The Traveling Steve's

Lining up for the iPhone 7 Plus

This week I worked from home, which was nice as I was a bit worn out from the wonderful trip we had in Chile touring the wineries.  Having a week break from work travels allowed me to catch up a bit around the house, donate quite a few items for our upcoming Church’s annual rummage sale, and run some errands and go to Dr. appointments etc I can’t do while I’m out of town.  I also got to play with the neighborhood German Shepherd’s, after a typical Florida summer storm, and under this beautiful full rainbow.

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On Friday night, Steve (DOS) and I went to Florida Mall to get our new iPhone 7 Plus, which just came out that day.  DOS had already gone on-line at 3am earlier in the week (the time Apple started taking reservations) to register us for the phones.  I thought that was a bit extreme, until we got to the mall and saw all the fellow Apple-holics doing the same thing!  I could not believe how many people were there – all to get a new phone the day it comes out.  Image that!

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We had a reservation for 7pm, getting in line at 6:30pm, and waited, while the line moved ever so slowly.  We chatted with a couple people in line, and they too had made their reservation at 3am the day it opened up, and also had the 7pm Friday night time like we did. img_5103 There were three different lines: one for walk-ins, another for people who had a reservation that were purchasing a new iPhone, and the third for folks like us who are on the Apple ‘trade in’ program.  img_5102We started the ‘trade in’ program last year, which is similar to a lease; you use your phone for a year and at that point can then return it and trade it in for the next year’s model, being billed in monthly installments. Quite a good option if you like to having the latest model phone every year.

We finally got to the front of the line at 7:10pm, and were waited on by a nice fellow named John, whom we later learned was about to start Medical School.  As we were with him until almost 9pm, we got to know him a bit, and vice versa.  Our new iPhones were lined up at the counter waiting for us, but the delay in switching them over was due to the Apple wireless network going up and down due to the shear volume of transactions.  The ‘reservation’ process was actually set up very well, it just was so incredibly busy on this first day of rollout the network couldn’t keep up.  I felt bad for all the Apple workers this super busy day working such long hours, with the many tired-out, (but very patient) customers who had been waiting in line.  While waiting for our phones to get activated, we passed the time by surfing the web on one of their Macbook Air’s and even showed John our travel blog.  We also wanted to get Apple watches, but they did not have any series two’s in stock, and you also needed a reservation for that as well. We did at least take a look at the display case for them.

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We weren’t looking for an Apple Watch until recently when DOS’s Fit Bit watch started ‘fogging up’.  His Fit Bit Surge has condensation all over it, and is no longer usable as a watch; he tells people when asked, ‘the time is 3 Clouds past one’! img_0015

He called Fit Bit but they said it’s out of warranty now, and this is his third replacement watch in less than two years. Fit Bit obviously has a problem with their Surge watch and their condensation fogging inside the watch, as I have had the same trouble as well, although mine eventually cleared up, shown here.

img_0016They advertise it as water resistant, but DOS hasn’t gotten it wet, although  you naturally sweat in Florida, and then getting on and off planes and it fogs up – this time permanently.  Will see how much better the Apple watch is when we get it later this month and report back. (DOS ordered us Apple watches when we got home.)

We also bought new cases for our iPhones, as even though the iPhone seven is similar in size to the series six phones, the seven Plus has two camera lens’s, so it needs a bigger cut-thru hole in the case. img_0017

Finally we got our phones switched over, and returned (and wiped out) our old phones, and we were done in the Apple Store around 9pm.  People were still lined up just as when we came in, so I’m sure the Apple folks worked until midnight to process all those people waiting in line.   Here we are walking out of the store with our brand new purchases!

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We didn’t really use our phones until the next day, but were immediately impressed with the camera.  Here are a couple miscellaneous photos taken this weekend with the new iPhone 7 Plus at home and the mall.  (Yes, Santa has already appeared at Malls in Orlando in September!)  Each of the two photos in a set was taken from the same spot, showing the regular mode and the zoomed in mode; quite a nice and easy to use feature.

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Now it’s Sunday afternoon, and I’m getting ready for my trip tomorrow to New Jersey for the work week.  After a great trip to Chile and a work week at home, it’s time to hit the road once again. And now with my new iPhone 7 Plus ‘camera’!

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Smile – say Cheese!

 

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