For several years, I've been satisfied to stick with very simple phones. Let me talk, give me voicemail, let me text, and I'm good to go. I don't need no cameras or other fancy shmancy gadgets and gizmos. Just stick to the basics.
Well, my wife had a pretty nice phone and it started dying. She saw the countless iPhone ads droning on about how they had an app for everything, and she got sucked in. The problem was that it didn't work on our network, and changing networks was going to cost us a lot more. (She finally realized the folly of her way when they shipped an iPhone to her, but the box was empty!) After a little more research, she found the T-Mobil G1 with Google. This phone has all kinds of great features, an easy to use interface, touch screen, slide out panel for a QWERTY keyboard, and one feature I considered to be silly - GPS. Yes, I like GPS in my car, but do I really need help walking to the park, lunch, or the 7-11? What I didn't understand was how well the GPS integrated with the apps. And, yes, there are LOTS of apps.
I guess the big features for me are mobile Internet access, the apps, and the GPS. I especially like how they integrate. I just took a walk around the block to tire out my toddler, and I found that it's a 0.44 mile circuit. (Even better, twice around totally poops him out for a nap!) This was pretty cool. Another cool app is Zombie Run. This detects your position via GPS and shows you a map where the zombies are. Your goal is to get to a specified location - say the corner 5 houses away - before the zombies get to you. Watching the teens run around the street avoiding flesh-eating foes (that we can't see, of course) is too funny! Oh, and I have to give credit to my favorite app, Toddler Lock. This simple app locks your phone and allows you to draw on the screen while toddler-friendly music mimics your drawing. This is endless fun for toddlers - and adults. If I don't want to get out of bed just yet, I hand my phone to the toddler and he sits and draws all by himself. It even optionally invokes the flight mode, silencing all radio transmissions. What a way to keep a toddler occupied on a plane. This app can stop a fit in its tracks. (And not just my own!)
Now of course all of this is great fun, but the practical side of this thing is what really gets me. As I said, the apps, Internet access, and GPS offer some great functionality - and increasingly amazing potential. How about a weather prediction for where you are - without you having to tell it where you are? Want to see local traffic automatically? How about finding the closest bathroom, or getting directed back to your car when you forgot where you parked? What if I need to find the closest hospital (or the closest Starbucks - everyone has their priorities)? Want to find your kids when they're not at school? Want to track your hiking so you know where you're going and how far you've gone, and how much exercise you're getting? While I haven't used apps that do all of this, or even seen apps that do all of this - yet - I know it's possible.
And, of course, there's all that productivity. Access to email, online document management, scheduling, and more can keep one pretty focused.
I have found one rather serous drawback. It's the keyboard. When you slide open the phone to access the QWERTY keyboard, it's hard to see and use. The colors on the keys make it hard to read and the keys are hard to use. I have an old Blackberry with a much better keyboard. When typing or texting, I opt for the on-screen keyboard. When you hold the phone sideways, the keys are wider and easier to hit. When it's held up and down, then on-screen keyboard's keys are very narrow causing me a lot of "fat fingering!"
I know I'm just getting started, but I had to share. The iPhone might be great as well, but I've saved money, I'm more productive, I'm feeling the creative juices of mobile solutions flowing, and I'm having fun.
If this sounds good, go check out the phone. Tell them I sent you. That won't mean anything to them, of course, but it'll put a smile on my face.