I upgraded my iPhone to the 2.0 software and really like it. I’ve already spent probably $60 on various apps. My favorites so far, in order of use / how much I like it:
- OmniFocus $19.99
- GuitarToolkit $9.99
- Remote FREE
- Twittelator FREE
- AOL Radio FREE
OmniFocus is a GTD app. GuitarToolkit is a very precise guitar tuner, metronome, and chord dictionary. Remote is a program from Apple that allows you to control any iTunes or Apple TV from your iPhone – can’t wait to setup the house with Airport Expresses and use this.
I’m really happy with my new phone so far. The camera is pretty good. Not quite as good as a modern $150 digital point and shoot, but not bad. The flash seems pretty bright (for a camera phone flash).
The battery life has been good, despite fiddling with it all the time.
Here’s a sample of a very low light photo:
Grainy but much better than any other camera phone I’ve owned (note: it is very dark in Bleu).
I would’ve preferred that it use a standard USB mini cable but at least it shipped with their custom USB cable. When you plug it in, it asks if you want it to act like a phone or a disk. In disk mode, it looks like a standard USB storage device. I dropped a Brian Eno song into the appropriate directory and could use it as a ring tone, though I actually found one that came with the phone that I liked a lot.
Most importantly, it passes the keypad locking test (I won’t rant about the Blackberry again…).
Oh yeah, it’s unlocked and runs third party apps.
Update: it also syncs flawlessly (and fast) with iSync over Bluetooth. Including tasks/todos.
I just happened to go into the Sony store at the U Village yesterday and saw a few Sony Ericsson phones that I had been looking at online a few days ago. The prices were pretty good and they were all unlocked. 15 minutes later I walked out with a K790a, which is sort of a poor man’s N95, and I really like it so far.
I’ve gotten really tired of the mobile phone carriers. Seems like every time I walk into a T-Mobile store my contract is extended another 2 years. I also hate the idea of locked phones.
The situation with Apple and the iPhone annoys me (despite not having an iPhone). Not so much that they pushed the update a few days ago that disabled the iPhone hacks, but that they got into this mess to begin with. Clearly they could have done what Sony is doing… selling unlocked phones in their store and yet still offering phones through carriers. It would’ve been fine if the phones offered through carriers were locked and required a contract (with a discount). And as far as ease of use… it wouldn’t have been difficult for them to provide two configurations and ask “ATT or T-Mobile?” at activation time (and perhaps an “other” option).
Mostly I just want them to spend more effort improving their computers and OS (something I do spend my money on). I guess Leopard will be out soon. Maybe people will start talking about things other than the iPhone then.
Trying out posting from email/blackberry
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Update: So far I’m fairly happy with my new phone. Best of all is the slick messaging system and how well Google apps work with it. The predictive half-qwerty keyboard is great for the size of the phone.
My new phone – BlackBerry Pearl
When I got my RAZR, I noticed that the charger port looked like a USB Mini-B port. When I needed a second charger, I did some a quick Google search and it turns out that it is a Mini-B port. So I bought the appropriate cable and plugged it in. Guess what? The phone started charging and even showed up as a USB device on my Mac.
Why isn’t this the case with all phones?
Yeah, I can guess the answer… why let the user buy a $9 no-name USB cable when you could charge them $39 for a backup charger and even more for a separate data cable?