iPhone Withdrawal

I left my iPhone at home today on purpose. Let's see if I suffer from withdrawal at all. I doubt it. I will keep you all posted.

One Week with the iPhone

It's great toy, but its not ready to be a business phone. Let me list the reasons why.

1. Battery life. You have to disable a lot of the features that make the iPhone worthwhile.


2. No Copy and Paste. Someone sends you an e-mail with a Contact number you can't copy and paste it and dial it.


3. AT&T Service is bad. At least in the Los Angeles area.


4. I finally disabled Push Media Feature. My Verizon Blackberry handles e-mails a lot better.

Macs are Cool if you got the money . . .

This has been my response to Macs for the last seven years. That was the last time I actually bought an Apple product with a keyboard and mouse. Since then I have only bought or recommended iPods and lately the iPhone as a solid Apple Product. "Macs are Cool if you got the money . . ."

I have been teasing myself with getting a new Intel Duo 2 Core Powerbook, er MacBook Pro, see that's how far behind I am. The last time I bought a Mac I was at UCLA and had the benefit of a University discount. The darn things cost $2,500. For that price I could get two Dell Notebooks and a Printer.

However there may be a new offering from Apple this fall. the New York Times reports that Apple will introduce a new line of portables this fall at competitive pricing. Apple executives have figured it out, "most people don't buy our stuff because it's so expensive." The sales of the iPhone at $199 prove that. Likewise the introduction of low cost PC Laptop at Staples and BestBuy may be the motivating factor behind being more competitive on pricing for Apple.

Here is the link form the New York Times.

Los Angeles Fast Food Ban?

It just doesn't make sense. The road to the Police State is paved with good intentions, it's for your safety? The world is a dangerous place, the role of government is to maintain order and protect people from harm, not HAMBURGERS! Los Angeles City Council memebr Jan Perry believes otherwise.

I have posted about this before. This ban will hurt small businesses and the residents that depend on these jobs. Legislation like this will not stop people from eating bad food. The time and energy is best spent on educating people about the hazards of eating fast food 5 times a week rather than restricting free enterprise.

Read the story here on LA Eater.

iPhone Shortage! Day 7

Oh snap son, the iPhone 3G is unavailable in California. I just checked their website for availability. Unless you want to drive to Simi Valley, no iPhone 3G for you.

Pink Slip Nation

My friend KK has a new Blog. Stop it this picture is as sexy as it gets. The time has come for a political blog by a woman that's not afriad to use pink. Read on at PinkSlipNation.

Starbucks WiFi & iPhone: Day 6

Not actually Day 6 but this does deserve its own entry. The free AT&T WiFi gives me a reason to go into a Starbucks. I have the good fortune of having a Starbucks on the ground floor of my building at 80 S. Lake Ave, in Pasadena. This means I have access to the AT&T WiFi signal from the store. The signal is surprisingly strong on my iPhone 3G. I can even check my e-mail and browser WoWinsider.com and ESPN from across the street!

The only downside is that I am limited to two hours of access per day. But if I keep my browsing down to lunch time and the few mintues I keep to myself after work before I go home this is great place to sit, relax, WiFi and oh dear enjoy an overpriced dry cup of coffee.

iPhone GPS Success! Day 5

So today "The Girlfriend" and I used the iPhone's built in GPS and the Yelp Application for turn by turn directions from the Century City Mall on Santa Monica Blvd. to the the noteworthy Fathers Office restaurant in Culver City. As Borat would say, it was a great success. Yes.

We did miss a turn on Manning, but it was tiny little street with no street light. Once we turrned around, U turn, we were well on our way as we followed the little blue dot down to National Blvd and Venice.

The best way to use GPS is to find the location first. Save it as a bookmark and then press, "Ask for Directions." The iPhone does the rest and the little blue dot keeps moving on both the EDGE and 3G network. The iPhone keeps the signal regardless of your network connection.

(Special comment by "The Girlfriend:" This really only works if you have a passenger who is navigating. Do not attempt to do this while driving.)

Yeah man, that would suck if you crashed and damaged your iPhone.

iPhone Battery Woes: Day 4

This is by far the best review I have read about the battery life for the new iPhone 3G. Honestly unless I plug it in by 2 PM I run out of battery life in regular use in a normal work day.

Read it Now on Engadget.

The battery life on the iPhone is a real concern. 6.5 hours available in a 12 hour work day as a professional? The iPhone isn't ready as a primary business phone unless you have a spare charger in your office.

My BlackBerry Curve 8310 kicks it ass.

iPhone in Real Life: Day 3 Update

D. Asks, "How is that iPhone?"

I reply, "It's fun, but for real world stuff my BlackBerry kicks it's ass."

Sure enough the wave of euphoria I had for the iPhone has ceased now that I am back at work I can really feel its limitations. I can get Sales leads and notifications on my BlackBerry instantaneously. I could have the same feature enabled on my iPhone but that would require that the iPhone be on all the time. The iPhone is awesome so long as you have a full battery or access to a nearby power source.

The battery life really sucks on it.

iPhone Battery life: Day 3

Today's post is brought to you by an original iPhone User. I guess that makes her "OG" and an authority on the subject.

I've read on HowardForums that the battery life is terrible on the new phone! You might check Amazon for reviews on headsets. What type of case did you get? If there is something you are looking for, such as a extra charger or even a certain headset, check with Tad first as we have a wholesale catalog that carries some of the iphone goodies. (he can't get the headset that is made by Apple).

Also, we got extra insurance (you have 30 days) through SquareTrade.com. It was relatively inexpensive and if you do it within the 30 days you can add extra protection in case you drop it in water! I purchased it for our first GPS on got on Ebay and we had a problem with the GPS and they fixed it and we had it back in a week.

If you decide to get SquareTrade do a search first on Google for a coupon code. Usually you can find one for at least 10% off and they have several sales during the year for 30% off. I suggested to Jen to get it for the Sam's but not sure if she did.

iPhone 3G Day 2

It's 3:30 PM in the afternoon and my battery is already low. I haven't made any calls with it today. Battery life is definitely an issue with the iPhone. I should carry my charger with me, or at least buy a spare for the office.

I turned it off right now. I will update you all tonight.

Update

My battery drained to 20% today and I didn't even make any calls. I will have to bring my charger to work to keep the battery alive. Its like have a pet canary with me.

Once I charged the battery to full I had no problems making calls or keeping the signal strong inside buildings. There could be a correlation between battery life and performance.

I am considering a head set for the iPhone because I don't want to take it out in public and possibly drop it or attracting un-wanted attention.

iPhone 3G review

I tested the Apps last night. The Facebook App works great and it saves me time. I don't have to boot up my PC or my Laptop to check my profile page. The same is true for the Twitter and the Yelp App. The Apps are easy to use and fast on both a WiFi and 3G connetion. My favorite so far is the Remote App, I can really control my PC from across the room with my iPhone, now if I could just do that with my LCD TV and my DirecTV HD DVR.

As a cell phone, the iPhone does not like to be moved around much. The AT&T signal is weak in both Pasadena and West Hollywood. The calls aren't as clear or loud as the Verizon Network calls. there are some hotspots in both places where the signal strength is very good.

Since today is the first day I am using it at work for real world stuff I should have a much better review this evening.

Day One with the iPhone

After standing in line for two hours, not bad really, The George has come home to a cold glass of white wine and blogs about his new toy . . . er productivity device.

I got an iPhone 3G folks! After considerable delay. I waited until Sunday. Two days after the worldwide launch. I left early in the morning to stand in line in front of the Apple Store at The Grove. The line was very tame. It wasn't as crowded as Friday or Saturday. Some people I met had stood in line on Friday since 5 in the morning, disappointingly going home after the activation servers were shut down. The people were really nice both in line and inside the store. The Apple Employees handed out water bottles. I was surprised the 16GB "white" iPhones were still in stock. I worried that they would be the first to go.

After going through the activation. I turned on the phone and found the controls very easy to understand and sent an SMS text to the iPhone from my Verizon Blackberry. Which I am keeping by the way.

Why? The iPhone is the new . . . .

No it's not, actually AT&T has one of the weakest signals in Los Angeles. One of the reasons I did not make the jump to the iPhone a year ago. I can't make a phone call from inside the house, and the first generation iPhones had a notorious reputation for dropped calls. As a test I had my girlfriend call her mother, a 1st Generation iPhone user. The call went through while she and I were sitting on the porch. However, when we tried to order food, I could not get a signal inside the house. As a phone the iPhone is just not there yet, because AT&T has such poor service in Los Angeles. Verizon has the best service in Los Angeles so as far a phone goes, Verizion is my first choice.

But wait! Why did you get the iPhone, if you already have a phone?

The iPhone is as fast, if not faster than the Dell XPS M1530 Laptop we have inside the house. When you connect the iPhone to a WiFi wireless network you can really appreciate the elegance of the Operating System. Now if I could only have Mozilla and Flash on the iPhone I would near use this Dell XPS again, except for Warcraft. Ooh Warcraft on the iPhone!

Apple 3G launch = EPIC FAIL

Where were you for the "iPocalypse?"

Thankfully I had to be in the office at 7 am in the morning today. So missed out on all the camping and waiting in line in front of Apple Stores and AT&T shops. That's avery good thing. All the hype surrounding the new Apple iPhone 3G has died.

It's dead bro, the brillaint Marketing Hype that welcomed the new phone is gone. All those great fuzzy feelings connected with the product evaporared when the most, loyal, the most patient, the most unemployed were faced with a nightmarish senario. Having their working iPhone Disabled by an Apple or AT&T employee, to activate their new shinny iPhone 3G. Well this did not happen. Most new iPhone 3G buyers were sent home with in active phone. Some were caught in the nightmare of having two deactivated phones. If AT&T is your only mobile provider, then those folks are stuck with no phone at all.

GG Apple!

The gadget blog Gizmodo christened the problems the "iPocalypse", while the Information Week columnist Mitch Wagner said Apple had compounded problems through "negligence and failure to anticipate demand"

Read this article for the full impact. INFOWorld Activation Blues. Thankfully I have 5 more hours here in the office and I have a Verizon BlackBerry. So I will be immune to all this nonsense.

Look for my iPhone 3G review Tomorrow.