iPhone Family

Since all of the stores opened at 8:00 AM on the 11th, I decided to get in line again.  This time I showed up at 4:30 in the morning at Bellevue Square and met my friend and fellow Apple fanboy Jeremy there.  The time in line went by very quickly, due mainly to the fact that I was able to talk with other like-minded people to pass the time.

While I was waiting I saw that the iPhone 2.0 software update had become available, so I figured I'd install on my first generation iPhone and play with it.  For some reason after the software is installed iTunes needs to connect to the same servers that were used for activating the iPhone 3G, which were completely overwhelmed.  As a result my phone was temporarily "bricked."

I was about 15th in line, so I got into the store with the first wave of customers at 8.  The first step was to sign a new AT&T contract from one of the Apple Store handhelds, which couldn't connect initially but worked after a few minutes.  Next came the activation, which simply wouldn't work for anyone by this time, and Apple received a lot of bad press for it (though that didn't stop them from selling a million units over the weekend).  When we finally left, without activating, the line had gotten pretty long and was moving very slowly.  Jeremy took a video of it and uploaded it to YouTube.

For the next few hours I had two iPhones, neither of which really worked, until finally my activation got through.  So far I've been happy with it.  The GPS came in handy during our trip to Port Angeles and the difference between 2G and 3G is definitely noticeable.  The one major drawback (aside from higher monthly fees) is that I'm having to manage the battery life more.

As anyone with using the iPhone 2.0 OS will tell you, the real difference is the App Store.  I've gotten a lot of use out of Twitteriffic, Pandora, AIM, Remote, and NYTimes, and I've only just scratched the surface.

Becky, though she wouldn't admit it, has been looking forward to me getting the new iPhone because she now has my old one. Right off the bat she's been using it a lot, playing Sudoku and Scrabble.  She also used to always complained that she never had time during the day to check her email, especially since Blake likes to play with her laptop whenever she gets it out.  With her iPhone it's much more accessible.

Now Kyla is starting to ask about when she'll get an iPhone.