Great Feature, Stupid Limitation

Like a good little Apple fangirl, I promptly updated my iPhone to 1.1.3, and happily and quickly customized my home screen(s), added webclip icons (including making a custom one for THIS blog, check it out you iPhoners!), and thrilled to the *reasonably* accurate location finder in Maps.

Software updates: yay!

But. As we speak I'm downloading a rental of The Simpsons Movie. I'll load it up on my iPhone so that I'll have something to watch on my bus ride this weekend if I get bored of listening to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me while the scenery rolls by. The catch is that once I start watching it, I have to finish watching it within 24 hours. So, for example, I can't watch half the movie on my way out of town and the other half on the way back.

THAT IS JUST STUPID. Let me repeat: the 24 hour window to watch a rental that is available for 30 days is STUPID. In case I failed to be quite clear: this restriction is DUMB, IDIOTIC, and downright BRAINDEAD.

I cannot see how this limitation solves any concern that either Apple or the movie studios might have about piracy. It's just pointless. And aggravating.

iPhone Self-Portrait

iPhoto Self-Portrait, originally uploaded by ntovish.

Take photo -> email to Flickr -> surf to Flickr -> blog photo = total time elapsed: 5 minutes. Amazing.

Why bother? Because I can do this with a freakin' CELL PHONE. That's why.

From my iPhone

Yes folks, this post is coming to you directly from my magical new gizmo! Don't you just love it??!!

Worst Consumer Experience Ever

More than 26 hours later and my iPhone still doesn't work.

AT&T says it is activitated, but I haven't received an email, and iTunes won't complete the activation. I have spent HOURS on hold to AT&T. They have given me one uninformed bulshitty set of directions after another. I am STILL on hold.

This is unbelievably aggravating, and the single worst experience I've ever had with a new product.

There are a lot of very unhappy iPhone purchasers out here. I hope whoever screwed this pooch becomes very unemployed.

Delayed Gratification

Yes, I'm a geeky, dweeby human being. As such, it was incumbent upon me to get in line to purchase an iPhone the moment they became available. That, and my current phone is such a piece of crap that I could HARDLY WAIT to make it redundant.

The Good News: I was about number 46 in line at my local AT&T store.
The Bad News: There was an extremely talkative gizmo guy, who was much more clueless than he knew, who would not shut up for 2 seconds together over the course of the 2+ hours we waited.

The Good News: I made it to the point of purchase without murdering aforemention gizmo guy.
The Bad News: My goddamn credit card was declined (I've had this happen before when trying to make a major techno purchase. They say it's to ensure my card's not being used for fraudulent purposes. What it is, is EXTREMELY INCONVENIENT, VITIATING THE WHOLE POINT OF HAVING A CREDIT CARD IN THE FIRST PLACE.)

The Good News: I had enough money in my checking account to use my debit card.
The Bad News: Now I have very little money left in my checking account.

The Good News: I now own an iPhone.
The Bad News: Transferring my old mobile phone number is going to take a while.

The Good News: I can use my iPhone for outgoing calls and load it up with all my info.
The Bad News: NO, ACTUALLY I CAN'T. AT&T is so backed up with activations that it'll take 24 hours to process all the requests. So, in fact, I have an extremely elegant looking brick sitting on my desk. An extremely elegant looking, very expensive brick.

The Good News: I own Apple stock. Clearly they were unprepared for the massive influx of activations... which must mean that they are busting every known record for first day sales. This ALMOST makes up for my frustration in not being able to immediately deploy my new toy.

OMG

Watching a text stream from MacWorld... the iPhone is going to be THE new must-have gadget. I will be buying one IMMEDIATELY (and I don't even know what they cost yet)!

[Update: $500 and not available 'til JUNE. June?? How can I wait until JUNE??? Ugh. My technolust has been piqued and will now go unsated for 6 months. Unless, of course, Steve also unveils the ThinBook...]