However, the 2.0 software and its features are enough to do something stupid over. Again, like many others who already have an iPhone, I downloaded the firmware a day early and played around with the App Store before it was officially released. Many of my hopes and dreams were fulfilled (except easy switching between inboxes in Mail…) and the glut of free apps on the store we’re great. I even made a few purchases, wondering what Apple might be thinking when they saw these early transactions.

But being an early adopter always has it’s issues. (I have a first gen MBP. Core Duo, not Core 2 Duo…) While most of the features worked fine, there were some frequent crashes and outright sluggishness in seemingly simple apps. It turns out, that the firmware that I grabbed was really meant for the iPhone 3G which while very similar enough differences to make it an issue. Luckily, it is meant to be easy to side-grade to the proper version for the older phones.

The problem is, that “meant to be easy” does not imply guaranteed ease. So, following the same process as installing the early release version (downloading and holding option while hitting the upgrade button in iTunes) I tried to install the correct version. I few seconds later, iTunes pops an error telling me that it can’t be installed and gives a typical cryptic error code. In addition, the phone is essentially bricked, stuck in recovery mode with presumably nothing in the internal storage. Being an IT professional, I didn’t freak, but calmly googled the error which returned some advice just to try again. So, I do which pops the same error with a new code. Google, rinse and repeat.

After a few tries, I give the older 1.1.4 firmware a shot. Ah, this time I get a new error code that looks a little more specific (larger number…) which I google and get an Apple KB article. The gist of this one is to kill iTunes and the Apple Mobile Device support (which they don’t explain how to). By deleting the Receipts (/Library/Receipts) for the two and running the iTunes installer from Apple’s website, I got a fresh copy of something that needed to be reset in order to re-wipe my phone.

Just for fun, I let it re-download the .apsw file again, just in case it needed to register somewhere in iTunes that it had legitimately received it rather than being coaxed into using it. Surprisingly, that worked and the restore process once again is working. Apple’s servers must be back in working order as well, because it was able to activate right away as well. The whole process burned through nearly all of my battery, even though it was plugged in most of the time leaving me with a quarter charge which will now have to last me for the rest of the day.

It would be nice to know, on a more granular level, what was wrong so that in the future you wouldn’t have to blow iTunes completely away in order to fix it. In the long run, it didn’t take that long to do, so I’m not going to fret over it, however.

On a side note, the iPhone 2.0/iTunes 7.7 software seems to take significantly longer to back up the phone. I don’t know if it has to do with the additional 3rd party software or what, but it isn’t backing up my music because each time I wipe it I have to push it all back. But that is my fault for manually managing the music rather than letting it sync.

The question is, had I known, would I have done it in the first place? Of course, I love being an early adopter and tinkering with my gadgets. Interestingly, I haven’t ever jailbroken my iPhone simply for the fact that it is my phone and stability becomes an issue. I do hanker for a Terminal app or at least an SSH app that would allow me to connect to my servers. I’m still going to wait for Apple to allow that one to come through legitimate channels though.

The iPhone is a strange device, but I’ve never had a oddity like this one before. I’m guessing that AT&T was having some routing problems. The voicemail was to confirm a medical appointment for someone I don’t even remotely know.

There are times I want to take pictures of the iPhone but I only have the iPhone with me to take pictures with… Luckily, I had the Kodak with me that day.

(btw. this post may seem random, and it is. I’m just playing around with Flickr’s “Blog this photo” feature…)

So, we are going on a bit of a technological camping trip. You know, deprived of modern conveniences and forced to rough it like the pioneers. Packed with me are; an old 3.2 meg Sony Cybershot with a whopping 128 MB card, an ailing 4th Gen 20GB iPod, a 1st Gen 1GB iPod Shuffle as a backup and a 3+ year old Dell Latitude C400 running Debian Etch loaded with Picassa and Gimp for photos. I’m also lugging around my non-iPhone work cell, a rugged Motorola ic502 and my Nintendo DS with a few games. Oh, and a book, Samuel Delany‘s Dhalgren which I’ve read a few times through.

I know, talk about a rough time… It will only get up to the mid 80′s while we’re there too!

Bethany is taking her new Kodak Z812 and her video iPod to pull photos with, so she is not slumming it as much as I am for a change.

There are claims of internet access, so hopefully I’ll be able to update while I’m down there. It’s not going to be a live-blog by any means, but I want to at least post some twitter and a photo or two.

See you there!

 Mind you, my cell phone is worth more than the car I drive to work in. (It’s cheaper to keep it than to get rid of it.) I did sacrifice to get it. I am now chained for the next year and nine months to an uncaring, evil service provider that snoops on my connection for the government and would like to filter it for the entertainment industry.

But, there are times when it is well worth its pound of flesh and I have been know to not pull my laptop from its bag in the evening (gasp!) in favor of the iPhone for couch browsing. Even my beloved Wii couldn’t do that for me…

As and aside to John, Leopard is mostly great. Especially Time Machine. I’ve been using it since day one and it just works. (Although beware of large oft changed files such as Microsoft Entourage email database files and Parallels virtual disks. Exclude them and use a less frequent backup system for those types of files. Also, get a really big hard drive for backup.)

I know I sound like a cheerleader but Apple and the small developers who congregate around them make the best products around. I just don’t see the quality on the windows side. (Why can’t windows work as nicely as an Xbox 360? It boggles my mind.)

Slowly picking it up from the ground, I was relieved to see that the glass was intact and other than a few minor dings on the silver edging everything was intact.

Now that the first drop is out of the way, I think I can be more zen about it.

*The iPhone does not seem to have a degree symbol available in the soft keyboard. With as often as we all discuss the weather, global coordinates and geometric angles via our various digital devices one would think that would be no brainer.