There’s this meme going around Facebook where you post 25 random things about yourself in a note and tag 25 of your friends, who are encouraged to write 25 random things about themselves and keep the ball rolling.
If you read this blog, you probably know very little about the person writing on the other side, me. So in the spirit of the Facebook meme, I thought I’d share 25 things about me and Apple iPhone Review that you may not know (nothing too personal). If you have your own blog I encourage you to also share 25 things about yourself, and send me a pingback if you want.
- My name is Chris and I’m a University of Florida undergraduate senior, majoring in English and minoring in Sustainability.
- Apple iPhone Review is a one-man operation run entirely by me.
- When I’m not working on this site, I’m reading good books and working on campus sustainability issues at UF.
- I didn’t care about iPods or cell phones before I got an iPhone.
- I love having an iPhone now, but I’m realistic about its limitations.
- This site was created over two years ago because I wanted to make an income from home, not because I had a passion for the iPhone.
- Originally, I hoped to make some cash by selling the domain name appleiphonereview.com, but no one wanted to buy it because Cisco already made the iPhone and therefore Apple would never name their product that.
- Since no one wanted to buy the name, I decided to just try blogging about the iPhone.
- I’m lucky the iPhone actually came out, and that it’s a remarkable product, because I don’t know if I could have maintained enough interest to write so much about other things.
- I’ve designed, coded and written everything on this website. I’ve put hundreds of hours of work into Apple iPhone Review, and I am proud of it.
- My “big break” for this site came on February 17, 2007, when I posted a leaked survey that asked consumers to respond to potential price points for the iPhone. Within minutes, big-name sites like Gizmodo, Engadget and ZDNet had linked to my article. I had 12,000 visitors that day, compared to 42 the day before.
- Apple iPhone Review pays my rent, and then some.
- I get a warm fuzzy feeling when someone tells me my site helped them in some way.
- I’d be thrilled if you would subscribe to my blog
- I waited in line in Miami for over 6 hours on June 29, 2007 to buy the first iPhone.
- I’ve owned six different iPhones prior to the 3G iPhone I own now.
- I once made a sort of embarrassing video of myself dressed as a caveman to show off a Jailbreak software that I used on my old iPhone. The video is pretty popular on YouTube… but I wouldn’t recommend the software anymore, since the new version has given people a lot of trouble.
- The most amusing comments on this site, by far, are in an article where I asked readers to share how iPhone’s SMS Preview feature has gotten them into trouble.
- I stray away from iPhone news and gossip and try to write things to start discussions, help iPhone users or at least entertain.
- I live with 7 other people.
- I love getting free iPhone gear in the mail and reviewing it.
- I love avocados.
- This list is my 218th post on Apple iPhone Review.
- The 3 things I love most about my iPhone are 1) browsing the web, especially using Google Reader for iPhone, 2) the GPS feature and 3) third-party apps (some of my favorites: Todo, iFitness and Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D).
- The 3 things I hate most about my iPhone are 1) the lack of copy & paste, 2) the SMS privacy issue and 3) its lack of a video camera.
If you’d like to know more, shoot me an email.
Written by Chris on February 1st, 2009 with no comments.
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In his post on eWeek titled The iPhone Has Replaced My Home PC, Cameron Sturdevant writes:
Will a generation that has grown up with high-powered smartphones but is confronted with either unemployment or low-wage jobs make a choice between a smartphone with a healthy dose of data plan and cable/DSL-based broadband Internet access?
Cameron claims that he would abandon his PC in favor of his iPhone except for one thing: “Netflix. I am completely addicted to the ‘watch instantly’ feature that allows me to view a movie on-demand.” Is that all?
Yes, the iPhone can replace your home computer for plenty of tasks like email, browsing and multimedia, but there are some things you still need a computer for.
Here are 7 things your computer can do that your iPhone can’t:
- Word processing. Yes, you could type out long documents on your iPhone’s touchscreen keypad, but you would sure lose a lot of time.
- Copy & paste. Besides a few primitive workarounds, you can’t copy & paste on the iPhone, a much-needed feature that’s reason enough not to get rid of your computer.
- Open more than 8 tabs. If you’re like me, you open a lot of tabs when you’re browsing. If you’re doing research, this can be especially helpful for improving productivity. You can’t, however, open more than 8 windows in iPhone’s Safari app. Even if you could, iPhone’s Safari crashes pretty easily, so it’s not very reliable for heavy browsing.
- Undo. Ever hold the backspace key on your iPhone for too long, accidentally erasing a whole paragraph of text? Or have you deleted something unintentionally? Unlike your computer, the iPhone has no Undo function that provides a safety net against these kinds of mistakes.
- Edit multimedia. If you like to edit your photos in Photoshop, or you make movies with Final Cut, then getting rid of your home computer is a bad idea. You can’t edit multimedia on your iPhone.
- Render Flash & Java. Ever go looking for some info on your iPhone, only to realize the website you need is made with Flash or Java and you can’t access it on your iPhone? You need a computer (or another phone) to run Flash and Java.
- Support plugins & add-ons. You can enhance a lot of software to suit your needs with plugins and extensions, like iTunes plugins, Firefox Add-Ons and Greasemonkey scripts. While you can improve your iPhone in general with apps from the App Store, you can’t improve any of iPhone’s apps themselves with plugins.
Yes, the iPhone could be improved to eventually include these features, but for the time being, they are my reasons for not ditching my computer in favor of my iPhone.
What do you think?
Could you see yourself abandoning your home computer and just using your iPhone instead? Let us know in the comments why you think the iPhone could or could not replace your home computer.
Written by Chris on January 28th, 2009 with no comments.
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As a thank you to my regular readers, I’m now offering the option to browse the site without all the ad clutter.
Simply sign up for a username, and once logged in the ads will disappear automatically!
As always, the feed will remain ad-free for all-readers, so subscribe to my feed if you haven’t already.
Written by Chris on January 19th, 2009 with no comments.
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With everyone wondering what Apple will reveal about the next-generation iPhone at the Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, there is debate over whether the new iPhone will feature some sort of video messaging, with perhaps a video camera lens on the face of the iPhone.
Apple may be working on video messaging, giving users the ability to send short clips to each other. Think YouTube, delivered.
— Scott Moritz
An iPhone with video messaging capability might have a lens on the face, and use the 3G chipset to send the video.
Some blogs question the usefulness of such a feature, but I can think of situations where people would like to send video clips. Here are three:
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While traveling.
From 3,000 miles away, I could send a video message like “Hey Dad, check out this view. You would love this place.”
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While shopping.
Imagine your partner sends you a video message from a fitting room. “Which of these looks better on me?”
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On the road.
e.g. a video message from you to a friend: “I can’t find the place. Is this the neighborhood?”
If Apple introduced video messaging on iPhone, they would set a new precedent for the future of mobile phones.
Would you video message?
Is video messaging pointless? Or does it add an appreciable intimacy to our digital interactions?
When would you use video messaging if it were on your iPhone?
I would love to hear your opinion in the comments.
P.S. I will add needed links later. This post was written on my iPhone. Shame on Apple for leaving out a copy/paste function. Blogging on the iPhone is hard work!
Written by Chris on June 7th, 2008 with no comments.
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The iPhone has cost me a lot of money and a lot of time spent at the Apple Store getting it fixed.
So why do I stick with it?
Since I first bought my iPhone last June, I’ve owned six iPhones mostly because I’ve had to get mine replaced due to some problem or other.
Is it worth the trouble to be an iPhone owner?
My six iPhones:
- My original iPhone had a flimsy connector port, and I replaced it right away.
- My second iPhone had its glass cracked after I dropped it on the floor. I paid $250 to get it replaced.
- The chrome on my third iPhone had a stain on it, which I considered unacceptable after paying $250 to get my old cracked iPhone replaced, so the Apple Store gave me a new one after I complained.
- I sold my fourth iPhone to buy a 16GB iPhone (my fifth), which I practically got for free.
- My 16GB iPhone released an echo in my voice that callers complained about, so I got another 16GB replacement.
- I now possess my sixth iPhone as I wait for the new 3G iPhone to be released soon.
Despite the problems, I stand behind the iPhone because it gives me one thing no other phone does: a blank slate.
The iPhone’s full-body touchscreen lets me create my own experience. With an (almost) fully-functional web browser, and soon-to-come third-party app support, the iPhone will one day be a canvas, to do with as I please.
Will iPhone 2.0 fudge it up?
iPhone 2.0 will be my seventh iPhone. It will likely add 3G, perhaps true GPS, and it will address some of iPhone’s many problems.
The new iPhone will be different, but what I have no doubt will remain central to the iPhone is its physical knack for constant evolution and adaptation to human desires; namely, its ‘blank slate’ quality.
The iPhone is a computer on a phone.
Why do you think there is a community of thousands of people Jailbreaking their iPhones and constantly demanding new apps and features?
The explosion of Jailbreak suggests to me that people will not let their technologies be restrained.
Apple responded to our demands with the third-party App Store (coming this month), but will that be enough?
As long as there is an empty canvas, people will want to fill it. As long as people have imaginations, they will envision new ways to use the iPhone. It is, as I said, a computer, full of unlimited potential.
That’s why, eventually, even past the upcoming App Store, Apple must step out of the way and let the people have their way with their blank slates.
That or be killed by Google’s Android, which with its open source framework will let us do exactly that.
An open source iPhone?
I’m not suggesting Apple reveal its source code and close up shop. It’s just that the human drive for change cannot be subdued, so Apple will eventually have to make the iPhone malleable enough to be molded by people’s individual tastes and preferences. If they don’t do that, someone else will.
Apple’s task should be to make the hardware work with our software, and to maintain a certain design consistency so that all our tools may work together.
We are sick of demanding new features for iPhone. There are plenty of people willing to work to make the iPhone a better platform, so let us!
Conclusion
The iPhone changed our culture. iPhone owners now expect to have a certain freedom on their mobile devices.
The challenge for Apple is this: Now that they have given us a sip of that freedom, we will only demand more.
If the iPhone is to continue to thrive, Apple must continue to quench our ever-growing thirst for mobile freedom by focusing on hardware and putting the iPhone’s software in the hands of the people. We are, after all, the ones who use it.
Step out of the way, Apple, cause we won’t be held back.
Written by Chris on June 5th, 2008 with no comments.
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