My Blackberry era is over. I now have an Iphone. A 16 gig 3GS to be exact.
When Derek bought his Iphone last weekend I didn’t see what all the fuss was about. It doesn’t have a real keyboard, it has no flashing indicator light to tell you a message has come in even when the sound is turned off and worst of all, you can’t do any peer-to-peer messaging – all features I love about the Blackberry. When he made the switch I missed Pinning. With this feature your text message goes directly from your Blackberry to the other user’s, its instant, its free with the gizmo and it can’t be tracked. It’s an amazing little bit of genius and Iphone doesn’t have it.
Then I looked over his shoulder at what the Iphone can do. For example, until now, when I’ve received an email containing several pictures and links, I’ve had to wait until I’m at my desktop to figure out whether I want to bother looking at it. It just comes up on the Blackberry as a bunch of gobbledegook. But on the Iphone I can look at it right away, and trash it or stash it. That saves me time.
I can update Twitter and Facebook from the Iphone, something I do for fun and as part of my job with Delaware Speedway. So instead of making a mental note to do a certain update later – a note which could easily fall off of my mental bulletin board and slide under my mental desk only to be forgotten forever – I can do it right away. The Iphone has a far greater capacity for storage. I could put thousands of songs or dozens of movies on it. Neither of which I plan to do, actually. But for long trips, some people upload TV shows or movies and the screen is actually big enough so that you could watch a show and make your travel time pass more enjoyably.
As soon as we bought my Iphone we went to another Rogers store where they stock the Otter. It’s a hard case covered by a soft plastic skin that will protect the Iphone from the inevitable drops it will likely endure in and out of my hands. I know why they call it the Otter; if you drop your phone, it otter protect it! Dropping my Blackberry a couple of months ago cracked the screen and despite a replacement and repair job, it has never been the same. It hesitates sometimes and it bulges a bit at the sides, as if it has recently eaten a big meal.
The applications for Iphone are mind-boggling. There are hundreds of thousands of them and many of them are free including a voice-activated Google service. I talk at my Iphone, telling Google what I want it to find for me, and lo and behold, it does it! Last night, Derek and I both downloaded air hockey and played against each other using our Iphones! It has so many features that just make sense and no moving parts to break or wear out. So I get it now. Sorry Blackberry, we had a good long run but you just can’t compete anymore. Now that I don’t have to be Pin-able by colleagues and my technological life is in my own hands, I’m an Iphone gal.