iPhone and me
Posted on 20. Oct, 2009 by Bharat in Opinion
I saw an article recently about Apple letting in more apps than it should and how there are more than a 100 fart apps and flashlight apps etc etc. I started out to comment on the article and after three full paragraphs realized that I really wanted to say more about the topic. So here goes, my experience with the infamous iPhone.
The journey started back when my girl friend bought me the iPhone as a gift. This was when the iPhone was 400 bucks a pop, which to me now sounds ridiculous, but then its an amazing device and the first of its kind and deserves the steep price (and who can argue with a gift 
). The first generation iPhone did not have 3G, so it was a pain to use because at the time I was using a Windows Mobile phone which had 3G and had gotten used to the speed.
Long story short, I did not start appreciating the full capability of the iPhone until I got the 3G device. but once you have 3G is this little gadget, it opens up a whole new era of apps and functionality. Not everyone realizes that it was the iPhone that actually brought the thought of mobile browsing into the online world from a host perspective. Before the iPhone, sure people visited websites from their smart phones but the website providers were not really designing for mobile browsing or very few of them were. And now, there is not a site that does not take you to their mobile version when you hit it with an iPhone.
The other amazing and worth mentioning is that besides all the apps that are available, its the music on the go that has been revolutionized. Sure the iPod brought a new meaning to music on the go, but it still mean you had to load it up at home and you are still limited to the music that you have. With the iPhone you can simply open up a browser or an app if available and start listening to whatever you want on the go!! Isn’t that amazing? Being from India, the easiest way for me to listen to Indian music was through online radio sites like Raaga or Music India Online etc. But that meant I had to be at a computer to do so, well not any more. Where ever I am , I just connect to Raaga.com from my iPhone (which then takes you to a mobile version of their site) and start enjoying the music I want. Ofcourse you need 3G to do so at a reasonable speed.
When it comes to apps, I too like most of you agree that Apple should not be blocking apps on the basis of “provides alternate basic functionality to the phone”. Google Voice is the perfect example of this kind of hypocrisy. I long for the day when customers just pay for their 3G connection on their phones and can use the data networks in any way we please. Because lets face it, voice is data. My friend (working at Motorola) disagrees with that but even if have to make some improvements in the networks, I think thats the way to go.
On a final note, here are my favorite apps
- Cartoon Wars (Amazing game, very addictive)
- Shazam (Listens to radio and tells you what song that it is)
- text+ (Free texting app)
- Pandora (Internet Radio)
- Flixster (Movie info)
- Yelp (Well, its Yelp!)
I have about 25 apps on the iPhone right now and I use these about 90% of the time and the other 20 or so 10% of the time. So thats my thoughts on the device that changed the history of smart phones. Please share your thoughts as well.
