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I feel bad for those of you heading out to try and pick up an iPhone in the morning. I certainly wouldn’t want to brave those crowds. I couldn’t be happier with my preorder.

This phone really is phenomenal too. The screen. The speed. The design. It’s all there.

Let’s be honest though, you know that already. That’s probably why you’re going to get one. Even if you’re not going to get one (I’m sure you have your reasons) you have to respect the fact that this is an awesome device.

One thing I didn’t really think about until today when I was activating mine was what a potential nightmare tomorrow might be for AT&T to activate these tons and tons of new phones people will still be buying. One would guess that was part of the reasoning behind them not holding pre order deliveries for launch day (and why I’m using mine this very evening).

I hope the rest of you are able to enjoy your new toy as much as I am tomorrow without the potential nightmares that may be in store with activation. Good luck and Steve bless you! Hah!

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I don’t remember having this much trouble last year when I bought my 3GS but this was certainly what I would label an “ordeal” … if there ever were such a thing.

It’s just a preorder, right? How bad could it be? That bad.

It seems the iPhone 4 went live in the Apple.com store around 4am ET this morning and apparently from then on, Apple’s and AT&T’s servers both just bent over and gave up. Both sites were up and down most of the morning. So much so that when I woke up at 7am and tried to order (unaware they were already up 3 hours earlier), I got the usual “Apple store is down” post-it note. I assumed they just hadn’t gone live yet (most people were expecting 8am ET).

A little bit after I got to work I had been periodically checking apple.com and the store finally opened again around 8:30am. Now was my chance.

Go all the way through with the order to the Add to Cart button… fail. “Oops, there was an error.” WTF do you mean “oops” … I’m trying to buy your shit, let me have it. No “oops” necessary.

This happened a couple times actually – never actually going through. Eventually it just got worse. I was lucky if I was able to enter my AT&T account info on the Apple.com store. Usually got some sort of session error after that.

I had read that a lot of people had better luck ordering through AT&T… thought maybe I’d give it a try – if even hesitantly. My biggest reason to order directly through Apple is that I know you can “pre-sign” for their FedEx deliveries so you don’t have to be home to sign for it. A risk, I know… but I am NEVER home during the day when these things deliver – so that is a nice option for people like me.

Anyway, logged into my AT&T page and was able to get to the upgrade page. Selected the 32GB model for preorder and was even able to get to a checkout page. Then it just hung there. I think it was the absolute last page that I had to click on and it did nothing. I don’t mean for 20-30 seconds… I’m talking 10-15 minutes. I eventually gave up and closed it – having not seen a confirmation number or confirmation email or anything from them. Safely assuming (so far) that my order did not complete.

I continued to try through the morning always with the same shitty results (both at&t and apple.com). I even went through our Employee Purchase Program link and it failed there too – though I did end up ordering the dock and an orange “bumper” for it without any issue (though they are not set to deliver until after 7/3 – which will probably be when I’m in Salt Lake City).

Eventually I logged into my account on apple.com to check my order history and cart. Maybe I was missing something… and bam! Two iPhones in my cart waiting to check out. While my first thought was definitely “WTF?!” … my next one was “CHECK OUT!”

Of course I had to remove one of them from my cart (1 phone limit per available line) but was then able to complete checkout and have my 32GB iPhone 4 preordered. Again… what an ordeal.

Now I just have to wait another week + to get it. Then I can even sell my 16GB 3GS. Hopefully still being able to get $200+ for it.

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OMG! A new iPhone will probably be released this year! Oh, wait… duh.

In an event that is surely one of the craziest things I’ve followed and read about, a possible “prototype” for Apple’s 4th generation iPhone (casually dubbed iPhone 4G or iPhone HD), surfaced in the real world. In a bar. From a drunk guy’s pocket.

Thing is, not only did it surface there… he LOST IT THERE. Even doing “real world testing” … why you would be drinking enough to lose a phone while you have such a ridiculously high profile device in your possession is beyond me. For those of you who don’t know… Apple is really super secret about it’s products and leaks and such. And with this… wow… there is no bag anymore. The cat is just sitting there mocking what was left of the bag that it just destroyed. Click that More button to keep reading… it’s quite fascinating.

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Got this message in my AT&T Wireless inbox at some point recently (um, looks like 2/2 actually – shows how often I read stuff there):

To further bolster support for Haiti relief workers, AT&T is waiving wireless usage charges for customers in Haiti who make/receive voice calls, use wireless data services or send text messages, in order to show our company’s support for those helping with relief efforts. The billing relief will be retroactive to Jan. 12, when the earthquake hit, and will be in effect until Feb. 28.

All of the fee relief will be automatically applied and customers do not need to take any action.

Seems pretty cool of them. Ya, I’m sure they can manage to find some other way to screw people if they wanted to. But there are a lot of people out there who want to go help. Would be pretty lame to be off in another country doing a service like that and then come home to a crazy phone bill just for trying to help some people out – especially if that is more money you would be able to use to help (if you find yourself in such a position that is).

I don’t know how many of you know, but international phone bills can get totally out of hand. Using data and voice in another country usually racks up HUGE bills. Like hundreds or thousands of dollars depending on where you are and what you’re doing.

Thumbs up AT&T.

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So the Nexus One is a cool phone. It’s brand new, has the Google rep behind it, runs the latest Android version, etc, etc, etc.

You can buy one on contract with T-Mobile for $180. Really not a bad price for a phone of that nature and of that power. If you’d like to use it on another GSM network (AT&T? Well, minus the 3G part anyway) you can buy an unlocked directly from Google for $530 (plus tax). That’s pretty normal. Any other off-contract, full-featured smartphone is going to run about the same.

But could someone explain to me why they have been selling on eBay for $600 or more? Even as much as $800 and $900. Who is buying these? I’ve read through the auction listing… it’s not like you’re getting two of them. And you’re not getting a free netbook with them or anything. It is ONLY for a new, unlocked, Nexus One. Exactly like the one you would get from Google.

Are these people just stupid? Do they think that these are limited or something? I even checked Google’s site – and they’re shipping right now. They’re not even backordered or anything. What the fuck is wrong with people?

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First of all, I’d just like to say thank you.

Thank you to AT&T for sticking in there and coming through. As of just this evening (seriously I just noticed this like 15 minutes ago) we now have 3G service in Corning. Now I can really use my iPhone even more. Yay for unlimited data.

I feel a bit bad for people in the metro areas that have clogged tubes though. I doubt there are many AT&T customers around here at all… but hopefully now there won’t be some crazy rush for them now. It’s been common knowledge that AT&T has crappy service around these parts – now that will change.

Jen and I were at the AT&T store on Saturday to port her Verizon number over… while we were there the clerk person assured us that 3G would be turned on “literally any day now” and that the hardware was already in place.

I hoped this was true “insider” information and it really would be any day – but mostly I thought this was just more propaganda to keep people on their side. Guess he was telling the truth… no more than 4 days later and here it is… honest to goodness 3G service.

My iPhone and I thank you, AT&T.

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At what point do the parents in the AT&T commercial just abandon their retarded children?

The rest of the world understands that rollover minutes are the same as regular minutes by now… what is wrong with these kids that they don’t get it? Are they slow? Is there something wrong with them?

Could it be fixed by a couple slaps to the head? Maybe something a little more severe? I have a hammer…

Really though, we understand the rollover idea now. If people truly don’t get it at this point, maybe we just need to put them down to save the rest of the population. You can stop with the annoying commercials about it.

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Got a “tweet” from @all4blackberry pointing to an article of 5 Reasons Why Blackberry is Still Better than the iPhone.

Thought “hmm… I have a BB and an iPhone, should take a look.” Actually I’ve owned 2 different Blackberrys (7130 and Storm). Here’s a quick rundown of the main points – directly followed by my responses.

1. Security. Some mention of some potential vulnerability in the iPhone and how businesses still aren’t switching to the iPhone for security reasons.

Ok… so the vulnerability was patched. FAST. Non issue. If something like that was discovered for any BB, they’d do the same thing Apple did. Not a talking point. One of the things businesses like about the BB is the ability to lock it down and remotely wipe it if needed. Well as of the release of the 3GS and the better MobileMe features – remote wipe is totally possible on the iPhone now. And how about “Find My iPhone”? That said, I’ll give BB a very slight advantage in this one, if only because of the BES and policy control. But they’ve had a hell of a head start on the iPhone in this regard.

2. Typing. I’m not even sure of real argument here but apparently it’s supposed to be better on the BB. But which one?

I have the iPhone’s direct BB competitor, the Storm. Typing goes to the iPhone hands down, period. I have not talked to a single person who liked typing on the Storm. I know of MANY Storms returned at work because people couldn’t type on them. Even many of the other BB models suck for typing. Many users at work complain the keys are too close and they end up fat fingering lots of things. This does of course, vary by model – but it’s not all sunshine and roses in the BB typing world. Trust me. BBs also have SureType, which is decent… but their autocorrections suck compared to the iPhone too. No intelligence built in from what I can tell.

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Yes, yes I can. I’ve got a new phone. Not just ANY phone though. A new, fancy iPhone 3GS! Which also means I’ve switched from Helio (by Virgin Mobile) to AT&T. I don’t know exactly what my bill will be yet… but I do get a decent discount from work.

I’m looking at about $85-ish per month for 450 minutes, 5000 anytime, unlimited mobile to mobile, unlimited data, and unlimited text. It could be a touch more than that, but it’s OK – will be worth it. I’ve already gotten a few more apps… but I’m waiting on money at the moment, so mostly free ones.

Initial thoughts? It’s awesome.

I bought a case already as well. Specifically one of the Griffin Elan Form cases – the black leather version. The case itself is OK, but the screen protector it came with SUCKS. I have one of these same cases on my iPod Touch and it’s great – and the screen protector is one of the stick on versions. This one for the iPhone is not. It is just a piece of plastic that is held in place by the rest of the case – but it creates a gap between itself and the screen that you can feel and definitely notice. Plus dust and dirt and stuff can get between the protector and the screen around the home button/speaker.

So I still like the case, but ditched the protector in place of a ZAGG Invisible Shield. Just put that on a little bit ago and have to wait a bit for the rest of the water to dry under it. It kind of goes on like window tint – a little water and then the protector, then squeegee. So far so good. The texture is a bit different, but it’s OK so far.

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