iPhone 6 / 6 Plus - First Day Excitement!

 
 
Ok, I have to admit, I got a bit wrapped up in the iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus excitement today!

My wife and I both have the iPhone 5 and we pre-ordered those two years ago and got them on the day of release, which is today for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

We did not do any pre-ordering for the iPhone 6 because we wanted to get our hands on the new devices first, to really see with our own eyes just how much larger they are than our existing phones and we weren't even sure if we would upgrade right now.

The thing was that through Verizon, we could trade-in our existing devices for $200 each and they were also offering an additional 1GB of data for free for each phone, when upgrading to a new device.  So that was constantly in the back of my mind, since that wasn't guaranteed to last longer than a few weeks.

I had no plans to really do anything iPhone related today, other than keep an eye on the hype for fun, but that changed around 9am.

I got to talking to my sisters back and forth via email and one had pre-ordered the 6, the other the 6 Plus and my mom got a 6.  The 6 Plus is the bigger one and it is backordered by a few weeks.

I suddenly really wanted to get them in my hands to check them out and really wanted to see them both side by side.  The hard part would be finding an elusive 6 Plus.

I started out the day hitting the local Verizon store about a mile down the road.  There was no line and no waiting, good sign.  Walked right in and was helped right away.  Unfortunately, they did not have any display models to check out, but they did have a few of the regular 6 with the larger 64GB/128GB storage.

I gotta admit, I was tempted.  I emailed the wifey at her work email and usually she gets back to me right away, but nada after 5 mins or so.  I decided to check out Staples, since online it said they will have them, but no dice at my local store, they said they don't carry smartphones. So I went back home.

At lunch time, the wifey said she never got the specific email on the topic of the iPhone 6, but had received the other messages I sent before and after.  Very weird, that hasn't happened before, so I guess that happened for a reason, I wasn't meant to get the 6.

At lunch time I decided to head to the Apple store and whew, the line was about 100 people deep snaking around the inside of the store and half way around the block.  Luckily, we were there yesterday to get the wifey's battery replaced for free under a recent recall type thing and the guy said if you just want to check them out tomorrow, avoid any lines and just come on in, so I did.



They had a ton of both the 6 and 6 Plus on display to touch and feel, which was way cool.  You could compare them side by side and they even had a long enough security cable that I could drop em in my pocket, which I did. The 6 is on the left and 6 Plus on the right, it's a bit easier to see the difference in the comparison pic at the top. 

Much to my surprise, the iPhone 6 Plus dropped right in my shorts pocket, which isn't as deep as my pocket would be in khaki pants or jeans.  That was pretty much the deciding factor for me.  I really liked the bigger screen, since like TVs, bigger is always better, but what I thought would feel too big and bulky was not.

Of course a 3 minute hands on evaluation is by no means an exhaustive, scientific test, but it was enough for me to do an about face and want to pull the trigger.

I'm sure the device will end up being bigger than expected in some situations and will take a bit of getting used to and there will be times when I say it is a bit too big, but just in the few minutes I had it in my hand, it seemed like the right choice.  When I went back to my phone to post some pictures of the new devices, my phone seemed so tiny in comparison.

Unfortunately, there were no 6 Plus devices available, as I assumed. Best Buy was on the way home, so I stopped there and they had 1 Plus on display and I had a bit more fun and talked to a few of the guys checking it out, but none available.  I asked them if it was possible to order one there and get the Verizon trade-in deal when it arrives, but they said no.

I decided to stop back at Verizon on the way home, to see if it was possible to do an order now/trade-in later deal through them directly and after a phone call or two, he said yes.  We can order the Plus phones now, lock in the $200 trade-in price and get the additional 1GB of data per line.  Sweet...done deal. 

So they are now on order, 2 - iPhone 6 Plus phones in Silver with 64GB of storage.  Only downside is the arrival date isn't until a month from now.  Oct 24th to be exact, but he said it could be sooner if they ramp up production. That gives some time for the iOS 8 kinks to get worked out and some time for the anticipation and excitement to build!

I've already helped my mom pick out a great, inexpensive case for the iPhone 6 and have some screen protectors and a case for the 6 Plus in my cart! The wifey said she is probably going to go with this one, of course it's pink.

The good thing is that all existing cables and chargers will still work and the car mount that we both have (and love) will still work great as well! 

Can't wait!  Did you end up pre-ordering?  Get your new device today?  If so how is it so far?  If not, excited, frustrated?  Drop me a comment below and best of luck with your new device, for all those early adopters out there!

Posted in: iphone 6 , iphone 6 case , iphone 6 comparison , iphone 6 mount , iphone 6 plus , iphone 6 screen protectors , Smartphone