As I mentioned on my birthday, the cell phone I've had for the past year stopped working when the lady doing my pedicure dropped it into the bowl of foot water. Rest in peace, my dear Sony Ericsson. Since then, I've waited patiently for the new iPhone 3G, which was backordered from AT&T, for quite a few weeks. Yes ladies and gentleman, I was cell phone-less for a few weeks. Actually just a few days, but I survived it! I'm a living example of life without technology (with the exception of my computer, internet, email, ipod, facebook, and television, but those don't count, riggghhhtt)? At any rate, on July 30th, I received my brand new, beautiful, shiny black iPhone 3G. And I haven't looked up from it since, with the exception of writing this blog (note how this is the first update since I got my phone) and while I'm driving (but I'll get to that in a minute).
IMPORTANT NOTE: Don’t be fooled by the lengths of the “good” versus the “bad and the ugly”. I spent more time focusing on the bad because the good is so good that there would have been no room in this blog for me to explain everything, so I simply listed things. The bad needed to be explained in more detail so that it can be better understood.
THE GOOD-- Practically everything!! Oh gosh, where to start? You needn't ask, "what DOES the iPhone do?" But instead ask, "what DOESN'T the iPhone do?" And the answer to that is, "not much"...
In addition to the replacing your ipod (you just upload all your music on your phone and plug in your headphones, which come with the phone), the iPhone comes with numerous useful features. To name a few: Email, calendar, notepad, weather information, iphoto, camera, stock updates, Safafi 3G Internet, calculator, maps, GPS with directions, clock with timer, alarms, stopwatch, and world clock, youtube, and a store where you can download and access practically anything you could ever need.
This store is called the "applications store" and these downloadable applications range from games, to hospital patient locators, restaurant, bar, gas station and grocery store locators, to flash cards to interactive beer glasses, to calorie counters and electronic personal trainers. The store is so filled with applications that it categorizes them to make them more user friendly. Categories: Books, Business, Education, Entertainment, Finance, Games, Healthcare and Fitness, Lifestyle, Music, Navigation, News, Photography, Productivity, Reference, Social Networking, Sports, Travel, Utilities, and Weather. Each one of these categories have up to 400 different helpful applications to choose from. It might seem a little overwhelming, but apple did a good job simplifying it so that it's user-friendly. Honestly, I could go on about the applications for hours, but that would be a waste of your time and a waste of my time that I could be spending playing with my new iPhone. So I'll get into the "bad" now...
THE BAD AND THE UGLY-- The iPhone 3G is a fabulous invention. With that said, like any newer technology, it has it's bugs (that's tech speak for software errors) and it's letdowns.
First of all, like I said, it's sold out all over the place. Many people have been trying to get the iPhone 3G since it first came out on July 21st but still haven't been able to acquire it. Also, once the phones do come back into stock, they're a pain to get your hands on. You need AT&T service for one thing, which eliminates a good part of the cell phone using population. Secondly, you need to activate the phone there in the apple or AT&T store, and be present for the activation. And there's the minor detail of the $200 it costs to buy the phone itself. The process of getting an iPhone 3G is, as of right now, a total pain the ass.
As far as bugs go, there are quite a few. The ones I've noticed the most are the crappy battery life, the random and annoying crashes where the apple icon comes up and stares you in the face, and the lack of a filter for shitty applications.
As far as the battery life goes, you can turn off the 3G when you're not using it and apparently that saves a lot of battery (I actually never use the 3G to be perfectly honest). Also, my phone having a short battery life is probably my own fault, since I'm constantly using it for more than just talking because it can do ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING. The random crashes are few, but annoying. They're not usually caused by normal phone use, but instead by faulty applications that I've downloaded on my own. Which brings me to the other bug I was going to talk about, the buggy applications. It's difficult to tell the smooth running ones from the buggy and pointless ones, and it doesn't appear that apple weeds through these very thoroughly. They could do a better job of this. It's very helpful to read reviews of applications before you buy them, so that you know weather or not you're going to be wasting your time, phone memory, and money (yes, many applications cost money, meh).
My main letdowns from the iPhone are its GPS system, email system, and the fact that I can't type while driving anymore (which probably isn't a horrible thing...).
The GPS works like mapquest.com, but a little bit better because it can determine your current location at the start of your journey. This is fine except for the fact that before I got the phone I had the unrealistic expectation that the iPhone's GPS would give me directions as I'm driving by talking to me (it's not that crazy, my friend's Razor cell phone does it!) and that it would correct my wrong turns. It doesn't talk to me, so I have to be looking down at my phone and reading directions as I drive, and press the "next" button to see the upcoming directions instead of having it all in front of me. And if I do take a wrong turn, the GPS doesn't react to it and try and help correct me. It just keeps the original directions on the screen. My friend's razor phone worked like a car GPS and corrected wrong turns, talked, and gave better directions. Needless to say, I was disappointed.
The iPhone's email system is frustrating because emails don't come to your phone automatically like they do with the blackberry, you have to get into your email and check for them and upload them. This is unpractical for anybody who constantly needs access to their email like many people in the working world do.
And as far as text messaging while driving goes, I probably shouldn't be doing it in the first place, but it's practically impossible with the iPhone. I could type on my old phone without even glancing down at it, but the iPhone's touch screen technology gives you no buttons as reference points. You need to look down at the screen to type a semi coherent message; it's just a fact.
OVERALL---
In conclusion, I would highly recommend the iPhone 3G. Yes, there are a few areas that need to be updated, but that will happen soon I’m sure. And well, I’m OBSESSED! The iPhone 3G gives me constant entertainment to the point where boredom is not an option. I don't know what I did before my iPhone, back when I was naive enough to think that all I needed in a phone was text messaging and phone calls. Not only can I make phone calls and send text messages, the iPhone’s applications help me do practically anything. Currently, my obsession is the application game “Enigmo”, which is well worth the $10 download, and the “iDrink” application which provides me with a lengthy list of my cocktail favorites with recipes, lets me create and edit my own drinks, and gives me an extensive alphabetized cocktail menu which is all perfect for a night out at the bars. Hey, a girl’s gotta unwind every once in a while, right?
Ta-ta for now,
Sarah
