The above photograph was taken on my iPhone 4.
Yes, I’ve joined the Apple horde. I didn’t line up for an iPhone at launch day, and I didn’t pre-order (I couldn’t, because I was in Lincoln, Nebraska at the time), but I’ve been wanting one of these gadgets for a long time. Yes, the product is somewhat overhyped, and yes, my love of all things Apple may have blinded me to the iPhone’s shortcomings, but it’s two days in, now, and I am still quite happy with my purchase.
A week ago, Tuesday, I went down to my local Bell store and asked if they had any iPhones on hand, knowing the answer beforehand. The clerk stopped just short of rolling her eyes before telling me ‘no’, but she did say I could put down a deposit for one. Which I did. I got a phone call on my cell phone yesterday telling me that its replacement had arrived. After taking the girls down to the Bell store before heading home (they were troopers, although the staff’s willingness to switch the in-store television to something kid-friendly helped immensely), they had me all set up and taking calls.
So, I’ve been told that, as a resident of Waterloo Region, I’ve been a bit of a traitor to the cause (read: RIM). Maybe I should have gotten a Blackberry. But I think RIM’s position is pretty secure, since the Blackberry and the iPhone occupy two similar, but subtly different niches. The Blackberry is more about e-mail and business and security, whereas I wanted an iPhone because it synced with iTunes. The Blackberries and the iPhones have started to converge — looking a heck of a lot like each other in recent days — but this difference will keep them apart, I think, with separate and large client bases. I don’t like writing e-mails on my iPhone. I don’t know how to set up automatic notifications of an e-mail’s arrival, and I’m not guaranteed that the e-mail will be properly encrypted to keep prying eyes away. If I were a businessman, I wouldn’t buy an iPhone.
But I’m not a businessman. I’m a gadget geek, who likes having access to his entire CD collection whilst driving in his car, and likes having the ability of keeping his kids occupied during long and tedious trips with some educational programming. And I like the fact that I don’t have to pack a separate camera, cellphone, or portable DVD player. Anytime the Blackberry can supply these features (plus integration with iTunes), then I’ll be interested.
So, I think RIM will do just fine without me. Besides, this region shouldn’t be putting its eggs all in one basket. Today, in the news, I see that Google is moving its regional operations into a reclaimed industrial building in Kitchener’s downtown core. That’s good news for the region. Google’s Android cellphone certainly has the capability of taking on Apple itself, and things promise to get very interesting here in the Golden Triangle.
More iPhone Portraits
| Nora reads at Chapters. |
| Vivian pauses by the Dora Books |
| The kids, holding hands. |
| Still working out the kinks to this holding hands thing… |
Other iPhone Notes
- I seem to be having the signal “death grip” issue that everybody is talking about, but there’s been no dropped calls, yet. I’ve also taken advantage of the free case offer from Apple to help fix this.
- The most fun thing about the iPhone is all of the applications that are available. I’ve already downloaded programs that will tell me when my next bus is to arrive (not available for Waterloo Region yet — get cracking, guys — but will be useful for when i visit Toronto or Guelph), accessing Twitter, and letting people know when I walk into businesses just about anywhere (just because, I guess). I need to ration myself, because this could get quite distracting, not to mention take up space that’s needed for my music collection and any photographs I take.
- The pictures above tell me that the iPhone is the best cellphone camera I’ve ever owned.