A couple of short thoughts on ordering and activating my iPhone5. This was originally an FB post responding to a question from a former student (now friend) about my impressions of iPhone5.
Is it worth the money and time? Yes to the 5; yes w/reservations to AT&T.
The 5 processes much, much faster than the 3GS. Siri is great fun. Talking txts rather than typing is terrific. Camera = worth the wait. Accelerometer works on iOS apps, but less reliably in external ones (such as FB). I don’t like iTunes prompting me to log in even when I load local files. (Dude, that my bizniz, not yours)….
As for AT&T: it simply was not ready for the transition to 5. Probs w setting up VM on the 5 is a “known issue” that requires talking to a human to work out. I spent abt 90 mins (first w chatbot, then with human chat, then w human voice to voice) resolving probs, such as VM and my missing txt plan (!!)
See anything missing? iPhone5 not an option.
ATT messaging on their “my att” site is breathtakingly unclear. One imagines Apple might have dictated terms or deadlines to AT&T that ATT simply could not meet. ATT has lagged at both launches w the 5 (9/14, 9/21). Example: at 12:30AM 9/14, I spent abt 2 hrs working through a set of loops that prevented my card number from being recorded to advance the transaction. Tried lots of workarounds, including renaming my ATT user profile. Nada. 2:30, I quit everything. Hunch told me to reboot et voila: after 3AM PST (more crucially perhaps: 6AM EST), a brand new interface. Transaction took me 90 seconds. (But: even that ease is illusory, since I had to do clean up w ATT that prevented full use of device immediately after opening it.) All told: the device & fast connectivity worth the effort. The time I spent figuring out why the interface wasn’t working applies out to other situations. I’m at the place where the FAILs deeply intrigue me. As to the Apple Maps [friend name omitted], I haven’t played with it yet. That’s today when I use it to find good hiking near my folks’ house…..
