I frequently comment on how much I enjoy my iPhone. I knew I would love it and find it useful, but held off on getting one for a while because I really felt I couldn’t justify the larger monthly phone
bill. Now I wish I had got it sooner! I still encounter people who insist they would have no use for a smartphone… And I find it hard to believe! Perhaps they are influenced by portrayals in the media of iPhone users as addicted texters, tweeters and Facebookers, and think that is all that a smartphone has to offer. Too bad. This is how I have made use of my iPhone today:
- checked weather on Weather Channel app
- checked status of morning bus commute via OneBusAway and Metro’s Twitter feed
- did an I Ching reading (well, some people read horoscopes, I do something a little more obscure!)
- read through the news headlines on MSNBC
- fed my Tapfish
- listened to podcasted stories from last night’s PBS Newshour
- looked at some new Hubble images via the NASA app
- used OneBusAway to plan my homeward commute
- entered purchases I made into a budgeting tool
- listened to a podcast of a BBC radio comedy show featuring the ongoing election campaign over in the UK
- browsed through a couple of blogs I follow
- now composing a post for my own blog
Sure, I Ching readings and Tapfish visits are just entertainment, but the other things I did with the iPhone today really make my life easier and/or better.
If I were asked to name one iPhone app that has really made my life easier, it would have to be OneBusAway. No longer do I have to wait in bad weather for a bus with no idea of when it might actually arrive. I now have the luxury of waiting until it is just a couple of minutes away before I go out to wait. And I no longer have to play guessing games. I can know which buses are coming in the next 30 minutes. So often, I have let buses go by because I hoped that the one I really wanted would be by shortly – only to find myself still standing there 20 minutes later and wishing I had taken that other bus when I had the chance!
I was able to use OneBusAway with my old cellphone, but it was only of minimal use compared with what I can do with the iPhone. I would really be bummed out if I had to go back to life without it!
The Weather Channel app is another I use often – primarily the local radar map which shows where it is raining, how hard, and the direction and speed (via the loop) of motion of the rain. I have managed to avoid being caught in downpours by checking the map frequently.
I could live without an iPhone… but I would really miss it. Urban bliss might be somewhat more elusive:)
