<p>I have been eligible for an upgrade for 3.5 years, but decided to wait for the 6 to come out. Woke up at 3:00 EST know I might not get through, but figured I would tried both Apple and AT&T’s sites. I was a bit worried about being tired today as we have a family wedding this weekend, but my current iPhone is on it last leg so I was afraid if I waited, the phone would not be available.</p>
<p>Could not get through on Apple’s site, but was surprised to get on AT&T by 3:15 and was done at 3:19. I have heard stories of others not getting on until late and people getting frustrated; for once it my life I was lucky!</p>
<p>Did it this morning when I got up. Not at a ridiculously early hour. Just a moderately early hour before my first cup of coffee, though. I’ve been due for an upgrade for a very long time. Chose to wait for the 6, and 64 gb memory.</p>
<p>I got the 6, not the 6 plus. I want to be able to stick it in my pocket. I thought about the bigger one but DH, who has the 5s so I could see the size of his phone, talked me out of the big one. </p>
<p>My old 4s only had 16 gb of memory and its full. Even using the cloud, its still a PITA. Needed more memory. Waited patiently for a new phone.</p>
<p>I did go through the motions. At midnight PST, ATT was open but crashed. Apple store remained closed, but around 1220 the Apple store opened when using the native app. It crashed once and I had two upgrades in the basket. Deleted one and I was done by 1225. The ATT was still pondering and spinning. The Apple via web was still closed. I wonder who the moron is behind that idea to open the store at 3AM in New York? To please the Eurocrats and avoiding fines in Brussels? Pathetic but typical Apple. </p>
<p>I think all orders will be processed next week and that no differences will show for people who are still ordering. My order says</p>
<p>Processing Items Delivers: 9/19 by Standard Shipping</p>
<p>The best part is that this was the best birthday gift from my father who was clinging to his 3GS as he hated the square and boxy designs. His new toy is the 16 GIG Plus version. He only used 3 GIG in all those years. </p>
<p>I will probably upgrade mine by Christmas and I expect the prices to drop 100 bucks by giving the extra memory. I think Apple messed up by not offering the basic one at 32GIG. But then I think they mess up all the time! That does not stop us from buying despite the competition offering better values. </p>
<p>I think iPhone 7 will be what the 6 should have been. Sapphire glass, removable battery, and USB expansion slot. After that, there ain’t much to add and getting a few hundred million iPhone 6 in the market in the meantime cannot hurt their balance sheet. </p>
<p>I just don’t get the appeal of Apple. I have used Apple products of nearly every type and been consistently annoyed and frustrated with one or all of the price, functionality, maintainability, and the manner in which they interact with non-Apple products. Conversely, my assortment of non-Apple products seem to be a lot cheaper, easier to use and maintain (removable battery, data cards, etc), and all work together just fine. </p>
<p>^^^
In our case, the attraction has been the introduction of iMessage and FaceTime that helps a peripatetic family. That and the fact that corporate America in my neck of the woods has been drinking the Cupertino firewater for a long time. Living in the Apple world is just easier than fighting it, and this despite its major deficiencies and moronic idiosyncrasies. In a way, it is just easier to buy the darn things than explaining why you like Cortana or a plasticky Samsung better. </p>
<p>I don’t see iMessage as offering any real advantage over regular text messaging, especially since the nominal benefits require everyone use this system. Likewise, I have Skype, and little enough reason to make video calls as it is.</p>
<p>My company seriously investigated using iPhones to replace BlackBerries but discovered that (a) the intrinsic security protocols were vastly inferior and that (b) improving them to acceptable levels would require substantial work on the part of Apple that they were simply not willing to do. Killed the program instantly.</p>
<p>“I just don’t get the appeal of Apple. I have used Apple products of nearly every type and been consistently annoyed and frustrated with one or all of the price, functionality, maintainability, and the manner in which they interact with non-Apple products. Conversely, my assortment of non-Apple products seem to be a lot cheaper, easier to use and maintain (removable battery, data cards, etc), and all work together just fine.”</p>
<p>^^^Same here. Android all the way for me!
Also, I just plain don’t like the “cool”, “must-have”, “everyone-has-one” status of the iPhone, which is I am told by some iPhone users, a major reason to get one. I’ve also tried Macs and don’t like the OS. </p>
<p>Regarding IMessages, it is an issue of … leaving a group that has established roots. Other applications might come and go, but IM will be there and it has a huge base. I have used a number of services over the years ranging from Skype, GV, Toktumi, Textfree, Talkatone, and all have some issues, including being discontinued. </p>
<p>For some people, being an Apple captive is just easier. My 80+ grandmothers! for instance. ;)</p>
<p>Can someone advise me? I definitely want the iphone 6 (not the plus). We are on SPRINT (non-upgrade plan). What are the pros and cons of ordering the phone through Apple vs through SPRINT? I’d like to do one or the other today!</p>
<p>My boss swears they ordered their phones before 10pm Central from AT&T last night. Did not think that was possible, but we’ll see if his phones arrive on the 19th! </p>
<p>The ATT site was up around that time, but it kept on crashing at the end of the selection. Your boss might have been lucky to navigate the errors. Fwiw, it takes the patience of a monk to navigate the ATT Woreless site since they added all the graphics. </p>
<p>“I don’t see iMessage as offering any real advantage……”</p>
<p>To me, the biggest advantage is free texting to an iPhone user overseas… No more hassle of changing sims cards…</p>
<p>I never used anything else other than apple products. My first PC was the boxy gray macintosh in the 80s. It’s intuitive. Easy to use and reliable. Our Air Port is still going strong after more than 5 years. Before that, I had non-apple routers, Netgear, linksys. They both got busted in a year. Who’d want to deal with a router every year?</p>
<p>That was the point I made about a peripatetic extended family. The issue of the SIM card is not totally related, as having access to data overseas is still a huge ripoff in the case of the US carriers. The need to unlock phones, including the iPhones, remains important. Rules are changing in Europe, and one could expect the thievery of ATT et al to be stopped in its tracks before long. It will, however, take the EU as the US does not care too darn much as long as they collect massive amounts of taxes from the users. </p>
<p>As a reference, a plan that covers ROAMING in Mexico is still charging an arm and a leg for the people who do not block data access. Getting an image attached to a text or email might set you back 10 dollars! Answering 10 texts on cellular data … more than 5 dollars. </p>
<p>Getting that SIM overseas is still a better deal. And it should not be that complicated.</p>
To me, that is a minimal advantage. First because I rarely have such a need, and second because wifi still gives me email access through my phone.</p>
<p>
How did they get busted? I have a Netgear router now that I have been using for a few years, had a Linksys router before that. I replaced the latter not because of any failure but just because it was outdated, and still keep it as a backup.</p>
before my first cup of coffee, though. I’ve been due for an upgrade for a very long time. Chose to wait for the 6, and 64 gb memory.</p>