The iPhone and a History of Poor Life Choices

I bought my iPhone in the early summer of 2009. It was a standard 3G machine that was already pseudo-obsolete before I walked out the door, thanks to the brand new 3GS model that I had left behind on the shelf, just outside my price range. Along with the costly additional AppleCare coverage that I would end up never using, I exited the AT&T store stage right, and decidedly poorer.

As I drove home, I imagined the myriad things I could do with my fancy new future-brick: the games I would play, the apps I would use to improve every facet of my life, the exponential increase of efficiency I would enjoy. Perhaps my iPhone would help me learn guitar. Perhaps it could help me solve all those differential calculus problems I’d been putting off. Perhaps it could raise my children. These were the things that the advertising and enthusiastic associate had promised to me, and by “promised” I mean “implied.”

Over the coming months I mostly enjoyed my iPhone, but with constantly diminishing returns on the investment. The little things bothered me more and more by the day. The limited space and unexpandable memory. The dropped calls. The diminishing battery life. The constant upgrade of iPhone products that made my machine more and more antiquated. The simple sense that the day before I bought my 3G, people had basically stopped making apps and games that worked well on it. By the beginning of this year, I could have been convinced that my phone had been nicked from a history museum as an emblem of antiquated technology. I was using a phone designed perhaps by da Vinci—artistically sound but wholly impractical. I imagined wall paintings of cavemen glaring sternly under protruding, Cro-Magnon brows at their 3G iPhone, trying to reconnect a dropped call.

So, when it came time to finally upgrade my phone, I have to be honest. I never for a second considered buying an iPhone again. In fact, I seriously considered abandoning the smartphone revolution altogether.

I dimly recall my very first cell phone. It was relatively small, a dense piece of technology with plastic, squishy number buttons and all the functionality of your basic, modern, cordless phone. It basically did two things: send and receive phone calls. This was the best cell phone I have ever owned.

I was a grudging adopter of cellular technology. I barely answer my home phone as it is, perennial call screener that I am, so why on Earth would I want to make myself more available? To this day I don’t believe I’ve ever used anywhere near the minutes allotted me on a cell plan. If there was some kind of buyback policy for a phone provider, where they would refund a certain part of your bill if you didn’t use up their precious network, I would immediately sign up with that carrier and save up my savings to buy a boat or a small moon.

My biggest issue though, is that these devices seem to consistently encourage their owners to make terrible decisions. Setting aside the fact that I could have financed a used car with the money I’ve spent on the phones and subscriptions over the years, the more sophisticated the devices become the more I am encouraged to inconvenience or even openly endanger others to attend to its needy alerts. Worse yet, in the dazzling light of technological advancement, I was tricked—tricked, I tell you!—into believing that these annoying little machines had suddenly become an absolute necessity.

This is a lie!

First of all, at this point I’d like to thank you for sticking with my anecdotes as I toured a leisurely Sunday drive to the point, but I’m happy to report that we’ve finally arrived. I realize that I am positing a theory that’s probably more appropriate in Grizzled Grandparents Weekly between a review of the lunch buffet at Kountry Kitchen and an expose on the 14 Things Kids Want To Do on Your Lawn, and if I’m alone on the point that’s fine, but overall I have to say that my cell phones have almost universally been a negative impact on my life, and the more they do the more I think we’ve taking a horrible left at Albuquerque when we clearly should have taken a right.

But, before I lose you entirely, let me go ahead and say that I think the coming tablet revolution is where we should have been going this whole time. For all the negatives I can think of to say about my iPhone and other smart phones, on the flip side I completely get the value of the iPad, because all of that media consumption, all of that game playing and all of that browsing makes so much more sense in the context of where those machines can be used and what they can actually do.

I had the first niggling hint of this theory on the night I first owned my iPhone, called up a YouTube video and wondered when the hell I would ever try to watch a YouTube video on my phone again. Hey, that’s great that I can watch Iron Man 2 in line at the bank, but why the hell would I want to? I can’t even see it.

When it comes right down to it, I don’t need to check my Twitter feed while waiting for the red light to change, and damn you Steve Jobs, et al. for giving me the opportunity to do so. My smart phones have consistently given me the horrible and tempting freedom to make terrible life decisions. I have, on numerous occasions and completely without irony, driven past roadside accidents likely caused in whole or in part by irresponsible phone use, while irresponsibly using a phone myself. And, I don’t just mean moments where I’m asking my wife what she wants from the store, but times where I am trying for what may be minutes at a time to find the podcast I want to listen to from a list of a billion.

The reality as far as I can tell, is that almost any time where it would have been appropriate for me to have the full benefit of my smart phone is a time I might have had a tablet with me anyway. An airplane, a trip, relaxing on the couch while my kids watch something offensively terrible on Nick Jr., these are all times I’d have been as likely to have a tablet as a phone. And, the fact is, the experience would probably be better as a whole.

All that said, I did still end up getting a new smart phone—a Motorolla Atrix—but that is because I am a weak minded consumerist. What I have tried to do, however, is change the way I am approaching the machine. It’s not a game machine, nor a visual media player, nor my alternative for getting online. It isn’t a book reader. It isn’t a toy. It isn’t a medium for entertainment.

It is, it turns out, a really fancy phone that can check my work e-mails and occasionally play a song. As long as I can hold the line on that front, I think my new phone and I are at the start of a beautiful friendship.

Comments

If it hadn't been for my Droid, I'd never have played Pokemon Emerald whilst sitting on the toilet. No, I don't care that there are other ways I could have played it, I'd never have done it.

Toilet Pokemon! What else do you need?

wordsmythe wrote:
Dysplastic wrote:
PyromanFO wrote:

So much of what we do on a daily basis is determined by the choices in technology we make. If I didn't have a car, I wouldn't spend alot of time outside of a 1 mile radius from my house, for instance. If I owned an airplane, I would commute more by air.

I don't want to be a contrarian just for the sake of defending my platform of choice but I feel like this is backwards. I feel like the choices in technology I make is determined by what I WANT to do on a daily basis.

Just a guess, but I bet it works both ways. You can buy a car because you need to drive to work, but then having the car lets you also drive to other places, maybe for a weekend trip or to check out that new restaurant in the next town—and I doubt you'll feel compelled to save the car only for your work commute.

Exactly, the idea that we're all completely unaffected by the technologically-enabled choices available to us seems like a pleasant ideal but it doesn't track in reality. I'm not arguing that you think the TV and computer are superior video platforms to an iPad when you don't own one, I'm saying that if you own one and you're sitting there on the couch with one I find it hard to believe you wouldn't watch video on it. Also, I think doing that a couple of times would change your mind about which platform is superior for watching video. Partially because I think the iPad is actually really great for watching video, but also because I think owning an iPad opens you up to possibilities you didn't have before which would help change your mind.

The idea that watching video on your computer is better than hypothetically watching video on your iPad is all fine and good, but when you've got an iPad sitting in your lap it's a different story.

Hmm, I think you may be confused. If you dont want/need/use all the bells and whistles of the latest phones (and I dont either), then why did you need a new phone at all? Maybe I missed that.

If all you want is a simple phone that makes phone calls, can check email and play a song... then you already had one. That's about what I do on the ORIGINAL iPhone and it does that just fine. I dont understand why you got a new phone at all.

For me, I use SMS, check my calendar from work, and make an occasional phone call and play an occasional game in boring meetings at work. Pretty basic stuff and I was able to do that just fine with the original v1 iPhone with its super-cheap data plan. After years with the v1, I recently got a white iPhone v4 - and I do the same things as before but a little faster and I pay more money.

Some people have trouble with dropped calls on ATT. I dont think that is a phone problem as much as an ATT problem but some phones may well have stronger antenna.

So save your money by keeping your existing phone and spent it on a snazzy iPad.

PyromanFO wrote:

The idea that watching video on your computer is better than hypothetically watching video on your iPad is all fine and good, but when you've got an iPad sitting in your lap it's a different story.

True enough, but my hypothetical idea still saves me from having to pop 400-600 dollars on an iPad even if I'm wrong, and aren't I just as happy?

In all seriousness, I acknowledge that the two forces drive each other, but what scared me about what you were implying is technology becoming an end in of itself, and people finding reasons to need something when they actually don't, and making justifications as a result. I'm not saying that's what you're doing, I'm just taking your argument to a somewhat frightening extreme.

But ultimately, that's what early adopters are for - they buy, you try.
Unfortunately, I still haven't been able to play with an iPad for any extended amount of time that would change my mind on it.

What Dysplastic said was going to be my question as well because the way I read it (and I very well could have read it wrong) is that the only reason I don't think watching video on an iPad is better is because I don't own one and therefore don't "get it". That strikes me as a rather elitist response that many associate with Apple fanbois. I've watched video on an iPad and I can say with certainty (even though I don't own one) that watching the same video on my 42" plasma with my 5.1 system is superior in every measurable way. That's just for me of course and like I said, I probably read it wrong.

I have a BlackBerry Bold 9780 which was provided by my work. The actual service is too so I'm fortunate enough to not have to pay for my cell phone this way. At home, I have my main desktop and my work laptop which I use in the living room to do e-mail, browse, IM, Twitter etc. I've also got a ton of Steam games that work well on it. I've played with iPhones and with newer Android phones and seen many very cool things that they can do. But the more I've thought of it, the less I can understand why I'd need one. From a phone perspective, BlackBerry is great for me. It's a good phone, a top shelf e-mail, calendar and contacts device and great for stuff like Twitter. Their app landscape is barren but I don't really find myself caring. The few apps I do like such as Evernote, MyFitnessPal, The Weather Network, LastPass etc. all have very decent BlackBerry versions. My 9780 is also super stable, goes 2-3 days on a battery charge and is very fast. It's a decent audio device too. If I need to look something up online, the BlackBerry browser isn't great and the screen is small but it can display just about any site fine and I'm always able to get the info I need. Would I use the web for much more with a bigger touch screen? I really don't think so. Everything non-gaming I would do with an iPad at home my HP 6555b laptop does better, faster and all at once if I want. Yeah, it's bigger, heavier and hotter than an iPad but I don't find it uncomfortable. I've always raised an eyebrow in confusion when I hear people say things like "Surfing the web is a whole new experience on my iPad compared to my laptop!"

The key differentiator between this and iOS/Android of course is games. I'm a hardcore-ass hardcore gamer. I own all the consoles, a gaming PC which is getting upgraded this Fall and I spend a lot of money every year on a lot of games. For a long time, I was set on buying an iPad when I was financially able, principally to use for games. But I've played and seen many iOS games and I just don't get the big deal. Yeah, there's some neat stuff and the indie scene is thriving on it but most of the games are disposable experiences. That may be great for many but I like games with depth and scope that are memorable. I may be able to buy 20 iOS games for the cost of say a PS Vita game but a 10 hour game on that platform versus 20 iOS games that will have been forgotten after 30 minutes or less seems more appealing to me. Yeah, the 3DS and Vita are not practical to keep on you at all times but neither is an iPad and my backpack is with me almost everywhere I go. Plus I can buy both of those systems for the cost of the cheapest iPad (or something close to that) and I won't have to replace them in two years so newer games will work decently (not sure if this will happen with the iPad but it did with the iPhone).

As others have said though, I guess this all comes down to lifestyle. I don't fault anyone who prefers a certain platform for a task over another. I do fault the people (largely hardcore Apple fans I'm sorry to say) who look down on those who don't see these devices as the only way to compute or choose to do it another way, assuming they just "don't get it" or "just hate Apple". I have a myriad of other tablet choices and I'm no more interested in those. Our marketing lady at work (who is a die-hard Cult of Steve member) has been pushing hard to get the company to buy her an iPad, saying how much more productive it would make her. Every time I ask her to justify it, she gives me reasons to which every response is "Your laptop can do that now and we already paid for it." I think tablets are cool and will be the way a lot of computing gets done in the future but I find so many people talking up how they change everything, yet they can't really give a definitive reason why they make the things they talk up so much easier, like laptops were somehow so much harder to use. I suppose in this regard, maybe I don't in fact "get it" but I've been using computers daily since the Commodore 64 and have seen and embraced my fair share of change over the years. "Fear of the new" isn't my issue.

I think a lot of the whole smartphone thing is based on lifestyle. From the article it sounds like you drive a lot, and obviously you've got to be pretty dumb to try to use a phone while behind the wheel (it's certainly illegal over here, anyway).

I think I agree about the iPad being a good alternative, though. iPad gaming (Ticket to Ride and Carcassone are my current addictions) has completely replaced my DS and PSP. I haven't used either of them in so long I think I've lost their chargers.

PyromanFO wrote:
It is, it turns out, a really fancy phone that can check my work e-mails and occasionally play a song. As long as I can hold the line on that front, I think my new phone and I are at the start of a beautiful friendship.

My iPad has relegated my iPhone to exactly this position, and I think it is a much healthier relationship with the phone. It plays music, it plays podcasts, it checks email/twitter/facebook in a pinch. I don't play games on it or browse the web unless I'm just absolutely desperate. The iPad has replaced so much of the functionality of my iPhone (and my PC) that I just don't care about my phone anymore.

I'm seriously probably going to ditch my iPhone and get a $25 a month plan on an Android phone and be done with it. I'm done with cellphone contracts for $80 a month and $299 buy-in just so I can have the privilege of watching YouTube when I really shouldn't be.

My sentiments down to the letter. My contract ends in July. Here I come, Virgin Mobile!

Zelos wrote:

I think I agree about the iPad being a good alternative, though. iPad gaming (Ticket to Ride and Carcassone are my current addictions) has completely replaced my DS and PSP. I haven't used either of them in so long I think I've lost their chargers.

I wish I could say the same about my iPhone. I've bought probably 50 $1 games and played all but five of them for less than ten minutes.

There's definitely lifestyle issues at play here.

I transit a lot, typically an hour and a half per day. I work a physical labour job - PC access while working then is largely non-existent, and I'm spending my workdays on my feet. It's wonderful to be able to read a book, catch an episode of a show I'm interesting in, or browse the "newspaper"(re: RSS reader) anytime I want, without having to carry around a bagful of stuff.

iPads, tablets? Non starter for me, because they don't fit in my pocket.

Interestingly, the phone part of my iPhone is the part I use the least. My original phone, a iPhone3G (when they were first released), I had for two years. In those two years my total talk time was approximately 5 hours. I'd have gotten an iPod instead but for the lack of 3G - wifi isn't useful to my while on transit or at work.

Having one - a pocket-sized smartphone with a solid, usable browser etc, has literally changed my life. Yesterday, for example, I stopped in at a store to buy a breast pump - one of those "new parent" things you find out suddenly that you need, but would have never thought of before. Being able to do a quick google-search on each brand at the store, read reviews before buying, helped me avoid buying one with about 70% bad reviews due to the motor failing. I'd have bought that model otherwise, and it's extremely difficult to return such things. Instead, I was able to get one that I'd normally have never looked twice at but had a vast supply of excellent reviews.

Sure, planning beforehand is great, but at least for me it never works out well. I'm not enormously organized by nature, and tend to be highly impulsive. My pocket-sized PC helps me to actually organize myself a bit and ensure I do the research I should be doing, even when making impulsive purchases.

I skipped the 3GS, have an iPhone 4 now, and it's still wonderful. My wife uses my old 3G - and it still works great, though she can't get new software for it, all the old apps she used still work just fine.

Not to push iOS vs Android - I honestly think it just doesn't matter.

I have zero interest in a smartphone and my wife had to force a cellphone on me. Old fashioned I guess.

Also, with regards to life choices: Using a phone while driving, etc... That's not the device's fault. People just need to learn to use the technology responsibly. It's entirely new, so it's not at all surprising that people haven't really adapted yet to using it well.

For example, I've heard complaints about phone GPS because it makes drivers do stupid things. Phone GPS is outstanding, so useful. You never get lost, even in a strange city. You never need to rely on some well-meaning persons completely useless directions. "Yeah, then turn right at the big yellow sign". But you need to learn to use it properly, not staring at it when you should be looking at the road, or blindly taking turns without ensuring that you're actually allowed to turn somewhere (maps - gps, online, offline, whatever, are not always accurate!) etc. People managed to learn to use maps properly, after all, this is no different. It's just a learning process.

I can't speak for the rest of Canada, but in Ontario it's illegal to have an electronic device in your hands while driving. So you need to do the bluetooth for calls, or pull over to text. If memory serves, they banned it because it's worse than drunk driving (not fatality-wise, but individual driver performance-wise; a drunk driver will drive better than a driver who is texting).

In other news, I think GPS navigation is splendid, especially when you have a passenger to act as navigator.

Like others have said, it comes down to your lifestyle/job. I work full-time from home and almost never travel (I've only had to visit my employer's headquarters two times in the nearly four years I've worked for them). I also choose not to use Facebook or Twitter. Add to that the fact that I'm not a handheld gamer (primarily PC, sometimes 360), and I have no need for an iphone or android phone.

Blind_Evil wrote:

My sentiments down to the letter. My contract ends in July. Here I come, Virgin Mobile!

I've been a Virgin Mobile customer for several years, and I've been perfectly happy the whole time. They recently added two android phones to their service (LG Optimus V and Samsung Intercept), and while I've been tempted, I simply can't jusify the ~$200 price tag knowing I'll use only a small fraction of the additional features/apps that are available on them.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

I'm a hardcore-ass hardcore gamer.

Sig'd!

Enjoy.

Blind_Evil wrote:
PyromanFO wrote:
It is, it turns out, a really fancy phone that can check my work e-mails and occasionally play a song. As long as I can hold the line on that front, I think my new phone and I are at the start of a beautiful friendship.

My iPad has relegated my iPhone to exactly this position, and I think it is a much healthier relationship with the phone. It plays music, it plays podcasts, it checks email/twitter/facebook in a pinch. I don't play games on it or browse the web unless I'm just absolutely desperate. The iPad has replaced so much of the functionality of my iPhone (and my PC) that I just don't care about my phone anymore.

I'm seriously probably going to ditch my iPhone and get a $25 a month plan on an Android phone and be done with it. I'm done with cellphone contracts for $80 a month and $299 buy-in just so I can have the privilege of watching YouTube when I really shouldn't be.

My sentiments down to the letter. My contract ends in July. Here I come, Virgin Mobile!

Pyro and I had the same conversation on Twitter just a few days ago. I originally had the iPhone 1 and then the 3G. I then moved to Android and have been there ever since. Just last week, I bought an iPad2 and WOW. I really couldn't care less about the OS on my phone anymore, as my usage has plummeted to crazy-low levels. Like, "he still has a smartphone, right?" levels. My contract with Verizon is up in July and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do yet. If I wasn't an IT Manager, I could ditch it almost altogether...

While I understand the sentiment, I don't really agree.

I have a Nook Color (which runs Cyanogenmod and thus is effectively a low-end Android tablet) and, while it's exceptional for watching video, reading books, or playing Plants vs Zombies, I find very little else that compels me to use it over my phone.

What's the tablet's advantage? Well, screen size - is there really anything else? I can't think of anything.

I think tablets might be more natural for people who have trouble interacting with a small display for whatever reason, and I don't count myself among that group. If I have both tablet and phone sitting in front of me, I feel perfectly comfortable with either.

Oh, and I have a prediction - I think the youth of today, who are growing up in the era of smartphones and can't envision a world without them, will be perfectly fine with their tiny screens, thankyouverymuch. Tablets are for old people.

gore wrote:

Oh, and I have a prediction - I think the youth of today, who are growing up in the era of smartphones and can't envision a world without them, will be perfectly fine with their tiny screens, thankyouverymuch. Tablets are for old people.

This. The only real difference between a smartphone and a tablet is size. That's it. So, it's all a matter of what size factor suits you, your lifestyle and needs best.

For most kids, I suspect the portability of a ~4" screen device (smartphone) will trump the better-for-video-watching backpack-sized device in most cases.

Neither is "better", it's all about what works for a given person.

The virgin plans are crazy cheap. Anyone know anyone who has a smartphone on Virgin in the us>?

For me, the tablet advantage became most evident when I could start using it in a more relaxing manner than always being in front of my laptop or smartphone.

This was my 3 day review with the baseline 16GB iPad2:

Okay, after 3 days with the iPad I can honestly say I'm completely sold on it. It's streamlined so much I have to deal with, from some quality apps to being much better to work remotely with than my small-screen-in-comparison smartphone. The autocorrect is much rarer because of the enlarged keys, the email/google integration has been great all around, and the resolution is perfect for the screen size. I can have it with me in the server/machine room with little hassle, it's easy to carry around in comparison to the laptop I use for development. I can be connected without being weighted down or having to squint.

I love having dropbox integration with GoodReader so I can use my important documents on-the-go.

The iPad has nearly obliterated my smartphone go-to time. I really think I'm going to dive on the first near-free Verizon 4G LTE device and consider tethering for non-wifi scenarios, since my smartphone OS is nearly irrelevant now.

Is this thing magical? No, but man it's smooth.

Addendum: I'm an IT manager, so while it has great benefits for the home, I've found it becoming invaluable at work already. Spent a few bucks on apps and untethered myself from my development machine when I don't have to code.

I really couldn't see myself giving this device up now that I've integrated it into my life and how I work and play. It's been wonderful.

5 stars.

Elysium this post was a ploy to get some free marketing research out of us, wasn't it??

Fine: I got a Nexus S to check email on the go and to have something to take pictures with that I could easily share. I got it because it does these things but is still pretty basic, and it gets all the Android updates first (yay Gtalk video calling!).

But after getting it, I also fell in love with having Google Maps on it, and being able to look up any place in Beijing I want to go without needing to find a computer--PCs, the payphones of the 21st century! This is not just me being lazy either. To get from one place to another here easily can take an hour, even if it's just a few km away.

I have also played some games on it, but other than Chuzzle, I haven't really found one to keep my attention, not even PvZ! Pocket soccer and air hockey have their moments though. And like others here, I hate touch controls for games, even games designed to use them correctly.

My lesson learned from this raging tide of mobility sweeping the world is that mobile devices won't have a unified target audience any time soon. People use these things for vastly different purposes that depend entirely on their complex and unique set of circumstances. With regard to gaming, smart phones are great for puzzle and tower defense games, and tablets will probably cause a resurgence in tabletop-type games, but as long as there are FPS, there will always be a market for a device with twin analog sticks. I don't think this will change.

gore:

I think you just enumerated several advantages tablets like Nook have over phones: better video, better reading, better games.

I'd go so far to suggest that you really shouldn't be using your phone for gaming unless you're constantly near a charging station, since it'll kill your battery like something fierce. An iPad has a battery life of 10 hours of constant draining use, and even if it dies, it won't affect my ability to call people on my phone.

In addition, it's easier to surf on the iPad compared to the iPhone, and you can actually do some basic word-processing and productivity tasks. It's closer to the laptop side of functionality than a phone, and it doesn't die in 4 hours like your normal laptop.

rabbit wrote:

The virgin plans are crazy cheap. Anyone know anyone who has a smartphone on Virgin in the us>?

I've got the LG Optimus V rooted and running Cyanogenmod 7. It's not as powerful as my old Nexus One, but at $25 a month, you can't beat it. Since the Optimus V is getting really long in tooth (Droid 1 specs), they just announced a new fancier phone for Virgin Mobile.

http://www.bgr.com/2011/06/09/motoro...

Irony alert: I'm reading this thread and writing this reply on my iPhone 4. I am also in bed, which is one of the places where I find myself using it the most (Netflix, ebooks, games, etc.).

LarryC wrote:

gore:

I think you just enumerated several advantages tablets like Nook have over phones: better video, better reading, better games.

In addition, it's easier to surf on the iPad compared to the iPhone, and you can actually do some basic word-processing and productivity tasks. It's closer to the laptop side of functionality than a phone, and it doesn't die in 4 hours like your normal laptop.

Don't get me wrong, I recognize the superiority of tablets for these tasks, and in a world where I had a little pocket universe from which I could summon objects instantaneously I'd replace more of my phone tasks with tablet tasks. The reality of how I work is that, even in cases where the tablet is clearly superior for a task, it's less convenient to use, and so I'll usually stick with the phone instead.

The Nook Color is used when I know that I'll have time to really make use of the larger display and not be concerned about carrying around and whipping out an extra device. In practice I use it in meetings, for reading books, for longer gaming sessions, etc. But in all of these cases it's really replacing my netbook (which had replaced my laptop before it) more than it's replacing my phone.

The reason that the smartphone is a dramatically more important part of my life is that it will be with me, everywhere I go, all the time. This advantage is even more crucial for kids now, who are highly mobile and can't be tied to a large device. The children of this generation are starting out their computing lives with their smartphones as their constant companions.

The fact that a phone is slightly worse at some of the things tablets do is minor compared to the fact that it's omnipresent. There's a common expression amongst photographers that goes:

The best camera is the one that you have with you

I think you could say the same thing for computers.

I had a first-gen iPhone, back when we all naively believed the locked-down nature of it was imposed by the carriers, not by Apple. I found it absolutely transformative for traveling. It is very possibly the single most useful traveler's device I have ever seen. It allows you to locate (and possibly summon) any resource that modern civilization can offer, while on the road in a completely strange place.

But when not traveling? Not especially useful. When it died, Apple had gone evil, so I didn't replace it. I got a Sony Ericsson W760a instead, and unlocked it with the firmware for the carrier-neutral W760i. It is an outstanding phone in all regards; good quality, good reception, solid battery life (a week or so if you're not using the data link), easy to use, and convenient to pocket.

Further, being a featurephone, it will do Bluetooth tethering, which allows me to use a laptop to do basically the same stuff I could do with the iPhone, but on a big screen, properly. The built-in web browser is painfully horrible, incredibly difficult to use, but with Bluetooth tethering, you don't need to. Just use your laptop instead. It's very slightly less convenient for that one use case, while being much more convenient all the rest of the time, because the rest of the time, it's just a phone. Oh, and it's got a nice music player built in, and with a line-out adapter, it's got pretty darn good sound, actually.

Probably the only real downside is that it only uses Memory Sticks, and the ones it'll use don't get nearly as large as the newer SDHC cards. I forget how big this one is, but I was able to get quite a number of songs onto it.

Overall, I really prefer it to the iPhone ... by staying more focused, I think it's much better at being a phone.

rabbit wrote:
Elysium wrote:
So, I'm glad you've come to this self-awareness, I just don't think it's universal.

Hopefully I wasn't construing it as such.

STOP TELLING ME HOW TO LIVE. I'm not you dad! I'm my own person! Your legislation to rob me of my iPhone is unconstitutional! And you hate puppies. And fun!

I think you're getting the beards confused here. That was obviously meant to be an outburst at me or Zacny.

Malor:

I might recommend looking into HTC and Samsumg devices as well. The iPhone's always been something of a pansy. Most of its functionality could have been performed with an equal generation SE smartphone. Its chief advantage was its revolutionarily excellent touch interface, and nearly all phone companies have caught up to that by now.

I couldn't disagree with you more. I have an iPhone4 as well as an iPad2 and love them both. But I find that for many circumstances, I end up using the iPhone much more just because of the compact size and convenience of always having it on me.

If I'm out shopping with the wife, I like being able to use the Amazon app to tell her if something is a decent price. I use Google maps all the time or the Yelp app to find a good restaurant near where I may be. I use it for texting, taking pictures, capturing a quick video, etc... Numberous times I've been having a conversation and used it to look something up relevant to what we're talking about. Sure, I could do that with my iPad, but my iPad doesn't fit in my pocket.

If I'm sitting at home I may use my iPad to surf the web, watch some netflix, or read a book. But I don't find it nearly as useful by and large simply because of the size. I think the sheer portability of it is what makes all the difference. It's just not as convenient to carry around an iPad and I don't want to leave it in my car to be stolen. Having what amounts to a mini tablet in your pocket is a pretty powerful thing.

trueheart78 wrote:

Addendum: I'm an IT manager, so while it has great benefits for the home, I've found it becoming invaluable at work already. Spent a few bucks on apps and untethered myself from my development machine when I don't have to code.

I'm really curious as to how you're using the iPad in IT management.

NSMike wrote:
trueheart78 wrote:

Addendum: I'm an IT manager, so while it has great benefits for the home, I've found it becoming invaluable at work already. Spent a few bucks on apps and untethered myself from my development machine when I don't have to code.

I'm really curious as to how you're using the iPad in IT management.

I would have thought that having remote access to your machines on a 10" screen from anywhere with wireless access would be very useful.