So here I am, up in what is basically the middle of the night (at least for me) because my son Alexander keeps waking up. I've spent a lot of time tonight sitting in the rocking chair in his room, using my iPhone. I absolutely LOVE my iPhone (I got it two weeks ago for my birthday) and I was wondering if there were any fellow iPhone lovers out there.
Why do I love my
iPhone? It reminds me of the evening more than 15 years ago when I discovered the chat room/IMs on AOL. With AOL, I realized I had the power to connect to other people at any time. It was an amazing feeling. My iPhone feel similar, only now I have the power to connect to the Internet at any time. Sure, I have a laptop with wi-fi, but it's cumbersome to use anywhere other than a desk or table. And Dave has a PDA with wi-fi access, but its web browser is severely limited. On the iPhone, I see the web the way I see it on my desktop computer, only smaller (of course). It's just SO easy to use. It's so small I can carry it in my pocket around the house. It's so comfortable to use and hold. In days bygone, I could spend hours on end at my computer. But as a mom, I can't -- and the ability to check in and keep in touch whenever is a REAL help to me.
Now I can check the boards (including make posts and access admin functions), work on our photo archive, e-mail anybody, look up stuff in Google (one of my favorite things to do), watch videos, listen to music, etc. etc. .. all from my iPhone.
The cell phone feature is cool, too -- when I get a call from someone in my contacts list, it pops up with a big photo of them on the screen! And the voice mail feature is extremely convenient -- nothing like my old cell phone which used to drink me bonkers and I'd never bother to check my voice mail. I don't use my cell phone much at home, however, so it's really secondary to the Internet features of the iPhone.
And, of course, the iPhone is a very nifty iPod, too. I never bothered to get an iPod before, so it's fun to use that feature of my iPhone. I have a bunch of my classical and Disney CDs on it now. I picked up an inexpensive iPod clock radio (iHome), and now I can listen to the music of my choice in the evening while my iPhone recharges.
I could just go on and on about how amazing this little device is. I thought it would be cool -- I've been using Apple products since 1988 (all the PassPorter books have been created with a Mac) -- but I didn't expect to fall in love with it.
Here are some of the things I've been able to do with it so far that would have been impossible or very unlikely before (based on what tools I had):
* Get fast, turn-by-turn directions to the cider mill when I got lost driving around with Alexander
* Reach out to Allie via text messages whenever I feel like it (I suppose I had the ability to text on my old cell phone, but what a drag -- it's SO EASY on the iPhone and it keeps the messages all threaded so it's easy to see what was said previously). I think Allie and I have exchanged over 200 text messages so far!
* Read high-priority e-mails as soon as they arrive, even if I'm not at my computer or on my laptop (I set up a forward function for certain e-mails so I'd get them on my iPhone)
* Watch Weird Al Yankovich videos on YouTube in the bathroom ... while Alexander takes a bath! LOL! Oh, Alexander and I watched some DCL videos on YouTube the other night, too.
* E-mail tech support when there's a problem or question, meaning I can get the e-mail out faster in some cases.
* Search Google whenever I have a question about something. Yesterday I looked up castor oil while sitting in a restaurant (always wondered why people used it) and the translation of "Buca di Beppo" ("Joe's Basement") while driving home in the car. I love that I can do it when the fancy strikes, because I often I forget by the time I get back to my computer.
* Take impromptu photos of Alexander and send them to Allie's cell phone. I didn't have a camera cell phone before, so this is new for me. Also, having the camera on the iPhone means I take more photos as I don't always have my camera on me. Here's a photo I took of Alexander yesterday at Greenfield Village:
The list goes continues. I've had other "gadgets" -- I had the first Apple PDA (the Newton), a MagicLink, a Palm PDA -- but none of those things approach the functionality of this little black tablet.
Oh, and it fits in my
PassHolder Pouch! Believe it or not, I can even fit it into the very small pocket on the back I usually hold my FastPasses in (though I put it in the big velcro pocket instead). I should note that I didn't get a rubber case for my iPhone as I couldn't slide it in and out of my PassHolder Pouch -- instead, I got a black Agent 18 hard case which is working very well.
I really do heart iPhone!
