Iphone

It's been a week now, that I received my iPhone and the exhilaration is still there :)
So far I only needed to consult the manual twice, once to find how to place the sim-card and the second time to learn how to uninstall some application. Everything else comes naturally and the usage is very instinctive. These are the same requests I make to software as well, if the first page doesn't appeal to me and when I'm required to go through a configuration process that lasts 10 mins or more, then I'll get of it as quickly as I can ;) I'm more patient when it comes to software for computers, but not when they're destined for usage on mobilephones.

So far I kept:
Twitterfon
Facebook
Evernote
Stanza
eReader
AroundMe

I'll keep AroundMe for some more time, even if it ignores the fact that the Rhine has to be crossed and the restaurant is in fact 15km away and not only 3 km.

Just yesterday I installed Shazam but haven't had a chance to test it so far. Apparently it's able to tell which song is currently playing at the store, shopping mall, cafe or whatever. I'm curious if that really works.

While putting together the Lesbian News Snatch for eurout, I came across this headline: "New iPhone 3.0 Operating System Revealed!", nothing really new, but the source where this headline came from peaked my interest - as it was queensspeech, the site which is collecting lesbian and gay news from around the world.

Why would they feature an article on the iPhone? Turns out the article was published on gaywired.com and they weren't the only gay site or blog to pick this up. To summarize this, apparently it's gay to be gay and to own an iPhone ;)

Apple and software designers are also picking up on this trend and several new applications for the gay community were released since the beginning of this year. I tried some of these and as always I'm wary when it comes to the word gay cause it's been proven often enough that gay doesn't mean gay and lesbian, but exclusively gay.

You can check for yourself by searching for "gay" in application section of the iTunes Store. The community apps only work when others sign up to this as well and I'm ambiguous of those, could be fun though during all those pride events ;)

The only app (only talking about free ones) that made sense to me and didn't require any signing up is called GayCities and offers addresses and other information for currently 70 cities around the world. Based on your location it shows the nearest cities to you, Zurich for me.


More important to me now is that I'll find a case for my iPhone. As I've got an issue with how things feel when touching them I'll have to head out to the stores and touch-test acceptable cases. I'd really like to get one of those silicone-things, but will probably end up with a leather one ;)
Any suggestions? The colour has to be uni, no discussion.

Replacing a mobile phone - Part III / Welcome iPhone :-)

I waited and waited, was gone most of the morning – where much of the “most” was dedicated to waiting for G – and feared to be finding a sheet of paper in the mailbox, telling me to go to the post office on Saturday morning. Even though I’d changed the batteries of the doorbell, I still double checked the mailbox later in the afternoon, just in case I hadn’t heard them ring.

Guess what, somebody had left the package inside! :-)

I felt like a small child unpacking the box. I’d already received the number and contract separately so I was ready to start. I even read the manual, well the online one, cause the included didn’t tell me much and I’m not really patient when it comes to reading instructions so I preferred to look up the German extended version instead of struggling with a condensed French one.

Before really starting, I had to face two major problems: a/where goes the sim-card and b/where is the security code? Problem a was solved quickly thanks to the manual, but problem b required a call to the helpline. In this case it was a standard security code which I have to change myself. Having had only swiss-contracts until now, I hadn’t expected this. Well and once again, the people at this helpline were very helpful and until now I’ve never even once regretted changing from free to orange.

Back to the iPhone, registration of the phone itself and activation of the number (via a vocal server) went smoothly and not only my contacts and calendar entries were transferred in a breeze, all my mail account settings were transferred as well, I only had to add the passwords. For the curious reader, I work with 3 (private) mail accounts regularly and have 5 constantly set up. I still use 2 POP3 accounts and am gradually switching all traffic to the IMAP accounts.

Setting up WLAN access was that easy, that I’m still flabbergasted. Downloaded a twitterapp (going with twitterfon for the moment) and an app for facebook. Still have to figure out the weather app, check if there’s something for goodreads and then remember what dreams_ wrote about that ebook page ;)

This was way easier than all mobile phones I had before and I’m slowly turning into an Apple addict, at least when gadgets are concerned *g

tbc

Replacing a mobile phone - Part II

I know - it's not Friday yet. But they said "by Friday - latest", which means I sincerely hoped the package would have arrived today. Which it didn't :-(

Waiting

tbc

Replacing a mobile phone - Part I

Until several weeks ago I was perfectly happy with my nokia n95. GPS, WLAN, Music, IMAP-Function and it even allowed me to make phone calls ;) I was happy with it until the cat stood/walked on it and the broke the screen, it looked like a spiderweb but still worked - until I dropped it. That left me no other choice than working with my backup phone, still a nokia but n73. Why had I overlooked that this model doesn't have WLAN? On top of that, handling is different from that of the n95 and this drives me crazy. I've been close - more than once - to just throw it across the room.

The nokia n97 truly fascinates me, but I can't wait until summer. There's a Sony X1 xperia, which has the same problem as some HTC's - why have a touch screen and reserve 1/4 of the top for some buttons? And the keyboard didn't really convince me.
Some research, including functionality and pricing, plus some recommendations finally led me to the decision to get an iPhone. Me, who always said this was a toy and not a mobile phone ;)

I had to discuss this with G, and after some valid arguments from my side she was convinced that I needed one to stay sane *g
Mission to buy an iPhone started Monday, when I tried the online shop. I needed a French ID-Card and had to provide the Department where I was born. Germany not being a French department, this first try failed. I send them a message via the contact form and received a phone number, though I wasn't sure if they'd understood my problem, it was a computer generated answer.

Mission continued Tuesday, where I had the idea to visit one of their shops. They wanted a credit card and a RIB! As if I always had a RIB with me. The guy quite was stubborn and not really helpful, when I asked him if there was no other way, as I was already a client, he said something like "it's easy, you just need a RIB". Yeah - my answer "Mais ca c'est vraiment emmerdant "

Mission continued later in the afternoon when I called that number and guess what? Delivery until Friday, latest :-)))

to be continued