[Accidental Post]

True signal strength wreaks havoc with batteries

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[i7guy]

Yes, true but this is not about you or me it's about Aunty. That's why in the context of Aunty getting an iphone after running the batteries down by streaming netflix and using gps, while exceeding bandwidth limits on 3G; there are some caveats.

Aunty and her new iphone will have to come to a level of understanding regarding the usage. If aunty stays indoors connected to wifi and the charger all day, no issues.

But if Aunty ventures outside and starts stream netflix using 3G and gps there could be some nasty repurcussions.

So, caveat emptor applies here.

[Jaguarandine]

Got the iPhone yesterday evening. While setting it up for my aunt, I ran into 2 very frustrating issues. First, activation of the phone is a real pain. You can't put your old sim in, it requires a micro sim. So all the contacts on my aunt's old phone must be re-entered manually. The micro sim came pre-installed. This means the new sim must be activated. Fortunately this part can be done online without calling AT&T. You have to install iTunes though to complete the process. This is ridiculous, especially since I use Linux. At least with BlackBerry, I don't need Desktop manager to use the phone.

Anyway, step two is setting up an Apple ID. Sounds straight forward enough right? Yeah well, it was anything but. I would get the activation link in email to verify the ID, and then at the login screen, it would say that my email was being used by another ID. What other ID?? On the My ID page, everything worked great. But as soon as I tried to use iTunes or the App Store, they'd say I need to verify and send another link to my email. This loop continued for sometime. After 45 minutes of frustration with Apple customer service, I tried changing the primary email and the verification worked. I'm not sure what went wrong, but I wasn't a happy user after this experience.

I'll post my aunt's experience a little later.

[reeneebob]

When we sell an iphone it doesn't leave the store without activation. It sucks if they don't do that for you down there...

Its possible your aunt set up an iTunes account years ago and forgot about it. That happened to my parents and no amount of arguing could help me convince them that they had an account before and their email was registered.

[i7guy]

When we sell an iphone it doesn't leave the store without activation. It sucks if they don't do that for you down there...

Its possible your aunt set up an iTunes account years ago and forgot about it. That happened to my parents and no amount of arguing could help me convince them that they had an account before and their email was registered.

If you purchase the iphone online or through a website it's not activated. The op didn't say he picked it up from the store, he said he got it in the evening.

That could mean either situation.

[Jaguarandine]

My bad for the confusion. I did receive the phone in the mail from the AT&T website. However, my aunt has never had an iTunes account, I'm pretty sure about that. An interesting note is that I tried my local ATT store first, for the refurb. Apparently there's some CA state law preventing them from reselling phones? Weird.

My aunt loves her phone so far! Netflix, downloading music, and surprisingly, she really likes Angry Birds. She was texting me all this week telling me how much she liked it. She still can't do a lot of stuff yet, like video, maps, and downloading from the App Store. But so far it's been the right purchase for her.

[i7guy]

My bad for the confusion. I did receive the phone in the mail from the AT&T website. However, my aunt has never had an iTunes account, I'm pretty sure about that. An interesting note is that I tried my local ATT store first, for the refurb. Apparently there's some CA state law preventing them from reselling phones? Weird.

My aunt loves her phone so far! Netflix, downloading music, and surprisingly, she really likes Angry Birds. She was texting me all this week telling me how much she liked it. She still can't do a lot of stuff yet, like video, maps, and downloading from the App Store. But so far it's been the right purchase for her.

What type of a data plan does your aunt have? Is there a wifi connection available to the iphone? Does she turn off wifi when leaving a wifi area?

[Jaguarandine]

She has the minimum 200 MB plan. So no Netflix or streaming unless she's on wifi, which she has at home. I don't think she knows how to turn off wifi yet (why would she need to know this?).

So, having a cheaper data plan will limit her Netflix usage away from home, unless she's using wifi. Doesn't seem to be a problem for her though, she still loves the phone.

[voltaire]

Ok, so I have a couple questions. My aunt's upgrade according to the AT&T website makes her eligible for a refurb 16GB white iPhone 4 for $100 w/ a 2 year contract.

1. Are there any disadvantages to getting a refurb?
2. Any differences with buying in a store or online?
3. Should I wait for the iPhone 5 to come out so the price of the iPhone 4 is lower?

Thanks.

What could be a difference between buying in a store and online (I bought online) was when I had a problem with my phone instead of just doing an exchange at a store I had to send it out instead.