Month: September 2013

Yeah I’m a glutton for punishment. Android malfunctioning chronically, I can’t really wait any longer.

So here I am in line again they claim they still have what I want.

It will be a close thing…

Fingers crossed.

I’ve been trying to think of any way to avoid this but I need a phone. I’m not really looking forward to the expense. <sigh>

Moreover, I’m not terribly thrilled at standing in line yet again.

The hell of it is I know what I want. I’m on a good no contract plan with my carrier and it’s a slam dunk transaction.

Been listening to the rumors and comments being made by the Apple employees. Apparently, part of this long wait is being caused by people that want a new phone, but that haven’t paid their bill.

Before the phone transaction can occur the Apple employee is having to sort out the customers billing and contractual issues.

To that all I can say is really? 

You’re so hot to trot to get a new phone that you’ve not paid the bill? Which begs the question… 

Can you afford a new bright shiny phone in the first place? How about going to the phone store and buying something that’s cheaper and more in line with your obvious budget constraints?

Then there are the folks from Hong Kong, or mainland China…

“You oh ah got unlocked phone? I want unlocked phone. ohh no unlocked phone? Ohhhh.“

Basically these folks are here to buy as many unlocked iPhone 5s units as they can in hopes that that will make big profits when they go home with their American booty.

While I was standing there in line from 4:20 to 6:00 before I got in the store, yes in the line pictured above, I saw at least 10 Chinese tourists trying to get into the store to buy unlocked phones which technically Apple isn’t selling yet.

Good for me, that the all the tourists weren’t doing their homework. Technically there are “unlocked” phones available. I bought one. It’s sitting happily on my desk beside my computer as I type this.

I started this blog entry while I was in line. I had my iPad and was hitting the Apple WiFi pretty easily once I rounded the corner of the building.

By the time I got to the door I was going crazy. They had limited quantities of what I needed and there were a lot of folks in the store who were doing “in store” pickups. I just knew with my luck that I’d get inside the store only to have a helpful Apple representative tell me “Sorry, we just sold the last one”

It’s my luck.

But, no. The helpful guy introduced himself and took me into the store. As we walked, I was rattling off the unit, options, and case preferences. That’s when he stopped and I thought “uh oh, here it comes”.

“Man, sorry we don’t have…” 

I was crushed and momentarily started to turn around to leave.

“…That color case.”

My brain reprocessed the information a couple of times.

Crosscheck…

Analyze. Global linguistic analysis routines running.

Confirmed.

Accessing sarcasm database… No sarcasm detected.

————————————————–

Implication… Device in question is still available. 

Conclusion – Case color choice irrelevant, priority is hardware …

Yeah, my internal systems are weird…

“It’s just the case you’re out of?” I ask incredulously.

“Yep, sorry we don’t have black in stock.” He replied with a genuinely apologetic look on his face.

“Screw the case!” I said

He just smiled… ” Come this way, here are the cases we do have in stock.

Remember that if the case says it will fit an iPhone 5 it will also work for the 5s.

I’m going in the back to get the phone for you. I’ll be right back.”

Then he was gone and I was looking at a bewildering array of cases, some of which I was too short to reach.

A few moments later he was back. A shiny white box in hand that said iPhone 5s written in black on the side. I pointed to the case I couldn’t reach and asked for help. He grabbed the case and suggested that we go to a quieter location he’d scoped out.

A few questions, scans, & card swipes later and we’re unboxing my new phone. 

He leads me through the power-up sequence and I’m answering the questions the phone is asking. 

Then he realizes I’m coming from an Android and grimaces.

“Do you know the login and password for your gmail account?”

“Yes, but there will be no need for that. I spent last Thursday transferring my contacts and calendar to iCloud and verified the transfer here on my iPad.”

He grinned a big grin.

“Great! That will make this easy.”

“I know, I had a plan. The intention was to have a phone on Friday but after standing in line twice I was left in the cold.”

He smiled, “That was a madhouse wasn’t it?”

“Yep. Ahh there are my contacts. Glad I remembered to turn on the WiFi.”

We stood there waiting for the remaining information to come in via the cloud and my new phone churned away happily digesting the information.

At 6:17pm I made a call to make sure that the phone was capable of it’s primary function.

By 6:22pm I was walking to the door with my happy, helpful Apple representative and my bag / badge of honor.

So today it’s about the phone, getting all the fiddly bits of software loaded that I’ll use. Some software I’ll want on the iPad exclusively and others I’ll want only on the phone, still others will be on  both devices.

But… and this is probably most important. I’ll be able to talk on the phone and even answer incoming calls. Wow! what a concept!

The case?

I chose a baby blue Apple case.