Let us know if your 3GS purchase, activation, and function are problem free
This forum is, appropriately, a repository of questions and comments from people who are having problems. It sometimes feels like everyone had (or has) one problem or another. Perhaps it would be of value for us to hear from those who have their new 3GS phone up and running problem free. Of course I understand that this forum attracts those with problems, but I also believe that many others without new phone problems are hear to read what is happening with this new product introduction.
Please leave a comment here if your purchase experience, activation, synching and use of your new 3GS has been free of major problems.
Sorry for all the woes for people experiencing problems with their new iphone. Luckily and thankfully I'm not one of them. Good things for those who wait in my case. Having been an huge Apple fan, I've been quite envious of iphone owners. Not anymore!
I've been held back for a couple reasons,etc. for not having owned the iphone sooner: 1. I was a Verizon customer and 2. I was hedging my bet that the new iphone would implement some gross deficiencies expected on modern smart phones, like video capability,etc.
Apple has outdone themselves. Yeah, go Apple!!!
Having expeienced and seen the chaos in the last frenzy for the second gen. iphone, I was somewhat bracing for the long hours,etc. but at the end of the day, I was pleasantly surprized.
I prepared to do battle to get my iphone the first day it was sold to the public from my local Apple store here in Centreville, VA. I head the store was going to be opened at 7AM so, I got to the mall at 6:30 and there was already a good line. The stoe decided to split the line in two: those who had reservations and those that didn't. I had a reservation for a 16 Gig iphone 3Gs, but when I got to the line, I had abruptly decided to go for the 32Gig model as I felt I didn't want to regret and decided to err on having paid $100 more than I needed to and besides, since I had to hold onto it for 2 years, I wanted to make the best of it.
The Apple staff at the Apple Store here at the Fair Oaks Mall were great. They were serving coffee and fruit bars to those of us waiting in line. Can you doubt, Apple is the greatest company in the universe! They make the best product and their folks are awesome.
After waiting patiently for about an hour, I was able to go through the process of getting my new 32 Gig iphone 3Gs. It as quick and painless. It is the most beautiful piece of engineering I've ever seen. Luckily, I've not had a single problem that was Apple's issue. I have no real way of commeting on the difference between the new and prev. models as this was my first ever iPhone.
To date, I've downloaded many apps. and everything has met my expectations. Apple should make a commercial with the iphone and have in the background of Sinead Oconnor's "Nothing Compares To You" because all of these talks of that's supposed to rival the iphone just don't hold. The proof is in the pudding.
Steve Jobs. Please stay healthy! Live long and propser Apple!
Pick up for my Iphone was simple because I went there on Monday at noon. No line and was easy to setup in about 10 minutes. Phone is awesome but I have to return it to the store tomorrow as there is a huge chunk of dust under the screen that is too distracting on the screen for me to consider keeping.
Does anyone know if I should have trouble exchanging it tomorrow? I know it's in the 14 day return policy, so if I have to I will return it and buy it again, but I don't want to pay a 20 dollar stock fee.
The phone got to my house before 9:30 AM
I had to reboot it before the phone can be
finally activated. Besides, the activation issue
everything is cool with my iPhone. Loving it.
The phone arrived on Monday. Activation was painless, unfortunately trying to use AT&T's cell network in my area is very painful. I'm quite bummed after looking forward to an iPhone for so long, but it just has to go back, and I guess it is back to Verizon and no smart phone for me 😟
Man, I hope I am not jinxing myself, but I have been pretty lucky and happy with my iPhones. I had two original iPhones (one for me and the hubby), a 3g and now a 3gs and I can't say I have had to deal with any major problems, really-not even many smaller problems especially ones that a reset wouldn't fix. I have never even had to take any of my phones in to the genius bar. So, I read these forums for info and issues to look out for. But I've been quite pleased with my experience with these phones.
Other than having to wait in line for 2.5 hours to purchase my new iPhone 3gs everything seems to be working correctly. I get short battery life but compared to the phone I had it is expected, plus I like playing with my new gadget. The only issue I have come across is the Sideways keyboard not wanting to activate right away and the fact that the Apps Store and iTunes on the iPhone don't use the sideways keyboard. I figure it will be addressed in a future update but I thought I would mention it hoping someone will read this and step it up on the list. I know other non-Apple apps have to update themselves but I hope the Apps store can get a fix soon.
Update: I was moaning and groaning the other day about not being able to find an iPhone and was very frustrated. For the heck of it I called my local Apple store the next day and was surprised to find they had 32gb models in stock. I was in the car and had the motor started before I even hung up the phone.
Got to the store and found they had a 16gb model in white along with the 32gb models in black or white. To be honest I will never use the 32gb of space so I opted for the 16gb model. Was up and running in no time. I signed up for the 60 day trial of Mobile Me and was on my way.
I have had every version of iPhone since they came out. Each version is a little better, easy to use. The funny thing is a while back I had this crazy idea that since I use my phone for work related email and calender functions that I needed a Blackberry. Last year I gave my 2nd Gen iPhone to my wife and bought a Blackberry Curve. The blackberry is great for handling volumes of email but that is all.
I was riding in the car the other day with some friends and wanted to look up a business and get an address. Trying to do this with the Blackberry browser is frustrating at best. Pages in their browser load slowly and do not display correctly. I "borrowed" my wife's iPhone, found what I was looking for in minutes and all was right in the world. I forgot how nice the browser is, and how easy it is to use.
Compared to the 2nd Gen iPhone, the 3rd Gen 3Gs is faster but not by a great deal. It looks the same except for some graphic changes on the back. The display is a bit warmer looking as reported. Pages seem to load faster, which makes using the phone seamless. not having to wait as long for pages to load is a more satisfying experience. I other words the phone works as it should.
As far as space, I had the 4gb model on my previous version. i never came close to filling it up with music, movies, or photos. Watching movies was a novelty for me while traveling. When the phones first came out people were amazed at the iphone's ability to play a movie, and the quality of the picture. Nowadays, since I have my macbook with me most of the time I use it for watching movies. I use the iphone mostly for listening to music. The 16gb model is plenty big for storing my music library.
Thank you for ruining a father's first Father's day present. Wife ordered on 16th and the online site informed her it should be delivered by the 19th (if it could not be shipped she would have went to one of the many stores).
We still have not received it. I called on Monday the 22nd and was told that my wife did not confirm an email with AT&T's TOS. We checked all of our Apple emails and found on the bottom of the only order confirmation we got and saw at the bottom:
*You have agreed to the terms as stated in the AT&T Wireless Service Agreement, Terms of Service, and Rate Plan brochure, all of which are available at
http://www.att.com/iphoneterms*
So I called back today and ask why we were told this when there is no way when ordering we could not agree to them, we have checked our spam folder and saw no other emails.
The person I spoke with from Apple was rude, and did not even seem to care about any of our issues. I ask about canceling and picking up at a store, he immediately processed a return even though I just asked about it and not confirmed it. (I guess they are fast at losing customers?)
Purchase was easy, preordered 6/9, took delivery 6/19. Tried to activate at home, got the 'this may take a while' message. Took it to the ATT store the next day, in .5 hour they had it activated and my old 3G activated on my wife's number. Overall impressed with the phone, but there are a couple of issues, and they seem not to be unique.
1. The vibrate feature on this model is barely noticeable. I tend to keep my phone in silent mode most of the day, so it needs to dance a little on the desk or counter when vibrating. No problem with the previous model, but this one barely vibrates at all. This could be a real problem. I'm hoping I got a bad one, and they didn't just swap to a different, weaker part.
2. It refused to join my home WiFi network. It kept prompting me for the password, then telling me that it could not connect. I restarted the phone and the router, and it finally did connect, but the signal seems much weaker than the 3G showed (weak antenna?).
3. A very minor annoyance - when waking the phone with the home or power button, sometimes the backlight does not come on, so you can barely see the screen. This is happening roughly 10% of the time, so by itself is not a major issue, but combined with the other two problems I may be on my way back to the store.
All of these issues are showing in in threads here and on the ATT support forums, so they may have a few bugs to iron out. I'm back off to the store this weekend to see about a swap.
No problem of any sort - bought it at about 10:00 am at the APple store in South Coast Plaza in Orange County CA - they set it up, switched me over from Verizon and it has worked flawlessly since
My wife's download of the version three software for her 3G went flawlessly too
SeamusCA Says: when waking the phone with the home or power button, sometimes the backlight does not come on, so you can barely see the screen. This is happening roughly 10% of the time
I'm on my second 3G S. On day one with the 2nd phone this happened twice. Performed a hard reset (hold home & sleep / wake till logo appears) and it hasn't happened since.
This is my third iPhone. I've had each gen phone and loved them all. Each new model brings new features.
The 3Gs is incredibly fast compared to my 3G. Everything is so snappy. I have a tendency to jump around from app to app and various email accounts and this new phone doesn't skip a beat. I would also say that my usage is up dramatically since getting this phone and I see no difference is battery usage.
This was really the worst activation process ever. I began to get so frustrated, I didn't care anymore.
I was on vacation when my 3GS arrived. Needless to say, I was anxious to get home and set up my new phone. Although I had a few activation attempts before the final, horrendous experience, I will only focus on the last. I plugged in my 3GS at 7:30pm Tuesday evening. I had read accounts of the activation process taking 48hrs or more, so I was prepared for a wait. When iTunes STILL showed the "Please wait while we process your request" screen at 8:30pm on Wednesday night, I was done waiting.
First, I called Apple. I was told to restart my PC, restart my 3GS, and reconnect to iTunes. When that didn't solve anything, I was transferred to an AT&T rep.
The AT&T rep asked for the serial number, SIM number, IMEI, etc. The numbers on file were incorrect, even though my account showed an upgrade in progress (upgrading from original iPhone). After I gave her the correct numbers, she informed me that my account was awaiting my acceptance of TOS for my new hardware. Apparently, this wasn't taken care of by entering my billing information into iTunes, NOR by pre-ordering through Apple and giving AT&T account information. However, I was NEVER informed that I needed to make a phone call to accept these TOS until I took the initiative to call. How long would I have been placed on "virtual" hold before learning that I needed to do this?
Anyway, I took care of that problem. The AT&T rep had to have her manager switch the IMEI number because she couldn't. Afterwards, she said she would get off the phone with me, and call me back in 2mins. My new 3GS should work as of then. 10mins pass and I never receive a phone call. I try calling AT&T back from my old iPhone, only to find that I now have NO SERVICE on either phone.
I then called AT&T back from my land line, was transferred around a bit, and then told that I needed to take my phone into an AT&T corporate store and get a new sim, because my new sim was essentially bricked during the manual activation process, and because my old sim was de-activated, it could not be re-activated.
I went into the AT&T store this afternoon (20hrs without phone service), and after 30mins in the store, was told by the woman helping me that she had done all she could, and if my phone wasn't activated within 30mins, I should take it into an Apple store, because it was a hardware problem and not an AT&T problem. She couldn't tell me how it was a hardware problem and not a problem activating the sim, even though the phone recognized that a sim was present.
I left still frustrated and completely irritated that the blame for these problems was continually pushed around.
I came home and connected my phone to iTunes, which completed my activation, and all is now well.
I don't know that I would agree to this hassle again, but I'm glad to finally have my 3GS up and running.
