More iPhone madness
I am on the second week of a two week vacation. There are big doings over at BMC, with the announcement of the BMC Developer Network. it has been kind of frustrating to be on vacation at this particular time, since with my Corporate Blog I have been talking about Linux and Open Source for nearly two years there. This Developer Network stuff is so cool, that I of course want to talk about it too. And I have hardly been near the Internet for two weeks.
My home is in the mountains. I of course live and work in the big city most of the year, but on vacation I go to my house. My real house. A little cabin in West Texas, tucked neatly in the caldera of a 36 million year old volcano. The lava flows were rich in iron and effectively block all the electromagnetic radiation I might otherwise use to communicate with the outside world when I am there. So I fix up the cabin instead. Probably makes me far more productive at home repair not being able to surf and blog. Certainly makes me far healthier. All that lifting and hammering and digging in volcanic soil with rocks bars and what not....
Most of the ways I have stayed in touch for the last two weeks have been the iPhone. Every time I dropped out of the caldera, and could "see" either a cell tower or an open WiFi access point (there are actually quite a number of those in the cities) I could read gmail, update twitter, surf the news web sites to see if the world was still out there, post to this weblog via email, and so on. The Macbook only came out of the bag twice so far, and this is the second time. I could have posted again from the iPhone, but I have to admit using the Macbook keyboard is nice. The iPhone has the best itty bitty "keyboard" I have ever used, but it can take a bit to tap out a post on it.
The Macbook screen does seem positively huge now though. Next week, back to the real world and Linux.
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2 comments:
Well, it looks like you're having a great time! Low tech, and lots of volcanoes. Sounds cathartic. Enjoy!
If I do anything over the next few months, I am going to "cure" you of your Mac addiction. We'll start by replacing your iPhone with this:
OpenMoko, baby!!!
I know the iPhone is slicker than snot. I've seen it and played with it. But *ONE* 3rd party app?! No 3G? In bed with AT&T for life? In the words of Jerry McGuire, help me help you. :-)
Now I'm so worked up that *I'll* have to blog about this incident...
I have seen that phone, and I have to say that, after the iPhone, that looks like a real winner. It has the potential to surpass the iPhone even.
However, as for being cured: That depends more on Apple than the tech stack: Part of my problem with MS is that they started acting like they owned everything and that they were in some odd way "owed" allegiance, no matter what software they put out, or under what terms. So far Apple has not risen to that level (in my eyes: I know there are some who already consider Apple every bit as bad as MS), so they are substantially "less evil". Their design is second to none, so I continue to buy from them. This is not the same thing as being owned though. I have choices. I love Linux, and I use it every day. I can do everything I do with my Mac on Linux. I am not locked in.
About AT&T: I do not get that one. What is a non-evil wireless cellular provider? Is Verizon less evil? Sprint? How? They all seem to have warts, as far as I can tell.
I already had a cellular phone with Cingular, and already had a data plan. The iPhone costs me no more a month than my Sony Erricson did before it, except that now I have unlimited data. Seems an upgrade for the same price to me.
3G versus Edge; I have heard that one over and over, and I guess there is something to it. I assume there will be a 3G iPhone. I wish it could do both, and switch to whatever is available. 3G is not as prevalent in the US at this time. I can be almost anywhere, including the wilds of West Texas, and have full access to the Internet. The real Internet. I have no complaints on that point right now. I knew what it was when I bought it. My wife has 3g on her Samsung: can't really see much difference in load speeds of content, but that is not "apples" to "apples": the Samsung does not have a real web browser built in if nothing else. She gaurds it too closely for me to install Opera on it... :)
The battery issue: You did not bring it up but might as well sa it: I chose slim form factor over replaceable battery. It is no different than any other iPod I have ever owned. I think the battery replacement price is in line with other cell phones. And I assume there will be 3rd party batteries soon.
Oh: 3rd party apps: yes: that sucks right now. I want a real Solitaire game that runs *inside* the phone. I assume that there will be 3rd party apps for it soon. This is OS.X under the covers, after all.
Still: I'll be looking for your blog... :)
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