I'm not quite sure how I got here, but Apple has me trained like Pavlov's dog - I start salivating at the thought of new features and a faster interface on my phone. After all, it's more than a phone - it's a communication device that enables me to talk, text, video conference, facebook, hangout and otherwise interract with the rest of world, all from the palm of my hand!
So, dutifully, at the appointed hour, I made my first attempt at pre-order.
iPhone 6s Order Process Hiccups
If you have participated in the pre-order process with Apple, you will appreciate the fact that the website does not update until it's ready to update. Once they've "turned the switch", it's a feeding frenzy of consumers competing to throw money at the Apple Gods. Alas, the webservers are not always cooperative, hence, despite having three devices cued and ready, it was my lowly iPhone5s that was able to place the order.
One of the idiosyncrasies of being an Apple customer with an existing iPhone is that it's not conducive to switching services. I wanted to compare my current ATT plan with the new Apple program, and it wasn't happening. My choice was to upgrade my current phone with one of the ATT plans. There was no easily found option to do anything other, and with the clock ticking, I knew I had to make a hasty order or possibly miss the window of early deliveries. After fumbling around a few times, I selected my phone color, number of gigs and entered my payment info. Poof. The deed was done. Second guessing after the fact is not a valuable exercise.
Fortunately, the program I selected for procuring the phone seems to be a fair deal (30 months at 0% financing), so my next step is to go back to sleep, then wait for the delivery day.
iPhone6s Delivery Dilemmas
As delivery day gets closer, I find myself checking my email to see what the status is for delivery of the iPhone. As it turns out, I planned on driving out of town for the weekend to go to a dog show... so my hope is to get the iPhone delivered early. Well, several calls to Apple results in no information - no one can tell you WHO will be delivering the iPhone or WHEN it will be delivered other than it will show up sometime between 8 am and 8 pm on the 25th. Always optimistic, I figure it will come early. It HAS to come early.
On the day before the phone is to be delivered, I finally see tracking info - my phone is in NY and it will be delivered by UPS. I call UPS and I am transferred to the "Apple" person with UPS. Again, no idea when the phone can be delivered other than by 8 pm on the 25th.
If I thought this was going to be the case, I would have had the phone delivered to the store where I can pick it up. Now, this is becoming aggravating. I decide that 10 is the latest I will stay and then I will hit the road... That's a two hour window when the iPhone can be delivered.
At 10, no iPhone. I see it's been on the truck since 4:49 AM, so it has to be delivered soon. I call UPS and am transferred to the local depot. The local depot is kind enough to tell me it should be at my residence by noon.... and I should call back if it's not there by that time.
I realize I cannot leave my house because I am being held hostage by Apple! If I leave, and they attempt delivery, the phone gets taken back to UPS. So, my choices are to wait or just give up and go.
I call UPS again. I plead my case. FINALLY, they give me the number for the truck driver! I call the driver and he tells me where he will be. I run out the door, jump in the car, and there is an accident between me and the destination. By the time I get to where the driver was, he is gone. My old phone is home charging, so I dash back home realizing that if I missed him while I was driving around, my goose is cooked!
Long story, I finally triangulate and catch up to the truck at 1 pm. I am out the door to drive to NY at 1:09, my iPhone6s still in the shipping box.
Firing Up iPhone6s Is Not Simple
The moment of truth arrives and I want to open up the iPhone6s and put it to a test run. I open the box, and the gleaming rose gold prize is inside. I press the button to power on the phone and my first huge disappointment is that I need WiFi to initiate the phone! What? Isn't this a PHONE? I need WiFi? I put the phone back in the box.
My Verizon MiFi has 12 gigs of data available on my plan. I figure, I will use the MiFi to get my iPhone6s up and running. IT TOOK OVER 12 GIGS TO GET THE IPHONE6s WORKING!!! I simply cannot believe how much time it took - almost 3 hours! You would think I could have anticipated this, but, my bad, I started the process and once the new phone is unlocked the old phone dies... So it was commit to the new phone and don't look back.
So, what do you think of the 6s?
So far, the 6s is super fast and very responsive. Sometimes it is TOO responsive, but I will write about that later. I like the improvement in battery life over the 5s. I was beginning to think my 5s was nice for a corded phone! The 6s seems to hold the charge much longer and I can make it through a day without having to plug in, unlike my 5s that had to be plugged in hourly!
The touch access is better, more responsive. I put the 6s next to my friend's 6, and the 6s is ever so slightly thicker, but not that much.
I'm glad I got the new iPhone6s, and I kind of had to, with the way my 5s was starting to balk... but I will think twice before pre-ordering for delivery... Even with free delivery, being held hostage is not fun.
