A few weeks back I brought a new 3GS iPhone. Up until then I had an old Nokia handset. I had been putting off the purchase for a long time. I was happy with my dumb phone and did not see the real need for anything more. I knew at the back of my mind I was wrong but I did not realise how wrong!
Those of you with an iPhone will be chuckling by now as you KNOW just how wrong I was!
The iPhone is NOT a phone - it is a personal information, navigation, communication and connection device. It is THE most powerful Social Tool you can imagine. And like all Social Tools you have no idea what they can really do for you until you start to play with them.
I think what amazes me about the iPhone the most - is its potential. The device I have is impressive but I feel there is huge room for improvement.
Out of the box I get the following and more:
phone/sms
contacts database
still camera
video camera
voice recorder
all my music
most of my photos
a very functional browser
a storage device
And these are just some of the Apps I have downloaded so far (and I have yet to pay for an App):
Skype
Facebook
Twitteriffic and TweetDeck
Yahoo Messenger
Wikipedia
Dopplr
Google Maps
Google Earth
Weather (Guide)
Time Zone Guide
Currency (Convertor)
Several news feeds: Telegraph, Sky News, ITN News, NPR News
But it is the geolocation functions enabled by the iPhone's inbuilt GPS that seem to me to have the most promise:
Know where I am e.g. Google Maps
Let others know where I am e.g. Google Latitude and Plazer
Know where others are - both friends and like-minded people e.g. Brighkite and Whoshere
Know what is around me e.g. Nearest, AroundMe and WCFinder
Get directions to places e.g. TomTom
And then I have been playing with two apps
PicPosterous that allows me to take photos and automatically uploaded them to the web including Flickr, Facebook and Twitter
12cast that allows me to take 12 second video clips and automatically upload them to the web as a sort of micro-video blog - a video version of Twitter
So a whole new world in the making :-)
If you haven't woken up to the iPhone yet - then go out and get one tomorrow! Its only a matter of time before everyone has an iPhone or smart phone equivalent and we are all connected in real-time. The thing about the iPhone is that it is "always on" and "always on you". It becomes "part of you".
I think this technology will completely transform the way we interact with the world. And I can only just begin to imagine the implications of that!
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