16 GB iPhone

My question, then, is after seeing many posts of how swapping SIM cards >doesn't work ... is there anyone out there who can confirm that it actually >does?

Yes - just done it today - and it went very smoothly for me (on O2 in the UK):

I wiped all the data off the old phone. Swapped the SIM over to the new phone, and docked it.

ITunes then said "You'll need to activate this phone" - which was a worry, because I thought I'd need a new account.

But it checked my account status, asked for my mobile number and AppleID, then said "your phone will be activated on O2 within a few hours". (The first phone took overnight). This time it was about 10 seconds till the 16Gb iPhone reported having an O2 signal.

Then iTunes said "would you like to restore from your backup" - I hadn't realised I'd taken one. So I said yes - and it restored my old iPhone onto the new one. Everything - calendar, contacts, bookmarks, YouTube bookmarks, the lot. The only thing it asked me to re-enter was my WiFi password.

I was amazed (and impressed) that it was so trouble free.

^since when is there a 16gb iphone?

i thought the largest was the 8gb, with the 4gb ones being phased out.

Since Tuesday when Apple released a 16GB iPhone. Where have you been?

MFlash,

Tuesday, February 5, 2008 is when the 16GB iPhone and 32GB iPod Touch were announced. Both are priced $100 more than the existing 8GB iPhone and 16GB iPod Touch.

You can read the full announcement at:
http://www.apple.com/pr/

Hope this helps,

Nathan C.

All I can say is that it must be nice to have just paid $400 for a iphone and turn around and spend another $500 for a new one.

Sweet!

Thanks Nathan, didn't know that.

I'm not very tempted to getting the touch. As, I was holding off because of the small HD space....

btw, can you use the touch as a portable hardrive, as well?

Well, turns out upgrading my 8GB to a 16GB iPhone was pretty painless.

I used the method recommended by both Apple and AT&T support people which was to pop my old SIM card into the new Phone and re-activate ... worked like a charm.

Happy this is the case, as this now leaves me with a new, never activated SIM in my old 8GB iPhone ... which is perfect for my gal to take, activate, and start feeling the iPhone love herself.

Hi there,

For all you UK O2 users, here's the definitive (and tested) link:

http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone/o2tariffsforiphone/existingcustomers/activatingyourne w16gbiphone

I'm not sure it was ever actually going to be a case of having to renew the contract for another 18 months really, was it? 😉

Hope this helps.

Without having see some of the more recent posts I went yesterday to the Apple Store here in San Francisco and bought a 16GB iPhone. Activating it was a breeze once I got home -- I left the new SIM in. I figured that if I had to extend my ATT contract I would, even though that was the real downside to all of this -- sorry ATT. Glad to hear that that might not actually be the case. I did check out my ATT Wireless account and it does show by record going back and does maintain my unused minutes etc.. But a definitive answer would be great! Just couldn't bear the idea on not having the "latest and greatest" -- had to get one.

I learned a lesson today when upgrading from 8 MB iPhone to the new 16 MB iPhone. I told the geniuses at the Apple Store that my partner wanted to use my old 8MB to replace his Moto Razr. When I first called, they told me that they would take the SIM out of my old 8MB, and switch it with the SIM in the new 16MB. However, when I got to the store, the sales rep didn't think it was necessary to switch the SIMs (and thought it might void the warranty if he did).

They told me to take the new 16MB home, activate it with iTunes, and then the old 8MB would de-activate. They said that once the 8 MB de-activated, my partner could simply connect it to his laptop and (re-)activate it with iTunes.

They were wrong.

Activating the new 16MB went according to plan. But when we connected the 8 MB to my partner's laptop (after restoring factory settings), the activation screen never came up on iTunes. I called Apple, and they put me through to AT&T. AT&T told me that I would have to buy a new SIM chip ($27) and install it in the old 8 MB. So I made another trip to the mall.

When I got to the mall, the AT&T store installed the new SIM. It was much easier than I thought. (I am someone who would never modify the phone like I have seen online. Still, this procedure was not too nerve-racking, and you could probably do it at home for yourself with a paperclip.) Fortunately, AT&T did not charge me for the new SIM. They told me to go home and activate the old 8 MB using the new SIM.

When I got home, iTunes generated an error message, saying that it could not activate the old 8 MB with the new SIM. I called Apple, who put me through to AT&T, who told me to call iPhone support (800-My-iPhone). When I called, they were able to walk me through the last few steps. You have to clear the iPhone memory by holding down the home button and the power button simultaneously, then restarting the phone. It worked fine, and now I have 2 active iPhones in my household: my new 16MB and my partner's 8MB (which used to be mine).

Overall, not a perfect experience, and it took 5 hours of back-and-forth, but it all works great now. And, I didn't lose much when synching my new 16MB except for email passwords, WiFi WEP key, and pairing code for my HandsFreeLink.

Now I just hope the warranty is still good. And, I hope I didn't incur two activation fees. The old 8MB was only 3 months old (a Christmas present from my partner, who didn't want one until he saw how much I liked mine).

I just bought a 16gb iPhone to replace my 8gb. I plan to give my 8gb to my wife.

The folks at the Apple store said to swap the SIM cards and I would be all set.

I know there is a lot of confusion, so I called AT&T and spoke to the Apple expert (I think you actually get funneled to Apple). He told me to swap the SIM cards and I would be good.

I then called AT&T back and spoke to support on the AT&T side. They also told me to swap the SIM cards.

All three of them told me that when you get a loaner phone, all they do is swap the SIM cards.

I have not tried it yet. I will report back tomorrow after I try it.

WT

All three of them told me that when you get a loaner phone, all they do is swap the SIM cards.

True, but a loaner iPhone ships without a SIM card.

I have used a loaner iPhone and did this without any problems. Inserted my iPhone's SIM card in the loaner and I was able to place and receive calls right away without connecting the loaner to iTunes on my computer.

This is different with a new iPhone purchase which hasn't been activated. I believe the activation is also hardware related in this situation.

Okay, so far, so good. I am 90% there.

I DID NOT switch the SIM cards in the two phones. I went against the instructions given to me by three Apple/AT&T employees. I did some more reading and the information iLounge provided from AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel seemed legit.

http://snipurl.com/1zg46

So this is what I did:

1. Backed-up my 8GB iPhone (A synch with iTunes does this)
2. Restored my 8GB iPhone using the iTunes restore button (this step is probably not necessary, but I wanted to get my 8GB to a clean state)
+ Note: This did NOT restore the original firmware on the phone. It still as 1.1.3 on it.+
3. I connected my new 16GB and went through the activation process. I chose the "current AT$T customer who wants to add this phone to the account." The wording was not close to that, but the intent is the same. You won't we confused by the choices.
4. I activated my 16GB (it took less than 3 minutes)
5. I then did a restore of my 8GB phone to my 16GB phone (iTunes gave me that choice)
+ Note: The restore took a while (10 min or so) due to the large amount of data I had on my 8GB iPhone. As it turns out the restore was not 100% (see below).+
6. When the restore was complete, the phone synched.
+ Note: Apparently the restore did NOT restore all of my data. iTunes then synched my music and video content (this also took a while since I have a lot). Then it synched my photos. Some of my iPhoe synch settings were preserved, but some were not. I then had to set iTunes to synch my calendar, contacts, Safari bookmarks and e-mail accounts. All of the data was on my computer, so it was an easy process. The name that I gave my iPhone was also not preserved. That was also an easy change.+
7. After my 16GB finished synching I checked it out and it was great! 99% of the data I had on my 8GB was preserved. Even my notes, customized icon placement and volume settings. Why did I say 99%? I have a default custom ringtone and two contacts who have separate ringtones (my wife and a friend). All three ringtone files were synched (I used to use iToner, but now I just use iTunes to manage ringtones). My default ring and custom ring for my friend were both set properly. The custom ringtone I had set for my wife was not set. That too was an easy fix.
8. I tried to login to my AT&T account but there were login issues.
9. I connected my 8GB iPhone and iTunes allows me to se*t it up as a new phone.
+ Note: I am on a business trip and won't be able to switch my wife over to my 8GB until I get home this weekend.+
10. The next morning (I started the whole process around 11pm), I logged into my AT&T account and I still had all of my rollover minutes and everything else. My contract is set to expire in October of 2009 (my original date). I had gotten a notice from iTunes and e-mail from AT&T congratulating me for activating, thanking me for my new contract and such (a text message from AT&T to my phone as well). Yet, I DID NOT get a new 2-year contract.

The entire 16GB activation and restore took maybe 15-20 minutes (most of that time was data transfer since my 8GB was almost full.

My 16GB works great! All of my data and settings are the way I want them.

I will report back next weekend when I switch my wife over (she is a current AT&T customer and has a Razr).

All-in-all, a very painless transfer thus far.

WT

A point of note:

I just found out that not only did I lose all of my voice mail (which I half expected anyway), I did need to re-setup my voice mail greeting before callers could leave voicemail. Until you re-setup your voicemail, callers will be told they cannot leave a message because the voicemail box has not been setup (I had two separate callers tell me this).

Although this is not upsetting to me, it would have been nice to know.

Apple, AT&T or both should have an iPhone upgrade page. I will set expectations and make the upgrade process smooth. They'll need to get it right before the 3G iPhones come out before the end of the year.

As I said, I'll report back over the weekend and let you know how easy/hard it is for my wife to activate my "old" 8GB iPhone.

WT

When you get time go by an AT&T wireless center and pick up new SIM card for the 8GB iPhone. I've discovered once the SIM card is activated for a phone number it can not be chanced to a different number.

I've tried both ways of keeping the new SIM card in the new iPhone and transfering the old SIM card to the new iPhone. Both ways provided for an easy setup of the new iPhone. But if you keep the old SIM card in the 8GB iPhone the card will not allow a new setup to another cell number. You have to get a new SIM card for the 8GB iPhone to set it up to a new cell number. I like to experiment and I discovered what will work and up won't work.

Now it your wife has a AT&T 3G SIM card in her Razor it just might work and set up to her cell number.

dcc