably stick with it for a while since I bought it about two months ago. Now if I can only get it to wirelessly synch, I'll be satisfied (still want the iTouch though).

Do I understand correctly that since my mac.com account just became a mobile me account, I will get the 30-day extension also? Interestingly, my government Bureau just blocked access to the mobile me account starting today. I never was blocked accessing my mac.com account. So now I have to access my mac e-mail via another portal.

Regarding the iPhone, I think I'm going to wait until Xmas to get one. Our Verizon cell phone contract runs until next June -- Gail and I have a "family" plan. (In the DC area, Verizon has better coverage than AT&T.) It seems the main criticism I'm seeing of the iPhone is still the coverage area of AT&T, though I guess Wi-fi hot spots get around some of that. Is that what you experts are also noting?

Just came across an article in by Pogue in today's NYT about MobileMe. See MobileMe article

And there's another article on "Sampling the Best of the iPhone App Store's Diversions"; see Sampling the App Store
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Eugene

Yes, Eugene, you should qualify for the 1 month extension just like the the rest of us. It is not reflected in my account information yet. They say above that it will take a couple of weeks.

In metro LA i think the AT & T service is fine.

Thanks for the links. I am enjoying the applications I've downloaded to date.

So is it time to buy yet, or wait longer for Bugs to be worked out?

Any bugs will be taken care of in the next firmware update, G. If you are ready to take the plunge, now is as good a time as any!

Agreed. :)

Well - I Tried!

3 week wait at AT&T store.
Called Apple store - as of 2 PM today the line is closed - about a 7 hour wait for people currently on the line. Not taking appts for tomorrow - they don't expect to have any left.

I guess apple isn't doing this rollout very smoothly.

Yes, I agree it is not and no, it is - well now anyway (sorta).

Yes, in that the first 24 hours of the roll out activation slammed the servers to the point where they were forced to take them off line and have people activate from home (not the original plan); they have removed the word "push" from their marketing/sales materials because, well, it doesn't - not really, yet anyway; address book is STILL not integrated into mail but it's on the horizon - or so I'm told; the v2.0 software update has lots of new bells and whistles but is still a little glitchy, there are frequent "lags" and my battery life is noticeably worse.

No, in that they are making buckets of money.

And, Gil, to the bulk of your post above - you would think that the fine folks in Cupertino would have mastered the basics of supply versus demand by now, huh?

Am I still the uber Apple fan boy? Absolutely.

I also noticed the "lag" since I upgraded to 2.0. Have not seen any affect on my battery life, tho.

Gil: You could try to order the iPhone on line from the Apple store. It might actually arrive quicker than waiting for the store to fill all their pre-orders. An ATT store would activate it for you. Just a thought.

Doug

Doug - iPhone 3G isn't available from the online Apple store - it's only in-store and at AT&T locations. You're required to activate and sign up for a phone plan before leaving the store. So, no ordering online. :(

Yep...

And people are lining up to buy this thing?
Why?
There must be decent alternatives for Phone/ browser/email?

I can't use T-mobile anymore - the service has deteriorated in my area to worse than poor. So am looking to swtch to AT&T which seems to work better here. Thought I'd go iPhone route, but having second & third thoughts after seeing what a hassle it is to get one, and hearing the many many problems they are having.

Haven't upgraded the software yet. Stessful first week on new project. But, not happy to hear there's a possibility of worse battery life. What's that all about?

Probably decreased battery life from "push" technology - more polling taking place. Still, probably not significant enough to cause any major issues for people and the original iPhone with 2.0 firmware is still going to have better battery life than the iPhone 3G (I recharge my phone every night and have yet to see the battery life go below 2/3rd full).

Gil - frankly, there's nothing on the market that works quite like the iPhone. It's unique in its user interface and the level of integration that it achieves between mobile/desktop/web connections. This is why it's selling so well and is so popular now (not to mention all the hype and the advertising that Apple is doing). As to whether it's the right piece of technology for YOU is a decision only you can make though. It truly may not be worth the hassle in getting one if another phone can serve your needs just as well.

This may be a useful list to peruse for some of the top smartphones that are out there now. Maybe another phone than the iPhone might be a better choice?

Once again, ditto everything M said.

Thanks, Masaki, for the battery life info.

OK, so, I've upgraded to 2.0 while sitting here in the NWA club in Memphis. Now what? lol ...
I guess besides the article in USA Today that I read last week about apps, I don't really know what the upgrade gives me. SO, I guess I'll just explore.

From the apple website:

With the free iPhone 2.0 Software Update, your iPhone does even more. Extend its capabilities with innovative applications you download directly from the new App Store. Get push email, calendar, and contacts from your Microsoft Exchange server at work. And use great new features in Mail, Contacts, and other applications. To get the free update, just sync your iPhone with your Mac or PC.

Detailed infomation here...

Thank you, Robert. I guess I have a lot to learn!

I am ashamed to admit that I have forgotten to upgrade. Maybe some time this week.

Just got a new iPhone 3G yesterday. Having a load of fun with it. So, what are you favorite apps?

Shazam is just too cool.
Urbanspoon looks like it has potential.
Bloomberg has a nice interface.
Weatherbug is OK but would like to know if anyone has used a better weather app.