iPhone Arrives and the Journey Begins...

So....after over a week of waiting and a fairly disappointing experience with AT&T in terms of how well they managed my order for the iPhone, it has finally arrived. To get ahead of myself, I'll say that I already love it. It is pretty quickly becoming a device I live with, as opposed to just a phone or an iPod.

As for AT&T, two days after I ordered the phone (and was told 3-5 days) I recieved an e-mail with an order confirmation and a link to check my order status. Since it had been a while, I figured it was safe to click and check.

After filling in the order number from the e-mail and my wireless number, it gave me an error saying it couldn't find my order. Then it offered to check using my billing zip code and mobile number. No dice.

I gave it a day and tried again. Nada. I called the automated number associated with the order status, and it was having nothing to do with me. The next day it gave me a tracking number!! Unfortunately, it turned out to be for the GoPhone SIMM I'd bought for my wife a month earlier...

So I called AT&T customer service. They can't see that information. I called the store, and they pretty much said you have to wait until you get your call telling you it is there. I'd heard on line that a number of folks who'd ordered the same say I did already had their phones. Net: It was chaos.

If it sounds like I was a little frenetic about the order, it was mainly a matter of how utterly devoid of information at every turn and a frustration about it. I pretty much expected to wait a week or so for the phone, but I was mainly just amazed at how bad the communication was - AT&T would have done better to never send the e-mail, create the link or offer the phone number. The link only worked when my phone was shipped, and it arrived the next day. I was promptly called by the store, and the delivery experience was painless and fast.

I took pictures to detail the out-of-box experience with the phone as well as the Piel Frama case I ordered. Since I get to do some of this at work, the details are interesting.

Nice, small box, which makes flying these things over from China possible and makes container shipping really cheap per device. Smart.

Here are a few more pix of the unboxing.









The Piel Frama case arrived today, and while I'm really pleased with the quality and size of it, it does seem a half-step down from what I've seen in the past from Vaja. Unfortunately, they haven't come up with a horizontal pounch, so I've gone a different direction. Unboxing of the Piel Frama case:









The look of the case is great - very understated and subtle. The leather feels great, and it feels very sturdy as well. So tomorrow I start my first day with the complete setup.

I'll come back with some praises and beefs next time...