So my wife and I joined the crowd and got iPhone 3Gs. Now that we have them, we are enjoying them, but it was a pretty big hassle to get them.
I got to the Apple Store pretty early in the morning, and there wasn’t a line for iPhones. An Apple Store employees got the two iPhones and started activating the first. The Symbian device lost connection to the service, but after the AT&T Wireless account was created, and after the phone number port started, but before the number was added to the account.
When he got another Symbian device, further attempts to continue the setup kept failing. It looks like Apple’s system to register iPhones will only work if the device actually does the registration, and will not work if the phone is configured via the phone with AT&T support. We were on hold with AT&T for over 2 hours, talking to 7 different people at AT&T.
Finally we got the phones registered. What we had to do was add the iPhones to the account with new phone numbers. Then with the AT&T support rep on the phone, the numbers were switched to the numbers that were were attempting to port.
I do appreciate the time that the Apple Store rep spent with settiing this up.
One other problem arose. The microphone on my wife’s iPhone didn’t work so I took it back to the Apple Store and they did replace it, without too much hassle.
The download and install went well. I was able to use it to send text messages, but I wasn’t able tomake a voice call. I am not sure if it is possible for Skype to use the microphone on my phone to send audio to Skype.
Since is is now a requirement to use hands-free devices for use in cars, I started to look for a solution for our van. I wanted to find something that would connect to the main headunit, where it would automatically mute the audio, to allow the call audio to be heard. Also, I wanted the device, when installed, to look releatively stock. The Parrot 3200-LS looked like it would work perfectly.
I had it installed a few weeks ago, and the install looks nice. It was easy to configure with my Samsung iSCH-760. On the Parrot, I went into the setting menu for pairing, and selected Windows CE, and the Parrot displayed a password. Then on my phone, I searched for Bluetooth devices, and then selected the Parrot 3200-LS. Once paired, the phone numbers on my phone automatically appeared on the Parrot 3200-LS, so I could select phone numbers directly from the Parrot’s interface.
I didn’t have as much luck with my wifes Palm 750wx. I was able to pair just as easy as my iSCH-760, but none of the contacts appeared on the Parrot. After doing some searching, I discovered that Windows Mobile 5 doesn’t include support for syncing contacts with the Hands free profile. I found JETware Hands-free extension for Windows Mobile that solves this problem. Once I installed that the contacts appeared on the Parrot 3200-LS. In addition to contacts, the JETware extension allows phone battery status to appear on the screen.
My wife is getting frustrated with her Windows Mobile base Palm 700w, so we were thinking about getting her one of the new 3G iPhones when they come out. Since she would be need to switch to AT&T, I would switch at the same time.
Though, I do like the iPhone, I don’t think that it would work for me. There are still several features that I would still to have:
Qwerty keyboard (hard buttons)
Ability to tether to a computer to allow the computer to use that network connection
MMS support.
I am thinking that I would go with the AT&T Tilt, Blackberry Curve 8310 or potentially an unlocked phone that I would get somewhere else.
This Google Andriod video has me interested in this as an option, even though there isn’t a query keyboard.
My wife and I are thinking of switching to AT&T for cell phone service, when the 3G iPhones come out. When we switch, I was thinking about getting the HTC Touch Dual. This looks like a pretty nice phone.
