Oh yes, I was one of the “early” adopters for this phone… and I am incredibly happy. From beginning to end, it was as seamless a process and any could hope for.
This latest model went up for pre-order at 2am Central on Friday 9/14, similar to the roll-out for the 4S from back in October 2011 (which I was up for back then, too). Before heading to bed I had my laptop browser set on the Apple store home page, ready for a quick F5 when the time came. For some time now, the Apple Store app has been available, and I had read a blurb recently from a writer that had used it last year to order his iPhone, so I decided to see if it was a viable option for getting the 5. I fired it up before heading to bed and used it to verify that I was eligible to get the new phone without having to pay an early upgrade fee… so everything was looking good and I set the alarm for 1:57am.
Next thing I knew it was a few minutes to 2am, and I grabbed my phone and headed to the laptop. Top of the hour rolled around and Apple’s page was not refreshing, just spinning. Decided to see what AT&T was offering, but their page just showed the countdown page (I think), and also wasn’t doing much. So I hopped on to the app on the phone and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was letting me jump through page after page of options, with hardly any lag. Was able to pick the 32GB Black slate iPhone 5 and submitted the order… and it was only 2:10! I almost couldn’t believe my luck. It felt like I had used a Most Glorious Fast Pass to jump to the head of the line! So within a few more minutes, I was tucking myself into bed again, very much content and feeling a little smug, too.
From that Friday (from later daylight hours, anyway) through the 21st, lots of stories were coming out from everyone’s experiences with the pre-order. The biggest news was that within an hour after pre-order started, Apple was showing ship time slipping from one to two weeks, or more. Last year I didn’t get in until like 4am so I was glad I got in and out so fast. And again, like last year, I am SO glad I didn’t try the process through AT&T’s site, since it sounded like they were being inconsistent with the ship time, even for those who ordered early. My phone didn’t show as shipped until Wednesday 9/19, but was set for mid-morning delivery on Friday 9/21. It arrived right on time (thank you, wonderful UPS drivers!), and I had to wait until getting home from work to see my beauty. Was so hard not to take off early for “personal development”!
And a thing of beauty it is. Don’t think I am still not fond of the 4S, it’s very classy with its good proportions and glass back. I’ve appreciated it’s awesome screen, speed, and reliability for the past year. But the iPhone 5 just ratchets up the exquisiteness by another factor. Sure, just looking at it only shows that it’s taller than the 4S, but it’s also thinner (front/back) and lighter and just feels even better in the hand. I thought I was “protective” in using the 4S, but this thing makes me even MORE paranoid! It is a lovely design, and combined with the new features of iOS 6, it is now the top contender in all things cell phone. There is NO way any android will match its elegant grace for some time to come, if ever.
Just an aside here: Early Friday evening, after firing up the phone for the first time, it activated right away (unlike last year when it was several hours before it could connect up and get activated) and I set it up as a new phone so that I could use it right away. I also have to give kudos to the local AT&T store… Because last year I was upgrading on my personal line (from the 3gs to the 4S), I had to use my wife’s line this year to get the new iPhone. She had the 3gs and she was also going to get to “upgrade” to my 4S, which was one of my selling points when convincing her earlier on that I “needed” the new iPhone 5! 🙂 So we both went over to the store around 6:30ish and I was wondering how busy THEY were going to be with also getting the 5’s in stock that day. Turns out they were very UNbusy, having rolled out 80 iPhones at opening and another 40 some time in the afternoon. We got right up to the counter and a very helpful girl got us a new set of nano- and micro-SIMs for our phones, and only a few minutes later we were walking out with our “own” phones. I could not have asked for anything easier to do to get the phones configured.
The only thing I’m missing is a nice case to put the phone in… I hate using it naked! Sure it looks spectacular in its bare sleekness, but I am so afraid of any kind of drop… I’m even afraid to leave it laying around. Some people are reporting that the new aluminum black backside is prone to scratching easily, so I don’t even want to leave it on its back, let alone on the front glass. Aside from that issue, it’s not all peaches and cream right now, as there have been major issues with the new Maps app (I don’t really care… I have Navigon, and Google will be getting their maps app approved through Apple some time soon) and probably other issues will come up. But I am incredibly happy with this new phone. It’s not “revolutionary” as everyone wanted, but Apple indeed hit another one out of the park. Heck, even out of the parking lot.
I do pause to wonder, though, what next year will bring… 🙂