iGotIt
I'm usually pretty good at delayed gratification. When the iPhone came out four years ago, I drooled, but did not buy it, since I didn't want to switch providers. Besides, I figured, it would be on Verizon in two years, and if it didn't I could consider switching later. I even avoided upgrading my phone, since I didn't want to lock in for two years, just in case I gave in and was willing to switch.
So when they finally announced the Verizon iPhone, I knew I had to get it. Oh sure, it didn't use 4G, and you can't access the internet while talking, but... I've had an iPod Touch for a couple of years (it was a present from my family), and I'd grown to depend on it for appointments and shopping lists and internet when I had WiFi access but no ready computer. And remembering to carry both it and my phone everywhere was a pain (in fact, I left my iPod at work over winter break, which was really aggravating, since I didn't know where it was for a week and a half.
Well, I have the iPhone now and I love it. Not only does it do everything my phone and iPod did in one device, it does it better! It syncs with the address book on my Mac, so I have one list of contacts for email, phone, and AIM. It handles texting really well, gives me a pretty decent camera that's in my pocket at all times, and is noticeably faster than my iPod Touch. I was even able to just restore all of my iPod settings and apps, so I didn't lose anything when I switched.
And it has one additional application that I find really clever. The device, if you bought it without a phone plan, is super-expensive, so you really don't want to lose it. And you can imagine how easy it would be to do just that. So there's a service called FindMyiPhone. You register it and you can log in to the web site, ask it to find your device, and it uses the onboard GPS and internet to show you exactly where it is (yes, that means that you can effectively track the user as well). Then, if that isn't enough, you can tell the device to display a message, or to emit a sharp sound, even if the device is muted, or you can erase all of your data if you cannot retrieve the phone. Pretty darn slick!
So when they finally announced the Verizon iPhone, I knew I had to get it. Oh sure, it didn't use 4G, and you can't access the internet while talking, but... I've had an iPod Touch for a couple of years (it was a present from my family), and I'd grown to depend on it for appointments and shopping lists and internet when I had WiFi access but no ready computer. And remembering to carry both it and my phone everywhere was a pain (in fact, I left my iPod at work over winter break, which was really aggravating, since I didn't know where it was for a week and a half.
Well, I have the iPhone now and I love it. Not only does it do everything my phone and iPod did in one device, it does it better! It syncs with the address book on my Mac, so I have one list of contacts for email, phone, and AIM. It handles texting really well, gives me a pretty decent camera that's in my pocket at all times, and is noticeably faster than my iPod Touch. I was even able to just restore all of my iPod settings and apps, so I didn't lose anything when I switched.
And it has one additional application that I find really clever. The device, if you bought it without a phone plan, is super-expensive, so you really don't want to lose it. And you can imagine how easy it would be to do just that. So there's a service called FindMyiPhone. You register it and you can log in to the web site, ask it to find your device, and it uses the onboard GPS and internet to show you exactly where it is (yes, that means that you can effectively track the user as well). Then, if that isn't enough, you can tell the device to display a message, or to emit a sharp sound, even if the device is muted, or you can erase all of your data if you cannot retrieve the phone. Pretty darn slick!