Monday 13 July 2009

iPhone Diary - Day 1


I have done it, I have joined the dark side, the evil fruit empire called Apple has managed to lure me into buying one of their (overpriced) products. About a week ago I decided to buy the new iPhone 3GS and so far it is the worst phone I have ever owned and probably ever will own. The battery life is pathetic, the reception is prety poor (mostly thanks to O2 for that), the shape is horrible and it is more slippery than a thin bar of soap and it is ridiculously overpriced thanks to the monopoly Apple has created wth the providers (where are the EU watchdogs if you need them?).
BUT and a big but here, if you are looking for more than a phone this is where the iPhone realy comes into it's own. Apple has tried hard to lock it down as much as possible and has ignored features every manufacturer had in their devices for years now but after 3 years Apple has finally managed to release the best iPhone yet. As bad as it is as a phone it is the best MID (Mobile Internet Device or beter Multimedia & Internet Device) out there at the moment. The interface is great, the apps are plenty and some are extremely usefull or just entertaining. Everything just works great in this respect, especially if you defy Apple and jailbreak it. This is the reason why I bought one and if you are looking for an MID and don't care much about making calls you should seriously consider this as there is not much that comes close.

This should not become a iPhone review however but more the start of an iPhone week. Don't get me wrong, I would not suggest for a minute that the "camera" in any phone is a real camera. Instead I will treat it as a Lomo camera and try to just have fun with it without considering technicalities or the final technical quality.
It seems that recently any self respecting photographer needs to take some pictures with a phone camera ;).

So for this week I will try to use the iPhone as a real MID and take, edit and hopefully post everything from the phone.
Today's post is written on my laptop but the picture has been taken with the iPhone camera and edited using the free Mill Color software on the iPhone.

7 comments:

  1. Congratulations! Enjoy the iPhone. As you said it's the best mobile internet device beside the ipod touch. I have the 2G version and use it around the house as WiFi device and when I travel light.

    Apple products just work and the user interface is amazing.

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  2. I've got an iPhone 3G (couldn't justify the extra $100 for the 3GS). For the past couple of weeks I've been posting some photos that I've taken with it and edited using either Camera Bag or Tiffen's Photo FX (recently installed Mill Colour as well and really enjoying it).

    Can't wait to see what you come up with this week.

    PS. When I first got my 3G the battery life was about a day at the maximum. Now, I'm getting a couple of days out of it usually. It helps to turn off push email (so that it only checks your email when you open the Mail app), turn off 3G (unless you're transferring data or are surfing the web) and turn off WiFi when you aren't using it. I know, all the things that make the iPhone fast and convenient are all the things that drain its battery, but it's worth it if you want to extend your battery by an extra 20 hours or so...

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  3. I personally don't have one, don't need one, and can't justify one, but I do think it is one of the best, most liberating, and over-priced digital Holga equivalent on the market.

    I have seen many great photographs all over the net (including those of Matthew!) and it seems like a good deal of fun.

    Enjoy it, share it!

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  4. So its a great phone as long as you don't want to use it to make calls LOL :)Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

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  5. Thanks Marco. You are right, Apple products just work but as a PC user they are too limiting and too locked down by Apple. This is the reason they just work so well.

    Matthew, your posts were what finally made me try using the phone 'camera' to take pictures. I had such a project in mind for quite a while.
    Thanks for the tips regarding the battery life, I will give it a try and see how much more I can get out of the 3GS. I am also thinking of getting a case with an extended battery at the back, this would improve the handling but also the battery life.

    Thanks Wouter. It certainly is overpriced, very overpriced even, but at the same time it is great fun to use as a MID.

    Yesbuts, I would not consider this a phone and Apple should have named it iMID or iGadget instead, it would be much more fitting. I see this as a great gadget or MID which just so happens to be able to make and recieve calls if really needed. I don't need to use the phone often but use the other features quite a lot.

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  6. Well, congrats, yout have now the most advanced device of the world in your hands ;) Enjoy it.
    As for the price, well, i don´t think it´s overpriced, let me say so, imho it is underpriced.
    After all i also don´t think the serious user of an iPhone would be happy to see this thing in the hands of kiddies at every corner...Let they have those Nokias (bahh...).
    Looking to see more images from you and your iPhone.
    PS.get the "Lomo" software for taking photos ;)

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  7. Thanks Neos66! I will do another iPhone week soon, I enjoyed the challenge the first time round and want to try it again.
    The iPhone is a great device and with a bettery case it is actually usable and the handling improves massively.
    It still is very expensive, especially when compared with netbooks and similar full computers.

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