CatCow’s Computer Dungeon

So I finally went in to one of the local Apple stores(Washington Square to be specific) and talked to someone at the Genius Bar. Showed them the busted iPhone, he took it in the back for a while. He comes back out, goes back again, comes back again a few times… And finally hands me a brand new iPhone. Sitting around for a few minutes while they get everything sorted out sure beats spending $250 on repairs! It seems they are just replacing iPhones that break, at least some of the time, but they said that it will stop soon and everything will have to go back to Apple.

I also installed iTunes 7.4 and reinstalled my old custom ringtones without the annoying hack part. OK, so I still don’t have the Apple logo instead of AT&T in the corner, and no FieldTest application sitting there, but it’s a start.

I’m also looking forward to this $100 Apple store discount mentioned in this iPhone open letter from Steve Jobs. Time to get one of those new 160GB iPods! I just wish they still had Firewire.

OK, spending all night at the SLC airport was pretty lame. I bought a book and read halfway through it, ate some food, sat around half-asleep for most of the night. Finally got onto the next flight at 10am, with a stop in Boise on the way. Finally land in Portland, get out of the terminal, hop in the car, and close the door. *CRUNCH* Hmm, the door didn’t close. What’s in the way? I look down, and there’s my iPhone on the ground next to the car.

Yep, the glass is nearly completely shattered. The LCD and digitizer still work, if you don’t mind slicing your fingers up in the process. I’m trying to figure out a way to keep from killing myself while using it until I get around to calling a few places to see what it will cost to repair. Looks like the glass/digitizer/LCD assembly runs about $250. You would think they could just replace the glass front if nothing else was damaged.

One thing is for certain, though. The rubber case from speck that I’ve been using is going in the garbage. The rubber case kept it from getting scuffed up, but the belt clip part really sucks. The phone is held in by a small shelf that sticks out under the bottom(blocking the dock connecter), and is held in place by two small rubber knobs that fit into slots on the clip. I guess the rubber knobs are wearing down? It just doesn’t hold it in place anymore.

I got an iPhone! The 8GB model. I can’t believe I spent $600 on a phone. Goodbye, Verizon. Goodbye, Treo 650. I arrived at the Washington Square Mall Apple Store at 6:50am Friday morning. I was number 20 in line. Steve had arrived a bit earlier and was further up in line. The person at the front of the line had arrived at 10:30pm the previous night!

The iPhone was released at 6pm. I arrived just before 7pm. That’s a long time to sit around doing nothing! Especially since I had left the headphones for my iPod at home, and the mall wouldn’t let us plug our laptops in(tripping hazard). My MacBook Pro died after about 3 hours of use. Steve had managed to arrange delivery of a fresh battery after several hours, so he was online all day.

We were in the first group let into the store at 6pm, and being in a hurry that turned into a mess later, I was back out pretty fast with my iPhone. At 6:09pm I was pulling out of the mall parking lot.

After I got home I plugged in the iPhone and started the activation process. I recieved an email telling me that my Verizon service would be terminated within 24 hours, and that the activation process was pretty much dead in the water until the number was ported over. That would have been around 6:58pm, at 12:13am I recieved an email stating that the phone was activated, and a half hour later another notification that the number porting was complete and my iPhone could now send and receive calls. I haven’t been able to put the thing down since.

This is simply the best phone I have ever had. In typical Apple fashion, the user interface is simply amazing. Everything is easy. Well, except maybe figuring out how to share my EVDO connection over wifi from the laptop. EDGE data can be a bit slow. The pinching in/out to zoom is incredible. Flicking to scroll is addictive. I find myself cursing at my MacBook Pro for not behaving the same way with its trackpad.

So, when does the next version with 3G and GPS come out?