my first smart phone

Jake Bunce

Well-known member
I have been holding out for a long time. I am much more a desktop computing person. But my dumb phone broke tonight so I took it as a sign and got an iPhone 6. It was an interesting buying experience.

I walked into the Apple store and was greeted by a salesman who asked if he could help me with anything. I said nothing and held up my dumb phone. He gestured me towards the iPhone table. After some discussion I settled on the iPhone6 64GB.

I was then referred to another table for assistance with the setup. I had to go through the registration process 3 times due to an apparent software glitch that invalidated both of my emails. I attracted some judging looks as I fumbled with the touch keyboard for 10 minutes while doing this. Finally we resorted to a software restore during which time I was offered a Macbook to use to create my Apple ID. "Ah, a keyboard!" I said enthusiastically. My 100wpm touch typing ability and power-user Finder familiarity got a very different reaction than did my poor thumbing skills. The Apple person suggested I create another gmail account but I didn't want to. So I told her I was going to setup a new account on my web server. *confused look*. I setup the new account, created an Apple ID, and setup the iPhone. Then I went through the various configuration options and she told me to click 'yes' for iCloud. I said I didn't want to. *confused look*. "Why not?" she said. "Privacy concerns" I told her. She explained to me how people are only hacked due to weak passwords to which I responded with a judging look. I went ahead and enabled iCloud to put the issue to rest, then I disabled it once I left the store.

After the setup I went to the Verizon store to get a plan. Knowing that it was my first smart phone, the woman there tried to ascertain my probable data usage.

"Do you have a computer at home?" she said.

"I have four."

*weird looks*

"Do you have wifi?"

"Yes, I have a wireless router for my home DSL."

*slightly confused look*

"I can sell you this wifi device if you need it." *gesturing to a 4g hotspot product*

She appeared to be using the term wifi as if it was a product and not a technology.

"nah, I don't need it. I'll just take the 1GB plan."

"This smart phone thing might actually be useful, especially for GPS. I am printing maps right now."

*judging looks*
 
Lol. I bet the people you talked to were like "uhhh not sure if geek or 90 yr old".

Seriously man, never had a smart phone? Crazy. I've had one since the original Droid by Motorola.
 
Welcome to the 21st century. ;)

1Gb on 4G should be fine as long as you don't plan streaming movies and stuff like that, in which case Slavik is right, you'll need a bigger plan.
 
Never walked into an Apple Store until now. I find the whole Apple hype is over-exaggerated. Your experience was fun to read, poor Apple Salesman (:
 
I'm on a very low plan too and it's fine because most places I use my phone have wifi. You'll be fine with 1gb, just make sure to keep an eye on your usage. (Printed maps, lol!)
 
As much as one despises iCloud, one should use it to take advantage of the "Find my iPhone" functionality in the event it gets stolen.
 
Ah, the wonders of low internet usage. I need an all you can eat data plan for my 60GB+ monthly usage (and I only pay a monthly £15 for it, on pay as you go, with tethering (albeit illegitimate tethering)).

Why did you go for an iDevice as opposed to an Android device?

Liam
 
I don't bother with data anymore, I wait until I can find wifi.

I can personally attest that in most cases I can wait for WiFi, however having around 2GB of data lying around just in case is a beyond helpful, especially when there's times you need to answer an email, communicate with others via iMessage, or simply getting directions via Waze.
 
I think the Apple staff brainwashed you on that one. Battery life is laughable compared to similar price Android devices.
Let's not turn this into one of those threads. For the record though, I have only ever used android. I'm personally happy just reading this sentence:

I don't see myself needing the freedom or better hardware of an android.
 
Superior battery life, and I don't see myself needing the freedom or better hardware of an android. I will only be doing basic stuff on it... calls, text, gps, and a couple games.
This is the reason I choose Windows Phone. :D

Well, 1GB plan is really low, but @Liam W 60GB plan is really high! My monthly plan is 8-10GB. around 2GB/weeks.
 
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