The Modern Cell Phone Upgrade 


Upon visiting a very calm Apple store that was nowhere near as busy as the stores in my area, I got a real chance to play with the current generation of Apple Watch, and actually decided to buy one.   This decision was highly facilitated by the fact that I was on vacation, and by the fact as mentioned that this particular Apple store was not very buys, and I had plenty of time with a knowledgeable young lady to assist.

The chain of events that ensued was a real eye-opener in terms of the current IPhone upgrade process.

As to why I actually have been eyeing the Apple Watch for a while:   I've always been interested, but have grown averse to being an early adopter.   I was also leery of the fact that I can barely see a computer screen these days, much less something as small as the Watch.    I have not worn a watch for years for that simple reason.    However, I found that I could read the white-on-black clock faces easily - and also that the Watch is compatible with my Dexcom G5 blood sugar sensor, which I monitor frequently.  Doing so with the Watch is really convenient.   

With the new full cellular capability, I must admit it is hard to resist the "Joe Jitsu Calling Dick Tracy" aspect.    It is really amazing to watch the technologies foreseen by Hollywood come to life.

So:  Decision made, I purchased my Apple Watch.    I chose not to try to use or configure it while on vacation, and waited until we returned home.    As always, the unboxing ceremony once I sat down to set up the Watch was quite the experience:  You gotta love Apple packaging.   

The setup went along pretty smoothly:  The Watch paired with my Iphone 6s easily.    and I was able to walk through the whole process on the Iphone and did not have to use the small watch screen.

All went well until I went to set up the cellular part.    I received an error message that "My phone was not HD audio capable".    It gave me a hone number to call for Watch Support, which I did.    This was actually calling AT&T (my cell carrier).    I reached someone possibly from India, but who was again very professional and knowledgeable (and immediately available) - but who informed my that my Iphone 6S SIM card was not compatible with a functioned needed called "Number Syncing".

Ok.   So now I have to go get a new SIM card, which I clearly could not do at 9pm.        This also got me to thinking about finally replacing my 6S, which has been having a lot of problems and had been getting slower and slower.      I was slightly burned that the first young lady I worked with did not mention this could be a problem (she knew what kind of phone I had). 

The next day, I went first to the AT&T store to get a new SIM for teh 6S just in case I was not ready to get a new phone.   Again, worked with a terrific and knowledgeable young person that not only helped but gave me the new SIM free of charge. 

I then went to the Apple store.   My local Apple store (Alderwood Mall) was actually closing for 2 months the very next day for remodeling, and they had only one Iphone 8+ left, which was AT&T specific.   Perfect. 

For the next two hours, a young man named Spencer patiently helped me as we struggled through the upgrade process.   A lot has to happen to upgrade:

- Backing your data up to the Cloud
- Accessing many of the accounts you use with your phone.  In my case, this included my Apple account, my gmail account, my Dexcom account, the logins on one of my home Macs, my AT&T account, and one or two others I'm forgetting.    Bear in mind all of these accounts have different logins and passwords, all different and any of which would have stopped us in our tracks if I could not remember.     Had to go through the "lost password" procedure for Dexcom.
-  Many of those services also use 2-factor authentication, meaning they wanted to text me information on my phone for security purposes - yes, the phone that was being upgraded.
-   I had to upgrade both the Iphone and the Watch operating system software.
- Because I'd already started the Watch installation on my old phone, we actually had to unpair the Watch and start over on the new phone.  (Ultimately, I hd to do this again from home).
- Restoring your data from the Cloud

So what was the net?

Well, to actually use the Watch I purchased, I went through a full 24 hours of effort - probably taking at least 6 hours of my time to complete.    Thankfully, every one of my providers really gave me excellent service without which I'd have been hard put to complete the process.     Accessing all of the accounts and passwords were the most difficult parts.

As for the result - I'm pretty happy with the Watch, and definitely happy with the new PHone.    I opted for the Iphone 8+ over the Iphone 10 based on my nephew Christian's advice, and on feedback I've heard, especially around the face recognition tech.    I'll let others be the early adopter on that.    The performance of the new phone is truly amazing.

I have to say it is fun to wear a watch again.    I've used my phone as a watch for along time, but it's not that convenient.   Also, being able to monitor my blood sugar on the watch is very convenient and much easier.  I'm looking forward to tracking daily exercise on it as well.

I'm left wondering what future phone upgrades will look like for the average Joe.  As a (former) technology person, I have a lot of respect for everything that has to happen in order to transition from one device to another securely.    However, this seems far more complex than the last time I upgraded and I've owned every Iphone model since the 2 except the 7).     I was asked for my social security number 3 times by 3 different organizations in the process.

I was really struck by the expertise of the young folks that I worked with, and the natural ease with which they handled the issues that we encountered.   I was also struck by the staggering escalation of the costs of the devices.    Perhaps this just reflects the increasing role they play in our daily lives.

The only data that I know was lost in the transfer was the local Dexcom data - but that's not important, since it is stored in the Cloud for reporting purposes.   

When you're purchasing a new device, be sure to ask good questions about whether that device will work with everything you already have.    When you're upgrading to the next generation, be prepared with all of your accounts and passwords, you'll need them - and set aside time to go through the process if you want to get back to where you were!

Now I understand my friends that are still on their Iphone 4's and 5's.....