Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Top Ten iPhone Observations

It's been a week since I posted, but for a change I have a good reason. And by good, I mean great.

[clears throat]

I finally, and I mean FINALLY got an iPhone. "It's about time," you are probably thinking to yourself. Indeed it is. And so, I spent the last week learning about my new toy, and have come to the following ten conclusions.

10) The lack of tactile keys is not my favorite feature. In fact, had AT&T offered a decent Android phone with tactile keys, it would have probably tipped the scales in favor of it. That being said, the on-screen keyboard for the iPhone is intelligent enough to redeem itself.

9) On a related note, I forgot how well my old touch knew me. It's so odd having to remember to get rid of their suggestion when I type a word like shabbos, yeshivish, heimishe, or even something as basic as shidduchim or shadchan. (Well, ok, it learned Shidduch pretty quickly.)

8) In some ways, going from an iPod touch to an iPhone is barely any different. Web browser? The same. Email? The same. Favorite Apps? The same. But when you take my favorite gadget in the world, add a phone, texting and a camera, how could anything go wrong?

7) Up until a week ago, as I left my house in the morning, I frantically checked google reader, twitter and my email, because that was it for most of the day. Now, I don't have to do that. I can check all of those, and more, calmly and peacefully all the way to work. And every time I'm on hold. And during my coffee break. And...

6) Oddly, not having to search for wifi to do all of the web-based stuff I want to do has made me LESS addicted, not more as I feared. I guess it makes sense. I don't need to worry that I might miss the only good wifi for hours.

5) Texting on my iPhone doesn't feel like texting. It feels more like IMing or something.

4) I love having a decent camera on my phone. My old phone had the poorest quality camera you can imagine. Now I need a free app that will allow me to post blog posts with pictures.

3) It requires a lot of self control not to pay for apps. See, spending $20 is not something you do without blinking, but 99 cents? You can do that twenty times easily.

2) It can be a little bit annoying not to have tactile send/end keys. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but gosh it was frustrating when I tried to hang up the phone dramatically, but pressed the home button instead, so I didn't even wind up hanging up at all.

1) It was a hideous stroke of irony buying nice warm gloves on the same day that I bought my iPhone. I'm guessing the summer will be easier- I hate having to chose between warmth and my phone. Because I'm sure you all know which I chose...

15 comments:

Dude with hat (aka BTS) said...

Welcome to the club! And you can make small holes for your finger tips if you want to combine warmth with iPhone.
Sometime ago I've got for BlogPressLite - it supports blogspot nly and was free, but they probably discontinued the lite version since then.

Something Different said...

BTS- hey, welcome back! Haven't seen u around here in ages! I don't want to make holes in my gloves. Someone just sent me a link to these little discs that you can put in your gloves- I might order them...
I actually have blogpress lite. I downloaded it when I first got my itouch- and I love it! I'm always looking for suggestions for other good FREE apps tho.

Rachel said...

I couldn't even make it to the last paragraph: soooo jealous. I have a Touch, but nobody to foot an iPhone bill. I figure that with a Touch and an iMac, living without an iPhone would still be bearable.

Something Different said...

iRiR-Heh. The last Paragraph wasn't even positive. Lol.

I never realized how much easier life would be with an iPhone, until I got one. On the otter hand, my computer is an HP, so you can't be as jealous.

Anonymous said...

Ipnones are cool but I need my tactile keyboard and BBM. Waiting for the Torch to come to sprint!

Rachel said...

Regarding your last point: You can always flick around your iPhone with your nose, if you don't want frostbitten hands. Works like a charm, except when you're on a bus and the people around you can't figure out if you're doing some sort of religious bonding with your device...

ABG said...

If your commute involves the subway or other locations out of a reception area, I'd recommend an app like Byline or Reeder that downloads all your Google Reader items for offline viewing.

Anonymous said...

So, so jealous. And still mad at you cause you won't give me your touch. But I'll forgive you....soon. LOL.

Something Different said...

Beheima- I thought you wanted an android?

iRiR- I thought of that. Unfortunately, I don't think that would go over well in public. I might use my nose to pick up/hang up a call while I'm driving with gloves tho.

ABG- thank heavens there is no part of my commute that involves a lack of reception. I am thrilled to accept other good app suggestions tho.

Morah Mamela- I never knew you were delusional. Hmm.

Anonymous said...

@somethingdifferent I was considering an android, but nothing beats bbm and the blackberry keyboard when you have to type alot. Plus the Torch has a 5mp camera w/flash (my curve had no flash). Aaaand the guy we got the blackberries from got us the data plan for free somehow so I think we need to stick to that....

stp said...

To answer #1: They sell special gloves which can be used together with your iPhone (heat sensored tips?)

http://www.topiphoneresource.info/best-iphone-gloves/

Rachel said...

STP - Your link didn't work for me, but when I googled "iphone gloves" the ones coming up are like at least $19.95 - who would spend that much on gloves?

In case anyone's interested - iPhone gloves only take into account the thumb and index fingers. So if you use other fingers (like when playing a game or drawing), don't even bother.

Soul Comfort said...

Congratulations on aquiring an iphone!
Though I have absolutely nothing inside of me wishing for this, i'm glad you do.

Something Different said...

Someone just emailed me a link to conductive thread that you can sew into the fingertips of your gloves to use em with a touchscreen. :-D
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9384

itsagift said...

#1 Reminds me of the time I was walking home from work in the freezing cold holding my gloves in my hands while texting a friend. My eyes got teary (because it was quite freezing out) and I was just laughing to myself at how pathetic I probably looked - this poor girl walking down the street texting away while crying...he he!

These comments are so fun!!