Today is the yesterday that we will regret tomorrow.
Stuff that bugs us.
This has happened a few times but I could never pinpoint exactly what I upgraded to cause activation to get triggered because usually I upgrade the video card AND RAM or some combination of things. Anyway, went from 1GB of RAM to 2 GB of RAM and that triggered activation. Luckily it worked out and I didn’t have to call in but still, it’s annoying.
Sheldon
So it’s about time to upgrade to 2.0.2. I ripped a DVD and put it on the iPhone (thanks to handbrake!) and it was suprizingly easy. But it took a while to encode so I had plenty of time to do an upgrade.
First step was to download the update . . . over 200 MB!!! That’s going to take a while . . . .
Okay, now it has to backup the iPhone. I get a progress bar from hell that just keeps scrolling by. After that’s done, another useless progress bar saying it’s extracting the files or something. Next another annoying progress bar to say that it’s “Prepping the iPhone for an upgrade”. On and on and on. Probably more than 5 different progress bars.
After all that it couldn’t install the software (my USB ports are flaky) so it was in “Restore mode” and I had to do the entire process all over again (well, at least I didn’t have to download the update). Lucky that it backed up the iPhone because everything was wiped out after the restore. But I did get back all the apps I downloaded as well as the addressbook. But I did loose all the music and video so I had to sync all that back up.
Two hours later . . . finally done.
Sheldon
The big news about the new iPhone is “Twice as fast, half the price” but now we know the truth. Sure, it only costs $199 but now the data plan and text messaging is the same as the ones you get with a Blackberry (see my earlier post) so essentially the new iPhone costs more than the old one over the two year contract. Or, to look at it another way, the new iPhone has the same data plan as the Blackberry so now it’s easier to compare the total cost of an iPhone over the total cost of a Blackberry since there isn’t a special iPhone package from AT&T anymore. I guess Apple is the one pulling something this time, not AT&T.
Sheldon
UPDATE: Well, with the new iPhone comming out the link to the pricing plan below is invalid. Thank goodness for the way back machine!! At archive.org I found the text about the $20 “iPhone Data Plan” that includes 200 text messages, unlimited data and visual voice mail.
The new iPhone means a new post. Stay tuned.
Okay, so, here is the deal. I get the Blackberry Pearl. Lost my Razr and for $50 (after getting a rebate card) I figure I need a change and the Blackberry charges with mini USB so I don’t need to invest in chargers. As you can tell it was a tough decision. It was!
The Blackberry is okay and it’s cool to have Google maps and GMail . . . comes in handy a lot more than you think. It does lock up and give me the spinning hourglass too much and without Google it would be worthless but it’s a few steps up from the Razr. Not sure if it’s worth the “data plan” fee but still, it is useful. I figure I’ll keep the data plan a few months to see if I use it enough and beside, I can’t let the mobile web pass me by.
Then I get the *second* bill. $40 more than I expect. Last time the “Blackberry unlimited” was charged at $25. This time it was $30. I guess it was prorated the first month and $30 is the normal fee. Okay, that’s kinda steep but that only accounts for $5 increase. Oh, and my wife made a few calls in Canada . . . there goes another $25. Still missing $10.
Going over the bill for the third time and IT’S THE TEXT MESSAGES!!!! No text messages are included with the $30 Blackberry plan . . . NONE . . . For that you gotta pay $5 more.
According to Apple you just pay another $20 per month as an existing customer to get 200 text messages and data. WHAT THE!?
So, to get what I would get with an iPhone (data and text messaging at least) on the Blackberry I need to pay $15 extra per month or $180 more per year! What am I missing?
Sheldon