I'm FINALLY getting an iPhone (1 Viewer)

I almost bought one a few years ago when they first came out but didn't pull the trigger. Now, since I'm a government employee, I can get a nice discount every month so I've decided to give it a go.

I'm getting a refurb, white, 16GB 3G model. This will be the first cell phone I've ever owned (not including the phone I had to carry when on-call for a previous job). I know...I know. I think I was the last person on the planet to not own a cell phone. It should be here in a couple of days. Can't wait!

Welcome to the adventure. The phone is great, especially with the 3.0 features on the horizon. AT&T still sucks ass though.

Todd,

It's about time!

You will really enjoy your new phone.

Congrats! Mine comes on June 8th or whenever they ship the 3rd rev! =)

(Jealous)

I'm waiting for the iPhone to be on Verizon. Any day now, right? Right!?!

Just got my shipping notice and it will be here Monday. Luckily I don't have to work Monday so I'll get to spend all day playing with my newest toy. Woo hoo!

And that is what is holding me back. I was at a meeting earlier this week and three folks, of the five at the table, had iPhones. They are so nice.

I know you're kidding, but for the serious answer, Apple COO Tim Cook said on Wednesday that Apple will never make a CDMA iPhone, calling it a dead end technology. Thus, there is no chance of a Verizon iPhone until Verizon completely switches over to LTE a.k.a 4G. (Indeed Verizon's CEO said something similar recently -- no iPhone before LTE.)

In other words -- no Verizon iPhone for years to come. The good news is that AT&T is supposed to be going crazy upgrading their 3G network in preparation for the iPhone 3.0 release. Lets hope it helps.

We are in the process of getting 3G here!
I can't wait until we finally step up and can experience the full potential along with the 3.0 upgrade of the iPhone!

In all honesty the phone part is really one of the last parts of this device I actually use unless you count tons of texting.

I don't know the timeline, but I still find it odd (even for Apple) to willfully cut out 60% of the potential US customers, by being AT&T only.

Maybe AT&T will improve their network. I hear too many complaints to be excited about switching, even for the iPhone. Whereas with Verizon I experience no network problems.

Well, it's here.

I was worried that there might be scratches all over the thing since it is refurbished but I couldn't find a single one. It looks brand new.

The operating system is fantastic and very user friendly. I thought I might have problems typing on it but it works pretty well. I don't think I made a single mistake when typing in my home's wi-fi password.

It would appear there is no 3G near my house. An E popped up in the top left corner by the signal strength meter. Is that the Edge network? No 3G could be a deal breaker. We'll see if it's available around town and on the road.

Still playing with it so I'll post some more thoughts later.

It would appear 3G is a no-go in my city. The best I can do when not near a wi-fi hot spot is Edge, which is painfully slow. I tried a little web surfing yesterday at my favorite Chinese restaurant while waiting for my order and it took forever for pages to load.

Signal strength and call quality was easily the equal of my wife's Verizon phone. In fact, where my wife gets about 3 bars at our house with Verizon, I was getting 5 with the iPhone and AT&T.

The app store is killer. I downloaded a number of apps and games and was impressed with the quality. The only downside is games are a bit hard to play on a touchscreen.

No MMS hurts. I'm used to sending pics to families and friends via MMS on my wife's phone and not having this feature sucks. I hear it's coming with the 3.0 software though.

Overall I'm very impressed with the iPhone. I have 30 days to decide whether to keep it or not. I have a feeling that I'll be hanging on to it.

Todd,

Here are some free apps you may want to check out:

* Sportacular - Probably the best way to keep up with scores and in-game progress for your favorite teams and sports. (It's only about 130 days 'till the Dawgs hit the field again!)

* vlingo - Provides a voice recognition front end for Google searches and contact searches/calls that actually works!
- Say "Call Tom Jones Mobile" and the app will search your contacts for a name that matches "Tom Jones" and then call his cell phone number.
- Say "Web search Abraham Lincoln" and the app will feed the phrase "Abraham Lincoln to the Google search engine.
- Say "Find Best Buy" and the app will feed "Best Buy" to the included Google MAPS application while using "location services" to find your current position. The end result is that the Google Maps application appears with "Pins" for the Best Buy stores nearest your current location.

* Flixster - Provides information on the movies playing near your location. You get trailers, critics ratings, user ratings, the name of the theatres near you currently exhibiting the movie, and the showtimes for the movies. (Plus, of course, you can optionally purchase the tickets for the shows!) The app also includes a nice DVD/Blu-ray database of upcoming titles to be released; and you can search the DVD database for catalog titles/reviews. This is nice to have around when you spot a bargain $5.00 DVD and wonder what the critics think of the movie.

* Wikipanion -- Nice iPhone-specific front end for Wikipedia.

* What's On? -- Provides "TV Guide" type information keyed to your current location.

Sounds like some cool apps., especially Flixster. I'll have to try them this afternoon if I can pry the iPhone away from the wife (why do I get the feeling that I'm going to end up buying another one?).

I've never understood the MMS thing, having never used it. Why can't you email pictures instead?

Bummer about the no 3G. But it sounds like AT&T is doing ongoing network upgrades, so maybe you'll get 3G in the future.

what are the ATT complaints?
I went from many dropped calls with verizon to no dropped call
on ATT.
we are very happy.


Quote:



Originally Posted by DaveF
I've never understood the MMS thing, having never used it. Why can't you email pictures instead?
.





you can.
you can email pics to other cell phones the same as if you are sending a regular text pic.

long, ripped from howardforums.com............

You basically email a picture to your friend's phone number and they receive it as an MMS message.

So heres how to do this:

First take a picture of what you want to send. If you already have a picture in the iPhone, then simply go to that picture by locating it in the iPhone's camera.

In the "TO" field of the email message, you need to enter the person's 10 digit phone number (their number including area code). The phone number should be followed by the standard prefix for their carrier. For example, for people with ATT, the prefix is [email protected]. If you do not know what carrier your friend is using, you can use the prefix [email protected] and it will automatically figure out what carrier they are using and send the MMS to them correctly.

When you have finished typing their number followed by the correct prefix in the "TO" field of the email message, then you can simply press send and it will send the message as an MMS to their phone.



If someone has MMS on their phone and wants to send you a picture, they can't because the iPhone doesnt support MMS. Instead, they should just email you the picture because you will instantly get the email on your iPhone and your iPhone will even alert you when you get the email.


Here is a list of prefixes for different carriers.


Alltel = [email protected]
Amp'd Mobile = [email protected]
AT&T = [email protected]
Boost Mobile = [email protected]
Centennial Wireless = [email protected] (added by kcirrab-this is accurate for i have centennial)
Cingular (AT&T) = [email protected]
Einstein PCS = [email protected]
Nextel = [email protected]
Sprint = [email protected] or [email protected]
T-Mobile = [email protected]
US Cellular = [email protected]
Verizon Wireless = [email protected]
Virgin Mobile = [email protected]



Or you can simply send a message to [email protected] and they will automatically detect the carrier. Teleflip is free to use.



Here are some more (may include some just txt #'s sorry I can't test them all):

3 River Wireless = [email protected]
Advantage Communications = [email protected]
Airtouch Pagers = [email protected]
Airtouch Pagers = [email protected]
Airtouch Pagers = [email protected]
Airtouch Pagers = [email protected]
AlphNow [email protected]
Alltel = [email protected]
Alltel PCS = [email protected]
Ameritech Paging = [email protected]
Ameritech Paging = [email protected]
Ameritech Clearpath = [email protected]
Amp'd Mobile = [email protected] Arch Pagers (PageNet) = [email protected]
Arch Pagers (PageNet) = [email protected]
Arch Pagers (PageNet) = [email protected]
AT&T PCS = [email protected]
AT&T Pocketnet PCS = [email protected]
Beepwear = [email protected]
Bell Atlantic = [email protected]
Bell South (Blackberry) = [email protected]
Bell South = [email protected]
Bell South = [email protected]
Bell South = [email protected]
Carolina Mobile Communications = [email protected]
Cellular One East Coast = [email protected]
Cellular One South West = [email protected]
Cellular One PCS = [email protected]
Cellular One = [email protected]
Cellular One = [email protected]
Cellular One = [email protected]
Cellular One = [email protected]
Cellular One = [email protected]
Cellular One = [email protected]
Cellular South = [email protected]
Central Vermont Communications = [email protected]
Cingular Wirelss = [email protected]
Cingular Wirelss = [email protected]
Cingular Wirelss = [email protected]
Clearnet = [email protected]
Comcast = [email protected]
Communication Specialists = [email protected]
Communication Specialist Companies [email protected]
Cook Paging = [email protected]
Digi-Page / Page Kansas = [email protected]
GrayLink / Porta-Phone = [email protected]
GTE = [email protected]
GTE = [email protected]
GTE = [email protected]
Houston Cellular = [email protected]
Infopage Systems [email protected]
The Indiana Paging Co [email protected]
JSM Tele-Page [email protected]
Lauttamus Communication = [email protected]
MCI Phone = [email protected]
MCI = [email protected]
Metrocall = [email protected]
Metrocall 2-way = [email protected]
Mobilecomm = [email protected]
Morris Wireless = [email protected]
Motient = [email protected]
Nextel = [email protected]
Nextel = [email protected]
Nextel = [email protected]
Ntelos = [email protected]
Omnipoint = [email protected]
Omnipoint = [email protected]
OnlineBeep = [email protected]
Pacific Bell = [email protected]
PageMart = [email protected]
PageMart Advanced /2way = [email protected]
PageMart Canada = [email protected]
PageNet Canada = [email protected]
PageOne NorthWest = [email protected]
Primco = xxxxxxxxxx@[email protected]
ProPage = [email protected]
Qwest = [email protected]
RAM Page = [email protected]
Rogers Canada = [email protected]
Satellink = [email protected]
SBC Ameritech Paging = [email protected]
Skytel Pagers = [email protected]
Skytel Pagers = [email protected]
Southern LINC = [email protected]
Southwestern Bell = [email protected]
Sprint = [email protected] or [email protected]
Sprint PCS = [email protected] or [email protected]
ST Paging [email protected]
SunCom = [email protected]
SunCom = [email protected]
T-Mobile = [email protected]
T-Mobile = [email protected]
Teletouch = [email protected]
TSR Wireless = [email protected]
TSR Wireless = [email protected]
US Cellular = [email protected]
US West = [email protected]
Verizon Pagers = [email protected]
Verizon PCS = [email protected]
Verizon PCS = [email protected]
VoiceStream / T-Mobile = [email protected]
WebLink Wiereless = [email protected]
WebLink Wiereless = [email protected]
Wyndtell = [email protected]

I'm glad things have worked out for you, Tony. In Chicago, AT&T's service sucks...period. Dropped calls and incomplete connections are regular occurrences. And don't get me started on the 3G data drop outs. I can't get voice or data service in much of my office, which is ironic, given that I'm required to carry the phone around for business. Makes me pine for the days of my reliable Sprint Treo service. I'd take Verizon or Sprint any day, given the choice.

After a few days with my iPhone, I think I can honestly say it's one of the most amazing devices I've ever owned. The weird thing is, even though I know it's a phone it doesn't feel like a phone. It feels like a small, handheld Mac. I've been having a blast with the thing.

Congrats! =)

+1 on that. To me all other devices are phones that can act like a computer. An iPhone is a computer that can also make phone calls.

My biggest gripe with the iPhone is the battery life. i use it most the day and I alway need to have a charger with me.