iOS 5 is finally here. I know everyone and their mother was salivating in anticipation over the possible iPhone 5, but not I. I’m still under contract with AT&T for another year, and I just fixed my cracked phone. A new iPhone doesn’t do anything for me. What do I care about at the moment? A new operating system with over supposedly 200 improvements, like a better notifications process.

iOS 5 was supposed to be available for download on Wednesday, October 12th, and I assumed that meant midnight. Nope I was up late Tuesday, October 11th, checking iTunes. A few mins before midnight, there was a notification of a new iTunes 10.5 available. Sweet! Step 1, I figured Once installed, I checked constantly for an iOS update, but there was nothing. Hmmmm.

I checked various tech websites, but there was no info. On Twitter, I found statements alluding to Apple generally following a rolling deployment schedule globally. For the US, and the East coast, iOS 5 wouldn’t be available until sometime after 1pm. Rats!

Last night after I got home, I started the install process by first attempting to download the 774 Mb update. I couldn’t believe it — 774 Mb? That’s huge, and it failed he first time. Once I got it successfully downloaded, the installation took hours. It wasn’t the actual installation of the new OS that took a long time, but restoring the phone from backup, and specifically restoring the purchased songs, videos, and apps. It seems that I had some 79 applications installed, which took a disproportionate amount of time.

Now that I have iOS 5 installed, what do I think? I haven’t used all the new features yet. I like the new Notifications system, as that’s much less obtrusive. I also haven’t used the new rich HTML email features, but I’m looking forward to bolding some text.

Good bye, broken iPhone 4 backplate. You can see it below. The much-needed mini Philips #00 screwdriver came in the mail today, and immediately stared working on replacing the backplate. True to the video online, it was surprisingly easy, and I only ran into difficulty getting the new backplate seated properly. Eventually, it got it right, and my iPhone is brand new again and unblemished.

The cracked backplate to my iPhone 4

Grrrr.

As I previously mentioned, I accidentally dropped my iPhone 4 last Saturday afternoon, but all was not lost. I found out that replacing the front and back plates is not impossible, Nd relatively inexpensive. I ordered a replacement backplate and cover, and a mini Phillips #00 screwdrivd, and all three arrived this week.

Unfortunately, it’s the wrong screwdriver. Apple irritatingly doesn’t want people to muck around inside the products that we customers purchase and own. They use obscure screws to discourage people from opening them up. Why? I don’t have the foggiest. I ordered a mini Phillips #00 screwdriver (it’s teeny tiny), but they sent me a “Pentalobe” version instead used for many other Apple products.

After a fruitless search at Lowes, Radio Shack, a Rite Aid pharmacy, and a supermarket, I gave up and ordered another screwdriver from a different Amazon affiliate vendor for $2.50. Should be here in a few days. In the meantime, at least I have 2/3s of the solution in my hands.

Hey, who thought it would be a good idea to make an expensive phone out of slippery glass? A bunch of geniuses at Apple.

I had to make a quick run to the Indian grocery store this afternoon, as my wife was cooking up two dishes for this party tonight. I was wearing gym shorts, and had my iPhone 4 in my pocket. As I opened my car door in the strip mall parking lot, I felt/heard my phone slip out, and watched it crash to the ground. It landed face up, so I was initially relieved. Sadly, the back was more than just scratched — it had cracked and shattered. Luckily, I had the phone case in the car to cover up the broken (and sharp!) glass. You know, the case I bought in case I ever dropped the phone, but had stopped using because I’m an idiot.

I got home after grocery shopping, and looked up how to get it fixed. Turns out, it’s relatively cheap and easy to replace the either the front or back. Replacing the front is more time-consuming, but not impossible. Replacing the back requires removing two screws with a special mini Philips screwdriver. I ordered a replacement back (and screwdriver) for $6.70 from an Amazon affiliated retailer. I also ordered another phone case.

Seriously, a glass phone?

It has been about 2.5 weeks since I upgraded to the iPhone 4. What’s the verdict so far?

1. I haven’t had any complaints about the call quality or reception.
2. I had issues with the iFrogz case and the screen protector. The screen protector keeps allowing bubbles underneath and corners slowly unpeel if i jostle the case. Annoyed by this, I’m temporarily living dangerously without one. I’m being very careful though. I have one more screen protector, but I’m wondering what to do.
3. I like handset’s striking design. It’s nice and thin.
4. I haven’t installed a million apps, but the the few apps I’ve installed, such as Moviefone and iRentmovie (for managing the Netflix queue) are nice. Finally, apps that I can use.
5. The performance in the iPhone is snappy and much faster than my 1st gen iPod Touch.
6. The battery life does decrease during the day (duh), but it will last me the entire day of moderate usage until after I get home. I’ve implemented power-saving measures — turning on and off wi-fi and Bluetooth, reducing push notifications and GPS usage.
7. The screen is awfully nice.
8. I may need a true navigation app for the iPhone. Google Maps on the iPhone is nice and all, but it doesn’t give you audible notifications for each turn, nor does it provide an update ETA during your trip. I used it over Thanksgiving weekend, and a real GPS app would have been useful.
9. The iPhone is truly a data hog. As a BlackBerry user, I used to be on the 200 Mb plan for $15 on AT&T. As I’d heard the iPhone is a data hog, I decided to temporarily upgrade my data plan to the 2 Gb data plan for $4 more. Wow, good decision. In two weeks, I’ve used nearly 1 Gb of of my data quota. I’m not watching movies or surfing the internet at work, so I have no idea how the iPhone is devouring this much data on its own. Whenever I’m at home, I turn on the wi-fi if I have to check Facebook or check the internet. I think I’ll be keeping the 2 Gb data plan.

Ah yes, go ahead and say it. Don’t let me stop you. Get it out of your system. Joel drank the Kook-Aid and bought Apple.

No, I didn’t. Well, yes, I did stick with Ma Bell (AT&T), and upgraded to the Apple iPhone 4. After three years, I’m finally trying an Apple iPhone. All the naysayers and complainers have so much to say, I suppose. What happened to your love for Rim and BlackBerry? Why didn’t you move to Verizon? Why not an Android phone? Why not a new Windows 7 phone? Do you love Steve Jobs that much? Let me answer all the questions.

1. What happened to your love for Rim and BlackBerry? I’ve had two BlackBerries now since 2007 — the Curve and the Bold. Both were great for their times. The Curve introduced me to smartphones, and the Bold was great. The trackball is wearing out and malfunctioning on my Bold, and I was getting tired of the form-factor. I’ve seen my wife’s HTC Incredible running Android, and I’ve been both impressed and jealous. The touchscreen, the apps, the size of the screen. Oh, jealousy is a terrible thing. I respect the BlackBerry, but I wanted something new and different. Sadly, I found the Torch to be underwhelming. 
2. Why didn’t you move to Verizon?  Um, I’ve been with Verizon, and I respect Verizon. I don’t have any real complaints about AT&T, and I like the benefits of being on GSM — voice and data simultaneously. People argued that LTE is coming to Verizon in Dec, but that’s just a trial in some major NFL cities. Also, consumers will need handsets to handle both LTE and CDMA for a while until new handsets come out. It’s going to be a long while.
3. Why not an Android phone? I like Android, but I didn’t like the Android phones at AT&T. Maybe next time.
4. Why not a new Windows 7 phone? I did check out the Windows 7 phones at the AT&T store Saturday night. They are interesting, but I don’t want to be a guinea pig for a 1st-gen Windows phone. Sorry. Microsoft has a tendency to burn their customers, their app marketplace is tiny, and they haven’t figured out copy & paste yet. Also, my music is on iTunes, and I’d like to have it all.
5. Do you love Steve Jobs that much? No, I don’t care. I never drank the Kool-Aid. I just want to try being an iPhone user, and experience the advantages and disadvantages.

The upgrade was easy enough, and it’s been a few days now.  So far, I have no complaints. I’m trying to be careful with it, because of the ongoing Glassgate. I’m personally not one for bumpers and cases. I like holsters and I appreciate the need for a scratch-resistant screen protector, but these cases are ridiculous. I’ve seen folks carrying their iPhones in these bulky cases. Why? I initially resisted getting a bumper for the iPhone, but two reasons made me get it:

1. I’ve seen the display models at various AT&T stores. Apple says the glass is 30% more scratch-resistant and tough, but all those phones on tethers that don’t leave the display are all scratched up. Hmmm, that’s not good. What would happen if you used it outside the store?
2. I know me. I can make electronics disintegrate into dust in my hands. I need protection for my phone. My phone needs protection from me.

My new iPhone 4

I relented an bought a screen protector for $10, and a $30 Frog case. The case is nice and svelte, and even gives me a nice grip.

So after a few days, what do I think of the iPhone 4? It’s a nice phone. The BlackBerry phones are more email and communications-oriented. Excellent integration with email, addressbook, maps. The iPhone is more media-centric, with an emphasis on web-browsing, listening to music, watching video. Web pages look much better, as does email. Video and photos look nice. I don’t have any problems with reception, it’s fast and responsive, and I like the overall comfort. Typing on the virtual keyboard is painfully slow, but I’ll have to adjust and adapt.

Yup, the iPhone. It’s finely happened.

I’ve been a fairly happy with my BlackBerry Bold 9000 from 2007. It’s a nice large screen, comfortable keyboard, and overall good size for browsing AND slipping into one’s pants’ pocket. I have a healthy respect for the BlackBerry phones. They are good products. And I do a lot of emailing and texting, so having a good keyboard is critical.

So why do I want to upgrade to an iPhone no less? Four reasons:

1. My Bold is becoming unreliable.
2. The good apps in RIM’s App World are few and far between.
3. I want something new.
4. Jealousy.

Sound reasoning? Sure it is.

1. My Bold becoming unreliable is the norm, as the normal wear-and-tear cycle is accelerated in a sphere around me. It hasn’t changed either. My phone constantly has an hourglass. The reception is hokey. The trackball becomes unresponsive. The hourglassing is the worst. As a side note, there’s a new BB OS available for the 9000, but AT&T won’t certify it.
2. RIM’s selection of applications pale in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of apps in the iTunes store. App World was an attempt to compete, but you won’t find anything useful
3. I’ve had a BB for about 3 years now (Curve, Bold.) Isn’t it time for something new, especially with all the Android phones out in the marketplace?
4. Ah yes, jealousy. I’ll admit it. A base human emotion. My wife recently upgraded to the HTC Incredible, and it certainly has the wow factor. A beautiful device, a nice form factor, and just so useful. We used Google Maps on her phone during our Midwest roadtrip, and after using it, I was sold. I looked at my Bold in comparison, and it paled. Paled! I was immediately consumed with envy.

So here I am. One month to go until Nov 12th, which is when I can get my discount towards a new phone. AT&T allows you to upgrade at the 18th-month mark. While there are a number of interesting phones in AT&T’s stable, none of them wow me. I checked the Android phones, but they’re nothing special. The 2009/2010 BlackBerry Bold 9700 and Torch are interesting, but didn’t wow me either. As a matter of fact, I found the Torch underwhelming.

In the end, the iPhone 4 is different enough, interesting enough, and comparable enough to the Incredible or Evo, to be worth upgrading to. To be fair, The iPhone 4 has had its share of issues in the news, such as the antenna reception issues and this problem with the proximity sensor. Still, I’m going to jump in bed with Apple and ride it out for better or for worse.

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

Research in Motion (RIM) is trying to stay in the game, and announced their new BlackBerry 9800, dubbed the BlackBerry Torch. If you haven’t seen it, it’s the Storm 2 with a built-in keyboard, and will be available on the AT&T network beginning August 12th.

BlackBerry Torch 9800

Here’s the thing. I’m a tech head, and I loves me a good phone. No, not a good phone. An awesome phone. I moved to AT&T for the RIM BlackBerry Curve so I could get a smarter phone that would allow me to synch my contacts and calendar data to my MS Outlook on the home PC. I’d tried Motorola’s Phone Tools application years ago to synch their Motorola flip phones (the v710 and E815), but Motorola’s app left much to be desired. Using RIM’s Desktop Manager software, synching is a breeze. The two BlackBerrys that I’ve owned so far — the Curve and the Bold, are great phones. They’re really good. So why am I underwhelmed?

Three words: iPhone and Android. The iPhone 4 came out a few months ago, and despite Antenna-gate, it’s a beautiful phone. I still have my Apple iPod Touch from a few years ago, and the I still think the form-factor is fantastic. I like the few apps installed so far, but it’d be so much better to have access to those apps outside of my Wi-Fi home network.

More importantly, Google’s Android. After much prompting for me, my wife recently moved to her first smartphone, the HTC Droid Incredible. I checked out her phone during our recent road trip, and it’s an amazing phone. Absolutely amazing. It’s beautiful, it’s useful, it’s smooth, it’s polished. It’s so well done, it’s awe-inspiring. It’s truly lust-worthy. While there is technically nothing wrong with the current slate of BlackBerries on the market, they don’t quite compare to the Android models on the scene and the new iPhone 4.

My next opportunity to upgrade is November 2010, but I’m considering either upgrading to the iPhone 4 in November, or waiting until March 2011 to move back to Verizon.