The one-week iQueue. The saddest fanboys of the lot

[editor]

I'd still like that £3m contract from O2 to maintain a one page web form that completely crumbles under the slightest pressure. I can make that!

Btw, there were rumours before the launch that Apple was going to 'punish' the UK with a lower allocation because so many iPhones v1 were unlocked here. But that could be iCobblers.

 

[Lazy Llama]

There are also rumours that Rogers Wireless in Canada are having their supplies limited by Apple due to all the bad publicity that their high iPhone charges garnered. The rumour was that units originally intended for Canada were being shipped to Apple's European partners instead.

 

[Iam]

I got an email that says "We're just currently processing your request and we'll be in touch shortly to let you if it's been accepted and when it will be dispatched.", but on the website that still shows as "In Progress".

Someone I know got an email saying

They told me mine had been accepted, and I'd get a confirmation email yesterday.

No emails, except one saying I could use their 10 free texts a day service.

 

[Crispy]

There are also rumours that Rogers Wireless in Canada are having their supplies limited by Apple due to all the bad publicity that their high iPhone charges garnered. The rumour was that units originally intended for Canada were being shipped to Apple's European partners instead.

Wouldn't surprise me.
It was a seriously pisstaking price/service.

 

[dogmatique]

They told me mine had been accepted, and I'd get a confirmation email yesterday.

No emails, except one saying I could use their 10 free texts a day service.

Seems many people who managed to get through the order process are getting these:

Thank you for your email us and I'm sorry you haven't any response from us about the status of your order

Your order (on-*******) for the 3G iPhone 16Gb (Gigabyte) is currently out of stock. This means you won't receive order on Friday.

We made a limited allocation of iPhone 3G stock available for pre-order online, primarily for those customers that pre-registered their interest. Demand has been very high and we have now sold out of this allocation.

Please be reassured that for new customers, there will be iPhones available in store from 8.02am on the 11 July, although we again expect demand to be very high, so urge you to get down there early. All iPhone stock is being sold on a first come, first served basis.

Due to extremely high levels of demand, the O2 online shop is temporarily unavailable. We are working to restore the service as quickly as possible. You can go to your nearest O2 store to place an order for your iPhone 3G on 11 July 2008 from 8:02am. You can find your nearest O2 store by calling 0800 224 477 free from UK registered phones or by clicking on the link below:

http://www.webmap.o2.co.uk/interfaces/retail/

We request you to reach the store earlier as demand is expected to be very high.

You can also purchase the iPhone from selected Apple and Carphone Warehouse stores from 8:02am on 11 July 2008.

For any further help, you can also contact our iPhone customer service team on 08706 072 302. They are open:

- Monday to Friday between 8am and 9pm.

- Saturday and Sunday between 8am and 8pm.

Calls to the above number are free from all O2 Pay Monthly mobile phones. You can also dial 2302 free from an iPhone to speak to our iPhone customer service team.

Please visit our website using the link www.o2.co.uk/iphone for the most up to date information on iPhone.

Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

When you email us please provide: your date of birth, postcode and mobile number as it helps us answer your query faster.

Just spoke to customer services and according to the chap I spoke to, neither online or telesales will have any stock for at least the next two weeks. He said existing iPhone customers can go into any Apple store, CPW or o2 shop and upgrade there as long as you take ID and a bill with your registered address.

Whether this happens or not is another matter - the o2 store on Oxford St said they had no way of processing upgrades yesterday...

 

[Gromit]

Im dense only just got the 8:02 bit.

Eight O2. Duh!

 

[Iam]

So, I have no idea whether or not I'll get one.

I can't be arsed ringing O2, so we'll just have to hope if they don't deliver, they don't charge, eh?

What are the odds, though?

 

[Sunray]

Im dense only just got the 8:02 bit.

Eight O2. Duh!

What? Duuuuh!!!

Noooo

Its 802.11 (8:02am 11th July) which is the IEEE specification for the Wifi standard.

 

[Sunray]

Is anyone going to get a 3G iPhone. I think the lack of flash and the 18 month contract are again conspiring against me getting one.

I am starting to look toward Android, there are a few rumoured to be available in the next 6 months. The HTC Dream being the 1st.

 

[Crispy]

I'm seriously considering one. My treo's nice, but it's a royal paint to sync with my mac and the browser isn't worth a damn. And the builtin email won't' work with gmail IMAP. Plus, I don't have a proper music player right now.

I'll give it a few months while real people use it in the real world. If there's no showstoppers, I'll probably get a 16GB one.

 

[DotCommunist]

On a side note, my it tech mum just left for a Mac engineers course in London. She's packed her three Microsoft T's and plans to wear them during the tutorials

 

[Gromit]

Is anyone going to get a 3G iPhone. I think the lack of flash and the 18 month contract are again conspiring against me getting one.

I am starting to look toward Android, there are a few rumoured to be available in the next 6 months. The HTC Dream being the 1st.

If iPhones sell by the bucketload and the aps store turns out to be both popular and profitable I can see the makers of Flash selling an iPhone ap version. If they don't someone else will come up with an alternative to flash which websites might move to if they know that there are mobile users they wish to target who don't have flash.

 

[Structaural]

These sad iFuckwits intend to queue for a week to get the 3G iPhone. Which they could probably buy on the day anyway.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/04/iphone-3g-lines-start-at-the-apple-cube-one-week-early/

That is seriously sad.

I just signed up for one with t-mobile. Not bad rates in Holland. My nokia has packed up completely - spent Saturday trying to send one text.

 

[Kanda]

I'm getting the new one cos the screen on mine is smashed

 

[editor]

I'm getting the new one cos the screen on mine is smashed

I saw a bloke in the Albert with a broken iPhone screen too - that's one of the big caveats that come with such a lot of luvverly glass. The way I treat my phones, I'd have an iKnackered phone within weeks.

 

[dogmatique]

I'm generally amazed that I haven't damaged mine in the time I've had it, especially considering it's soap bar shape - the screen hasn't even got a scratch on it after 9 months, and that's without any protectors or owt. Which I think is pretty impressive.

Watch me drop the new one in less than a week though...

(Yes, I am going and getting the new one on Friday - I'm lucky enough to get all of my gadgetry paid for by work...)

 

[Gromit]

Ive dropped my phone several times so far. Onto concrete.

Screen is intact. Although the protective film I bought for it is a wee bit scratched.
One corner is dented. Just as cats always lands on their feet it seems that the iPhone always lands on the headset jack corner.

Aside from that its fine.

Pretty robust I'd say.

 

[editor]

Aside from that its fine.

Pretty robust I'd say.

I'm sure it is. But any phone with with that much exposed glass is going to be more vulnerable to damage than most phones with smaller screens. It's not a criticism of Apple, just a drawback of all-screen design.

 

[Iam]

Apple kit is generally pretty robust, ime.

I'm sick of HTCs, so this'll be a nice change. IF I actually get one, of course!

 

[nick]

I'll try to get one because:
1) my current contract is up
2) I don't like any current phones (I was lucky enough to win an N82 from the LCC last week - used it for 1 day before I put it back in the box)
3) I have loads of Selfridges vouchers + I hope to sell 2) above for a few quid - meaning that I can try to buy from Carphone Warehouse in selfridges and kid myself I am getting it for free
4) I like the idea (if not the reality !) of combining it with mobileme for seamless integration of contacts / diary, iweb etc
5) I watched the 30 minute video on it and was hypnotised by the Jobsian reality distortion field emenating form the presenter's black jumper
6) It is shiny

I would also be tempted by a centro, but (despite loving my TH55) I think that all the dicking around required to set it up and getting it working as I like would mean that I probably ended up never synching it

 

[Sunray]

So I'm not the only one then.... 18 months will bring about some serious change to the Mobile phone market I think, so this is a good intro. Doubt I can be arsed to get one on day one. Might leave it a few weeks. I'd like a 32Gb version tbh.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Some of the new services do make me feel a bit more like getting one but really, unless Apple come out with an affordable ultraportable - which the iPhone is definitely not - I'm not going to get one. My problem has never been that I need to be on the net and contactable all the time, it's that I've not been in a position to do work at odd periods when I have an hour to spare and I'm in an odd place. A tiny Mac would help a lot there, but otherwise, I'm better off with a Palm, or the Eee.

 

[Gromit]

I'm sure it is. But any phone with with that much exposed glass is going to be more vulnerable to damage than most phones with smaller screens. It's not a criticism of Apple, just a drawback of all-screen design.

Well yeah a bigger screen is a more usable screen. Bigger is better. But with it comes maybe an increased risk.

...which if it bothers you than much you can mitigate by buying a protective case like is available for most other phones, which surprising people also worry about getting broke too.

Or like me you can ah fuck it its covered by the house insurance.

I'd be interested to know what O2's replacement policy is now that the 8gb is available for free. Before you could rebuy your iPhone without having to buy a new 18 month contract.

 

[editor]

I would also be tempted by a centro, but (despite loving my TH55) I think that all the dicking around required to set it up and getting it working as I like would mean that I probably ended up never synching it

The iPhone is far better than the Centro if you're after multimedia widgets, iTunes and big screen fun, but when it comes to email/to dos/memos/note taking/project management/Word syncing etc, the Centro wins by a mile.

And it's a piece of piss to set up too - much easier than the TH55. It took me no time at all to transfer over eight years of memos, meetings etc from my Treo and get multiple email accounts up and working.

...which if it bothers you than much you can mitigate by buying a protective case like is available for most other phones, which surprising people also worry about getting broke too.

No thanks. I don't 'do' bulky cases.

 

[nick]

<fingers in ears>la la la la la la </fingers in ears>
But the nice man in the black sweatshirt on the video told me it was the most advanced thing ever.....


I think I'm shallow enough to be swung by the ability to pinch my fingers to zoom photos.

But I also half expect to be bitterly disappointed by it all at some point and wish I had a centro (less concerned about to do lists etc as I am also chained to a work Blackberry for that stuff). It was always thus for those easily seduced by something shiny that uses electrickery

 

[Kanda]

I saw a bloke in the Albert with a broken iPhone screen too - that's one of the big caveats that come with such a lot of luvverly glass. The way I treat my phones, I'd have an iKnackered phone within weeks.

To be fair, it's quite strong. It just doesn't like being trodden on

It takes a fair amount of direct screen pressure to break it. Still works perfectly though!! It was in a decent Sena case too!

Apple quote: £165 to fix. Fuck it, get the upgrade. There are 3rd party methods to fix it, might do that and give my old 16GB to the g/f.

 

[elbows]

If iPhones sell by the bucketload and the aps store turns out to be both popular and profitable I can see the makers of Flash selling an iPhone ap version. If they don't someone else will come up with an alternative to flash which websites might move to if they know that there are mobile users they wish to target who don't have flash.

Adobe want Flash on the iPhone. I think they already stated their intention to write an iphone version, and I dont think theyd want to charge for it.

Apple might not let them. Certainly Apple have persued their own technologies for people to develop for iphone, and they might not want flash getting in the way of those agendas. Or flash could limit their control of the 'apps for iphone' market. Or Apple could be worried that if flash performed badly on the iphone, it would harm perception of the device's power, might do bad things for battery performance, etc.

Whatever happens, these things have given us some improved technologies. Adobe have been working on making flash player on computers use the GPU more, and be more efficient. Apple have been suggesting all sorts of additional CSS features, and have been implementing lots of stuff in Webkit, including hardware-accelerated CSS transformations, animation stuff, and proper SVG support.

 

[Sunray]

There are perfectly functional ARM implementation of flash out there. ARM is the low power RISC chip on lots of mobile phones.

Why its not on the iPhone is a mystery.

 

[Mooncat]

I saw a bloke in the Albert with a broken iPhone screen too - that's one of the big caveats that come with such a lot of luvverly glass. The way I treat my phones, I'd have an iKnackered phone within weeks.

 

[Structaural]

There are perfectly functional ARM implementation of flash out there. ARM is the low power RISC chip on lots of mobile phones.

Why its not on the iPhone is a mystery.

I'm not sure but I get the feeling there's a bit of antagonism between adobe and apple at the moment. Apple keep encroaching on adobe's core business and there's been problems with bugs in CS3 that adobe blame on apple and apple blame on adobe. In some areas Adobe is Apple's main competitor (the high-end apps) so maybe Jobbie is trying to keep adobe away from the iphone. I'll be jailbreaking mine within minutes.

Firefox need to write a browser running flash for it.