KEY POINTS:
As some readers will recall, I had an achy breaky heart about not being able to afford an iPhone, but I was starting to miss out on a technology that I couldn't afford to miss out on. You know, more than my job's worth and all that.
So I looked hard at Vodafone's two new plans. Hey, I figured - if I could stump up the money for an iPhone, I could change my cellphone plan and actually save money on my monthly Vodafone bill, going from the c$50 a month (on my particularly unintuitive Motorola) to a new $40-per-month iPhone plan. These new plans were announced a few weeks ago and changed all the equations. (Note that changing plans can result in penalty charges.)
Now, an iPhone alone - without a plan - costs a steep $1129. I know I'm impecunious at times, due to the ups and downs of my profession, but crikey - I've spent that much on a car. A whole car!
So anyway, I had to jump into the Apple iPhone phenomenon. The 16GB white iPhone with the $40 per month plan puts the device price at $849 - not bad for a smart phone. The Nokia N95 smart phone cost $1595 on release last year; it's now $1399, I believe.
This $40 Vodafone iPhone 3G plan includes 20 national anytime call minutes per month, up to 100 TXTs per month to any NZ mobile (from within New Zealand), 250MB data/month and extra charges (which are quite reasonable) for additional usage.
This doesn't sound like a super comprehensive plan, but I have access to a wireless network, so I can most of my serious downloading over the office wireless network and keep my Vodafone network data usage down.
OK, I understand there has been some criticism that the iPhone is not the best phone on the market. It's not. But it's a perfectly reasonable cell phone. If you want an iPhone just because you need a new cell phone, sorry - you're just missing the point by a country mile. The iPhone is so much more than a cell phone.
For any Mac user, the iPhone is a tremendous boon - for most intents and purposes it's a hell of a lot better than packing your laptop. I take my laptop with me for serious writing and for presentations and training, and an iPhone will never replace that. But I have also regularly packed my laptop just to have access to the 'net, and for my full contacts database (which wouldn't all fit onto the aforesaid Motorola I was lumbered with).
No more - just charging the iPhone with the included USB cable not only put all of my songs and all of my contacts and schedules onto it, it also put all the details of all my email accounts on it, so I can email from wherever I am. The sync service is painless - actually, it's transparent. Things just update. And while I expected my MobileMe email account to be on there, I was surprised my Orcon account transferred and worked straight away, too. Ever tried to set up email on a phone? Not too easy on some cellphones. There's something kinda creepy - in a good way - hearing email arrive in your pocket.
The first thing I did with this expensive device is get some protection for it. There are lots of cases on the market already and I turned to Bruce Currin at MacSense for advice. He said that when he first got an iPhone a year ago he went for the iSkin case with its removable tough faceplate, but that he'd found the screen tougher than expected and had since gone for a faceless case and a rub-on protective film.
Anyway, back to the iPhone - since I was still in the first blush of a Gollum 'my precious' mode, I sprang for the tough, $60 iSkin revo2. It's rubbery, still fits in my pocket, lets me turn the volume up and down by feel on raised side-bumps and has a cutaway for the camera lens. Besides, it's bright red (it's also available in black, black/clear and blue/black) so I can't lose it easily. As I'm notoriously tough on everything I own, I appreciate the hard, clear touchscreen cover, but the iSkin ships with a plastic film for the screen anyway. These thin films allow full touch control.
While I was at it, I bought a tough Speck plastic hard-shell for my MacBook Pro. MacSense-imported products are available all over the country at Apple resellers
(After a week of use, I came up with an idea for a much handier iPhone case, by the way. One like the iSkin but with a shoulder strap, so you can just hang it over your shoulder like a camera for instant access. The strap could have a path for the earbud cable routed through it. Get to it, someone, I want one!)
Anyway, let's get off the case and back onto the device. Another thing I've packed my laptop for is Google Maps - no longer, as it's now in my pocket. I cycle for fitness, but take a phone as I prefer to bike during working hours. Pedal, ring (if I even hear it), stop, turn off iPod, haul out cellphone, miss the call É or get the call, panting. You get the picture. No more - now I play songs on my iPhone as I cycle and the music stops when a call comes in. The microphone is in the earbud cable - almost a hands-free system. This is excellent.
These are really still first impressions, but I can see I'm going to regret the 100 text limit. It's so easy to text on the iPhone, I'm doing way more than I ever did before - the touch keyboard operation looks like it will hard to use, but it's not. It's sublime.
I haven't had time to delve deeply into the Apps yet, but two free ones deserve a mention. Apple's Remote is awesome if you play your iTunes libraries via an AirPort Express. Before, I'd have a playlist going over the stereo in the lounge and somehow or other, some completely inappropriate song would come up. I used to have to walk into my office and change it on my Mac. With Remote, I can control it from the iPhone in my pocket.
The other really cool one is Snow Reports - not for Aspen, Colorado, either. New Zealand ski fields. That's because the App is made by Cabbage Tree software of Auckland, a company that specialises in the development of tourism specific sites and software.
Cabbage Tree's Lawrence Smith tells me the app was submitted on July 29th and approved three days later. It took nearly three weeks for the paper work to get sorted, and then it was available.
Nothing like seeing which ski fields are closed and open and getting other condition info instantly. Marvellous. More later.
- Mark Webster mac.nz
