You know how you meet someone and you end up having one of those first dates where time just seems to fly by and at the end you feel like you're on a cloud wondering, "Where have you been my whole life?"
Well, that's how I felt when I got my first iPhone, the 3GS with video, two weeks ago when friend Chris bought one for me and saved me from my 2004 Motorola RAZR. photo of me by @doverbey.
I know. I know. It sounds dorky to feel like you are being romanced by a piece of electronics. "Steph it's just a phone. Not a husband." Well, it's almost like an electronic husband.
I love this thing! It's not often I get all fangirl about something, in fact, rarely do I get this attached to an inanimate object, but literally, after just one week, this iPhone made my life so much better in terms of productivity, efficiency, and comfort. Yes, comfort.
I find the phone comforting because I can never get lost, forget anything, or feel uninformed ever again. And best yet, it's pretty and cute. Admittedly, design and cuteness highly matters to me. Functional can also look hawt and this is a factoid that most geeks underestimate. Looks matter and sometimes more so than pure function.
Example, hot chicks and dudes. They may be lacking in substance but they look hot and for many people that's enough to build a relationship upon. Not saying it's right. Yeah, it's superficial. I'm just saying that's a reality to consider even in designing a piece of electronics. The whole fashion industry is based on looks and Apple gets the looks thing better than anyone in tech.
The iPhone is both hot and full of substance
The girlie part in me loves, loves the cuteness of the apps, the shiny curves of the phone, and the little details that just make you fall in love much like the small things you come to love in a person. I am totally into design, so those big and small design elements matter a great deal to me.
I got razzled all the time by people who couldn't believe a professional blogger like myself could function with a 2004 cell phone because it's so ancient since it only has a regular phone dial pad. Like, how else could one function without a full keyboard. But hey, I built a Twitter following of 45K+ @skinnyjeans with that RAZR and remind people it's not the tools, it's the skills.
But I have to admit, having a more robust tool is helping me be more functional with the skills. For example, here are just a few things I have come to love about this iPhone:
- Tweetie: As a top Twitterer, Tweetie has actually made Twitter more fun for me because I can tweet on the go and even take pictures without having to go to a second app or web screen.
- Google maps: I recently moved from San Francisco to Phoenix, and I really don't know what I would have done it without this iPhone and the maps app. The thing acts like a GPS. I am comforted in knowing that I will never be lost again.
Room: One of the apps that Chris' company has developed is called Room for travel (it's Free) and in it you can jot down your hotel room number. It's not part of the feature but you can also jot things like where you parked your car at the airport and your rental car info like what I did here in the picture. For my rental car, I got a white Sedan and thank goodness I could note the plate number because there are like a bazillion white Sedan cars in Phoenix.
- My .mac mail loads so much faster on the iPhone than on the web. It's also so much easier to delete all the spam mails I get.
- There are iPhone versions of all the websites I use on a regular basis like Facebook, Skype, Linked In, Yelp, and Yahoo IM. The iPhone versions are all easy to use and again pretty to look at.
- The iPhone apps in general are really really cool and fun. I spent the first two days with my phone literally just looking at and playing with apps. I was totally sucked in and immersed. I have one app that shows me how much water I've had for the day. I can play Shanghai my favorite time killer. And I even have Match.com so I can find a real husband :)
One of the reasons I left Silicon Valley was because I was tired of this geek mentality that only speeds, feeds, and features matter. Well they do matter but they are not everything to everyone, and especially to us everyday folks who just want something useful and enjoyable.
What most people care about and I mean truly care about more than features is, "Will this thing help me with stuff like make money, lose weight, find love, locate deals, or make me happy?" Who cares what the chips, software code, or hard drive capacity is as long as the thing again is useful, worth the price (which is subjective), enjoyable, and yeah hot looking to those who care about that.
And yeah, as much as I love the phone, it also is not perfect. The dropped calls are annoying but I haven't experienced the drops that much, and mobile phones are never as reliable as land lines. And, I have to get used to the fact that I have to keep the nails on my thumbs and index finger short because the touch screen is not fingernail friendly. But like people, there is no such thing as perfect. There is only what works best for you and your needs.And so far, the iPhone exceeds my expectations.
I'm in love. You'll find me happily committed to my iPhone :)
Disclosure: Chris and I are doing work together on iPhone apps. We used to work together back in my corporate days, and he was one of the few people who had my back at that company. I happily plug Chris and work with him because you never forget those who were kind to you when you needed it most.
