Last week, about a day before releasing iTunes 7.7.1 and fixing my Outlook syncronization problem, the touchscreen on my 14 Month old 2.5G phone broke. Following the Apple protocol, I made an appointment with a “Genius” at the Apple “Genius Bar”. The "Genius" looked at it, restored it as a new phone, but couldn’t make it work -- not much of a Genius. Since I’m out of warranty Apple offered a refurbished 2.5G for $199. That's the same as the subsidized price for a 3G 8Gb. After confirming via AT&T that I was indeed eligible for a “hardware upgrade” I could buy any 3G phone at the subsidized price. Except that they were completely out of 3G phones.
My “Genius” went behind the curtain and returned with news that if I were to come back the following morning at about 7am I’d have my choice of 3G phones.
I thought about it all evening and finally set the alarm for 6:30.
I arrived at the mall at about 7 and ended up about 10th in line at the store (this was three weeks after launch). At about 7:30 the Apple staff arrived and started the pre-qualification process. This weeded out about half the people in line. I met all the pre-qual criteria and received my golden-ticket for a black 16Gb model.
Activation and signing new 2-year contract took about 10 minutes and I was out of the store by 8:15.
So, about the phone,
It’s exactly like the 2.5G phone except:
1. It’s a little bigger.
2. It has GPS
3. 3G is much faster then 2.5G
4. Its black
That’s about it.
So I took a Dremel to my 2.5G dock so it now fits the 3G. I also had to get a new larger screen protector.
Oh, and I got AppleCare so this won’t happen again.
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