The iPhone bug

I have no shame in admitting that I dismissed the iPhone the first time around. It’s not that I didn’t find it sexy (I did), or that I didn’t think it would be popular (I certainly did). I just knew better than to trust first gen Apple technology. I didn’t even buy a true iPod until last year.

There are probably not a few Mac people that would attribute that to a PC/Mac bias, but in truth I’m very much a current Mac fan. They’ve come a long way since the Apple IIe (the first computer I ever used), but the lesson they hammer home to their customer base is, again and again, one of planned obsolescence and that the customer is always wrong. They have perhaps the most conflicting technology attitude of any tech company to date, teasing developers and users alike with a hybrid open source OS and a closed source approach to hardware. This is a direct inverse to a PC platform of closed source OS and an open source approach to hardware, or even open source OS and open source hardware.

So my primary reason for not buying the first gen iPhone was the lack of 3G support. No, my area doesn’t have 3G, but I do travel from time to time and I enjoyed using it. The real reason for boycotting the first gen iPhone was that it showed from the start that Apple was making no attempt to future proof their phones. If this was an ordinary cellphone it wouldn’t matter, but as this was a mobile data device, expected to use (and require!) a data plan, how could you justify not supporting 3G? The Cingular 8525 (HTC Hermes) that I bought at the same time supported it, so it’s not like it was an arcane technology at the time of release.

Moving forward, I bought an iPhone 3G. I’m not ashamed to admit I was there two hours early and #10 in line. It is wonderful, it is awesome, it is 3G enabled, it is GPS enabled. The app store was what really sold it for me, considering my troubles over the last year finding decent Windows Mobile apps that didn’t kill the phone and/or battery. The only question on my mind is- what feature did Apple come up with an deliberately leave off to make us upgrade next year? The ability to run apps in the background? Better battery life? More storage?

Useful iPhone Apps
All of these are free, and in the App Store.

• Mobile Flickr: A handy plugin to post directly to Flickr
• Weatherbug: A good drop in replacement for the limited built-in weather app
• NetNewsWire: An app that ties into newsgator.com to manage / read RSS feeds
• Loopt: A sort of social network app, that locates you via GPS and allows you to “ping” your friends realtime with updates. Friends must also use the Loopt application, and pings come in via text message. You can also use it to search for local attractions with its tie in to Yelp
• Remote: Lets you control your iTunes install on your home network from your phone. Useful for remote controlling music / playlists / etc.
• Shazam: Mimics the Verizon Vcast feature of recording a song and identifying it. Good party trick.
• Box Office: Search and browse local movie listings from your phone, then buy directly from Mobile Fandango.
• Pandora Radio: A plugin for the www.pandora.com streaming audio service.
• BookSearch: I read. A lot. This app will take a title/author/ISBN and search across all major booksellers for a price comparison.
• WordPress: A plugin to update your Wordpress blog, whether it’s a wordpress.com or standalone install.
• UrbanSpoon: A restaurant randomizer. You pick your city, hit spin, and a random combination of 3 choices (area, food type, price) will randomly suggest restaurants. Great for the indecisive crowd.
• Aurora Feint: A Bejeweled-style arcade game, with the ability to turn the phone to roll your blocks around to make new combos. Has a built in RPG aspect where you can buy skills that alter your play style and block behavior. Supposedly offers community play, but I haven’t tried that yet.