Just One Addict Helping Out Another

I was a hold out. I couldn't imagine having my PDA and cell phone together in one device. Really? How inconvenient is that? I waited. And waited. And while I waited, smart phones got better, and cooler, and then the iPhone came out.

Finally, I got one.

Now I'm addicted.

It turns out it's not so hard to make a phone call after all--although it is a tad more clunky than the tiny streamlined folding phone I had previously--in fact, it's very easy to use and even has a built in speaker phone, bluetooth capability for wireless headset use, or jack to use with the plug-in headset that comes with it.

I don't really use the iPod feature much (iTunes), I don't want to run the battery down. I rarely use the regular iPod Nano I have, unless I want to listen to an audio book or something.

At current count I have something like 228 Applications (called Apps) on my iPhone. Most of them were free. I paid 99 cents for maybe a half dozen or fewer of them. I don't really use them all. Actually, I don't use most of them. I guess I'm addicted to downloading apps I think are cool and might be helpful. Sometimes I download several different "brands" of the same kind of app, since I don't know which one I'll like best before I try them all out. iTunes is an app, so is Calender, and iMovie... Netflix has an app. Basically everything you do on the phone, has an app to do it with.

So here is what I mostly do with my phone (I mean besides make and get phone calls):

I get up in the morning and check the weather so I'll know how to dress for the day.

Then I check my email. 

I almost never check my email on the computer, unless I need to open a file or especially if I need to download a file. It's just so much quicker and easier to do it on my phone. And I can do it from anywhere at any time (for example, when I'm waiting in line). So I do this several times a day, especially since it's important to stay up to date with what my professors may be sending me.

During my day I text message a friend about one of the assignments, or about getting together for coffee or lunch, or to say happy birthday... or...

I often click on the Calender app to see if I have any appointments, and because I have typed all my assignments into it so I'll always have them with me. 

Now there's another really cool app called Blackboard Learn. It lets me type in my school and user data, and I can go straight to Blackboard and access (read only) my syllabuses, reading handouts, grades, messages (the ones that aren't sent via email by profs and other students), and all the other essential data for every class I'm enrolled in that uses BB. How cool is that? (Sorry, I don't have a pic of that one.)

I have the DropBox app, and some others like it, so I can carry homework files with me, and even open them and read them. I have a bunch of eBook readers, I can search for books by typing in the title, author, ISBN number, or by scanning the bar code and get a list of new and used books for sell by price and dealer (particularly helpful when locating textbooks). Oh, and I have a lot of free eBooks too.

If you want to pay $15 per month, you can have a service on your phone (the app is free) that locates you when you go on a date, or walk the dog, or whatever. It will even call you periodically, if you set that up. If you don't answer your phone, or say the agreed upon thing, it will call the police and your parents (or whoever you have designated) and give them the last known location of your cell phone (you). It seems like an awesome security service for these times.

So I also have apps to keep track of my weight, my meals, my exercise... I have recipe apps, (even one for fixing a six-course thanksgiving dinner), grocery shopping apps, ringtone making apps, mahjong game apps, feng shui my environment apps... I have apps to fix photographs (somewhat), and apps to take photographs, and apps to share photographs on twitter and facebook and...

I love to snap shots of things:  Funny signs I see, my dogs, whatever. I love to share them with my friends. 

My dog is wearing her Invisible Fence collar.

So of course, I have the Facebook app (I think that was the first one I downloaded), and I have Twitter, and I have blogging apps too--doable, but not fun for more than short sentences on the iPhone keyboard.

Sometimes I want to check my math when I'm subtracting an expenditure in my checkbook, or I want to know how much of a tip to leave, or I need to split a lunch bill three ways and I'm too foggy to do it in my head quickly. There's an app for that:

There's a lot of times when I need to look something up on the web, maybe google something quickly. Once I Googled a needed word definition during an English Literature class small group discussion. Using my phone was so much faster and easier than dragging out the ole laptop, waiting for it to boot up, waiting for the browser to boot, then navigating to Google, then...

I don't have stocks anymore, but if I did this app would come in handy. It came on my phone. I can tell how things are going economically each day just by looking at the markets. Okay, well sort of. 

I use this app a lot. Whenever I need to jot down someone's name or number and I don't want to put it in my phone book just yet. Or there's something cool for sale that I want to consider. I keep a lot of "Stuff" notes in here, and a few ideas too.

 If I had those special computerized Nike running shoes that went with this app, this would be cool. Of course, it would help if I ran. (I wonder if you could use it for a walking program?) This app came with my phone too.

Oh, I get a lot of use out of this one:  Google Maps. I also have apps that tell me where the nearest restaurants, gas stations, hair stylists, etc. are. I have flight and hotel and hostel apps (never use - except once I used the flight app to find out my mother-in-law's flight was delayed twice, then they lost her--not her luggage, HER). I even have an app that will tell me where I parked my car (one I am liking better and better as time passes).

Sometimes I just want to record a quick note, especially in the car, and especially when I have a creative thought or idea I don't want to lose. This came with my phone. I have another one too, free, that promises I can record a class lecture with it. I've not tried it yet. It might be worth it to experiment though, you never know when you might actually need it.

I could watch a NETFLIX movie from my phone if I wanted to run the battery down. What would be the point? The screen is so small. If I wanted to do that I'd rather do it from my laptop. But the point is I COULD, there's an app for that. That's just so awesome to me!

The new iPhone4 has even cooler features: Face2Face (F2F) video phone conferencing (and you can Skype from your phone), iMovie... 

So yeah, unlike my iPod before it, or my PDA of previous years (which I dearly loved) - I've become addicted to my iPhone. It's a major technology vice of mine. 

On the other hand, look how helpful it is - ESPECIALLY FOR A STUDENT. I carry ONE SMALL DEVICE, where otherwise I would have to carry (at least): a calculator, a date book (or PDA), an eBook Reader, a cell phone, a voice recorder, a memo pad, a flash drive, a recipe book, a meals log book, an exercise log book, a diet log book, a meal planner book, a grocery list planner pad, a laptop computer....

So if you can see where I'm going with this: you might want to have your parents and grandparents (maybe even your uncles and aunts...siblings, and cousins too) peruse this blog post prior to Christmas and Chanukah this year... I'm just sayin'.