Your iPhone 4S Line Experiences

[dontwalkhand]

How was your iPhone 4S standing in line experience? We arrived at the mall at 2AM, only to have the line barely grow at all, which makes going there at 2AM in Arizona kind of worthless.

They started to hand out iPhone claim tickets (as pictured) to everybody in line, and a bottle of water. We had the intention of getting the 4S as well as an unlocked 8GB iPhone 4, and was successful at getting both. (there was a guy who decided to buy a 27" iMac as well as his 4S that same day, didn't know they let you do that )

Doors opened at 8 AM, and we've finished getting both iPhones at around 8:30, which left us standing around until 10:00AM downloading Apps, playing with the new phone, etc, and then went upstairs to the T-Mobile store to pick up an iPhone Micro-SIM for the unlocked iPhone, which that iPhone is working great as well.

Good experience in the iPhone line, but there are some lessons to be learned if you live here in Arizona:

Don't wake up at 2AM for an 'S' release...especially when you have work until 8PM...I ended up going home and falling asleep right away and didn't get to play with the new phone until the next day (today).

DO call the Apple store to see how the line is going to be, I heard VZW stores had long lines vs. Apple stores...which is surprising.

DO bring your old iPhone, and leave the MacBook at home. The people who had MacBooks just got tired of carrying them around after the line moved swiftly. (maybe they were just lazy). The people next to you and The old iPhone should be enough entertainment while you're waiting in line.

DO Converse with others in the line

DO bring a blanket for waiting outside

DO NOT bring Salt and Vinegar chips

FUN TIMES

 

[Jeremy81]

I preordered mine but had to go to the AT&T store to try and get it activated and upgrade swapped. I got there at 2PM and had to wait in line for around 45 minutes behind the iPhone crowd. They said their wait time in the morning was 2.5 hours. I think next time I'll just wait in line to purchase rather than ordering online. Despite having such long lines they still had a huge drawer full of 4s by the time i got out of the store.

 

[dontwalkhand]

I preordered mine but had to go to the AT&T store to try and get it activated and upgrade swapped. I got there at 2PM and had to wait in line for around 45 minutes behind the iPhone crowd. They said their wait time in the morning was 2.5 hours. I think next time I'll just wait in line to purchase rather than ordering online. Despite having such long lines they still had a huge drawer full of 4s by the time i got out of the store.

Even though you already had an iPhone in hand, at AT&T, they still preferred you wait in line just to go into the AT&T store?

 

[wellok]

I got mine at the Biltmore. Got there at 5, was out and at work by 9. I took my Macbook and was glad I did.

 

[iSaxon]

I preordered at Best Buy. They said they would e-mail me when they got their stock in (which was supposed to be the 13th). Release day came along and still no e-mail at 7am. So, I went to AT&T & saw the line was around the building and left. Then went to Walmart, they said they didn't get any. Went to Sam's Club, who also said they didn't get any. About an hour passed and I decided just to go back to AT&T and wait in line. After a 2 hour wait, I got my phone and they had plenty in stock.

After I got my phone, I went to Best Buy to get a refund of the $50 they put on a gift card for the preorder. They said "Why? We have you phone here." And yet, I never got an e-mail from them. Oh well.

 

[Kaenon]

I was 14th in line at my Verizon store...I waited 40 minutes to walk into the store, about 10 minutes waiting in the store, got my phone - got activated, and I walked out of the store at 8:33am with my new iPhone 4S.

Not exciting...