Hype Schmype
So after all that iPhone hype, and people camping out all day, if not several days, in front of Apple stores just to be among the first to get their hands on one of the little beauties, my boyfriend and I walked into an Apple store here in Dallas at 7:30 p.m. and breezed out ten minutes later with two 8GB models in tow.
No lines. No hassle. No wait. No mad crowds. Just pleasant sales people and a rather genial, upbeat atmosphere with people casually milling about the store.
Don't get me wrong, while we were there it was a steady stream of customers plunking down their credit cards for iPhones and accessories, but all those geeks who wasted their day camped out in the heat and sun just so they could be first in line?
Suckers.
Not a particularly great photo, but I thought I should have some visual proof to back up the claims.
UPDATE:
After using the iPhone for a day, I admit to being impressed and a little frustrated at the same time.
1.) Connection speed -- I was already an AT&T customer for my Blackberry service, so the slow Internet connectivity that seems to be driving other people crazy is just par for the course in my book. I'm used to web pages taking forever to load on the Blackberry, and it's no different for the iPhone, except for one major difference: the pages that load on the iPhone are beautiful, colorful and look like the real deal rather than some stripped-down, squashed-up version.
The ability to zoom in on webpages is such a no-brainer that I wonder why no one else ever offered such capability before.
2.) It's awesome that my cell phone and my iPod are now one device. I don't have to take both my phone and iPod with me when I go to the gym, out for coffee, etc.
3.) I have to admit to being perplexed that Bluetooth file transfer capability has been disabled. Whatever for?
4.) As per the iPhone being revolutionary? It is, in ways that are different than people expected. Being able to purchase the phone and then go home and hook it up on my computer in about five minutes? That's revolutionary. A simple interface that pretty much anyone can figure out without consulting a manual or pulling out your hair? Again, revolutionary. I lugged around a Nokia 8800 for a while and hated it -- clunky interface that was about as far away from intuitive as a cell-phone operating system could be. I could never figure out how to get the damn thing to connect to the Internet (except to go to the Nokia website where they pleaded with me to buy ringtones, themes and wallpapers, of course) -- and don't get me started on the 8800's non-QWERTY keyboard. Ugh.
5.) Email on the iPhone is great, and I have very little trouble with using the virtual keyboard for emails, text messages and notes. Yeah, it requires a bit of attention, but so did my Blackberry when I first used it and I grew accustomed to that soon enough. I've had the iPhone for a day, so complaining that the virtual keyboard might be awkward and difficult seems premature, especially when it's only mildly awkward and difficult.
I wish it had more storage space than 8GB, that it had an instant messaging program and that ATT&T's network was faster, but the iPhone does have WiFi and it's stunningly beautiful with its vibrant colors and bright screen. Wearing polarized sunglasses didn't even cause a problem when using the phone, and I've never experienced that before with a cell phone.
I'm waiting for iTunes to start offering ringtones in about five seconds . . .