I just picked up my iPhone so wanted to post first impressions. But since this is my 1st ever iPhone pre-order event, I wanted to post my full experience as well. It may be a bit lengthy:
=== PRE-ORDER
I put my order into the cart on 09/14, which was the night before the event, (after much deliberation about color). I'm EST time zone so I didn't have to wake up early. The next morning, I was signed into Apple but it seemed to have logged me out automatically so at 8:00 I was mashing the button furiously trying to re-login. I kept receiving the message "We'll be with you shortly" (or something like that). I just hit refresh a few times every couple of minutes -- I did NOT hit it continuously. Finally at around 8:17 I was let into the site, then ordered it by 8:20 (strangely I had to sign in about 4 different times just to place the order).
On 09/15 I ordered the Pro Max 512GB Titanium-White with a clear-case and received confirmation e-mail immediately, and planned to just watch and wait with the rest of you. The Apple status at this point was "Order Placed". But then the next day (09/16) it moved to "Processing" and I got an automated text from my credit card asking me to verify that I had made a $1,500 purchase. Unfortunately I did not see the text, and so it texted me again on Sunday (09/17) at 2:44. I responded to that text by 3:18 but wasn't sure if it was done timely enough. The charges for the case and phone both were on the credit card in Pending status.
On 09/18 (Monday) the phone case moved to "Shipping to Store", and the phone remained in Processing status. Not much else happened until 09/19, when the charge for only the case cleared on my credit card. The charge for the iPhone was still in pending status. Then on 09/20, I received an e-mail from Apple saying one or more of my items was ready for pickup. Since that was Wednesday, it was clearly only for the case. I didn't go to the store separately just to pick up the case.
On 09/21, I expected the charge for the phone to clear (just like the case had the day before scheduled pickup) but instead it VANISHED off the pending transactions for the card. I was afraid that meant the charge wasn't going to happen so I called customer service. They assured me the phone was ready to pick up.
On 09/22 at 2:33 AM EST, I got a confirmation e-mail that the phone was ready to pick up -- and there was still no charge on the card. However finally around 1:00 PM the charge re-appeared in pending, just hours before the scheduled 3:30 PM pickup.
=== PHONE PICKUP
My pickup schedule window was 3:30 to 3:45 PM. I arrived at the store at 3:20 -- a line was formed outside where they were pre-checking people in. They scanned in your QRC code and then put a simple description of the clothes you were wearing. The store itself was packed. They would let one person (or couple) in at a time for each person that left the store. I was let in at 3:31 (so not a bad wait), and had a very friendly staff member set everything up for me. It took about 5 minutes for someone to retrieve the phone for us -- in the meantime we just chatted about it being his first experience working on a new-release day. Once the phone arrived, I had him install the screen-protector. I inspected the phone for any deformities, scratches, dents, sharp edges, glue, and bubbles (from screen protector). It was in perfect shape, so I got out of the store at 3:45.
=== PHONE FIRST IMPRESSIONS
First let me say I'm comparing this to my 6.1" Android phone. The Pro Max is DEFINITELY big and heavy. Will it be too much for my wife? Only time will tell. But it is a gorgeous phone -- the white is silvery in some light (outside), and pearl in other light (inside). The sides have a chrome-like finish to them, I really like that. The apple logo is also very subtle and not nearly as prevalent as on other models.
Again, I checked for any of the issues that I've been reading about that others have had (scratches, dents, smudging, sharp edges, glue leaking). There were no problems that I could tell. For the smudging, I didn't notice anything but maybe because it's such a light color? I can't give a full review as this is a gift so I won't mess around with the phone at all. But aesthetically and physically it seems like a nice-looking quality phone. Would I have spent $1,500 for the phone on myself? Well... my $200 Android should tell you the answer to that (and is also the reason the pics attached are so bad). Hope this helps someone, let me know if you have any questions!
=== PRE-ORDER
I put my order into the cart on 09/14, which was the night before the event, (after much deliberation about color). I'm EST time zone so I didn't have to wake up early. The next morning, I was signed into Apple but it seemed to have logged me out automatically so at 8:00 I was mashing the button furiously trying to re-login. I kept receiving the message "We'll be with you shortly" (or something like that). I just hit refresh a few times every couple of minutes -- I did NOT hit it continuously. Finally at around 8:17 I was let into the site, then ordered it by 8:20 (strangely I had to sign in about 4 different times just to place the order).
On 09/15 I ordered the Pro Max 512GB Titanium-White with a clear-case and received confirmation e-mail immediately, and planned to just watch and wait with the rest of you. The Apple status at this point was "Order Placed". But then the next day (09/16) it moved to "Processing" and I got an automated text from my credit card asking me to verify that I had made a $1,500 purchase. Unfortunately I did not see the text, and so it texted me again on Sunday (09/17) at 2:44. I responded to that text by 3:18 but wasn't sure if it was done timely enough. The charges for the case and phone both were on the credit card in Pending status.
On 09/18 (Monday) the phone case moved to "Shipping to Store", and the phone remained in Processing status. Not much else happened until 09/19, when the charge for only the case cleared on my credit card. The charge for the iPhone was still in pending status. Then on 09/20, I received an e-mail from Apple saying one or more of my items was ready for pickup. Since that was Wednesday, it was clearly only for the case. I didn't go to the store separately just to pick up the case.
On 09/21, I expected the charge for the phone to clear (just like the case had the day before scheduled pickup) but instead it VANISHED off the pending transactions for the card. I was afraid that meant the charge wasn't going to happen so I called customer service. They assured me the phone was ready to pick up.
On 09/22 at 2:33 AM EST, I got a confirmation e-mail that the phone was ready to pick up -- and there was still no charge on the card. However finally around 1:00 PM the charge re-appeared in pending, just hours before the scheduled 3:30 PM pickup.
=== PHONE PICKUP
My pickup schedule window was 3:30 to 3:45 PM. I arrived at the store at 3:20 -- a line was formed outside where they were pre-checking people in. They scanned in your QRC code and then put a simple description of the clothes you were wearing. The store itself was packed. They would let one person (or couple) in at a time for each person that left the store. I was let in at 3:31 (so not a bad wait), and had a very friendly staff member set everything up for me. It took about 5 minutes for someone to retrieve the phone for us -- in the meantime we just chatted about it being his first experience working on a new-release day. Once the phone arrived, I had him install the screen-protector. I inspected the phone for any deformities, scratches, dents, sharp edges, glue, and bubbles (from screen protector). It was in perfect shape, so I got out of the store at 3:45.
=== PHONE FIRST IMPRESSIONS
First let me say I'm comparing this to my 6.1" Android phone. The Pro Max is DEFINITELY big and heavy. Will it be too much for my wife? Only time will tell. But it is a gorgeous phone -- the white is silvery in some light (outside), and pearl in other light (inside). The sides have a chrome-like finish to them, I really like that. The apple logo is also very subtle and not nearly as prevalent as on other models.
Again, I checked for any of the issues that I've been reading about that others have had (scratches, dents, smudging, sharp edges, glue leaking). There were no problems that I could tell. For the smudging, I didn't notice anything but maybe because it's such a light color? I can't give a full review as this is a gift so I won't mess around with the phone at all. But aesthetically and physically it seems like a nice-looking quality phone. Would I have spent $1,500 for the phone on myself? Well... my $200 Android should tell you the answer to that (and is also the reason the pics attached are so bad). Hope this helps someone, let me know if you have any questions!
