The Welcome Matt <$BlogRSDUrl$>

Sunday, July 18, 2010

I am an iPhone Owner 

After several years of thinking and preparing and cajoling, I have finally convinced Shelly to let me have a grown-up toy. I got an iPhone 4.

I've had my eye on some sort of smartphone - and the iPhone in particular - for a very long time now. I've sort of been waiting until the technology had progressed to the point where I could have one gadget that could serve as a phone, email machine, camera, GPS unit, iPod, etc. all in one. I decided that the iPhone 4 is at least good enough, and it turns out that it is.

I was actually able to nab on on opening day, June 24, with no real problem. I was calling around to various stores in the area that were rumored to have them, when the Radio Shack in the local mall told me that they'd be happy to take my name and phone number a couple of days in advance, and if they got enough iPhones, they could set one aside for me. Well, the day before the big release, Radio Shack called and asked me to be there at 9 am when they opened the next morning. Fortunately, I didn't have much to do at work that day, so showing up late was fine.

At Radio Shack, everything went smoothly, except that the lady tried to force me (and each of the other four people there - they didn't get too many iPhones) to purchase not one, but two cases for the phone. I told her I didn't want a case, and I argued with her enough that she gave me one of them for free. I went back to a different Radio Shack a couple of days later and returned the other one for a full refund.

I got the phone and headed directly to work. I called Shelly to tell her I was successful, and after a couple of minutes, the call dropped. Welcome to AT&T, I thought. But as it turns out, I now believe my early call-dropping problems (that wasn't the only time) were more Apple's fault than AT&T's. Apple has recognized that there is a glitch with the antenna design, where it will have bad reception if you touch it in the most natural way to hold a phone during a call. So I guess it's a good thing I was forced to get a case - Apple has now announced they're giving them away for free to correct the reception problem.

So now I have a great toy, and life will really never be quite the same again. I can check my email whenever I want (it's actually even made my work life less stressful, not more, because I can check and be confident that I'm up to date with what people want from me, as opposed to just sitting there in ignorance, hoping no one is waiting for me to respond to something). I can play silly games while I'm waiting or sitting. I can know when the next metro train is coming to my station and therefore know whether I need to run to make it or not (I hate arriving in the station to see my train just pulling away, and the next one won't come for 6 minutes). I can Google anything with my voice. I can (and did) prepare a Sunday School lesson while we're at a water park. When Shelly was shopping for a new jacket and there was no mirror nearby, I just turned on the front-facing camera, and she looked at herself in the screen of the phone.

And boy, oh boy, do the girls love it too. In fact, I am not sure who loves the iPhone more: me or Ellie. As I type right now, Ellie is playing a little game on it. The new question I get all the time (from both big girls) is "Daddy, can I do something on your phone?" The favorite app is a paper doll princess thing where the girls can dress up a princess. There are even some slightly educational ones I'm trying to get them to use more often.

Even Shelly is beginning to love it more and more. Last night, we were watching a movie, and I asked her to pause it so I could run in to the bathroom for a quick break. As soon as I got there, Shelly called to me, "Why did you take your phone with you?" She wanted to play with it while I was indisposed. (She apparently doesn't realize that indisposed time is prime iPhoning time.) She also recently asked me if there was an app for recipes. Sheesh. In the next ten minutes I downloaded nine free recipe apps. Maybe this device will soon help us eat better too!

So I'm open to suggestions for apps I should get, and if there's anyone else out there with an iPhone 4 who wants to try out the FaceTime video-calling feature, please let me know!


Comments:
We love the LDS apps, if you haven't downloaded those already. It's great to have the scriptures on there as well as the hymns.
 
Sweet! I dont have an iphone yet, but in addition to Becca's ideas, you can also get the priesthood/relief society manuals on there.
 
Yep, the antenna. Oh well. It makes up for the fact that you can do so much with the phone at the same time. I take mine to the gym to listen to music while running, walking, etc and I get to surf the internet while doing all of that. Actually it's only good if you're on the elliptical runner, because you're not bobbing your head so much. Have fun with the phone Matt!
 
Yes, the Gospel Library app put out by the Church is a powerful all-encompassing thing that I use every day. I wonder if I'll ever read scriptures on paper again. I even prepared a Sunday School lesson on it.

Ren, is yours an iPhone 4? If so, we can video-call!
 
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