All Systems Go for iPhone 4

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:25:42 GMT  <== Computers ==> 

At around 5am eastern US time today, I noticed that the Apple Store was taking iPhone 4 reservations. About 40 minutes later, after fighting and fighting to get the site to finish the process, I reserved my 30 gigabyte black iPhone 4 for pickup at the local Apple Store. I plan to show up shortly before opening time, 7am, on opening day, June 24. They weren't reserving white iPhones, so I reserved a black one. I hope they actually have white ones when I get there, and will let me trade my reserved black for a white.

The image below is slightly reduced to fit my standard 600 pixel width. Click on it for full size (769x668).

iPhone 4 reservation

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Comments (9):

A valid gov ID?, SS#? Bill,

Submitted by jack on Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:31:38 GMT

A valid gov ID?, SS#? Bill, you must really like it... <g,d&r/>

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Pretty much par for the course

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:40:48 GMT

Pretty much par for the course for credit checks in the US. I rant about that stuff, but I go along as necessary. Since I already have an AT&T account, I doubt they're going to be asking for my slave number again.

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About that reservation...

Submitted by DaveP on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:21:21 GMT

So I read the email I got from Apple about it, and noticed that down in the "fine print" it says:

Pre-authorization does not guarantee iPhone availability at an Apple Retail Store.
iPhone is sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

So after fighting their lame web servers for a day, I get to go stand in line, and might not end up with a phone in the end anyhow.

It's tough being a fanboy sometimes.

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I noticed that fine print

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:29:07 GMT

I noticed that fine print too. I intend to have a good time early next Thursday morning, whether or not I walk away with a shiny new toy.

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I know, I know, I do the

Submitted by jack on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 01:44:14 GMT

I know, I know, I do the same - just teasing you... ;)

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Don't forget your bumper

Submitted by DaveP on Thu, 24 Jun 2010 09:33:49 GMT

According to http://gizmodo.com/5571171/iphone-4-loses-reception-when-you-hold-it-by-the-antenna-band it seems like buying a bumper today is going to be mandatory, too.

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I saw that.

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:56:36 GMT

I saw that, so I bought a bumper. Haven't covered up that beautiful stainless steel yet, and won't until I prove that it helps with reception.

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Reception sans bumper

Submitted by DaveP on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 11:57:35 GMT

Tried some experiments last night in the bar with a friend who had also bought an iPhone 4, but no bumper (I bought one).

On the phone with no bumper, it was possible to drop about 4 bars worth of signal and drop calls or completely lose the strong WiFi signal coming from a router about 10 feet away. Happened on both of our phones.

With the bumper on, if there was any attenuation, it was much smaller, with no dropped calls or WiFi.

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Interesting

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:54:41 GMT

My phone doesn't fit in its belt-clip case with the bumper on. I've noticed that I can drop a bar by palming the phone at its bottom. Holding between thumb and index finger, as I've become accustomed to doing with my 3G, doesn't affect the bars. I raised it a bar by palming at the top of the device, but that wasn't repeatable.

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