cingular
We're Back!
07/08/2007 10:11 PM Categories:
Personal | Gadgets &
Computers
Well, we're back from our vacation on
Aruba. It was very relaxing and I would definitely like to go
back.
While there I was able to test out the international roaming and wifi features of our new iPhones. After a few international calls to AT&T on the first day in Aruba, I was able to clear up some Roaming Activation issues. Call quality was still good over international calls and they were about a dollar cheaper per minute vs. the hotel phone. Wifi was pretty ubiquitous in Aruba with various pay and free hotspots available. The only Wifi snag was thick walls in our hotel room that didn't allow the hotel's open area wifi signal in. The rooms did have built-in ethernet ports, but that hardly did me any good with the iPhone. The only other problem we had was the odd necessity of resetting both our Voicemail systems when we got back to the USA (probably had something to do to the changeover to unlimited SMS Text msging plans while we were in Aruba). SMS Texting worked flawlessly even on the beach under a palapa (thatched umbrellas with small wood tables). I was even able to txt family members while under the caribbean moon lounging on the sand with my wife. She was checking mail on her iPhone at the time. Yes, we're nerds.
I have over 1,800+ images I have to weed through and edit from our trip. I'll hopefully be able to upload them to my photo site by the end of the week.
Read More...
While there I was able to test out the international roaming and wifi features of our new iPhones. After a few international calls to AT&T on the first day in Aruba, I was able to clear up some Roaming Activation issues. Call quality was still good over international calls and they were about a dollar cheaper per minute vs. the hotel phone. Wifi was pretty ubiquitous in Aruba with various pay and free hotspots available. The only Wifi snag was thick walls in our hotel room that didn't allow the hotel's open area wifi signal in. The rooms did have built-in ethernet ports, but that hardly did me any good with the iPhone. The only other problem we had was the odd necessity of resetting both our Voicemail systems when we got back to the USA (probably had something to do to the changeover to unlimited SMS Text msging plans while we were in Aruba). SMS Texting worked flawlessly even on the beach under a palapa (thatched umbrellas with small wood tables). I was even able to txt family members while under the caribbean moon lounging on the sand with my wife. She was checking mail on her iPhone at the time. Yes, we're nerds.
I have over 1,800+ images I have to weed through and edit from our trip. I'll hopefully be able to upload them to my photo site by the end of the week.
Read More...
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We've got iPhone... actually, we've got 2!
After a day of shopping for our Aruba
trip and seeing the iPhone lines at the Apple Store in the mall
(oddly enough we didn't see a line at all at the AT&T store in
the mall even though there were two security guards waiting there
for one), we headed over to the local AT&T store for a few
hours of line-sitting. I took a
few shots to commemorate the frenzy. Contacts at other lines
text-messaged me throughout and told me that it sold out at the
locations they were at. Some jumped to multiple locations to find
available iPhones. It amazed me that so many locations had short
supplies (some under 40 units) while ours seemed fully stocked and
ready to meet demand. In fact our location's manager announced that
the only limitation was the closing time of 10pm, but that there
would be plenty more available of both SKU's (8GB and 4GB) tomorrow
morning. Luckily we were in first 40 in line and had about 80
behind us. Unlike some AT&T stores that let in 5 at a time, our
store took groups of 20. So now Gene and I are proud owners of two
8GB iPhones. Adding to our luck was the fact that it didn't rain
during our time in line.
There are scattered reports of problems activating via iTunes, but both Gene and I were able to transfer our old numbers into a Family Plan fairly quickly. We even activated via 2 macs so that our individual iTunes libraries would sync correctly. All-in-All it was a good experience moving to AT&T's service and activating the iPhone for us. The two things missing that I wish it had: GPS linked to the Google Maps app and iChat/AIM functionality. The first could possibly be added as an accessory later, but could prove bulky. The second could easily be added via a Software Update. Many bemoan the fact that this is a 2.5G phone on the EDGE network rather than the much speedier HSPDA 3G network. I've been surfing on my HTC based WinMobile smartphone over EDGE for a long time and can attest to its slowness at times, but the iPhone is definitely smoother and more tolerable on EDGE than any other EDGE phone I've tried. The seemless WiFi switchover also makes this less of an issue for me as long as there is a nearby hotspot (and there are many around the metro-NY/NJ area).
We still have to set them up to connect to both our car's built-in Bluetooth Handsfree and respective audio connections, but hopefully those will go smoothly as well.
Read More...
There are scattered reports of problems activating via iTunes, but both Gene and I were able to transfer our old numbers into a Family Plan fairly quickly. We even activated via 2 macs so that our individual iTunes libraries would sync correctly. All-in-All it was a good experience moving to AT&T's service and activating the iPhone for us. The two things missing that I wish it had: GPS linked to the Google Maps app and iChat/AIM functionality. The first could possibly be added as an accessory later, but could prove bulky. The second could easily be added via a Software Update. Many bemoan the fact that this is a 2.5G phone on the EDGE network rather than the much speedier HSPDA 3G network. I've been surfing on my HTC based WinMobile smartphone over EDGE for a long time and can attest to its slowness at times, but the iPhone is definitely smoother and more tolerable on EDGE than any other EDGE phone I've tried. The seemless WiFi switchover also makes this less of an issue for me as long as there is a nearby hotspot (and there are many around the metro-NY/NJ area).
We still have to set them up to connect to both our car's built-in Bluetooth Handsfree and respective audio connections, but hopefully those will go smoothly as well.
Read More...