Autumn can be a time of sadness, as we bid farewell to summer and assess the state of gear for winter.

oldie goodies

I packed my blue watch and deep green iPhone 11 Pro, each in its own cardboard box, and sent them back to Apple. I still have the memory, though, of sauntering up Market Street with a few spare hours in hand, in the general direction of the San Francisco Apple Store at Union Square. “I wonder if they have any new iPhones in stock,” I muse, as I get in line and then, eventually, am treated to the extravaganza.

Using the big screen on the wall, a guy in a kilt teaches a course on taking selfies while, sitting on comfy hassocks (the stools not the clumps of grass), we customers all wait for something in our purchase sequence to happen. In my case it is for an Apple employee to bring a God’s-honest-truth bar-of-soap phone from the back room, for me to call my provider and tell them yes, switch me to the new phone. Which takes awhile, but eventually does work.

Meanwhile, there is a dog lying on the floor. A woman with a dog in the Apple Store, San Francisco, what a great city. Then I notice people are coming up to this woman and asking her questions. Why? Because she is running the rollout of the new phone, she is the person who knows all the answers. Apple lets you bring your dog to work, how cool is that? The windows to the second floor are open to the outdoors, the cool breeze is blowing in, and a woman with a seeing-eye dog is running the iPhone 11 launch at the Union Square Apple Store. It’s Friday, September 20, 2019, and I have a new iPhone.

I walk the phone all over San Francisco and, because I still have the box with me, I even photograph the box with a scenic background.

I associate that trip with public transportation, visiting my son in San Francisco (he gets his own new phone the next day), and a huge bicycle trip where we take the Sausalito Ferry, ride bikes to see my brother in Larkspur, and take the Larkspur ferry back across the bay with our bikes, then biking back to Joe’s house.

Later that year, getting the series 5 Watch is also a jaunt! I bike down to the El Segundo store, and, biking back past the new offices of the LA Times, I get a text message on my new watch that I never would have noticed on the phone alone! It’s amazing!!

So, sending these devices back now, I think of these happy times. The new gear has a long way to go to match the pageantry and emotional appeal of the older phone and watch, especially once T-Mobile got involved.

close call with iPhone 14

I tried to buy an iPhone 14, in order to get a better camera before a trip. After two visits to the Sherman Oaks Apple Store and two visits to a TMobile store, I was still empty handed. Apple said they could not transfer my phone to Boost because of the new virtual sim (didn’t Apple invent this technology?), and failed to set me up with a TMobile account because, it seemed, there was already a TMobile account at the same address. Not possible! Each Apple Store visit takes a long long time to get to ‘no’, though, after they have me fill out many forms and collect a huge amount of information about me which, as far as I know, they still have. One woman gets to the last step then hands me off to another employee, saying “I’m so sorry, I have to go to a scheduled training.” In retrospect, I feel like maybe both of my visits to the Apple Store were part of Apple’s training employees, but to take care of other people someday, not me today. Ironically, they had the exact phone I wanted in the store both times.

As for TMobile, they said “No, the advertised price on our website? That’s not the price. And that plan isn’t any good anyway. You want this more-expensive plan” I gave up in disgust, and ended up waiting for the 15. Because I love USB-C. There have been so many articles on this important technology! I think they should have called it Thunder, though. The person who suggested that in a meeting should not have been shot down. But at least I did get my eight-digit Boost Mobile transfer code number, which never expires. Until you use it, of course.

think different(ly)

This time, though, I got strategic. I visited my TMobile store and transferred my phone to TMobile BEFOREHAND. And then I went back to the store because they fucked up the transfer, putting my wireless internet account number as my phone number. Fortunately they were able to put in the order to change the number, and I wouldn’t have to go back a third time. Whew! I got a call from customer support which failed to do the transfer, so actually I DID have to back a third time, to a different TMobile store. I am SO GLAD i did not stay with backwater Boost Mobile, where I would have had to go in to the store to switch over. So glad. Boost Mobile, never forget. And before that, Virgin Mobile. What’s not to like?

The funny thing was, the guys at the new TMobile store – there were four of them working on a Sunday morning – didn’t seem to know much about the iPhone 15 transfer procedure which was going to occur at the end of the week. Hmm.

bing bong!

So anyway, four years later, Autumn has rolled around yet again, and the UPS guy rings the doorbell. “I was stressing out that the street would be closed,” he says. “Everyone is home today to get their new phones”. He has multiple boxes.

I start with the watch, and I guess I don’t hold it close enough to the phone long enough, because the camera never activates to scan the funny looking star field on the watch. Restarting both the phone and the watch makes things work okay.

I eventually notice that every watch face has been duplicated on my phone, so I go through and delete the extras. Also, one of the faces has a new, simpler name, which makes my “change your watch face” shortcut fail. But … it’s easy to update the shortcut to refer to the new watch face name!

Then I open the new phone. For those of you who have been wondering, it is a Pro Max in blue Titanium, and as soon as I did all this shit I took it on a photo hike and stopped to take a photo of a rose at the first stop sign with a rose. That’s hours later, though

First I plug in both phones to their chargers to copy all my data across, a process which the phones both mutually agree will take between 10 and 11 hours. Eventually they get it together and do it in under two hours.

don’t forget this 1 simple step!

I am super glad when I remember at the last minute to open my various two-factor authentication apps and copy the accounts across. It would have been some serious tedium to recreate those. Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, some other Authenticator? Open these and it will tell you how to bring it all across, just don’t forget to do it! LOL

Similarly, very easy to re-add the cards to Apple Pay. But Apple Pay Cash does not work the first time I try it, complaining about being not logged in under iCloud or something, and I still have not worked that out. To Do Item for this week!

bye-bye 😿

Eventually I am able to disconnect the phone and watch from iCloud, remove them from “Find My”, erase them, package them up in boxes Apple sent me – be sure to keep your emails saying they have sent the boxes, because they have a number which is NOT the order number on them that you have to match with the correct device – and drive them over to the Fed Ex office to be sent back as trade-ins. I do NOT have to go into the Apple Store (not counting the first two times I went in there) AT ALL, and I also don’t have to go into T-Mobile store either (not counting the five times I had gone in previously).

Who knows what the future may bring?

The pageantry of 2023 – the only lines involved are the three-nanometer lines on the new CPU chips, plus waiting in line at FedEx behind a guy who takes forever to send a medium size package for about $110, before finally turning over my three Apple trade-ins in about 25 seconds. I get to know the San Fernando Valley microscopically better, with trips to eight trips to three stores, two of these trips via bicycle.

My only real serendipitous excitement is waking up at 4:55 a.m., to click two or three buttons.

Next phone? Definitely getting it on a trip.

Update

Several days later, I get emails from Apple saying everything went okay on the trade-ins, but one of the refunds appears not to be going to the Apple card, so I didn’t get a discount? Apple pay cash starts working all by itself. A software update appears to fix a glitch on the watch, where the weather ‘complication’ does not update. The new camera is better than the old one, that’s for sure! It was super hard to get a good butterfly photo with the old phone.

--- title: "New Phone" author: "George Girton" date: "2023-09-23" categories: [iPhone] image: "IMG_2430.png" --- ![STOP for roses](IMG_2430.png) Autumn can be a time of sadness, as we bid farewell to summer and assess the state of gear for winter. ### oldie goodies I packed my blue watch and deep green iPhone 11 Pro, each in its own cardboard box, and sent them back to Apple. I still have the memory, though, of sauntering up Market Street with a few spare hours in hand, in the general direction of the San Francisco Apple Store at Union Square. "I wonder if they have any new iPhones in stock," I muse, as I get in line and then, eventually, am treated to the extravaganza. Using the big screen on the wall, a guy in a kilt teaches a course on taking selfies while, sitting on comfy hassocks (the stools not the clumps of grass), we customers all wait for something in our purchase sequence to happen. In my case it is for an Apple employee to bring a God's-honest-truth bar-of-soap phone from the back room, for me to call my provider and tell them yes, switch me to the new phone. Which takes awhile, but eventually does work. Meanwhile, there is a dog lying on the floor. A woman with a dog in the Apple Store, San Francisco, what a great city. Then I notice people are coming up to this woman and asking her questions. Why? Because she is running the rollout of the new phone, she is the person who knows all the answers. Apple lets you bring your dog to work, how cool is that? The windows to the second floor are open to the outdoors, the cool breeze is blowing in, and a woman with a seeing-eye dog is running the iPhone 11 launch at the Union Square Apple Store. It's Friday, September 20, 2019, and I have a new iPhone. I walk the phone all over San Francisco and, because I still have the box with me, I even photograph the box with a scenic background. I associate that trip with public transportation, visiting my son in San Francisco (he gets his own new phone the next day), and a huge bicycle trip where we take the Sausalito Ferry, ride bikes to see my brother in Larkspur, and take the Larkspur ferry back across the bay with our bikes, then biking back to Joe's house. Later that year, getting the series 5 Watch is also a jaunt! I bike down to the El Segundo store, and, biking back past the new offices of the LA Times, I get a text message on my new watch that I never would have noticed on the phone alone! It's amazing!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ So, sending these devices back now, I think of these happy times. The new gear has a long way to go to match the pageantry and emotional appeal of the older phone and watch, especially once T-Mobile got involved. ### close call with iPhone 14 I tried to buy an iPhone 14, in order to get a better camera before a trip. After two visits to the Sherman Oaks Apple Store and two visits to a TMobile store, I was still empty handed. Apple said they could not transfer my phone to Boost because of the new virtual sim (didn't Apple invent this technology?), and failed to set me up with a TMobile account because, it seemed, there was already a TMobile account at the same address. Not possible! Each Apple Store visit takes a long long time to get to 'no', though, after they have me fill out many forms and collect a huge amount of information about me which, as far as I know, they still have. One woman gets to the last step then hands me off to another employee, saying "I'm so sorry, I have to go to a scheduled training." In retrospect, I feel like maybe both of my visits to the Apple Store were part of Apple's training employees, but to take care of other people someday, not me today. Ironically, they had the exact phone I wanted in the store both times. As for TMobile, they said "No, the advertised price on our website? That's not the price. And that plan isn't any good anyway. You want this more-expensive plan" I gave up in disgust, and ended up waiting for the 15. Because I love USB-C. There have been so many articles on this important technology! I think they should have called it Thunder, though. The person who suggested that in a meeting should not have been shot down. But at least I did get my eight-digit Boost Mobile transfer code number, which never expires. Until you use it, of course. #### think different(ly) This time, though, I got strategic. I visited my TMobile store and transferred my phone to TMobile BEFOREHAND. And then I went back to the store because they fucked up the transfer, putting my wireless internet account number as my phone number. Fortunately they were able to put in the order to change the number, and I wouldn't have to go back a third time. Whew! I got a call from customer support which failed to do the transfer, so actually I DID have to back a third time, to a different TMobile store. I am SO GLAD i did not stay with backwater Boost Mobile, where I would have had to go in to the store to switch over. So glad. Boost Mobile, never forget. And before that, Virgin Mobile. What's not to like? The funny thing was, the guys at the new TMobile store -- there were four of them working on a Sunday morning -- didn't seem to know much about the iPhone 15 transfer procedure which was going to occur at the end of the week. Hmm. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ### bing bong! So anyway, four years later, Autumn has rolled around yet again, and the UPS guy rings the doorbell. "I was stressing out that the street would be closed," he says. "Everyone is home today to get their new phones". He has multiple boxes. I start with the watch, and I guess I don't hold it close enough to the phone long enough, because the camera never activates to scan the funny looking star field on the watch. Restarting both the phone and the watch makes things work okay. I eventually notice that every watch face has been duplicated on my phone, so I go through and delete the extras. Also, one of the faces has a new, simpler name, which makes my "change your watch face" shortcut fail. But ... it's easy to update the shortcut to refer to the new watch face name! Then I open the new phone. For those of you who have been wondering, it is a Pro Max in blue Titanium, and as soon as I did all this shit I took it on a photo hike and stopped to take a photo of a rose at the first stop sign with a rose. That's hours later, though First I plug in both phones to their chargers to copy all my data across, a process which the phones both mutually agree will take between 10 and 11 hours. Eventually they get it together and do it in under two hours. ### don't forget this 1 simple step! I am super glad when I remember at the last minute to open my various two-factor authentication apps and copy the accounts across. It would have been some serious tedium to recreate those. Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, some other Authenticator? Open these and it will tell you how to bring it all across, just don't forget to do it! LOL Similarly, very easy to re-add the cards to Apple Pay. But Apple Pay Cash does not work the first time I try it, complaining about being not logged in under iCloud or something, and I still have not worked that out. To Do Item for this week! ### bye-bye 😿 Eventually I am able to disconnect the phone and watch from iCloud, remove them from "Find My", erase them, package them up in boxes Apple sent me -- be sure to keep your emails saying they have sent the boxes, because they have a number which is NOT the order number on them that you have to match with the correct device -- and drive them over to the Fed Ex office to be sent back as trade-ins. I do NOT have to go into the Apple Store (not counting the first two times I went in there) AT ALL, and I also don't have to go into T-Mobile store either (not counting the five times I had gone in previously). # Who knows what the future may bring? The pageantry of 2023 -- the only lines involved are the three-nanometer lines on the new CPU chips, plus waiting in line at FedEx behind a guy who takes forever to send a medium size package for about \$110, before finally turning over my three Apple trade-ins in about 25 seconds. I get to know the San Fernando Valley microscopically better, with trips to eight trips to three stores, two of these trips via bicycle. My only real serendipitous excitement is waking up at 4:55 a.m., to click two or three buttons. Next phone? Definitely getting it on a trip. ### Update Several days later, I get emails from Apple saying everything went okay on the trade-ins, but one of the refunds appears not to be going to the Apple card, so I didn't get a discount? Apple pay cash starts working all by itself. A software update appears to fix a glitch on the watch, where the weather 'complication' does not update. The new camera is better than the old one, that's for sure! It was super hard to get a good butterfly photo with the old phone.