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So my father decided to upgrade the the newest fastest iPhone. By doing that, I was the lucky recipient of a hand me down 1st Generation iPhone.
Off the bat I will say that this is one beautifully designed piece of hardware. It feels good to hold it, and even though it's a bit wide, the thing feels just fine in my pocket.
I'm thrilled by what it replaces. My MP3 player, my palm pilot, my "everyday"camera and my cell phone all bundled up in a tight little package. Given that, the size is awesome!
The Camera - No flash, no zoom, but once again most of the time I take a picture just running around is for my blog or a "Hey, We're Drunk at the Parrot" shot. The awesome part is being able to take a photo and email it directly to my Flickr account without going through the computer.
The interface is slick. Apple has always had the design part down.
Honestly, the feature I'll probably use the least is the phone. I'm not a chatter. On the other hand, setting up my Gmail account was a breeze. It keeps me good and up to date with multiple penis enlargement offers and prescription drugs.
After having a "normal cellphone", the text entry is fine. It does a great job of auto correcting, so I can blast out a message pretty quickly.
The iPod is cool. I like that it will turn down my music if I get a call. I can talk with my headphones, they have a mic on 'em.
Now the ugly:
Damn it, Apple. I understand that you are trying to keep this thing as simple as possible for the general public. But the lock down on what you can and can not do is just silly. I bought (or was given in this case) a piece of hardware and I'm going to use it as I damn well please. I don't need a "stock quote" icon on my screen. I don't check stocks. Yet you don't want me to delete it.
I will say that I haven't used the iPhone in its normal layout. The first thing I did was break the thing so I could make it do what I want. Now I have programs that can hide icons, change the themes, and display actual information on the lock screen and not just a pretty picture. Hell, I even put a halfway decent video camera on it. The Jailbreaking process is pretty simple. Just read the directions and you are good to go. This puts a little thing on the phone called Cydia. Install all the "Cool Kids" programs here.
iTunes is ... well it's iTunes. It's bloated, doesn't play .wmv files (but will convert them pretty easily) and it loves to lock up and crash on me. I'm lucky enough to know how to beat the damn thing into submission, but it just loves to hijack everything. I have three Apple processes running without having iTunes even open. Drives me nuts!
BUT there is the little iTunes Remote App on their official store that is really nice. You can control your iTunes from anywhere on your network (anywhere in the house pretty much).
So overall, it's awesome. Of course I didn't buy it either and if I couldn't jailbreak it, I'd have serious problems with it. But damn...
I'm still a little embarrassed to take it out in public, I need to find a way to deface the Apple logo in a classy and respectful manner.
Posted by landon at September 13, 2008 10:57 AM
you'd be hard pressed to change that thing enough so people won't recognize it, good luck!
Posted by: beach at September 15, 2008 12:55 AM
I have put a band on the iphone from my hands. We will see how long that last. Maybe when you get the next new "hand me down"-you can hand yours down- ;)
I am still on my blackberry that I got 3 years ago and still do not know how to "really use it" only the way I need to!!
Enjoyed reading your blogs!
Posted by: Kristy at October 17, 2008 10:25 PM