Posted by Trey Connell
on November 13, 2008
iPhone Tethering Coming Soon
AT&T officially announced that you’ll be able to tether your iPhone to your laptop “soon”. Tethering allows your iPhone to act as a wireless modem so you can access the Internet anywhere you have EDGE or 3G access. I used to tether my old MotoRazr constantly back in the day, and it’s always boggled my mind as to why AT&T hasn’t offered that capability for iPhone users.
Two things I haven’t been able to find out:
- Is AT&T going to have to bulk up its network in order to handle the demand?
- Will there be an additional monthly fee, or will the normal “unlimited data” iPhone plan cover wireless modem usage?
Posted by Trey Connell
on September 04, 2008
I’ve finally started seeing some of the dropped call and connection quality issues that other users of the new iPhone 3G are experiencing. I don’t know who I’m supposed to blame at this point, but I am not amused. I really hope there are plans to fix this problem quickly.
Posted by Trey Connell
on July 19, 2008
I didn’t feel like going to the local AT&T each day in the hopes that I’d get lucky and find the 16Gb black iPhone that I want, so I decided to go ahead and do the “direct fulfillment” option. The nice folks at the store told me it would be 10 to 21 business days before my new iPhone arrived from Apple and that I would get an email when it shipped. I would then have a week to pick it up once it arrived in the store. All that is just fine by me. I didn’t have the energy to go to the store multiple times a week and chase down a phone. I mean – the new iPhone is cool, but it’s not cool enough to cause complete inconvenience.
Posted by Trey Connell
on July 11, 2008
I went to my local AT&T store this morning to pick up a new iPhone. I figured there would be at most 10 or 15 people there waiting to get in at 8 AM. I mean – I live in a small town of around 70,000 people. I had seen the lines on the news in New York and Chicago this morning, but I couldn’t imagine that being the case here.
I pulled into the parking lot down from the store and immediately knew I was in trouble. There was not a spot to be had in this strip mall that is about 1/4 of a mile long. I looked to the AT&T store and saw no less than 100 people standing outside in a line.
No thank you. I’m not standing in a line for a phone – even if it is one as saucy as the iPhone.
Red Alert: While writing this, I just noticed that the iPhone 2.0 upgrade is now available when checking for an update through iTunes. It’s downloading now, and I can’t wait to get my hands on all the iPhone application goodness.
Posted by Trey Connell
on July 04, 2008
Seven days until the new iPhone 3G is available, and I’m still on the fence about upgrading. At this point I’ve read a variety of stories and seen lots of information regarding pricing plans and fees, but I’m still afraid I’m going to walk in to my local AT&T store and find out my family plan is going to cost me a lot more per month or that I’m somehow not eligible for an upgrade due to my contract.
I also simply can’t decide if the new phone is really worth spending more money. 3G is great for sure, but do I really need it? Usually I’m somewhere with wi-fi when I travel. If I don’t have a high speed connection, it’s usually OK since it’s not like I need my email to fly in or for a web site to load twice as fast. The heavy use of my iPhone’s email or browser usually revolves around waiting on someone to show up, sitting in a movie before it starts, sitting on an airplane waiting for the dreaded “Please turn off all electronics…” announcement, or some other simliar non-critical situation.
I don’t need Exchange server integration – we run Communigate. The GPS functionality is cool, but I work from home. The farthest trip I ever take is to my local supermarket, dry cleaner, or restaurant. If I do happen to take a trip in the car, I simply print out the directions before I leave.
I’m most excited about all the new applications that are going to be available, but I can get that on my current iPhone. Now, the killer will be if they are not that good due to the lack of a 3G connection, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case for the vast majority of them.
Of course – I’m so in love with my current iPhone that how could I possibly resist the temptation to upgrade? I guess we’ll see next Friday.
Posted by Trey Connell
on June 09, 2008
The new iPhone will be available on July 11. It comes complete with 3G network access, Maps with GPS, integration with Microsoft Exchange server for business users, and access to the new App store. We don’t run an Exchange server, nor do I really care about “push email” (having the thing buzz once every 15 minutes is quite often enough for me thank you).
I am very excited about having the 3G network again though. My old phone was a Motorazr that worked on 3G. I LOVED it. They say it’s 2.4 times faster than EDGE, but I’d swear it’s even faster than that. Now if I can just get the new iPhone to tether to my MacBook Pro so I can use it as a modem…
Having the new App store is going to be great as well. The one thing I haven’t liked about my iPhone (OK, there are a few things – no copy and paste!) is that all the “applications” had to run in mobile safari. It’s about time we’re able to download and install applications right on the iPhone. Apple has some preliminary information about the applications here.
Even with all the new additions, the one fact that will make me actually buy one is the price – $199. Of course, it appears that I’ll have to reup on my 2-year contract with AT&T in order to get that price. Otherwise, I’m going to assume the phone costs more in the range of $400 like its predeccessor.
I guess we’ll see if it all works out later this week. With my luck, all the AT&T stores near me will be sold out. I’m definitely not going out of my way or standing in line to get a new iPhone so I’ll just wait till things settle down if I can’t find one easily.
