}

Get Better Gear!

Premier Sponsors

TechRestore

Other World Computing

Top 5 Free Apps

Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: May 22, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: August 29, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: March 27, 2009
Release Date: August 07, 2009

iTunes New Music Releases

Release Date: September 29, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: September 20, 2009
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Release Date: August 25, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: August 25, 2009

Top 5 Paid Apps

Release Date: April 22, 2009
StickWars $0.99
Release Date: March 31, 2009
Genre: Games
Bloons $0.99
Release Date: April 05, 2009
Genre: Games

Discover New Music

  • Another Day on Earth

    • 10 out of 10
    • Brian Eno
    • In his first proper solo release since 1996's relatively cold "The Drop," Brian Eno has constructed a whimsical and ecclectic masterpiece which is arguably one of the year's strongest records thus fa
  • Go Away White

    • 10 out of 10
    • Bauhaus
    • Go Away White is an album I've been waiting more than 20 years to hear, and the good news is that it was worth the wait.  The latest -- and last, no...for real this time -- album from

  • One Word Extinguisher

    • 8 out of 10
    • Prefuse 73
    • It's an album about a breakup, done with beats instead of mopey lyrics. But the beats are raw, and the emotions are there, even if there aren't many words on top of it. While possibly not Scott Herren
  • Cocked & Loaded

    • 8 out of 10
    • Revolting Cocks
    • It's hard to believe it's been more than a decade since Ministry founder and front man Al Jourgensen's side project Revolting Cocks released any new material. 2006 brings us Cocked and Loaded

  • With Teeth

    • 4 out of 10
    • Nine Inch Nails
    • In the sprawling post-A&R rock and roll world, there are two camps: the Beatles and the Stones. The Beatles are the artists that like to explore, evolve, and change styles. The Stones are the artis

Reader Specials

Visit Deals On The Web for the best deals on all consumer electronics, iPods, and more!

News

Abstinence Makes the iPhone Grow Stronger

There comes a point in every geek’s life where she says to herself, "Self, we really want that new Apple product." There also comes a point where the geek stops giving in to The Voices. At least in theory. Luckily for this geek, she has a husband with no such immunity to his own inner voice. While I am writing this on a five year old Powerbook, he will no doubt read this on his shiny new iPhone.

I do not have an iPhone. I live with one, which is good enough for me. I am not going to get an iPhone. At least not any time soon.

Let me don my asbestos suit before I say this:

It’s not good enough.

Wait! The flames! They burn!

But it’s true. While the iPhone is exactly what Apple has advertised it to be, it is not what I want it to be. (My primary computer is five years old and I keep a paper calendar, clearly I don’t need much.) I’m sure it will eventually be something which will require surgical removal from my person, but in the interim, I’m perfectly content to just hang out and watch The Husband fiddle with his new gadget while I use my ancient camera-less cell phone and dream about that new Samsung unit I will get in about 45 days.

The Husband doesn’t really understand why I don’t want an iPhone. One was offered to me, essentially for free. I still don’t want it. (No, you can’t have it either.) What, pray tell, am I waiting for?

Voice Dialing
I commute a minimum of 25 minutes to work, each direction, five days a week. I spend a lot of that time on the phone because it’s generally uninterrupted time. Without tactile feedback of buttons and no discernable single-motion speed dial funtion, I would cause many accidents trying to dial The Husband to find out what is for dinner.

I’ve checked. It’s a minimum of three "movements" to dial someone. Touch to awaken, slide to unlock, and then (if it was last in phone mode and on a screen that has the person I want to call listed) once I find The Husband on the list, I touch that. If I wasn’t last in phone mode, I’ll have to get back to the main menu so I can choose phone mode. My current phone requires me to flip it open and hold down the number two in order to dial home. "No, officer, I’m not intoxicated, I was trying to call in an order for Chinese take-out and couldn’t find their number."

SMS Messaging that doesn’t look like iChat
There’s a reason it’s generally called "texting." Because it’s plain text. iChat and the bubble interface have given me hives for the last few years. I’m an adult who doesn’t need talk-bubbles to add extra spice to her IM conversations. I appreciate being able to turn them off should I ever need to suffer through iChat. It would be nice to be able to scrap them on the iPhone as well.

The Static Dock
I understand that Apple wants Phone, Mail, Safari, and iPod to be my top four choices. They aren’t my top four. What if I’d rather have (for example) Phone, SMS, Calendar, and Notes as my top four? I can’t. I also want to be able to rearrange the (currently) twelve choices which aren’t in the Dock. And while we’re at it, can we have a background image for the menu page? And a pet unicorn and an endless supply of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream?

Ring tone choices
Really. If I can’t have the phone ring with Atlantic Starr’s "Secret Lovers" when a select few call or have "The Imperial March" start playing when work calls, then what’s the point? Hidden ringtone icons mean they’re coming, so I’m waiting. Back to dreaming about that Samsung phone...

Am I nitpicking? Without a doubt. I’m still waiting for iPhone 2.0, or at least 1.1. I’m perfectly happy thinking, "Oooh, shiny" and waiting a year for these features which I imagine will show up sooner rather than later. If I’m going to drop all this cash for a phone and plan, I want it to be what I want and need. (Plus there’s a lot of training for me to do in order to get ready to ditch that paper calendar.) It’s already so close to perfect, why not wait?

Post Your Comments

  Remember Me  Forgot your password?

Not a member? Register now. You can post comments without logging in, but they'll show up as a "guest" post.

Commenting is not available in this section entry.