The iPhone Cometh

I’ve had the thing for two weeks now, after Sprint finally pissed me off enough to make me abandon what’s got to be the sweetest cell phone plan I will ever have. I keep getting asked (mostly by current iPhone users) what I think about it. I can sum my feelings up thusly: It’s a worse smart phone but a better iPod.

As I knew I would, I hate the keyboard. I was a very fast typist on my old smart phones (with actual keys) and I end up with tons of errors when I use the iPhone touch screen, moreso when the application won’t turn sideways. Calendar, notes, and to-do list are much worse than what I’m used to- lots more options, difficult to do on the fly without navigating through several menus and button presses. The App store obviously makes up for a lot of this, with some truly amazing apps, and specialized programs for a lot of my often used tasks (like instead of using notes for a grocery lists, I can get a grocery list app, or the Twitter app, etc.) Also, the web browser is great and light years ahead of other ones I’ve used.

But where it’s really shined for me? The music. It works as an iPod (albeit a small one and even the largest won’t fit my entire music collection). Add to that adds like Pandora and Last.fm that let me stream custom internet radio. Add on top an app solely for my absolute favorite radio station of all time. Add to that an app that lets me stream my music library wherever I go without loading it on. Plus I can stream podcasts and other internet radio wherever I go. It’s an iPod plus all the advantages the internet brings.

I broke down today and bought an FM transmitter/car charger. I’m going to be experimenting with it over the next week, but if it goes as well as I think it will, I’ll probably be canceling my SiriusXM subscription, and possibly looking into selling my iPod. Having WOXY with me wherever I go (with my home music library as a backup) is just better.

So as a smart phone? I’m sure it’s awesome for the many people who never had one before, and it’s fine, and I’ll get used to it (and probably the damn fake keyboard too). But as a portable music player? It can’t be beat.