My Verizon Wireless iPhone arrived via Fedex today and for hours, I’ve been hesitating to peel off the shrink wrap and take it out of the box.
I’ve taken so long to make this decision, I am preserving the iPhone’s virgin status for a while longer. Once I open it, the thrill of anticipation will evaporate just as it does when you drive a new car out of the showroom.
The Fedex guy said he was delivering lots of them today – not bad turnaround given the onslaught of orders Verizon got when it started taking them online last Thursday. One estimate put the Feb. 3 pre-orders reserved for existing Verizon customers at 100,000 before the iPhone sold out. The same report said Verizon could sell 2.5 million in the first wave and as many as 9 million in 2011.
My faithful readers know I agonized over this as a result of two year phone contracts. I passed on Androids phones which I’ve amply reviewed here. All were able smart phones, but I kept delaying upgrading based on the mere rumor that Verizon would get the iPhone.
Why did I buy the iPhone instead of going for an Android unit? More than anything, I fell for it: the iPhone’s reputation is that it’s the best smartphone this side of the universe. All my music is in iTunes and I’ve gotten very comfortable with my iPad for watching videos and reading books. I figure the iPhone will be a smaller version of the Flash-less iPad.
But the prospect of 4G network speeds didn’t stop me from getting the 3G iPhone. Now I fear that I’ve gotten a slooow 3G phone when 4G is just around the corner…just two tiny towns away!
A Verizon customer service rep informed me that I will be able to upgrade to a discounted 4G phone before my two year jail term is up. But a friend who works at Verizon Wireless told me that is not the case. In two years, my iPhone will seem like a stone tablet.
That’s if I open the box and avoid the temptation to send it back like I did a few months ago with my last upgrade ( a Palm pre) — just case something better comes in the next month or two.
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7 comments On Verizon iPhone Neurosis
Received my Verizon iPhone yesterday. I know from a year with an iPod touch how useful the apps and portability can be for me, so I opened and activated it immediately. Now I get all those benefits, have constant connectivity, and don’t have to also carry a cell phone. It’s just a tool — albeit an extremely nice one — and your paralysis is preventing you from exploiting it, right now! It won’t run any slower when 4G comes out, and if the extra speed then would really make you more productive, the few hundred dollars for an off-cycle upgrade should get made up pretty quickly. Good tools earn their keep.
Now I see from your later tweet you must have opened it up: congratulations! And no, the VZW contacts backup hans’t been functioning since yesterday. (I synch my Mac Address Book through iTunes anyway.)
Indeed I opened the box and am up and running w my contacts. Still have to configure my email, and I don’t see my music yet. Must synch w iTunes, which I find hard to use and like many Apple products, highly restrictive.
Man you should have just bought the Droid X…drag a drop rules this side of the universe…
I had a few crashes this week. And it’s taking longer on startup. Same old, same old
Yeah, that feeling of buyer’s remorse, especially when felt BEFORE opening the product… …always a good feeling to FOLLOW.
I have a droid and an iPod touch. I wouldn’t get an iPhone if you gave it to me for free. Once my iPod touch dies, I will have nothing to do with Apple ever again. The android os is so much more intuitive. For example, if I follow a link on my ipod that sends me to YouTube, there is NO function to go back to where I came from! I have to close YouTube and renavigate to the site or app where I linked from. On the droid, I just hit the back key. iTunes is very restrictive and harder to use, imho. Many Amazon MP3 titles are cheaper. The device connects to my pc and acts as another drive so I can simply drag and drop files. You have to pay for Mobile Me on iPhone, using gmail to synch your contacts is free! iPhone data plan is more expensive than other data plans. I love the google navigate feature on my droid and its FREE! I can change my battery! I can upgrade my sd card and get more memory! I could go on and on….
Agree totally on iTunes. It just zapped all my purchased music. Major headache and expense to restore it.
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