I know you can get the iPhone around the world, but I got mine here and it was developed here too, so I really insist on spending some time raving about it.
The iPhone truly is the best thing since sliced bread (if indeed sliced bread was a good thing). In fact, I'm hard-pressed to find words to express the impact it has had on my life. But rather than waxing lyrical, here are the hard facts, starting with the basics:
In France I had a two-hour mobile phone subscription for about €40. Here, for a paltry $80 a month I get 450 minutes talktime during the day (rolling over into the next month if unused), unlimited calls at night and over the weekend, unlimited Internet access and unrestricted up- and downloading.
But that's just the subscription.
Aside from the usual sleek design for which Apple is famous, the iPhone itself has:
- A Safari browser with which you can look at Web pages horizontally or vertically by simply turning the iPhone on its side;
The iPhone truly is the best thing since sliced bread (if indeed sliced bread was a good thing). In fact, I'm hard-pressed to find words to express the impact it has had on my life. But rather than waxing lyrical, here are the hard facts, starting with the basics:
In France I had a two-hour mobile phone subscription for about €40. Here, for a paltry $80 a month I get 450 minutes talktime during the day (rolling over into the next month if unused), unlimited calls at night and over the weekend, unlimited Internet access and unrestricted up- and downloading.
But that's just the subscription.
Aside from the usual sleek design for which Apple is famous, the iPhone itself has:
- A Safari browser with which you can look at Web pages horizontally or vertically by simply turning the iPhone on its side;
- A fabulous touchscreen that you can zoom into simply by pressing two fingers on the screen and moving them apart;
- Preprogrammed direct links to YouTube (where you can, of course, play all the video clips), iTunes and the AppStore, where additional programs cost next to nothing (eat your heart out, Bill Gates);
- A nifty weather function showing temperatures and conditions now and in the days ahead at any number of destinations (I have my own town programmed in so that I don't have to stick my head out of the window to know what clothes to wear);
- A useful stock price function with one-day, one-week, one-month, three-month and six-month charts for those unfortunate enough to own shares;
- Push e-mail (i.e. electronic messages are sent directly to the iPhone the moment they arrive on the server rather than having to be downloaded) and all attachments - be they PDFs, Excel spreadsheets or simply Word files - can be opened and read;
- And of course the usual phone, SMS, calendar, clock/alarm, camera and calculator functions.
Because the new iPhone uses 3G, Web pages are called up very quickly wherever you are. And whenever you come within range of an unsecured or previously stored wi-fi network, the iPhone automatically piggy-backs on the network to give you even greater bandwidth (that's Internet access speed to you, Mum).
But the crème-de-la-crème killer app has to be the built-in GPS. Not only can you find out where you are at any given moment in time (I like looking what part of the house I'm in as seen from above), but whenever you come across an address, be it on Yellow Pages, in your personal address book or on some site on the Internet, you simply click on the address and the iPhone opens up Google Maps and asks if you'd like directions there ("From current location?").
I feel like I've died and gone to techie heaven. In fact, my wife is furious that her company only gave her a BlackBerry.
What luck that I have to buy my own toys.
Because the new iPhone uses 3G, Web pages are called up very quickly wherever you are. And whenever you come within range of an unsecured or previously stored wi-fi network, the iPhone automatically piggy-backs on the network to give you even greater bandwidth (that's Internet access speed to you, Mum).
But the crème-de-la-crème killer app has to be the built-in GPS. Not only can you find out where you are at any given moment in time (I like looking what part of the house I'm in as seen from above), but whenever you come across an address, be it on Yellow Pages, in your personal address book or on some site on the Internet, you simply click on the address and the iPhone opens up Google Maps and asks if you'd like directions there ("From current location?").
I feel like I've died and gone to techie heaven. In fact, my wife is furious that her company only gave her a BlackBerry.
What luck that I have to buy my own toys.
2 comments:
Mum, here; thanks, I understood more than usual. On the new gadget:could you perhaps also have a function for transporting kids for short breaks to their grandparents? That WOULD be a mouthwatering prospect!!!!
So happy to hear that you find good things "over there" as well!
Would you like to have a really good torch for Xmas? Wide-angled for walks at night? Combined with a cosh, perhaps?
I'm afraid that even the iPhone has its limitations (it is only human after all).
I'll gladly accept the offer of a small Maglite-type torch, and will probably have to invest in a headlamp (for when I go running) in the next week or so.
But there's no need for a cosh: it's so safe around here that people don't even lock their doors when they go out!
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