iPhone 3G/2.0 upgrade

[editor]

Good news for the nerds. After six months of anticipation, it's finally here. I'm now installing.

[editor]

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

(I'm actually doing my phone and my wife's phone at the same time. Tempting fate, don'cha think?)

Step 5:

Step 6:

Step 7:

Step 8:

Wait... and wait. The iTunes activation servers are bogged down. Probably with all those people rushing to the Apple and AT&T Stores this morning to get their new phones, plus a certain percentage of the six million current iPhone customers upgrading all at once. Oh, well. At least it will be quiet around here for a little bit.

[Pumapayam]

And as a bonus, don't forget for iPod Touch owners like me, that decided to pass on the $20 January update, it's now included in your $10 July 2.0 application store update (Maps, Email, Weather, Stocks, Notes) at no extra charge.

[editor]

That's pretty cool!

Here's another thought -- A bunch of people are going to dump their original iPhones for the 3G ones. Now those iPhones will be going cheap on eBay.

Until now, Apple/AT&T has not permitted unactivated iPhones to access wifi. Well, that's changed. I believe it was AT&T that stated hand-me-down original iPhones could be partially activated so that the wifi works. That means all those old iPhones can be used as iPod Touches. And they might be cheap to buy.

Woo hoo! It's finally done.

The longest part was syncing my music and videos back onto the phone. Now... time to play!

[editor]

When you install an application over-the-air there's a neat little progress bar.

[editor]

This game is a lot harder than it looks. I've killed dozens of monkeys.

[Pumapayam]

Hey Wayne, I hear of a cool screen capture feature is now in 2.0.

The process is simple: hold down the home button, and then quickly press the sleep/wake button on the top of the phone. Once the buttons are released, the screen will flash white for a brief moment, letting you know the shot has been taken.

How are you making yours now?

[editor]

That's how I'm doing it -- Hold down the home button and press the power button. The only thing it doesn't seem to work on is the unlock screen.

Also, when e-mailing photos taken by the phone they don't seem to be downsized anymore. They come in as crisp full-sized PNGs. Before I think they were squashed to keep from pounding AT&T's network. At least that's the impression I get from seeing how they looked on Flickr before. They should look better now.

[Mark F. Barnes]

Still downloading the upgrade, my son Brandon has his up and going, I'm up in WV and may wait to pick mine up when I get home in a couple of weeks. They do have a big AT&T store on South Charleston if I just can't stand it any more, but I think I will survive till I get home.

[barracuda]

I'm going to try and buy one tomorrow. However, I have a friend in Austin who called a local AT&T store around noon, and they were already out of their allotted 40 iphones. I may not have any luck.

[houstonmacbro]

That's pretty cool!

Here's another thought -- A bunch of people are going to dump their original iPhones for the 3G ones. Now those iPhones will be going cheap on eBay.

Until now, Apple/AT&T has not permitted unactivated iPhones to access wifi. Well, that's changed. I believe it was AT&T that stated hand-me-down original iPhones could be partially activated so that the wifi works. That means all those old iPhones can be used as iPod Touches. And they might be cheap to buy.

Woo hoo! It's finally done.

The longest part was syncing my music and videos back onto the phone. Now... time to play!

I am happy with my iPod touch and my unlimited cell and text on my el Cheapo Cricket phone, but would LOVE to have a 'touch' with a camera! That would be awesome!

[editor]

I am happy with my iPod touch and my unlimited cell and text on my el Cheapo Cricket phone, but would LOVE to have a 'touch' with a camera! That would be awesome!

If all of the people you text are also AIM members, there is a free native AIM application for the iPhone now. I wouldn't be surprised to see MSN come out with one soon. Also, I read somewhere that the AIM client can be used to text cell phones, but I haven't tried that yet.

Also, there is a free VOIP application now available that runs on wifi. I believe calls in the U.S. are something like 6 cents a minute. I haven't tried it out to see what the quality is like.

If 6 cents a minute is competitive with pre-paid Cricket and AIM works to replace/supplement texts, then you could dump your Cricket and just use your Touch. Or pick up a pre-paid original iPhone so you'd have access away from hotspots. Either way, you'll only have one thing to carry around -- and you'll have the camera.

[Pumapayam]

Good news for the nerds. After six months of anticipation, it's finally here. I'm now installing.

Damn servers been bogged down all day, and I can update my iPod Touch to access the App Store.

Seems to be the norm on the Macrumors forum too.

[houstonmacbro]

Damn servers been bogged down all day, and I can update my iPod Touch to access the App Store.

Seems to be the norm on the Macrumors forum too.

Hey P, I took your advice and tried to buy the update for my iPod touch ... no go ... I CAN buy apps, but haven't yet as it would be weird to have the new apps just sitting on my computer with nowhere to go.

Weird ... and sad.

[Pumapayam]

Hey P, I took your advice and tried to buy the update for my iPod touch ... no go ... I CAN buy apps, but haven't yet as it would be weird to have the new apps just sitting on my computer with nowhere to go.

Weird ... and sad.

Yeah, iTunes is not connecting. Someone on Macrumor's called Apple Customer Service and said maybe after 8:00 p.m. tonight.

What Apps are you getting?

I know it is not out yet, but I am 100% getting Rolando!

The song will get stuck in your head, you have been warned!

♪♫ 3-6-9- the goose drank wine!♫♪

[Pumapayam]

Well the page is finally updated now.

Get the iPhone 2.0 Software Update for iPod touch, and you also get the new features added in the January

[editor]

Servers were bogged down for me in the morning, but freed up around 10am. I guess you guys ran into the evening rush of people coming home to try out the upgrade.

I've tried about a dozen apps, and some are excellent. Some... not so much. It seems like the bigger the outfit, the better the application in terms of stability and crash resistance. The ones that seem the most rock solid to me are:

• AOL
  
• AOL Radio
  
• New York Times
  
• Bloomberg
  
• Super Monkey Ball
  
• Both of the free Twitter clients
  

There are a lot of other promising apps out there, but I think they need more bug testing. In particular, some of the apps seem to have a hard time sharing the internet connection and when the phone does a regular mail check or gets some data pushed to it they freeze, lock up, or abort. Some of these applications from the smaller houses are fantastic, but they need the bugs shaken out of them. I assume it's because the Times, Sega, etc... had the money to hire testers and test their applications on real phones and not just the iPhone simulator. That's speculation, but it's the best I've got.

Still, in spite of the 1.0 app problems, in a single day Apple's App Store has managed to leapfrog everything the Symbian and UIQ world has been trying to piece together for the last three years.

[cottonmather0]

I'm going to try and buy one tomorrow. However, I have a friend in Austin who called a local AT&T store around noon, and they were already out of their allotted 40 iphones. I may not have any luck.

I have been following this all day - from what I can gather from rumors and blog comments, the AT&T stores are not running out of inventory and have plenty of phones on hand. They're just rationing day to day and have a daily limit that they'll sell. Once they reach that limit, so long come back tomorrow. This is somewhat being confirmed in other places through comments from AT&T spokespersons who are assuring people that they'll have more phones for sale tomorrow. No idea why they're doing it, though.

The Catch 22 is that AT&T is where you want to be if you run into a problem. The Apple Store clerks don't have the know-how or the authorization to fix any problems that may come up with your account - they either get a "yes" or a "no" and will send you to AT&T emptyhanded to fix the problem. My wife and I are both AT&T customers on a family plan and we're both due for an upgrade. It would probably be OK if we went to the Apple Store, but since there is a bit of complication involved compared to a single user walking in off the street, it might not be, so AT&T is where I would prefer to go in the first place just in case. Grrrrr.

[ricco67]

I have been following this all day - from what I can gather from rumors and blog comments, the AT&T stores are not running out of inventory and have plenty of phones on hand. They're just rationing day to day and have a daily limit that they'll sell. Once they reach that limit, so long come back tomorrow. This is somewhat being confirmed in other places through comments from AT&T spokespersons who are assuring people that they'll have more phones for sale tomorrow. No idea why they're doing it, though.

The Catch 22 is that AT&T is where you want to be if you run into a problem. The Apple Store clerks don't have the know-how or the authorization to fix any problems that may come up with your account - they either get a "yes" or a "no" and will send you to AT&T emptyhanded to fix the problem. My wife and I are both AT&T customers on a family plan and we're both due for an upgrade. It would probably be OK if we went to the Apple Store, but since there is a bit of complication involved compared to a single user walking in off the street, it might not be, so AT&T is where I would prefer to go in the first place just in case. Grrrrr.

You guys are making me want to drink the koolaid. That's not fair.

[editor]

I have been following this all day - from what I can gather from rumors and blog comments, the AT&T stores are not running out of inventory and have plenty of phones on hand. They're just rationing day to day and have a daily limit that they'll sell. Once they reach that limit, so long come back tomorrow. This is somewhat being confirmed in other places through comments from AT&T spokespersons who are assuring people that they'll have more phones for sale tomorrow. No idea why they're doing it, though.

The Catch 22 is that AT&T is where you want to be if you run into a problem. The Apple Store clerks don't have the know-how or the authorization to fix any problems that may come up with your account - they either get a "yes" or a "no" and will send you to AT&T emptyhanded to fix the problem. My wife and I are both AT&T customers on a family plan and we're both due for an upgrade. It would probably be OK if we went to the Apple Store, but since there is a bit of complication involved compared to a single user walking in off the street, it might not be, so AT&T is where I would prefer to go in the first place just in case. Grrrrr.

I've hear similar things about AT&T rationing sales. As I understand it, the stores received a shipment on Wednesday for sale on Friday, and Friday got a shipment for sale Saturday, and today will get a shipment for sale Sunday, but they're not allowed to sell phones from the different shipments early.

If you want to get one at an Apple Store, Apple has a web page that shows which stores still have which models left. I think it's only updated once a day, though -- at 9pm -- but I could be wrong about that.

Both AT&T and Apple have posted videos on their web sites to guide people through the process. Since you're already and AT&T customer, check out the video on their page to see what the right steps to take are.

Oh, and for the Touch users out there -- MacRumors.com says the Touch upgrade software became available around midnight. So get downloadin'!

Saturday morning status:

[cottonmather0]

I've hear similar things about AT&T rationing sales. As I understand it, the stores received a shipment on Wednesday for sale on Friday, and Friday got a shipment for sale Saturday, and today will get a shipment for sale Sunday, but they're not allowed to sell phones from the different shipments early.

If you want to get one at an Apple Store, Apple has a web page that shows which stores still have which models left. I think it's only updated once a day, though -- at 9pm -- but I could be wrong about that.

Both AT&T and Apple have posted videos on their web sites to guide people through the process. Since you're already and AT&T customer, check out the video on their page to see what the right steps to take are.

Oh, and for the Touch users out there -- MacRumors.com says the Touch upgrade software became available around midnight. So get downloadin'!

Saturday morning status:

moo, Willowbrook was sold out when I arrived this morning at 9:30 and the AT&T store on 290 claims to be sold out and not to have received a shipment yet. They both told me I could go stand in line in the Galleria or at the Cingular Temple of Doom across from Compaq Center and I would be sure to get one today. I told them I have a life and can stand to sit out a few days until the hype dies down. What a joke.

[ricco67]

moo, Willowbrook was sold out when I arrived this morning at 9:30 and the AT&T store on 290 claims to be sold out and not to have received a shipment yet. They both told me I could go stand in line in the Galleria or at the Cingular Temple of Doom across from Compaq Center and I would be sure to get one today. I told them I have a life and can stand to sit out a few days until the hype dies down. What a joke.

LOL.

I was thinking the same thing.

Having decided I'm going to drink the koolaid, I would wait a week or so. If I can't stand AT&T I'm going to blame you guys!

[editor]

I told them I have a life and can stand to sit out a few days until the hype dies down.

Probably a good idea. I'd do the same thing if I was going to get one.

What a joke.

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

[cottonmather0]

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

Just the whole thing in general. It seems it could have been handled better - the lines were gone within 2-3 hours last year but AT&T being AT&T, they insisted on the in-store activation this time around since they were subsidizing the price and didn't want anyone unlocking and jumping right away, which made the wait longer and generally exacerbated whatever inventory problems that they might have had.

I'm probably more bitter than I should be, it's not like I wasted time in any lines. I just thought that 1.) Apple would have done a better job than this and 2.) it would be more like last year and that I would have a phone by now. Just because I can wait doesn't mean I don't want one.

[barracuda]

moo, Willowbrook was sold out when I arrived this morning at 9:30 and the AT&T store on 290 claims to be sold out and not to have received a shipment yet. They both told me I could go stand in line in the Galleria or at the Cingular Temple of Doom across from Compaq Center and I would be sure to get one today. I told them I have a life and can stand to sit out a few days until the hype dies down. What a joke.

I drove to the AT&T store at Buffalo Speedway and was told they were already out. They said I could buy it but they wouldn't get it in for 7 - 10 days and I'd have to return to activate it. I'm not even going to try the Apple store, I have better things to do than spend my entire day in the mall waiting in line for a phone.

Also, I passed by the AT&T store across from Compaq Center this morning and there was quite a line outside.

[ricco67]

I drove to the AT&T store at Buffalo Speedway and was told they were already out. They said I could buy it but they wouldn't get it in for 7 - 10 days and I'd have to return to activate it. I'm not even going to try the Apple store, I have better things to do than spend my entire day in the mall waiting in line for a phone.

Also, I passed by the AT&T store across from Compaq Center this morning and there was quite a line outside.

nerds.

[editor]

Looks like the upgrade continues. This just popped up on my screen. Until now my .Mac has remained .Mac and not .Me. I guess now it's ready. Hopefully the push data works. I played with it before, and the push worked fine between me.com and the upgraded iPhone, but the computer was left out of the loop with the exception of traditional iSync, meaning no push. Maybe that's all fixed now.

[editor]

Yep. Push now works to computers. I deleted a contact in my address book on .me and I saw it vanish from the open address book applications on my computer and on my phone.

Woo hoo! No more plug-in syncing!

(I know this is old hat to Blackberry users, but I'm just so glad I finally have it, too, and don't have to buy a Blackberry or Exchange server.)

[houstonmacbro]

Let me ask a couple of questions. Push only works with .Me and other things like the upcoming Exchange (server) app for Outlook? Do you think Gmail and Yahoo will make their iPhone/touch mail push? The quickest setting for mail is 15 minutes. Like WTF?!?

Also, has any been able to get Remote working? I downloaded, and installed and when I click on the app I get a series of 4 numbers and follow the directions, opening iTunes. But it doesn't do anything.

Not sure how to sync it to the computer/iTunes.

[houstonmacbro]

Yep. Push now works to computers. I deleted a contact in my address book on .me and I saw it vanish from the open address book applications on my computer and on my phone.

Woo hoo! No more plug-in syncing!

(I know this is old hat to Blackberry users, but I'm just so glad I finally have it, too, and don't have to buy a Blackberry or Exchange server.)

Cool, yes, not exactly economical. .Me users are paying an additional $99/year for that 'feature' (and others admittedly).

BlackBerry users are getting it as part of their monthly fee.