The iPhone: Everything you needed to know It's just a few hours to go till Apple, O2 and Carphone Warehouse throw open their doors to anyone wanting to buy an iPhone. While you're waiting, you might want to take a virtual walk down memory lane, so we've pulled together six months' worth of iPhone coverage in one easy link fest. You don't have to believe the hype, but …
Well, I tried to buy an iPhone today but failed miserably. Rather than driving to the nearest Apple Store I thought I'd just pop in to my local Carphone Warehouse at 6pm. Big mistake. There were about 8 or 10 people waiting but I wasn't among the first few at the till. Half an hour later they still hadn't managed to sell a single one, so I left in disgust!
No-one there knew what they were doing. Tills crashed. Heavy selling of insurance policies and accerssories, but all a waste of time as the tills didn't work anyway!
"It's not a credit check", but they still wanted your address, bank details and date of birth to check.
"It's not a contract, just an agreement" they wanted you to sign (when the printers eventually worked). Right. Obviously a subtle legal distinction I'm not aware of.
So... I think I'll head off to the Apple Store tomorrow after all. At least there's some chance they might appreciate the importance of the overall user experience!
I bought mine today at an O2 shop - they actually had more staff than customers (one to monitor the queue, one to hand out cupcakes, one to 'demo' the phone to queuers, one to let them in the shop, one to clap, one to try and sell you insurance... etc, etc, etc).
There was a queue of about ten people - I went to have a coffee over the road until it went, but it took aaaages - about five or ten minutes per customer at the single till. I can only assume it was something to do with the insurance and other crap, because when I went and got mine I gave a sharp NO to all the stupid questions they kept asking (No I don't want to be shown how to use it, no I don't want your overpriced insurance, no I don't want accessories at a markup, no I don't want a bloody cupcake) and I just paid and left - 30 seconds maximum, why they couldn't do that with everyone else I don't know!!
I kind of feel sorry for the O2 and Carphone Warehouse employees - Apple must have put some real pressure on them to make it a big event, but a more pointless spectacle and waste of manpower I have never seen.
At least there wasn't the whooping and high-fiving of the queue like at the launch of the Apple shop in Southampton - that was seriously painfully embarrassing. I was going to queue in the vague hope that they were giving away freebies, but I came to my senses when I realised the local rag were taking pictures of the queue... now that's something I'd never live down!
But if you go to an Apple store, you'll have to deal with the embarrassment of being applauded and cheered by the hired happy-happy Apple evangelists as you leave with your £900 phone...
Anyway...
There was a one solitary "I'm so desperate to look fashionable that I'll spend nearly a grand on a phone" type outside Carphone in Lancaster when I walked past at about half four and none outside the O2 shop opposite.
And then it started to rain and I couldn't help but chuckle :)
The thing isn't even 3G. Which means internet performance is terrible except when there is wifi close by.
For the price of the iPhone + 18 month sub, you could buy FOUR iPod Touch devices. Or if you prefer, 1 iPod Touch, 1 phone on a cheaper sub from the provider of your choice and still have enough money left over for a holiday
What the hell is anyone thinking to buy one of these phones? My guess is they're not thinking at all. Hype and shiny has overridden all common sense.
By 10am Saturday, the first SIM unlock software was available. I went to Carphone Warehouse to buy one, but was greeted by a several attempts to Scam me with bogus insurance advice, forms and contracts, oh just sign here to say you've picked the phone up (3 pages of 7 point text!)
I left in disgust and ordered elsewhere.
Went into the local O2 shop (Yeovil) and checked out 1 of the 10(!) iphones they had on display while my son looked up the hamster dance on youtube. Very nice phone and I was impressed at first with how quick it surfed the web then I twigged, they've set up hot spots in all the shops so you can't really experience the 2.5G patchy connectivity until you get it home.
Very nice gizmo but not worth anywhere near the money.
Just read the iPhone article by Orlowski who as usual has disabled comments - is he so terrified of the apple luvvies that he can't bear the thought that they might bash him? For once I found one of his articles entertaining and it made me smile.
As for the whole iPhone non-event... what a suprise! This confirmed my belief that the British public are NOT sheep that moronic PR companies can manipulate to buy any old over-priced tat. Well done British consumers, we showed 'em!
He always seems to disable comments, or someone at the Reg does for him, I don't know if he's actually part of the staff or not... Anyways, since I couldn't say this in that article's comment section, I'll say it here.
The reason that all the Apple stores, O2, and the others were devoid of 'iSheep' is probably because unlike the Americans, you Brits seem to be considerably more rational and intelligent, and therefore less likely to be brainwashed by marketing or Mr. Jobs reality distortion field. I've seen ONE iPhone, ever. It was being held semi-aloft in the semi-outstretched hand of a guy on the bus this morning. Every time the display went into powersave, he'd turn it back on. Trying desperately (so it seemed) to attract some attention to it... sad really...
Until a decent deal is offered, it's quite easy to ignore as a choice.
No 3G and expensive, restricted etc means that I don't need it.
It's worth waiting some months for your chosen network to be able to offer you one on a sensible normal contract at the same cost as any other phone.
Also worth waiting for it to reach version 2 as well-3G, top end camera and unlocked.
That's what I'll do. Actually, even then it's questionable :-).
Duh, it's the user interface, stupid!
I've owned who knows how many phones that supposedly "do" email and web browsing and calendars and music, but I've never used these features on any of them. I don't need 3G, but I do need a phone/PDA that works. And my previous contract was £40+/month with data, so I'm now saving £5 a month on my new contract.
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