All Systems Go for iPhone 4
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).
Pretty much par for the course
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.
About that reservation...
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.
I noticed that fine print
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.
I know, I know, I do the
I know, I know, I do the same - just teasing you... ;)
Don't forget your bumper
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.
I saw that.
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.
Reception sans bumper
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.
Interesting
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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