Quick iPhone Update

Just a quick update to let you know that I posted a follow-up to the previous post (iPhone Impressions) over at http://www.vxrs.com

iPhone Impressions, One Month Later

So it’s been a month since I stood in line that was too long to purchase my 16GB iPhone, and I’ve been putting it through its paces.  I even messed around with jailbreaking it.  (short answer: not worth it for me)  Overall, I am very pleased with the device!  Would I recommend it to all of my friends?  No, actually I probably wouldn’t.  This is the perfect device for those folks who are used to carrying a PDA of some sort and are looking to consolidate devices.   If you’re just looking for a replacement cell phone then the iPhone is most likely overkill.  With the addition of a few apps from the App Store,  I’ve now completely replaced both my trusted palm pilot as well as my Motorola RAZR with the iPhone.

Using the  3G network to check email and browse the web is not as fast as I would like, but it is definitely useable.  It was a fantastic companion when I flew to Las Vegas last month allowing me to alternately read some great fiction by Cory Doctorow,  listen to some of my favorite classical music and get caught up on some old episodes of Doctor Who.  Battery life has been great; I don’t think I’ve seen the meter drop below 50% once in the past month.

The phone portion works great for me.  I’ve been primarily on the 3G network when using the phone (usually with the included earbuds) and I’ve been quite pleased with the sound quality.  To me the call-quality is every bit as good as the Motorola RAZR that it replaced.

The one feature (if you could call it that) that I loved about my palm pilot was the abundance of third-party apps.  The iPhone’s 2.0 firmware and the App Store bring an abundance of third party applications for my downloading pleasure!  I can even browse and download new applications directly from the iPhone.   I wish it was that simple with my old palm pilot!  I’ve downloaded, used then deleted several dozen applications and there are now just a handful (five to be exact) that I use the most.

My top five favorite apps so far:

1. Pandora (free)
   Streaming internet audio while I drive to work! I plug my iPhone into a cassette adapter, fire up Pandora, choose one of my stations and I get to enjoy and discover new music! Because of this app I no longer feel the need to sync more than a handful of songs via iTunes. With Pandora, I always have a great selection of music available anytime.
2. MobileFinder($2.99)
   Once a loooong time ago, I made the switch from using the Palm Memo application to using plain text files to maintain all of my notes and memos. Boy, has that decision ever paid off! This app not only provides an ftp server on my iPhone to transfer files back and forth, it also allows me to edit and create text-based files!  How could this be better?  How about adding scp file transfers instead of or in addition to the ftp server.   Maybe add the ability to assign a username/password to the ftp connection?  At least the server is only on for a very short time while I actually transfer the files from my desktop, but I’d feel so much better if the connection was encrypted.
3. Stanza (free)
   With all the talk about no one reading anymore, I was really concerned that I was not going to be able to find a suitable replacement for Mobipocket. Stanza is turning out to be quite a fine e-book reader! It handles the simple comforts like being able to change font and background colors to providing an online catalog that you can access from the application to download free books from Feedbooks, The BBC, Wired Magazine and others.
4. Twittelator (free)
   This is one of several twitter clients available, and so far it’s my favorite; narrowly beating out Twitterific. I like the fact that it can post my current location via Twitter (although I almost never use this feature)
5. WeatherBug (free)
   The built-in weather app is nice, but I like looking at the radar maps and this app has them!  (you have to pinch-out and center the world-map on your location; not sure why this isn’t automatic, but maybe in a future release it will be)

I haven’t added an ssh client yet.  There are now at least three apps available purporting to be good ssh clients, but each one seems to have its drawbacks of one kind or another.  Since I haven’t had the need to connect to a command line lately, I’m waiting for these apps to go through a round of updates to see how (or if) they mature before making a purchase there.

Adventures in iPhone Land.

When the iPhone launched last year, I promised myself that I would wait until the 3G version came out before I took the plunge.  You see, I use a pda (Palm Pilot TX) on a daily basis for such things as checking email, reading ebooks (a lot), watching the occasional video, tracking todos and maintaining a large list of text files (think ‘memos’ on steroids)   Besides the pda, I also carry around a 20GB ipod photo for listening to music and podcasts during my daily commute, which can end up being nearly two hours round trip on very bad days.   And of course, I always always always have my cellphone with me no matter what.

So there is a certain logic in yearning for a convergent device that rolls all of the  necessary functionality into just one, shiny little object.  I wouldn’t need to lug around three different devices (all with separate charging needs, no less) and lighten my load, so to speak.   I’ve kept a close eye on the iPhone developments over the past year (including the whole ‘jailbreak’ thing) but after seeing how quickly the new 3G version sold out, I realized it would probably be a few months before I finally got my hands on one.

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