First experiences with the iPhone 3GS

This little (5.25X3X2) Box arrived Friday 19 Jun 2009

For a number of years I have had a plain cell phone from Sprint that had some web and text capabilities, but I had never really figured out how to use them.   I tried “texting” a couple of times but really did not “get” how to do that with just 0-9 and the #* keys.

Plus my old (original) iPod had gotten so that is would run about 2 minutes without being plugged in to power it.

Apple announced the new iPhone 3GS in June and the one thing I had been waiting for had been added – 32G.

So I ordered the new iPhone 3GS from At&T.  On Friday 19 Jun 2009 I got a PBB (plain brown box) from FedEx and inside was the very small iPhone box – I was really surprised that I actually got it exactly on time.  I had figured it could take several weeks.  Apple certainly pays a lot of attention to details – the box for the iPhone is only 5.25X3X2 inches.  The box slides open and right on top is the phone. They even put the phone on a molded plastic tray.  Below the phone is a black folder that has a quick start guide and below that is the AC adapter, the interconnecting cord and a set of ear buds.  The design team at Apple even put a tab on the folder so it is simple to just lift it out of the box.  There will be some more photos on additional posts.

At&T had already email me some instructions on how to activate the phone.  So I charged it up and turned it on.  The thing to note is this is 19 Jun the day of introduction for the iPhone 3GS.  There are lots and lots of people lined up at Apple and At&T stores plus At&T had shipped thousands.  Lots of people are attempting to do the same thing – activate the iPhone.

So step one – log in to At&T and activate my account.  Step one failed which meant I had to call At&T.  I figured this was going to be a painful, time consuming process.  I have At&T phones and DSL both at my store and at home so I was expecting a totally confusing voice mail system and a long wait to get to talk to someone.

I called the number – knowing there are untold thousands doing the same thing.  It is 11AM on a new products launch day.  I have had to call other cell phone service providers in the past and so I dreaded making the call but just could not get the activation to work on the Internet.   The first surprise was I got a really pleasant person on the phone at At&T wireless very quickly.  She looked up my account, verified that I was transferring my old cell number from Sprint to the new At&T iPhone.  She told me to turn the phone on.  I had no clue even how to do that – on my old phone you hold down the talk button, something the iPhone does not have.  After a few minutes (we do not have 3G  here yet) the phone woke up and she said to turn it off – again no clue on my part of how to do that she had to walk me through it.  Next turn the phone back on and call a number, she then called me.  Amazingly simple – my old Sprint phone quit and the iPhone started to bring in calls.

The At&T support person was excellent, she took her time and explained things like how to turn off and turn on the iPhone.  I chatted a bit with her while waiting for activation to complete.  She not only was very good at teaching me what to do she had a great sense of humor also.  She said she was had the weekend off and was going someplace where there were no computers or cell phone – as in primitive camping.

Less than an hour after the phone arrived – it could have been less but I took some time to take some photos of it – the phone was working.  The experience with At&T wireless phone support was truly excellent.

Tags: iPhone