Since October, I took the plunge and got an iPhone.
The negatives?
- Price. Not a cheap piece of equipment unless you tie it into a contract.
- Price. When you add up what you are paying for your Data plan, plus your existing monthly plan, you are looking at close to $100 a month.
- Battery life. You need to charge the phone every night. I have almost run out of charge before I have returned home for the evening.
- The lack of tactile buttons (especially raised buttons) allows for many errors when navigating/typing/looking for contacts.
The positives? Even after all the negatives that I listed along with the recognition that it is a shiny toy, it is nevertheless a phone that I immensely enjoy. I know business users lean towards a Blackberry, but having never used a Blackberry before, I love the way the iPhone essentially acts like a mini-laptop for me.
-Seamless integration. Since I already have a Macbook, I love how I can sync my calendar off of my computer with my iPhone and everything backs up automatically through iTunes. I have found that I have become immensely more organized, since my iPhone acts as my daily agenda planner and it makes it easy to enter in appointments and dates immediately. I also enter phone # and emails right way, thus eliminating the need to collect those stupid business cards that I inevitably lose and then have to spend time trying to find.
-Where I think the iPhone excels over the Blackberry is the wealth of Applications available to download. Now I can even download Applications through my iPhone so I don't have to connect to my computer. I think I only sync with my laptop once a week or so. My favourite app is ShopShop, which I used to generate a grocery list each week. It is free, simple to use, and extremely handy. You can even email your grocery list to other people in your family.
Other apps I like? I find that I read tons of news now off of the NYTimes app, and the Maps app is amazing. You simply type in the address and the GPS locator will track your iphone and you just simply follow the directions.
-Access to email. You can't set-up your Hotmail account easily, but I love being able to see/send emails from my accounts at any time.
-Sports updates. As a sports fanatic, I can always check what the scores out from wherever I am.
-Having access to the Internet. I love it when I am searching for some store or I need to find store hours that I can do so now instantaneously. And if a phone number is listed on the webpage, I can just tap it and automatically the phone will start dialing.
-Voice recorder/notes: I am able to make lists as soon as something pops up into my head.
-Music. If you love music like I do, it is great having an iPod with you all the time, since you have your cell phone on you all the time. No more carrying around two items. As well, when I have gone on some long trips, I have converted some of my DVDs into mp4 form, so I can watch the movie off of my iPhone. Wall-E looks amazing even on the small iPhone screen.
For me this last part about music and movies, makes me recognize how my iPhone will now shape my entertainment tastes. I am completely in charge of what I want to listen to. No more Team 1040 or bad radio all the time. Now I can listen to radio streaming onto my iPhone using F Stream at anytime (Thanks Cam for that one).
I am able to hook up my iPhone to my car stereo system and now I just listen to podcasts driving into work and I kid you not, my commute is so much more enjoyable. These days I like to listen to Bill Simmons' podcast and Adam Corolla's podcast. Please note that Adam Corolla's podcast will offend many of you, but I like to listen to humorous conversation while I am driving.
Adam Corolla's podcast does represent a new world of entertainment because of these smart phones. Corolla was the host of a popular morning radio station (I would listen to it on 107.7) but CBS cut the program due to budget considerations. Since Corolla is getting paid for the remainder of his contract, he decided just to podcast from his home. No censors, no sponsors, and completely free, fans have flocked to his podcast as he now is the #1 download on iTunes.
Podcasts aren't new, but now, I like how I can download podcasts, like CBC Radio 3 and NPR (excellent sources for music) immediately. Before I would have to sync things through a laptop and my iPod, which unless you do everyday makes many of the podcasts obsolete by the time you download. Now I can grab them at any time. Or I can just listen to them through a website through the iPhone Safari browser.
I like that I have ultimate choice of what I listen to. My most mundane chores (laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning) become less mundane, because of what I can listen to. I like that I can watch video podcasts of specific things (I am into cooking videos these days) or find recipes while at the grocery store.
As you can see I am impressed by the iPhone. For such an early version, I am amazed at how seamless it works. As I walk down the street listening to music through my headphones, a call comes in and the music fades out and I just have to click the one button remote on the headphones to answer.
And all these positives above are tied into one of my negatives: Battery life.
That particular negative is a bit misleading, because now my phone is not just a phone. I use it for a multitude of things throughout the day which means the battery takes a pounding everyday.
Complete unnecessary piece of technology? Yes. But I can't imagine going back to a regular cell phone.
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