Is It Okay to Ask Kevin some iPhone Questions?

[SamIAm21]

Kevin, I really want an iPhone, but I was wondering if you could just give me some of the reasons you really like it and I had a couple questions. First did you get the 8g or the 16g? Second, when you transferred from your previous cell phone to your new iPhone, did you have to re-enter all your contacts? That is a huge drag!

I'm really drooling over these and I want you to enable me!

 

[DisneyKevin]

I LOVE my iPhone. There are lovers and there are non-lovers. For me...it's awesome to have everything together in one device.

As you know...I work via the internet. Being able to check email, the boards and other stuff is really freeing.

I have the 8 gig. It was a Christmas present from John and I really dont see myself needing more space. I have an 80 gig iPod and thats where the vast majority of my music, video and photos are located. I only put a small sampling of music on the iPhone and I change it frequently...just a playlist or two.

A highschool friend was in town recenly and we had dinner. He had an iTouch and I had the iPhone. we just exchanged machines and looked at each others photos. It was funny when you think of the way we used to do it. I always had that weird sized envelope from the drugstore. I was never good about putting photos in an album.

The reasons I love the iPhone (besides what I've already said)...

- it's laid out in a logical way for me. Things are where I think they should be and it's easy to get around. I had a Treo and didnt care for it, but it wasnt a bad thing. It's just a personal chice.
- it really does things the way I think it should. It has merged my laptop and my iPod in a very seviceable and portable way. When I look at the DIS boards on my iPhone, they look like they do on the laptop.
- I love the fact that I can expand almost any page, making it MUCH easier to read. I also like the fact that you can look at most things in portrait or landscape. The flexibility is awesome.
- I use Outlook for my email. I keep my Contacts updated and when I sync my iPhone, my contact lists are identical. It's much easier for me to add contacts on the laptop and sync them with the iPhone. Not that it's har to add a contact to the iPhone, but I wouldnt want to put all my contacts in that way. I dont want to do that on any phone.
- I really, really like the seemingly simple design. I love the fact that there are not 300 buttons. The keyboard takes a day or two to get used to but after thats it's really easy.

Some things I'm not so crazy about....

- there is no cut and paste feature. I would like it to have that.
- it could be louder. Even on it's loudest setting, it can be tough to hear in a noisey area
- You have to use their headset which looks like iPod earbuds. or a bluetooth headset. Pretty much any exisiting headset you have wont work. You can buy an adapter for 10 bucks but it doesnt adapt to all headsets. If thats really important, I would check it out first.
- while it works really well.....it doesnt work anything like they show on TV. Unless you are using a wi-fi connection, things take longer to load than they do on the TV commercials...even when you have full bars. It's still completely acceptable...just different than what is shown.

I hope this helps.

Kevin

 

[SamIAm21]

Thank you for the review. I wish I could "test drive" these gadgets a few days before purchasing. I think I will sleep on it.... again.

 

[DisneyKevin]

I think you have 30 days from the date of purchase to change your mind.

I think thats true of pretty much all cell phones / plans.

Kevin

 

[magic2go]

Hey Kevin,

As a fellow iPhone lover (how I ever travelled without one, is beyond me!), I think you could do a show segment for the Top 10 Best uses for the iPhone at Disney.

I'll start you off with #1 - TORTURE!! Emailing photos of yourself, your hotel, the beautiful weather - whatever you find to co-workers and not-lucky-enough-to-be-at-Disney family members. Last December we took great fun is sending photos of the AKL lodge to friends and family, a Giraffe in Florida with 80 degree weather... is just pure torture for people stuck at work or at home in freezing weather !!

Oh yea, and while we're at it - the #1 Worst use for an iPhone at Disney - Email (ok, its a double-edged sword). I just don't want to stay in touch when I'm on vacation. I mean, if its an emergency, sure go ahead and call me, but when I escape to the World, I really want to escape!!

OK, this post ended up longer than I thought! Anyways, it made me smile (as the podcast always does too), so thanks!!

Kathie

 

[magic2go]

I think you have 30 days from the date of purchase to change your mind.

I think thats true of pretty much all cell phones / plans.

Kevin

Actually, the iPhone is only 10 days (or maybe 14 - I know its less than all the rest of the phones at AT&T) and I think they charge a "restocking" fee. But no worries, once you actually get it in your hands, you won't want to give it up. Atleast that's what happened to my husband who was torn between the iPhone and a Blackberry!

 

[DisneyKevin]

I didnt know that. Good to know.

 

[magic2go]

Kevin...

OOPS!! I guess I should have said that the #1 Best Disney reason for an iphone was Podcasts!!!

 

[SamIAm21]

Kevin...

OOPS!! I guess I should have said that the #1 Best Disney reason for an iphone was Podcasts!!!

Yes, and being able to DIS on the train! I spend 2 1/12 hours a day on a train and the ability to be more productive or at least have some type of entertainment would be awesome! I have an iPod now, but sometimes I just want to web surf or catch up with friends on email.

 

[Stevegriswold]

Hi,

We just went to WDW and on the drive home stopped at an ATT store and bought two iPhones.

They are awesome!

The 8 gig is $399
16 gig is $499

I quickly added the Dis Unplugged Podcasts and the Epcot Illuminations video to test that out.

It's amazing.

My wife has about 100 contacts on her old ATT phone. There was some issues since she just had them on her old phone and not in outlook.

If you go to a Corporate ATT store they will sell you a thumbdrive and move all your contacts off your old phone onto the thumb drive. The thumbdrive also has some software so it will import them into Outlook and then you can sync it with your iphone. If they have it, it is $15

First task is finding a corporate ATT and not a partner store.
Second task is finding an ATT store that has the thumbdrives in stock.
We did find a store but they were out and told us to buy a thumbdrive at Walmart and not to open it that they would move the contacts.

We ended up just heading home and typing them into Outlook and doing the sync.

You can also sync with your Yahoo Contacts, so that is an option. Or just type them into your iPhone one by one.

Only thing is my Iphone I am told will not work in the car with my iPod FM docking station.

Steve Griswold

 

[magic2go]

Hi,

Only thing is my Iphone I am told will not work in the car with my iPod FM docking station.

Ours works with both the FM docking station in the car, and with the iHome, but not nearly as well as our old ipods did. The main side effect has been loud static-type noises randomly cutting in on the music Our iHome is an older version, so maybe the newer ones work better - you never know !!

 

[Alztybrn]

Kind of along the same lines, but does the Dis have a mobile friendly webpage that makes it easier to use on Smart Phones?

 

[Stevegriswold]

Kind of along the same lines, but does the Dis have a mobile friendly webpage that makes it easier to use on Smart Phones?

it is pretty easy to use the existing site as is. I am on the site now. You can zoom in on the iPhone so that is nice. The pc is nicer, but the iphone does an amazing job.

 

[Annette_VA]

Kind of along the same lines, but does the Dis have a mobile friendly webpage that makes it easier to use on Smart Phones?

If you go to the bottom right corner of any disboards page, there is a dropdown for forum skin. There is DIScreet skin which is good for phones. However, for any board that has a sponsor or specific skin, that skin will overide the DIScreet skin.

 

[wilde_oscar]

to answer the question about transfering contacts... yes it is possib le. gthe kid in the store was able to transfer my contacts quick and easy, be he really knew what he was doing. Other folks I have talked to about tranfer of contact were not so lucky. I'll just add that it works the way you think a device should work, and it is easily update able by apple, so I suspect we will see some wish features in the future.

 

[cyberbox2]

to answer the question about transfering contacts... yes it is possib le. gthe kid in the store was able to transfer my contacts quick and easy, be he really knew what he was doing. Other folks I have talked to about tranfer of contact were not so lucky. I'll just add that it works the way you think a device should work, and it is easily update able by apple, so I suspect we will see some wish features in the future.

Well with you and I bringing instant live updates to the DIS'ers from our uber cool, futuristic, must have, all-in-one device, it was only a matter of time before the BIG secret got out. And now we have Kevin hooked

No worries though, now these boards are more interactive than ever!

 

[daneenm]

I'll start you off with #1 - TORTURE!! Emailing photos of yourself, your hotel, the beautiful weather - whatever you find to co-workers and not-lucky-enough-to-be-at-Disney family members.

Ohh, I know what you mean! We did this from my iPhone last summer. Sat at Stormalong Bay in a nice comfy lounge chair and sent 'look what we did today' pictures and e-mails to the rest of the family in CA. It was great fun.

As an 18+ year Apple veteran, it is nice to see so many positive comments about the iPhone. I had nothing to do with designing or building it (I work in IT), and I was just amazed when I saw it for the first time. Never used a smart phone before, but I really love my iPhone.

--Daneen

 

[froggy5657]

I bought the iPhone when it first came out and I got the 8 gig

I did not have nearly enough space because I have a ton of music (I can't put any videos on) and so when the 16 gig came out it really annoyed me!

I still love it though because I had to babysit for 6 months to save up for it! (I really wish you were allowed to get a real job at age 13 because babysitting can get really annoying when you put the kids to bed)