My iPhone 4 after 1 week - a review

I've had my iPhone v4 for a week now, so I thought I'd share some brief thoughts here.

Reception

I've had no real issues with reception, in spite of all the news stories on this topic. I think a lot of my good experience is related to my paranoia - I ordered a case for my iPhone before I even received it, because I was worried about it being too slippery, and wanted some protection from scratches & drops. This meant that I avoided the reception drops reported by others, since my fingers don't touch the metal rim directly. The case I chose is Boxwave's Cyclone Crystal Slip (in Azure Blue, pictured at right), and it covers the metal band around the iPhone, as well as the back. I test dropped my phone with this case, and it does an awesome job of protecting the phone.

Form factor

I upgraded from an iPhone 3Gs, and the iPhone 4 is very similar in dimensions, but slightly thinner. This makes it more pocket-friendly, and it feels like a very sturdy little gadget. The glass back makes it very slippery so I definitely recommend some kind of case to help you grip it better (again, the Cyclone case comes to the rescue).

Battery life

As I've posted here in the past, my biggest gripe about the iPhone has been battery life - with the iPhone 3Gs, I had to surround myself with chargers and plan recharge time into my daily routine. With the iPhone 4, the battery life still isn't breathtaking, but it's notably better. With normal use and identical settings, I can get through a whole day without recharging. Might not sound like much (especially compared to my old Blackberry which could go for a couple of days under heavy use), but it's "better enough" for me.

Screen

The screen is awesome. At first I thought "yeah, whatever" but I am really noticing how much better the higher res screen is, even in non-graphically intensive apps.

Camera

The camera is fantastic. The resolution, of course, is about 5x better and the picture quality is great even in low light. In really low light, the flash kicks in and does a nice job of illuminating your subject. There is also a digital zoom, which can occasionally be helpful (but digital zooms sacrifice picture quality).

Facetime

One big change is that Apple's added a front-facing camera (1.3 megapixel) that allows you to take pictures of yourself (whee...) or have a 2-way video chat with another iPhone 4 user. It works pretty well, but the iPhone 4 requirement limits how much you can use it -- and the fact that it currently works only when you're using Wi-Fi limits it even further. I'm looking forward to when they allow you to make these calls over the 3G network, and when they enable Skype or similar video communications apps to use the iPhone 4's camera.

iOS v4 improvements

The new version of the iOS (previously known as iPhone OS) is pretty cool. My favorite improvements:

• You can now create folders of apps to help you organize your apps. It's about time!
• Email is much-improved, allowing you to show all your various email accounts in a single inbox view.
  Bonus: Mail also has a "conversation" view which collapses all the messages into a single entry in the inbox. When you click the message, you "drill down" into a view that shows only the messages relating to that specific subject.
  

The negatives

All in all, I really like the iPhone 4 and am glad I upgraded. But it isn't perfect. Here are my gripes:

• Still no support for Flash content. The religious war between Steve Jobs and Adobe make this unlikely to change.
• The A2DP Bluetooth still doesn't support the [Previous Track]/[Next Track] functions, caller name announce, or really anything beyond [Play]/[Pause].
• I still wish the battery life was better. If the thickness of the iPhone 4 was the same as the 3Gs, but I got longer battery life, that would be no problem at all for me.
• Multitasking is not very impressive. Maybe I just need to be patient for more multi-tasking ready apps, but it's not all I'd hoped. Its really more of a "multi-pause" capability at best - aside from a couple of apps (Pandora, for example) it just pauses your apps in the background so you can restart them faster.

You may notice I didn't mention AT&T. That's because I don't have an issue with AT&T - their coverage in the Portland, Oregon area has been solid for me, I travel internationally where their roaming works fine (though Int'l roaming can be ridonculously expensive), they let me keep my unlimited data plan. Plus, I like having an iPhone.

I talk to strangers

The other day, Kare Anderson reminded me that I haven't written about the "genuine curiosity" for which this blog is named. As I've mentioned in my About page:

Stranger.png

The concept is this: when you're talking to people about stuff, rather than trying to connect the dots in your own mind (i.e. jump to conclusions or make assumptions), hold back a bit on that tendency and ask another open ended question. Simple, but it'll make a difference in what you learn, how open people are to you, and how much you connect with them.

For me, this means I end up talking a lot with strangers in spite of what my mother always told me (I think it's a lot safer as an old guy like me, and it was good advice when I was a kid).

People traveling with me sometimes think it's weird, or get uncomfortable, but I find out very interesting things through this process. Let me share a few recent examples:

Kouff's Story

On a recent trip to London, I was walking near Trafalgar Square, on my way back to my hotel after dinner with a colleague. A guy was selling "The Big Issue," which is a newspaper that homeless people sell as part of a program to help them get back on their feet. I didn't have any cash with me, but I spent a few minutes talking with the guy, starting with "So...what's your story?"

The guy told me everybody calls him "Kouff" (I'm guessing at the spelling) and that he used to be an officer in the Hungarian army but he moved to London for a change. He says he has a brother who is working in the US with the US government, and that his brother told him where Osama bin Laden is. At this point, I'm intrigued.

Kouff says he will tell me where bin Laden is, if I promise to split the reward money with him if I can find him. OK, no problem. So he tells me bin Laden is on an Apache Tribal Reservation somewhere in the US, and I should go there and find him. Interesting.

On the off chance that I run into bin Laden, I asked Kouff how I can get him the money if I get the reward. "Easy - put it in the post to me. I'm Kouff with the red hair. Everybody know me."

And if you happen to find bin Laden based on Kouff's tip, please give him half the reward.

Sergei's Story

This past weekend, I stopped at a rest area during a trip with a group of Boy Scouts. They were in the restroom and I was hanging around outside waiting for them. A guy was standing there having a cigarette and I said hello. He asked me some questions about my Scout uniform (I'm one of the adult leaders, and we wear our uniform shirts on road trips). He told me the uniforms were different in Ukraine - they were black, and he said they looked a lot tougher.

I asked him what got him to move to the US. He told me they left because they didn't have freedom to believe what they wanted, so they left as soon as they could. For example, he said his mother is Christian and one time the government put her in a cell for 3 days without food because she wouldn't tell them "there is no Jesus or God."

He loves living in the US, and he is now a citizen - as are his wife, his kids, and his mother. He told me, "Never forget how important your freedom is in this country - I thank God for freedom every day because I remember what it was like."

Sergei told me the best memory he has of life in Ukraine was when they found out he was leaving and the KGB tore up his military passport and told him he was not allowed to come back to Russia.

Even the "normal" stories are good for you

Not all the stories are that unusual, but they are still good for my perspective and I usually get something good out of the interaction.

Through this approach, I've spoken with people who are missionaries in foreign countries; people who have great advice about restaurants, books, and gadgets; people who are afraid of flying that I've been able to comfort; and more. But you don't get the memorable stories without hearing the normal ones, too.

So think about it - maybe try talking with a stranger every now and again, and see if you find a few memorable stories of your own. (And, of course, be sensible and safe about it.)

If you find any memorable stories, I'd love to hear them.

How I got my iPad for free

As I've mentioned here, I recently got an iPad. And now I want to share how I got it for no additional cash out of my pocket (OK, technically, it wasn't "free" but it didn't make me go over budget, at least). You may be able to use this same method for an iPad or any other discretionary expense you are thinking about

While I'm a "gadget person" for sure, I couldn't justify shelling out a bunch of money for yet another gadget. So, I set out on a quest to figure out how to pay for this wonderful toy.

How'd you pay for that iPad?

If you're not familiar with Gazelle, it is a site that purchases used gadgets and pays you in cash (or cash equivalents, depending on what you choose). You simply go to their site, find the article you're looking to sell, answer a few questions about its condition, and they will make an offer for it (this happens in real-time -- very convenient).I turned to an old familiar site: Gazelle.com. If you're not familiar with Gazelle, it is a site that purchases used gadgets and pays you in cash (or cash equivalents, depending on what you choose). You simply go to their site, find the article you're looking to sell, answer a few questions about its condition, and they will make an offer for it (this happens in real-time -- very convenient).

If you like their offer, follow their process to send your device in (every time I've used them, they send me a free box and shipping label (they pay shipping) to send it in. When they receive your device, they will confirm its condition and either honor the original quote or make you a counter-offer (typically because their opinion of the condition of the item is different than yours - this has happened to me a couple of times). If you agree to the revised offer, they pay you; if you disagree, they will ship the item back to you at their expense.

I pulled together some old gadgets (an Archos portable media player, my Kindle, some old smartphones) and got enough to pay for my iPad. This killed 3 birds with one stone: I got the iPad I wanted, I got rid of the clutter from devices I wasn't using any more, and I got to check off one of the items on my "getting things done list" to get rid of my old devices.

By the way, Gazelle is a "green" recycler, which is another reason I really like them - details are on Gazelle's site, as part of their "recycling promise."

So look around. If you've got old gadgets, check out Gazelle as a fast, easy way to sell them - it's an easy way to get that other new gadget you've been eyeing.

free , Gadgets, iPad, iphone 4

Portable Wi-Fi access for my iPad

In spite of my initial desire to wait for version 2, I caved and decided to get an iPad. I got the Wi-Fi only version, rather than the one with built-in 3G.

The quandary now, is that I sometimes find myself in situations where I don't have access to a Wi-Fi signal (I travel a lot). For my laptop, I have a USB broadband modem which allows me to get on the internet. The iPad, however, doesn't have a USB port, so I couldn't use the USB broadband modem with my iPad.

I have found a great solution, though: the Cradlepoint PHS-300 personal hotspot. This is a small, battery powered device (rechargeable) that I plug my USB broadband modem into. It provides power to the modem, which then connects to my wireless carrier's broadband network. The PHS-300 then acts as a wireless hotspot, enabling me to share my broadband connection among up to 16 devices.

So far, this thing has worked like a charm. I used it for about 3 hours yesterday because I didn't want to pay $14.95 for a daypass on the local Wi-Fi provider. I surfed on my iPad the whole time, and it worked flawlessly.

The device works with just about any 3G or 4G USB modem you can throw at it, worldwide. I happen to have AT&T (as you can see from my picture above, but have verified that it works with my friend's WiMax (4G) modem without problems. The Cradlepoint product page has an extensive list of devices from around the world.

Enjoy your freedom!

Gadgets

Your opinion counts - action requested

If you've been following the blog for a while, you know I write about a fairly wide variety of things. Moving forward, I'd like to tap into your opinion to help me write more about the things you're interested in and less about the things you aren't.

With that in mind, I've added a way to rate each blog post at the bottom of the post. You'll see that rating widget at the bottom of each article (see below). You'll have to read the site itself to do this rating - it isn't yet available in the RSS feed. Also, you may have to actually click into the post to see the voting buttons (click the title of the post to get there).

I'd appreciate it if you'd spend a few minutes on the site and rate 5 to 10 of your favorite articles (and any you don't like) to help me focus my writing time in the future. And thanks for following Genuine Curiosity!

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