On Friday, July 28th, I walked into an AT&T store to pick up my iPhone!

It really is… just a phone. That is, of course, its main function. Of that, I won’t kid myself. However, I’ve been exposed to the vaunted Blackberry phones and, knowing full well their capabilities, I have to say that my new phone really is a Blackberry on major steroids! In fact, I’m writing this entry on the phone itself using the Wordpress iPhone app. It’s true what others have said about typing on it; you have to get used to the on-screen touch keyboard and the auto correction feature. Once you get past that, typing on it is awesome!

In fact, it’s the apps for the phone that make the iPhone so special and a pleasure to use. It comes with the standard smartphone apps such as mail, contacts, calendar, notepad, camera with photo app, calculator, world clock and maps (yes, it has GPS, too!). From there, though, you can also add apps from Apple’s App Store, most of which are free! I now have enough productivity apps (and productivity-killing!) apps to let me do whatever I want when I’m not near a computer.

The sheer usability of this phone is amazing. Trying to do the same things with my old phone was either a headache (or impossible) compared to the iPhone. Typing out this much so far has taken 30 minutes, and that was with a few interruptions! The Mobile Safari browser looks and acts like a real desktop browser. I’ve tried the “push” email feature and it does work (my Cox email), but I put it back to hourly checks to conserve power.

All in all, that is the only disappointment about the iPhone, which is battery life. You simply have to be conservative about how you use the features. However, I estimated that, from full charge to 10% juice, I did about four hours of mixed 3G and Wi-fi internet browsing, and I still had power to play music! (Yes, the iPhone hasn’t forgotten its iPod roots!)

So, yes, I’m very happy with the iPhone. I will endeavor to post screen shots of some of the features, with explanations. My new phone, part two?

I’ll have to post this entry now to final draft and finesse it before publishing. Cheers!

I know I haven’t posted any updates in a while, and for those of you who visit regularly, I’m terribly sorry about that. I would write about some of the cool things that I’ve gotten recently, or some of the awesome things that have happened to Christine and I, like I wanted to for the past half-month. However, now would actually be a good time to discuss the newest development that just took precedent in my life.

A couple of years ago, my computer suffered a power supply meltdown. The subsequent repairs were covered by Apple through their iMac Logic Board/Power Supply recall and I didn’t have to pay anything, of course. Now, it appears that something similar has happened yesterday morning as I was cruising and perusing my favorite sites. Only this time, there was no warning whatsoever. One second, everything was fine… next split-second… poof! No power. Nothing. Repeated attempts at either the power switch or the internal switch were met with little whines of protest from the power supply, and nothing else.

I went through the online Apple troubleshooting documents (with Christine’s computer, of course), and determined with about 90% certainty that the power supply is at fault. Here’s the kicker: it’s not covered under the recall anymore! Of course, I don’t blame Apple for not covering the recall anymore, since all the problems should have been resolved, and nothing really lasts forever. I don’t have AppleCare coverage but, even if I did, that coverage would have expired. So, that leaves me little choice but to cough up the near $200 for a new power supply.

One other caveat I have to offer myself is this: if my diagnosis is wrong, and a new power supply is inadequate to fix the problem, then the only other thing it could be is the logic board. Unfortunately, that costs over $500 to start with, not including shipping if I wanted to do it myself, or labor if I want someone else to do it. That’s over half of the cost of the computer’s worth by itself! At that point, I’ll have no choice but to save for a new computer.

Well, if that is the only thing going wrong in my life, then I really can’t complain. I can always use Christine’s computer if I’m in a pinch, or I can use my new phone to do some of my usual browsing and instant messaging and, yes, even blogging aaaaaand even my financial needs as well. OH!! The new phone … I’ll talk about that one in my next entry!

Cheers, and please wish me luck with the repairs!