Phones and iPhones

Choosing a new mobile phone is always a daunting task. The choices are so many! You have all these brands, different features, regular mobiles, smartphones, with or without GPS, different types of screens, it's a whole new world out there! As a gadgetolic, I have always carefully looked at all the specs and reviews available before committing to a phone. For years I preferred having a mobile and a PDA as separate devices, the logic was, if one brakes, I will still have the other and won't have to go without any of them. Also, this was when the first
"smartphones" were coming up. I had been using a PDA for years, starting with a Palm Pilot (yes, I am that old) and moved on through various Palm models, avoiding the new Windows CE devices when they first came out. Finally, I was convinced with the Windows Mobile and got an HP iPAQ, went through a few models as well, and finally decided I could do with carrying just one brick in my pocket. It was time to embrace the "smartphone" revolution. I got an HTC TyTN II, impressive name and impressive specs. After a couple years using this one, I started considering getting a simple mobile phone again, as the phone software was kind of slow. Fiddling with the screen with the stylus was also a bit awkward, and even though I loved using it, I slowly started to use the laptop more and the smartphone less. The whole time friends were telling me the iPhone was great and the way to go, and I resisted as hard as I could. A couple weeks ago, though, I finally got an iPhone, the iPhone 3GS 16 GB, and my world was rocked.

I have stated this somewhere else, but the way I feel now is as if before I was using a phone with boxing gloves, and now I am free! Yes, the iPhone has lower specs than the other smartphone I was considering, the HTC HD2. It has a smaller screen, a slower processor and it's not even able to multitask. But you know what? Who cares?!?! I sure don't! The iPhone interface is intuitive and responsive. I can easily access information and check different social networking websites with the touch of a finger. And I mean that. Before, I had to go to Start, Programs, click on whatever app or open a browser, type in the address, log in and so forth. Now, I touch an app for Facebook and I'm in! Touch another for Twitter, and I'm in! I can even watch the World Cup games on my iPhone, even though I must say that takes two touches with my finger, one to start the app, another to select the TV channel I want to watch. How cool is that?

And if I need to find an ATM machine, a McDonalds (right, this is just an example, I actually prefer Burger King… well, I prefer Wendy's, but that's too far right now) or a petrol station, there's an app for that. Whatever you can think of doing, there's an app for it, and more often than not it will be free or really cheap (and by cheap I mean 59 pence or little more) and work as expected. I now understand the fanaticism of all those Apple lovers out there. Who knows, maybe one day I'll get a Mac!!!

Oh, there is one real negative thing I must say about my iPhone… one week after I got it, the new iPhone 4 was announced. :-P