MY IPHONE AFTER TWO WEEKS

Yes I bought an iPhone. No I didn't get it because of all the hype. Yes it's the coolest cell phone around and yes I love technology gadgets but that's still not why I bought one. I bought one because I knew that I would really use it. Let me explain.

Over the years I've owned all kinds of cell phones. Most recently I got a Samsung GSM model that offered Internet access via a mini web browser and email. Now I'm no slouch when it comes to using technology so ask me how many emails I sent and how often I surfed the web with that phone. The answer is three times, maybe four tops. Why? Because it was just too darned hard to navigate, compose, bookmark and the screen was just too small to be of any value even when I did manage to find something I wanted. So I used it as a cell phone, period. And I think so many of us out there feel the same way about our cell phones. We just use them to make and receive calls.
And then the iPhone came along.

There was enough information about the iPhone for me to realize that this was a phone that I would actually use for more than just making calls. And I was right. Since having the phone, I've sent dozens of emails and have surfed the web. Look I know that the iPhone is expensive but if you can afford one and have need of Internet services while you're away from your computer, then the product you've been looking for is finally here.

Using the iPhone is so easy in fact, that I find myself using it in a casual manner. For example, I was having lunch with my son the other day. I used the iPhone to take his picture which turned out to be a great shot. At that moment, I thought to myself "You know, I bet his mom would really like to see this picture." Right then and there, I just tapped the little forward arrow and the iPhone asked if I'd like to email it. I hit the button and it put the photo in the body of an email. I tapped the address button, selected my wife's email address, typed in "Thought you'd like to see this"
and hit Send. I heard a little woosh sound and off it went. Couldn't have been more simple. And that goes to the heart of it all. The iPhone is something that's just easy to use and because it's easy, you'll find yourself using it.

The rule is that usually with sophistication comes complexity. On a computer for example, to do what I just did on the iPhone would first require either a webcam or digital camera to take a picture. With a digital camera, I'd have to next download the image to the computer. Then I'd have to run my email program, cut and paste in the image, compose the email, address it and then send it. And that's just on a computer. To do that on a PDA or smart phone would take even more steps and they would hardly be intuitive.

But the iPhone has somehow transcended the rule. In fact, it has even reversed it somewhat. It is because of its sophistication that everything has become simple to do. When you get an iPhone, you will use it. In fact, not only will you use it, you will use it often. It's true that when you first get the thing, you'll go through the gee whiz phase and show it off to anyone who will watch you. But after all of that is over, you won't be left with some kind of toy that you put away in a drawer. You'll actually use it to be more productive, you will communicate more efficiently and effectively than you've ever done before with any other mobile device.

You know what was the final convincer for me? Just the other day I received an email on my iPhone while sitting in front of my computer. I could have used my computer to reply as I had all of his info in my computer's email program. But after reading it on the iPhone, I simply used it to reply because it was just as easy if not easier to do it that way.

If you have the means and the need to be truly communicative, then the iPhone's your baby. Get one.
 

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