One for the Dark Side

In addition to added work these past couple of weeks with new dealers to serve, I have also had the pleasure of a new toy.  Much as I espouse a dislike for a certain fruity computer brand, I now find myself in possession of one of their phones.  That’s right- I now have an iPhone.  Realistically, I knew I couldn’t afford a new Android-based phone, which would probably also require my switching providers as I am currently with at&t, and have been for the last several years- being THE iPhone provider they have not seen fit to add the better HTC Android phones to their lineup.  To make things clear, I couldn’t afford a new iPhone either, but when my nephew decided to jump on the iPhone 4 bandwagon he sold me his 3G for a nice discount.  I now have to pay $20 more per month (was paying for insurance on the other phone), but the difference between the two phones will make it worthwhile.  For the last few days I have been downloading several free apps, mostly games but also the Bible, a camera enhancement app, and a couple others.  I also made the mistake of installing Appminer, an app that finds discounted and temporarily free apps- what a time waster!  I have not tried all the games I installed yet, but as they are touchpad-controlled (and gravity-controlled in some cases- can’t forget the accelerometer!) games they are quite a different thing from normal computer or console games.  I couldn’t find any free versions of games I know, but with a different control scheme they wouldn’t be the same anyway.  Note I write free versions- I could pay $5 for Pac-man (are you kidding me??) and I noted a version of Dragon’s Lair, but cheapskate me is only getting free apps at this time.

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In any event, back to the dislike of Apple thing, at least they aren’t getting a dime of this purchase from me- no contract, no new iPhone, and at least for the moment, no 30% of app purchases.  I had to go to an at&t store to get everything switched properly- ended up waiting about a half-hour for someone as I picked a busy time.  Or are all times busy due to the iPhone 4?  In addition to the phone, the sales rep talked us into at least signing up for an install time for their U-Verse (internet and cable over fiber optic) service.  It seemed like a really nice service and I wouldn’t mind switching over from DirecTV, but I have been on Comcast internet for so long, since it was TCI internet, that I am unsure I would want to switch at this time, though for the start we would get much more for a little less than we are paying now for phone+satellite+internet, currently from three different companies so of course some of the savings comes from going at&t for everything. I am just worried at what will happen after six months.  They promise no installation charges and $200 back for signing up, DVRs capable of recording four standard-definition (or two HD) shows at once, networked receivers so anyone can view a recorded show off any receiver in the house, a complete package with all movie channels (something we can easily drop of course sometime down the road since we have been going sans movie channels for quite some time now), and full HD equipment ready for when we eventually need to replace our analog SD TVs.  Fortunately the appointment isn’t until the 31st, giving us plenty of time to consider whether we really want to make the switch.

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I will continue on the camp topic probably next post.

Derek