Waiting patiently...
Friday, June 19, 2009 at 10:11AM Well it's iPhone 3GS launch day and as expected, there aren't throngs of people queuing down at the Apple or O2 stores here in the UK.
What a shocker - NOT!
With the pricing debacle, the large numbers of existing 3G users locked into a contract and the ability to pre-order for home delivery, long queues and the usual buzz about the launch was never going to happen, at least, not to the extent of the previous iPhone launches.
As an aside, I witnessed first hand the huge leap in usability the new 3.0 software has proven to be.
I'm one of those who decided to pre-order and first thing this morning, I had to nip out to the Doctors for a routine blood test. So, sitting in the waiting room with 10 minutes to kill, I did my usual thing of whipping out my iPhone 3G and checking Tweetie.
I casually tweeted that I wondered if my new phone would be delivered today. I've ordered it from the CarPhone Warehouse and other than an order confirmation, I'd received no word on delivery.
A minute or two later, I received a tweet back with a link to the CarPhone WareHouse tracking page - excellent (Thanks @HadleyHope)
Now to find the order number?
Switched over to my email client and realised that the order confirmation was in an Archive mailbox on the MobileMe service. No problem! Using 3.0 I can access that mailbox and enter a search term. 3.0 couldn't find it on the cached version of the phone and asked if I'd like to search the server. Result!
A few seconds later, the email was there in front of me.
The order number was only 8 or 9 digits but with my short term memory being what it is (!), a quick tap and I was able to copy the number using 3.0, switch back over to Safari and paste it in.
The order tracking details popped up, along with a link to the carrier.
Tapped on the link and was sent over to the carriers website with the tracking number auto filled and bingo! The iPhone was out for delivery today.
So that's just two elements of the new 3.0 release that helped me out here but they make the iPhone just so much more useable.
Looking forward to seeing the performance increases on the new iPhone 3G S when it arrives later today.
BTW I didn't faint during the blood test - I was a brave boy :-)
Reader Comments (3)
It's the little things that make the software update so good. I wanted to follow a link in Tweetie, but it wasn't formatted with "http://" so it wasn't active. No problem, I just copied it and pasted it into Safari!
I'm going to have to train myself to use the Spotlight search to launch apps, I keep flicking through all the home screen pages by habit!
Hi Don
My Son, Wife & I were positions 1-3 in our home town today. By 9.02am there were about 20 in the queue so still reasonable. Lot of people getting PAYGO phones to upgrade contracts I suspect. White 32GB sold out in 20 mins.
Now the proud owner of a 32GB 3GS, wow its quick.
John
Don -- Yeah, 3.0 finally gives me the functionality I miss when I switched from a Treo 650. Search is blazingly fast, especially compared to the ol' Treo. And I didn't realize I would miss cut/copy/paste so much when I switched to the iPhone.
I hate blood tests. Especially when the blood tech has piercings and purple hair, or is a huge football player type guy with tatoos and a not-so-gentle technique. However, my secret is to close my eyes and I ask the tech to tell me as soon as it's out.
I remember when I was 10 years old being held down by my father at the doctor's office while getting a tetanus shot!
Dave P.